{"id":480526,"date":"2026-10-29T17:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/480526\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T17:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:22:09","slug":"john-tesar-on-his-new-role-at-palladinos-michelin-hype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/480526\/","title":{"rendered":"John Tesar on his new role at Palladino’s & Michelin hype"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Palladino's
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe bar at Palladino’s is great for a quick steak, or neighborhood gossip. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Alison McLean for the Dallas Observer<\/p>\n

Two New York-born restaurateurs are collaborating on a Dallas steakhouse. And it almost guarantees to be tasty and interesting.<\/p>\n

First, some intros. <\/p>\n

Dallas X Grand Central Station<\/p>\n

Bronx-born Joseph Palladino \u2014 who was once an NYPD officer \u2014 helped build Nick and Sam\u2019s, one of Dallas\u2019 iconic steak restaurants, over 20 years ago. In 2025, he opened the upscale Palladino\u2019s Steak and Seafood in the main concourse balcony of Grand Central Station in New York City. <\/p>\n

Sign up for the Food & Drink newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n

THANK YOU!<\/p>\n

You’re all set.<\/p>\n

CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, he expanded the concept to Preston Hollow, rolling out the red carpet for a neighborhood that had largely been expected to traverse the tollway for such an upscale meal. Neighborhood regulars don\u2019t mind dropping $200 for dinner, even when perched at the bar. This space feels like a posh slice of Uptown, but with plenty of free parking (there\u2019s literally a huge parking lot right there. It\u2019s amazing; you should see it). <\/p>\n

The new role<\/p>\n

Chef John Tesar\u2019s story is long, winding and anything but boring. He cut his teeth in the Hamptons and moved on to upscale restaurants in New York City, including the lauded and now closed 13 Barrow Street and The Supper Club, where he worked alongside Anthony Bourdain (who claimed to have thrown a pan at his head at least once).<\/p>\n

After a stint in Las Vegas, Tesar landed in Dallas at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, where he earned a five-star review prior to opening his own spot, Spoon, and later Knife Steakhouse. This skips many small details for brevity. But notably, in 2020, he expanded his steakhouse concept to Knife and Spoon at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grand Lakes, which earned a Michelin star in 2022 and 2023. He had more stints in the Ritz-Carlton lineup, including Knife Italian in Irving, which he\u2019s no longer a part of. <\/p>\n

But what it all comes down to is that, on the plate, Tesar may be best known for dry-aged steaks sourced from central Texas farms. Case in point: after spending just under $17,000 on steak dinners over a year across Dallas, D Magazine\u2019s Brian Reinhart ranked Knife Plano<\/a> as one of Dallas\u2019 best steakhouses, where Tesar\u2019s dry-aged steaks are \u201cmagnificent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new duo at Palladino\u2019s<\/p>\n

With all the intros aside, Palladino has tapped Tesar to run his kitchens in both New York City and Dallas. (Initially, Palladino\u2019s announced Sam Hazen as the executive chef, but apparently those plans have changed. Hazen out; Tesar in.) Tesar will travel between the two restaurants to get them in sync. The menu is being tweaked a little, but the highlights are sushi, steaks, pasta, fish and hearty sides. <\/p>\n

Tesar, who says he has been sober for two years now and off social media for six months (crazy how those two things line up) made it clear on a call, \u201cI\u2019m working for Joe. I\u2019m not here to do John Tesar. I\u2019m here to do Joe Palladino.\u201d <\/p>\n

Quick Q&A<\/p>\n

We had just a couple of questions for Tesar, though, notably about stars and dry-aged steaks.<\/p>\n

Dallas Observer: You\u2019ve earned a Michelin star before and the guide is in Texas (for now, anyway). Is that on your mind at all at Palladino\u2019s?
Tesar: \u201cAny accolade is welcome, but having achieved most of them, I learned that they\u2019re all fleeting in the minds of the public, and it\u2019s something that I\u2019ve obtained and have on my resume, but I don\u2019t count on it. I don\u2019t need it. And I\u2019m mature enough now and accomplished enough that I just want to be known as a person who opens great restaurants, but also makes money and serves amazing food.\u201d<\/p>\n

DO: Will you bring your dry-aged program to Palladino\u2019s? You\u2019re a dry-aged guy.
Tesar: \u201cYeah, I know, but not anymore. I\u2019m working for Joe. (\u2026) I\u2019ll say though, the Knife brand is still mine. But we don\u2019t need to create speculation that I\u2019m going to be doing that in the future because right now I\u2019m totally focused on this and I have no plans. I\u2019m not working a side plan \u2026 But maybe one day I might return back to doing Knife and dry aging, but I don\u2019t want to borrow $10 million from a group of guys I don\u2019t know and not sleep at night. That\u2019s the reason I don\u2019t want my children to rely on licensing that could dry up in five minutes or, say, open another restaurant and it doesn\u2019t work out. Then where\u2019s my career? So Joe has this infrastructure. He has great investors. (\u2026) It\u2019s a great partnership between Joe and me because he\u2019s got the front and I have the back [the kitchen].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bar at Palladino’s is great for a quick steak, or neighborhood gossip. Alison McLean for the Dallas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2808,102,104,103],"class_list":["post-480526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-chefs","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}