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This week’s cover story about Tim Love wasn’t just about the local celebrity chef’s allegedly prickly personality. It also discussed his restaurant successes and failures, his rocky relationship with TCU and The Colonial, and his upcoming reality television show. But most of the social media chatter about the story, penned by Jeff Prince, is about Love’s less than charming demeanor.

Love already isn’t crazy about Fort Worth Weekly. He refused to be interviewed for the cover story, and hasn’t spoken to the Weekly in years.

In June of last year, Vishal Malhotra, a photographer for the Weekly, was kicked out of the Woodshed Smokehouse restaurant in retaliation for an unflattering review of Love’s relaunch of the Oui Lounge, written by Steve Steward.

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“I told [the manager who kicked him out] I had nothing to do with Steve’s article,” Malhotra  said. “And he said, ‘that’s the way Tim wants it.’ ”

If Love was mad at the Weekly before this week, an article in Esquire Magazine posted today might break his sauce. The article, titled “Which Celebrity Chef Douchebag Are You?” compares Love to Boston celebrity chef Todd English, and references Prince’s article:

“As the Fort Worth Weekly noted, he takes offense easily, and has a tendency to lash out, ejecting an octopus-like jet of vinegar and water at his enemies,” the story says. “In his personal life, Love is above reproach: a devoted family man, he has to my knowledge never been accused of being a womanizer, a fact which I, as a married man, hold against him. The articles make clear that there is more to the chefs’ misfortunes than just their personal styles. Love, by the look of things, seems overextended; he has been in the culinary brand-name game a relatively short time, where English is a past master of the art, who licenses his name and debauches co-eds with equal ease. Love, for all his hucksterism, has never truly embraced his destiny, and continues to be wounded by the slights thrown his way by public and press…”

9 COMMENTS

  1. I’d nominate Matt McAlister of Dallas as the biggest Douchbag chef.
    His right arm has been stretched by his constantly patting himself on the back while saying “I’m the greatest”

  2. When out in public he actually wears shirts with the following embroidered on the back: Tim Love – Chef. What a douche!

  3. Love was actually really nice to me one time when a waiter spilled BBQ sauce on my shirt. He comp’ed my whole family’s meal and even offered to pay my dry cleaning bill. Definitely not dbag behavior…

  4. I am a relative of a FW chef so I am almost always in attendance at fort worth chef events and pay attention to the local foodie scene closely. Chef Love is ALWAYS the least accommodating, the biggest pain in the ass, the hardest to engage, the most full of himself, etc. I can attribute some of that to his national stature or celebrity, but there are many times when Stephen Pyles or Dean Fearing are in attendance and they are so much more capable of making people feel welcome or engaging in small talk without being obviously put out by the event. I’ve said it for years: Love is more enamored with his national image than what the folks in Fort Worth think. From afar, he’s great. From nearby, the emperor chef has no clothes. As more and more people get to know him, the local image will creep into the national mind, or Esquire.

  5. I used to work with an aspiring chef, who once told me an interesting story. She’d attended a private event where Tim Love was (not in his honor or anything for him) and she was so star stuck, given that she aspires to be what he has become. When she tried introducing herself during the casual event, he refused to acknowledge her and was an ass. Her friend approached him, yelled at and humiliated him for treating a fan so disrespectfully. Needless to say, my friend (who is a sweetheart btw) is no longer a fan of his, and I refuse to ever go to any of his restaurants with my friends for his nasty attitude.

  6. The thing I like most about my piece in Esquire is that it calls out TL, at long last, for his shameless knocking-off of Smoke and Shake Shack. If you’re going to be a douchebag, at least be an original one. The annoying thing about Love’s shtick is that it’s based on nothing. Unless Lonesome Dove is a great restaurant and a culinary trailblazer. Which it obviously isn’t.

  7. every time i have met this guy he was 100% d-ba and the woodshed has to be the worst place in fort worth. i have given it 3 tries and all 3 times have been swarmed by flies while trying to eat a sub par meal.

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