Tim Love is a

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

best known for urban western cuisine. He is the owner and executive chef of several

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

-area restaurants including the historic White Elephant Saloon, the Love Shack, Tannahill's Tavern and Music Hall, the Woodshed Smokehouse, Gemelle with micro-hotel Hotel Otto as well as his flagship restaurant Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in the historic

Fort Worth Stockyards The Fort Worth Stockyards is a historic district that is located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, north of the central business district. A portion encompassing much of the district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as F ...

Early life and education

Born and raised in

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, Denton County. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the List of cities in Texas by population, 20th-most populous city in Texas, the List of Un ...

, Love was the youngest of seven children. He graduated from

Denton High School Denton High School is a public high school located in the city of Denton, Texas and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Denton Independent School District located in central Denton County and was the original high school f ...

. He graduated from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in Business.

Career

Love began working in restaurant kitchens in Knoxville while he was attending the University of Tennessee. He worked in restaurants in Knoxville and Colorado before returning to Texas. Love opened his first restaurant, Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, in June 2000. He bought the White Elephant Saloon in 2002. Love opened two restaurants in 2006, Duce in Fort Worth and Lonesome Dove Western Bistro NYC in Manhattan's Chelsea district. Lonesome Dove Western Bistro NYC closed in March 2007 after six months, which included unfavorable reviews by the New York Times and ''New York'' magazine. Duce is sold in 2008 to a Chicago chef. In 2007, he opened a burger restaurant, Love Shack, in the Stockyards. His restaurants expanded to the Fort Worth riverfront in 2012 with the opening of the Woodshed Smokehouse, and in 2013 he opened Queenie’s Steakhouse in his hometown of Denton. New Lonesome Dove locations followed in Austin in 2015 and Knoxville in 2016. In 2019, he opened Gemelle, an Italian restaurant in Fort Worth, and in January 2020 opened Ático, a rooftop tapas bar in the Stockyards. Houston locations of Woodshed Smokehouse and Love Shack, and a Houston location of his doughnut concept, Side Dough, opened in March 2020 and closed in August 2022. Also in 2022, Love opened Caterina's, an Italian restaurant, Paloma Suerte, a Mexican restaurant, and Tannahill's, a tavern and music venue, all in Fort Worth.

Other ventures

Television

Love's first television appearance was a 2007 episode of ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, wh ...

'', where he defeated Japanese Iron Chef

Masaharu Morimoto is a Japanese chef, best known as an Iron Chef on the Japanese TV cooking show ''Iron Chef'' and its spinoff ''Iron Chef America''. He is also known for his unique style of presenting food. Career Morimoto was born in Hiroshima, where he rece ...

in Battle Chile Pepper. He has appeared as a contestant on ''

Top Chef Masters ''Top Chef Masters'' is an American reality competition series that aired on the cable television network Bravo (American TV network), Bravo, and premiered June 10, 2009. It is a spinoff (media), spinoff of Bravo's hit show ''Top Chef''. In the ...

'', '' The Next Iron Chef'', and ''

Knife Fight A knife fight is a violent physical confrontation between two or more combatants in which one or more participants are armed with a knife.MacYoung, Marc, ''Winning A Street Knife Fight'', (Digital format, 70 min.), Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, ( ...

'', as a guest judge on episodes of '' Chopped'' and ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...

'', and co-hosted the series ''

Restaurant Startup ''Restaurant Startup'' is an American food competition series that aired for three seasons on CNBC, from 2014 to 2016. In the show, two judge-investors meet with aspiring chefs, taste their food, hear their concept and decide whom they want to s ...

''. In 2025, he was a contestant in season 6 of ''

Tournament of Champions A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

''.

References

External links

* * Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American chefs American restaurateurs Chefs from Texas People from Denton, Texas University of Tennessee alumni Place of birth missing (living people) {{chef-stub