10 Questions With Texas Chef Tim Love
I had a chance to chat with chef Tim Love at the Hammer Stahl Cutlery Booth during the Music City Food + Wine 2016. Predominantly known as a Western-food chef, Love is the owner of five restaurants in Texas: Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Woodshed Smokehouse, Queenie's Steakhouse, Love Shack, and White Elephant Saloon. Recently, the chef branched out to his alma mater of Knoxville, Tennessee, to open his flagship Lonesome Dove Western Bistro and Love Shack.
He has most recently hopped on one of the hottest trends in the beverage industry as a creator of a new American-made rosé, named Love and Hope, in collaboration with winemaker Austin Hope.
I asked Love 10 questions that help us get to know him a little better:
The Daily Meal: What's something the general public doesn't know about being a chef?
Tim Love: That it really is hard work.
You wake up at 3 a.m. and you're starving. What are you eating?
Nachos
Do you have any nicknames?
Dr. Love
What advice do you have for anyone who wants to be a chef?
Keep your head down, work hard, and don't ever think about the next project.
Do you have a Nashville food craving? That place you have to eat at when you come to town.
City House and its Margherita pizza.
What is your spirit animal?
Unicorn because nobody knows what a unicorn is; they just talk about it.
If you could have entrance music or a theme song when you walked into a room, what would it be?
Van Halen, Kings of Leon, Kiss, Eminem. [eds: his entrance must be lengthy.]
Documentaries excluded, which film or TV show is the most accurate representation of restaurant/chef life?
I don't think there is one. Chef with Jon Favreau has a little something to it. Nobody knows what it means to be a chef. They don't. Nobody has any clue about the pressure, the stress, and the amount of time you're in the fetal position. Nobody knows it. Nobody ever will. I mean Anthony Bourdain tried to unveil it [with Kitchen Confidential], but I'm telling you nobody knows what we do unless you're in it.
What is the food fad, or movement, or craze that you just don't get?
The push for a vegan movement that doesn't really exist. It's like social media; it's for self-indulgence. We're all still walking, standing, drinking, and eating meat, and none of us are dying. I don't push the meat on you, so why do you push the vegan on me? I just don't like when people want to put their beliefs onto me. Do whatever you want. Do what you do.
Dogs or cats? And why.
Dogs. Cats are weird.