Cody Sharp, whose cooking I lauded in a three-star review of the Standard Pour in June, will be executive chef at Filament, Matt McCallister's highly anticipated Southern-inspired restaurant in Deep Ellum. His dishes, I wrote, are "accessible enough to satisfy the blotto yet thoughtful enough to tickle the palates of sophisticates. And many are strikingly beautiful."
It's a very high-profile posting for the Odessa native. "I am extremely excited," he told me by Facebook email. "It's a space and a style of cooking that are both very near and dear to me. I'm really looking forward to learning as much as I can from Matt. He's been a mentor of mine for most of my career. I feel like things have come full circle."
The 30-year-old chef has an impressive resume. He worked with the late Randall Copeland at Ava in Rockwall, later did a stint at Stephan Pyles, where he began as an assistant pastry chef then was put in charge of the short-lived but impressive tasting menu restaurant-within-a-restaurant there, Fuego. Prior to his gig at the Standard Pour, he was sous-chef at Casa Rubia.
If I had been wondering what such a talented, accomplished and inventive chef was doing at a boisterious Uptown bar, Sharp's Instagram feed has had me even more perplexed lately. Such gorgeous dishes! Roasted cauliflower gratin with chicken schmaltz focaccia and bonito. Masa fried green tomatoes with fermented chiles, yogurt, peanuts and black locust vinegar (whatever that is!). A spectacularly beautiful garden salad. Duck hash with pastrami-cured duck, new potatoes, chanterelles, egg and hot sauce. (Sharp has a great feed -- check it out @shsrpcody1.)
The chef just confirmed my suspicions that these weren't exactly meant for the Standard Pour: "The dishes I've been posting are just ideas that I'm testing out," he told me. "Some may make the cut, some won't."
Escape Hatch's Mike Hiller broke the story of the move; Matt McCallister confirmed it on his Facebook page.
His move from the Standard Pour to Filament is the latest in an insanely dynamic season on the Dallas dining scene, with oodles of splashy openings. McCallister plans to open Filament sometime in October. Sharp plans to remain at the Standard Pour through the end of September.
UPDATE: 9:30 p.m. Sept. 14 According to Filament spokeswoman Juliana Pesavento, FT33 pastry chef Maggie Huff will "lead the pastry program (and continue to do so at FT33 as well) and Jeff Gregory will oversee the beverage program." Gregory is general manager and beverage director at FT33.
