For Chef Brian Luscher, Texas is a never-ending story. If there’s any cut of beef that can fill its pages, it’s the flank steak: versatile enough for any flavor profile you can dream up, and big enough to serve everyone you love around a Texas-sized table. Luscher likes his alongside the best of the region—roasted sweet potatoes and bright corn salsa—and so do we.
Cooking is in Luscher’s blood. This son of a Midwestern butcher (who was, in turn, the son of a restaurant owner) was washing dishes professionally by age 12, and set out for his culinary destiny by age 14. Summers were spent at a Wisconsin cattle and produce farm, and by his mid-twenties—after stints opening and running neighborhood restaurants—he landed at The Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park. The rest, as they say, is history: upon graduating, he was promptly recruited by Dallas restaurant maestro Anne Greer McCann.
At The Grape Restaurant, a classic bistro with a Texan twist, Luscher’s calling card is simplicity. It’s a little bit French, a little bit Southern (grilled artichokes and steak frites exist happily alongside hushpuppies and ribs). He’s living his dream, he says; and just like many chefs at the top of their game, that dream now includes helping the cooks who work for him do the same.
Artist: Daniel Krall
Texas is a never-ending story that gets to be told at the table.
Chef Brian Luscher
