Last week, Danyele McPherson — formerly with Stephan Pyles and sous chef at The Grape — was booted from Top Chef, largely for lacking confidence in her dishes. Confidence wasn’t a problem for fellow Dallas chef John Tesar, above right, who was considered arrogant by his competitors on the hit reality cooking show.
Last night, Dallas lost its chance at another finalist (as Private|Social’s Tiffany Derry and Fort Worth’s Casey Thompson were) when Tesar was told to pack his knives and go following a disastrous risotto. Tesar was given a second chance with a face-off against Lizzie, where each had to make a burger; Tesar’s lamb was deemed less worthy than her chicken. (I ate at Tesar’s old Commissary, and complaints about service aside, one thing the man knows how to make is a burger.)
Tesar was even given a third shot on the online-only Last Chance Kitchen, where ousted chefs compete against each other for a wild-card spot, but Tesar came up short there, too, against even more arrogant C.J.; Tom Colicchio, above left, judged Tesar’s foie gras too salty.
(There is one way he might be saved: Tweet #savechefjohn and he might become a fan fave.)
Don’t feel too badly for Tesar, though. His new Preston Center restaurant Spoon is worth a taste (read my review later this month), and as he told me recently, “say what you want to about me, but I work hard.” That’s obviously true.
