Dallas chef John Tesar has cut ties with the Dallas hotel restaurant he opened more than a decade ago, Knife, at the Hilton Highland near Southern Methodist University.
A statement from Lennox Capital Partners, which owns the Highland hotel, confirmed its relationship with Tesar and Knife’s partnership ended March 28. Tesar told The Dallas Morning News he licensed Knife to the Highland until Aug. 31. Customers can make reservations at Knife until then.
Then, Tesar will take the Knife name with him for a new venture.
The restaurant at the Highland hotel will stay open. A new restaurateur is expected to take over the space.
“We are grateful for chef Tesar’s partnership over the years and we wish him success in his future endeavors,” said a Lennox statement.
When Tesar opened the restaurant in 2014 at the then-Hotel Palomar, he helped teach Dallas diners about dry-aged steak. Knife had a bacon tasting, too — a meaty menu item not yet popular at other North Texas restaurants.
In over a decade, Tesar expanded Knife in several ways: to Knife Burger in Plano, Knife Italian in the Ritz-Carlton in Irving, Knife & Spoon in Orlando and more.
By fall 2025, Tesar hopes to open a new Knife restaurant in Uptown Dallas. He has a location in mind, but the lease isn’t yet signed.
The next Knife
If all goes according to plan, Tesar wants to open a Knife steakhouse on the first floor of the as-yet-announced Dallas restaurant, he told The News.
On the second floor, he wants to open a “meat omakase” tasting restaurant in a smaller space he’ll call Pocket Knife.
A third concept, a lounge called Switchblade, is slated to open at the same address.
Tesar is joining GBOD Hospitality Group and 3ntourage Hospitality Group to open the new Knife restaurants and bar. He’s a managing partner.
He wants to make Knife a “competitive and contemporary” restaurant, and he has Michelin on his mind. Knife & Spoon in Florida received one Michelin star in 2022 but wasn’t able to keep it.
When Michelin launched for the first time in Texas in 2024, Tesar said then, “I want my star back.”
He clarified: First, he wants to relaunch Knife. Eventually, he hopes to have “more than just one” Knife or Pocket Knife.
“My real purpose, with this, is to take back the brand I started 11 years ago,” he said on March 28 as he announced the end of his partnership with the Highland.
What is meat omakase?
Pocket Knife is expected to be a 24-seat restaurant that serves eight to 10 courses of Kobe beef from Japan alongside Texas-raised beef from 44 Farms, Tesar told The News.
Tesar was inspired by a recent trip to Japan. “This is going to be a real journey into beef,” he said.
He said a “meat omakase” dinner “doesn’t exist in this town, and that’s why I’m doing it.”
The name is a play on the tasting menus available at Japanese restaurant around the world. They’ve become popular in Texas, too, and in fact, the only restaurant to win one Michelin star in Dallas is omakase restaurant Tatsu.
Tesar’s omakase will not be a dozen or more pieces of raw fish, but rather, some of the finest cuts of beef.
He expects to pair the eight to 10 courses with beverages, both alcoholic and not. Prices for the experience were not yet available.
Tesar has had a high-profile journey in Texas. He was once executive chef at The Mansion, a coveted chef job in Dallas. He was a contestant several times on Top Chef and has been called the “most hated chef in Dallas.” He’s on a Food Network show called House of Knives that premiered March 18.
He sees the relaunch of Knife as a next step in his career.
“The Mansion wasn’t easy. The ‘most hated chef’ thing wasn’t easy,” he said. “Here I am, 16 years later. I’ve had to prove myself again.”
