Dallas chef John Tesar is known for his rancorous side, unafraid to dole out criticism where he believes it's due. So it's no surprise that in a new interview published by Playboy this week, the chef behind fine-dining spots Knife and Oak shared "choice words," as the headline suggests, on myriad topics.
In the interview, Tesar throws nearly everyone he mentions under the bus, including chefs Anthony Bourdain and Tim Love, and -- shocker -- dining criticism in general and Dallas Morning News restaurant critic Leslie Brenner. Tesar's opinions on Brenner are well-documented. (For the record, neither Brenner nor the News was contacted by Playboy about any of the claims Tesar made in the interview.)
But his beef doesn't stop there. The former Top Chef contestant also let words fly about "Southern" cuisine, how Dallas is behind, and young-gun chefs with big egos. We pulled his six most ridiculous quotes from the interview, which can be read in full here.
No one likes Fort Worth chef Tim Love
"Does anybody really like Tim Love? Because it doesn't seem like they do. ... Tim Love used to be my friend then fame bit him in the ass and then he just kind of turned on everybody," Tesar says.
"Lonesome Dove in New York was a freakin' disaster," Tesar says of Love's signature restaurant. "Let's see what happens to Lonesome Dove in Austin."
Why Anthony Bourdain and Tesar are feuding:
"I made a comment about his first wife on The Braiser, and his new wife got pissed off. She wears the pants. Trust me. He's always been dragged around by his (genitals)," Tesar says. "It's nice that he always marries women with strong personalities to take care of him because then he can just wander around, get stoned, drink and tell stories. He's like (expletive) Ernest Hemingway."
Little-known fact: Bourdain is a terrible chef, according to Tesar.
"If you really have an intellectual debate with [Bourdain], you'll learn that he's an amazing writer and storyteller and probably one of the (expletive) chefs that ever lived. The guy can't cook his way out of a paper bag," he says.
Southern cuisine, a.k.a. "peasant food."
"It's the new thing. Everything's like a chicken, or a dumpling, or a fried something, or an okra. It costs nothing. ... It's peasant food. It's American peasant food," Tesar says. "For years I've been told don't call it the South, it's Texas. And now all of a sudden we're going to start bringing Sean Brock (expletive) to (expletive) Dallas?"
A $15 minimum wage? Texas will be the last to enact that, Tesar says, because of all the "illegals."
"What are we going to do, start paying illegals $15 an hour? They're doing five jobs and sending all the money back to Mexico. It's like, where is the government? To a certain extent Donald Trump has a point."
Why Tesar is the greatest chef of all time:
"My friends call me Yoda now. Because like, OK, I can kick your ass, but I'd rather sit in the corner peacefully and give sound-bites and good advice," he says.
