Skip to main content

Smoke Founders Sell Restaurant to Belmont Hotel

Smoke founders Christopher Jeffers, Tim Byres, and Christopher Zielke are selling the restaurant to the neighboring Belmont Hotel.

The North Oak Cliff smokehouse opened in September 2009. At the time, Monte Anderson, who then owned the Belmont Hotel, approached the team and asked them to manage his property's food and beverage program.

"If it wasn't for the Smoke restaurant partnership, the Belmont would have never become what it did when I sold it in 2015," says Anderson in a statement. "The food and beverage portion of this project was vital to the hotel becoming a sought after destination. We were pioneers in the revitalization of this corridor, and I am looking forward to working with the team on other projects in the very near future."

He sold the hotel to Behringer Lodging Group that summer.

So, what's to become of the restaurant? No statements have been made other than the sale will be final on December 16, and all founding partners are out. Some media outlets are reporting that the restaurant is closing, but that has not been confirmed.

"Smoke has been such a large part of my life for the past decade. I am looking forward to seeing what the next chapter holds for the Belmont," says Jeffers in a release.

Jeffers and Zielke are focusing on the food and beverage programs at the Statler Hotel.

In a statement, Byres said:

Smoke has shown me how to be the person I always wanted to become. I have too many memories of struggle, grit, celebration, love and companionship around our tables. We have been gifted with the opportunity to craft our own way and do it surrounded by closest friends and family. Nobody was ever a stranger here. Our employees and guests over the years created a powerful synergy of stewardship of Smoke. They have been with us all the way, for this I am beyond grateful.

Byres opened veggie-centric Tight Quarters at Legacy Hall earlier this year. The spot has since closed and will be replaced by Chez Dip, a sandwich spot from Tom Fleming, the executive chef behind Crossroads Diner. So, what's next for the chef? More smoked meats? More power bowls? Buying a boat and sailing away into the sunset along the coast of Tahiti? We've contacted him to find out.


-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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

A Bartender’s Guide To Drinking In Houston

Once a barista and bartender in Seattle, Alex Negranza moved to Houston four years ago for a coveted job at Anvil Bar & Refuge and a chance to work under its owner Bobby Heugel, the bar entrepreneur and agave-spirits evangelist who put the city on the drinking-world map. Since then, Negranza has become a driving force in the Houston cocktail scene, becoming the only Houstonian to become an  Eater  Young Gun, in 2016. He now oversees Heugel's downtown bars (Pastry War, Tongue Cut Sparrow and Nightingale Room) as Director of Operations. "A couple things really speak to Texan drinking culture—people forget that there are four very large cities here that account for a lot of people drinking a lot of things," says Negranza. "Houston's always played second fiddle even within the state, to Austin, so we have this thing where we don't have to keep up with the Joneses. Elsewhere there's an impulse to get the next hottest product and put it behind your bar be...
Post a Comment
Read more