Fort Worth Chef Tim Love Prepares to Invade Austin With Lonesome Dove

The original Lonesome Dove in Fort Worth. [Photo: Malcolm Mayhew/EDFW]

Top Chef-judging, wild game-cooking, Hellman's mayo-hawking Fort Worth chef Tim Love is preparing to invade downtown Austin. A rumor began circulating yesterday on Reddit that Kenichi would close to make way for a concept from Love, and the chef confirmed the news earlier today on Twitter, announcing plans to open a second location of his Lonesome Dove Western Bistro. A phone call to Kenichi went unanswered, but Austin 360 is also reporting the closure. As they point out, Love — who's currently starring in the new CNBC reality show Restaurant Startup alongside restaurateur Joe Bastianich — has a significant presence at ACL and the Austin Food & Wine Festival and "has long mentioned his desire to open a restaurant in Austin."

The original Lonesome Dove is located in Fort Worth's historic Stockyards, a major tourist draw; the restaurant is heavily decked out in taxidermy with a menu that showcases wild game dishes like rattlesnake-rabbit sausage, wild boar ribs and antelope carpaccio nachos, plus a gigantic wagyu tomahawk ribeye steak that clocks in at a cool $145. The 14-year-old Fort Worth location closed last summer after being devastated by a fire, but it reopened just two months later.

· @ChefTimLove [Twitter]
· Fort Worth Chef Tim Love Headed to Downtown Austin [Austin 360]
· Kenichi to Close [Reddit]
· Lonesome Dove [Official]