{{short description|Chef}} {{BLP sources|date=April 2018}} '''Tim Love''' is a chef best known for urban western cuisine. He is the owner and executive chef of several Fort Worth-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.
==Early life and education== Born and raised in Denton, Texas, Love was the youngest of seven children.<ref name="eatslaylove">{{cite news|last=Kendall|first=Brian|title=Eat. Slay. Love.|url=https://fwtx.com/eat-drink/eat-slay-love/|work=Fort Worth Magazine|date=February 1, 2023}}</ref> He graduated from Denton High School.<ref>{{cite news|title=Love Story: Celebrity chef Tim Love discusses his Denton roots|url=https://www.dentoncountymagazine.com/influencers_innovators/love-story/article_79cd5130-adc4-11eb-8443-db402e6c10e1.html|work=Denton County Magazine|date=November 1, 2020}}</ref> He graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in Business. <ref>{{cite web|title=Tim Love (’94)|url=https://alumni.utk.edu/tim-love-94|date=2017|publisher=The University of Tennessee}}</ref>
==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.<ref>{{cite news|last=Naylor|first=June|title=The Story Behind Fort Worth Chef Tim Love’s Restaurant Empire |url=https://texashighways.com/food-drink/eateries/story-behind-fort-worth-chef-tim-love-restaurant-empire/|work=Texas Highways|date=November 2020}}</ref> He bought the White Elephant Saloon in 2002.<ref name="rootinest">{{cite news|first=Eve|last=Hill-Agnus|title=Tim Love: The Rootinest, Tootinest, Doggone Shootinest Chef in the West |url=https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2012/december/tim-love-the-rootinest-doggone-shootinest-chef-in-the-west/|work=D Magazine|date=November 14, 2012}}</ref>
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<ref>{{cite news |last=Bruni|first=Frank|title=A Texas Saloon Rides Into Town|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/dining/reviews/15rest.html|work=New York Times|date=November 15, 2006}}</ref> and ''New York'' magazine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/lonesome-dove-western-bistro/|title = The Thousand Best}}{{Dead link|date=March 2025}}</ref> Duce is sold in 2008 to a Chicago chef.<ref>{{cite news|last=Barker James|first=Laurie|title=Rings of Fire|url=https://www.fwweekly.com/2008/08/13/rings-of-fire-ii/|work=Fort Worth Weekly|date=August 13, 2008|access-date=March 2, 2025|quote=In addition to a new name and new owners, the restaurant formerly known as Duce also has a new concept. Gone are former owner Tim Love’s tapas....}}</ref>
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,<ref name="rootinest"/> and in 2013 he opened Queenie’s Steakhouse at the location of a Love Shack that he closed in his hometown of Denton.
New Lonesome Dove locations followed in Austin in 2015<ref>{{cite web|last=Filloon|first=Whitney|title=Fort Worth Chef Tim Love Prepares to Invade Austin With Lonesome Dove|url=https://austin.eater.com/2014/8/12/6171939/fort-worth-chef-tim-love-prepares-to-invade-austin-with-lonesome-dove|work=Eater Austin|date=August 12, 2014}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|first=Scott|last=Nishimura|title=Love's Style|url=https://fwtx.com/fortworth/love%E2%80%99s-style/|work=Fort Worth Magazine|date=March 9, 2020}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web|first=Eric |last=Sandler|title=Texas celebrity chef Tim Love pulls the plug on his 3 Houston restaurants|url=https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/08-29-22-woodshed-smokehouse-love-shack-side-dough-restaurants-levy-park-closed-shuttered-chef-tim-love/|work=Culture Map Houston|date=August 29, 2022}}</ref> 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.<ref name="eatslaylove"/>
==Other ventures== ===Television=== Love's first television appearance was a 2007 episode of ''Iron Chef America'', where he defeated Japanese Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto in Battle Chile Pepper. He has appeared as a contestant on ''Top Chef Masters'', ''The Next Iron Chef'', and ''Knife Fight'', as a guest judge on episodes of ''Chopped'' and ''Top Chef'', and co-hosted the series ''Restaurant Startup''. In 2025, he was a contestant in season 6 of ''Tournament of Champions''.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{official website|http://www.cheftimlove.com}} *{{IMDb name|nm3419163}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Love, Tim}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:American restaurateurs Category:Chefs from Texas Category:People from Denton, Texas Category:University of Tennessee alumni Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
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