Stephan Pyles

Stephan Pyles is a world-class chef, cookbook author, philanthropist, and educator. Pyles is also one of the founding fathers of Southwestern cuisine. His creative dishes blend elements of Southern homestyle cooking, sophisticated Southwestern fare, Mexican food and Tex-Mex food, as well as Cajun cuisine and Creole cookery. Pyles' ingenuity, along with the talents of collegues, Dean Fearing, Robert Del Grane, and Anne Lindsay Greer contributed to revolutionary changes in the cuisine of the U.S. states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Pyles spent more than 25 years in the Dallas’ restaurant circuit, and was further the main creator of New Texas Cuisine. His first two restaurants were the business casual Routh Street Cafe which was founded in 1983 as well as a miniature version of said restaurant called Baby Routh. These restaurants are known for being the flagship of the Southwestern Cuisine explosion of the 1980s and 1990s. Since opening Routh Street Cafe, Pyles has opened some 15 restaurants, including Samar in the fall of 2009.

Pyles,a fifth-generation Texan, has received numerous awards as well as nationwide recognition. Bon Appétit credited Pyles with almost single-handedly changing the cooking scene in Texas. The New York Times called Pyles "an absolute genius in the kitchen." The Dallas Morning News further stated,"If anyone can lead this town to its next level of culinary evolution, it’s Stephan Pyles." Among his awards are the AAA Five Diamond Award; Nation’s Restaurant News’ Fine Dining Hall of Fame Award; Restaurants and Institutions’ 'Ivy Award' and the American Academy of Achievement Award. He was the first person from the Southwest to win a James Beard Award for 'Best Chef.' He was further the first Texas native inducted into 'Who’s Who of Food and Wine in America.' On top of all this he was awarded, 'Outstanding Restaurateur of the Year' by both the Minnesota Restaurant Association and Texas Restaurant Association. . .

Stephan Pyles is the author of five cookbooks on Texan and Southwestern Cuisine.. In addition to his many achievements, he also hosted the Emmy Award winning PBS Television series "New Tastes From Texas With Chef Stephan Pyles." This series ran during 1998 and 1999 and included a number of guest Celebrity Chefs, including: Diana Kennedy, Rick Bayliss, Patricia Quintana, Zarela Martinez, Americo Circuit and David Garrido .

Early Life

Born in 1952, Pyles received classical training in voice and piano. Nonetheless, he much prefered to apprentice in the kitchen of his family's West Texas truck stop. This was followed by classic training in fine French Cuisine and a 200 plus recipie book entitled "The New Texas Cuisine" which made him nationally recognized by his early thirties. One of the main purposes of Pyles' first book was to demonstrate that there's much more to Lone Star cooking than Tex-Mex and barbecue; in this wide-ranging book, the award-winning chef of Routh Street Cafe presents eclectic and sophisticated Texas recipes.

Pyles owned and operated the Dallas resrautants of Routh Street Cafe and Baby Routh from 1983-1993. He further owned and operated the restautants of Goodfellow’s and Tejas in Minneapolis 1987-1993. In 1994 Pyles opened Star Canyon which would prove to be the restaurant to make Stephan Pyle's career skyrocket. The James Beard Foundation dubbed it one of the top five new restaurants in America and it got raving reviews from Bon Apetit, Esquire Magazine, Town and Country, Playboy and other publications. The September 1998 issue of Food and Wine Magazine listed Star Canyon as the "quintessential Dallas restaurant.

A Soaring Career

In 1997, Pyles opened AquaKnox, a global seafood restaurant, It too was named a best new restaurant by Food and Wine. In 1998, Pyles sold Star Canyon and AquaKnox to Carlson Restaurants WorldWide and during the next two years opened new versions of Star Canyon in Las Vegas, Nevada at The Venetian, Las Vegas Hotel and Resort, and another at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel in Austin, Texas. Back in Dallas he opened FishBowl, a new concept in an Asian-themed restaurant, and a casual Mexican restaurant called Taqueria Cañonita, which was later replicated in several cities around the U.S.A. Throughout his career, Pyles has cooked for dignitaries and celebrities, from HRH Queen Elizabeth II and Mikhail Gorbachev, to rock starMick Jagger and Actress Sharon Stone. He has also appeared around the world as a guest celebrity chef and was one of five chefs worldwide invited to prepare dinner for Jimmy Carter’s 70th birthday. In addition to his first cookbook, The New Texas Cuisine, Pyles has also co-authored "Tamales," "New Tastes from Texas," and Southwestern Vegetarian." He further worked full-time on the PBS T.V. show "New Tastes from Texas. Pyles was also a cuisine consultant for a number of hotel and resort companies as well as for American Airlines.

Change & New Discoveries

In 2001 Pyles took a five year “siesta” from the restaurant world; he used the time to travel, educate, teach, and write. .

Philanthropy and Scholarship Fund

Pyles is a founding board member of Share Our Strength, an international hunger relief organization. In addition, he serves as a life board member of The North Texas Food Bank and is on The National Culinary Advisor’s Board of The Art Institutes. In 1988, he founded Dallas’ Taste of the Nation event, which has raised over $1,500,000 for local ministries and food pantries. He was co-founder of The Hunger Link, Dallas’ perishable food program which links restaurants and hotels with shelters and other feeding programs.

Pyles was the founding concept chef for the nationally acclaimed Dragonfly restaurant at Hotel ZaZa, and he currently serves as a consultant to Ama Lur at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, where he developed the restaurant’s menu and continues to provide culinary direction.

Cookbooks

• The New Texas Cuisine
• Tamales
• New Tastes from Texas
• Southwestern Vegetarian