Skip to main content

Angela Hernandez Is Leaving the Statler Hotel and Dallas

Angela Hernandez, opening executive chef at Fine China and the director of culinary operations at the Statler Hotel, will leave Dallas next week and move to Austin to take on a job with McGuire Moorman Hospitality. The group owns several restaurants in Austin and will soon be opening one in Aspen, Colorado.

Hernandez, who is from Austin, cites family as a priority. "I've been traveling for 15 years," she says, referring to her time both in New York and in Dallas, where she opened Top Knot in 2016. The eclectic modern Asian spot, where Hernandez brought in her Korean and Latin American backgrounds, earned a spot on my D Magazine Best New Restaurants list that year, and Fine China, her modern Chinese destination for dim sum and Cantonese roast duck, cinched a spot on my list this year, despite some inconsistencies. Since Graham Dodds' departure from the Statler in October, Hernandez has absorbed his responsibilities.

Joining a well-established group in Austin as corporate chef de cuisine will allow Hernandez to work on a diverse portfolio that will include the popular Elizabeth Street Café as well as new openings.

"We've been working on chef movements for the past month and a half or so [at the Statler]," Hernandez says. Josh Bonee, with whom Hernandez developed the opening menu at Fine China, will take over that restaurant. The dim sum team is losing its principal lead to the Statler's diner Overeasy. However, "nothing drastic is going to shift or change," Hernandez says. Recently, the team created a char sui duck bao and is working on various shapes to keep Fine China a destination for contemporary dim sum. Meanwhile, the focus in the past month and a half has been on honing lunch and brunch services.

In parting, Hernandez says she feels Dallas is at an interesting point, culinarily. "Misti [Norris of Petra & the Beast] and chef David Uygur [of Macellaio]. It's cool to see Joel [Orsini] doing his thing at Izkina. I'm kinda bummed I'm missing Justin Holt's opening [of Salaryman, a chef-driven ramen shop]. I'm glad to have had the experiences and support that I've had since I've been here. Everyone was super embracing." It is not surprising to note that two of her compatriots—Norris and Uygur—are also on the Best New Restaurants list. And I have written about Orsini's prolific work in a Deep Ellum hostel in last month's dining review. It is a tight-knit gang of culinary innovation.


-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A VIP Experience at Uptown’s Gem, The Capital Grille

Specializing in creating memorable events from birthdays, to anniversaries, to closing the big deal, let The Capital Grille be your next dining and celebration destination. The Capital Grille prides itself in not only providing the best steaks in Uptown, but building relationships at the same time. The Chef Executive Chef Partner JP Dacio is a California transplant with a classically trained background in culinary arts and passion for Filipino/American flair which can be seen in some of his off menu specials and wine tasting dinners.  Chef Dacio oversees perfect center of the plate executions of all dishes The Capital Grille offers.  His support in ensuring quality creations is his tenured kitchen team, some of which have been cooking at The Capital Grille Uptown location since its genesis in 1998.  Most recently The Capital Grille partnered with Hudson Vineyards and Bryant Family Vineyards, with Chef Dacio and team creating an amazing 6 course food and wine tasting menu. The...
Post a Comment
Read more

Resonance Says These Are America’s Best Cities In 2018

The researchers at Resonance Consultancy, a company that studies data and conducts extensive surveys, annually announces its 10 best large and small cities in America based on their findings. Last year, they let us in on how restaurants and nightlife affect their findings. Yesterday, Resonance dropped its 2018 list, and New York City tops it again. Below are the complete lists, along with a sneak peek at the report and more commentary. America's Top 10 Large Cities (metropolitan areas with more than 1 million population): New York Chicago Los Angeles San Francisco Las Vegas San Diego Houston Miami Seattle Boston America's Top 10 Small Cities (metropolitan areas with more than 200,000 but less than 1 million population): Honolulu Omaha Albuquerque Charleston El Paso Reno Tulsa Madison Myrtle Beach Asheville Pages from Resonance's report naming New York City the best big city in America. So what should we make of Resonance's lists? It...
Post a Comment
Read more

How To Make Albacore Tuna “Filet Mignons”

We're huge fans of grillmaster Steven Raichlen's smoky, meaty cookbooks. His latest work focuses on updating our beloved grilling techniques. Dive into recipes for grilled meats, vegetable sides, desserts and more. Here's a way to really class up your albacore tuna. Most of the dishes you see on my TV shows are carefully planned in advance. This one I created on the spot to showcase some gorgeous, astonishingly fresh albacore fillets a local fisherman brought to the set of Project Smoke . Plancha searing gives you a crisp smoky bacon crust on the outside, but you keep the grilling sufficiently brief to leave the fish sushi-rare in the center. Cut crosswise, the albacore looks like bacon-wrapped filet mignon. To continue the beef metaphor, you serve it with a Peppercorn Cream Sauce. Insider Tip:  This recipe calls for a technique I call plancha grilling: You cook the fish on heated cast iron, adding hardwood to the fire to generate wood smoke. Alternatively, you ...
Post a Comment
Read more