Chef Brandt Evans Takes On Texas: Nationally Acclaimed Blue Canyon Kitchen, Tavern And Wine Bar

(ROCKWALL, Texas) - Nationally emerging chef Brandt Evans is known for his full-character food and his bigger-than-life persona. The young chef who favors playing the bongos during on-stage food demos is the man behind "Creative American Cooking," his own developed niche in cuisine. He will join the DFW restaurant scene with Blue Canyon Kitchen, Tavern and Wine Bar, opening early 2008 at the anticipated lakefront development in Rockwall, The Harbor at Lake Ray Hubbard.

Evans, a Culinary Institute of America distinguished alum who got his start as sous chef to Charlie Palmer at the lauded Alva in Manhattan. He opened his first restaurant in 2002 in his native Ohio, where the original Blue Canyon Kitchen and Tavern in Twinsburg has earned national recognition, including a recent four-diamond rating from the AAA.



"I define Creative American Cooking as heartwarming comfort food with a tantalizing twist," said Evans. "I want to do more than cook - my food is prepared in a way that wakes up our guests' taste buds so they realize what they've been missing."



The destination restaurant will project the warm and elegant glow of a mountain lodge against multiple views of Lake Ray Hubbard and will feature Evans' specialties such as braised beef short ribs with a smoke Gouda soft polenta as well as a cowboy beef ribeye with smoked blue cheese maple butter.



Innovative appetizers include lobster nachos, Yellowfin tuna tacos and a polenta-crusted calamari with a sweet soy, Thai chili, pickled ginger emulsion. Signature seafood entrees range from pretzel-crusted trout with whole grain mustard caper butter, Tasmanian salmon with a root beer chive glaze sauce and a crab encrusted grouper in a lemongrass emulsion sauce.



To complement his signature dishes, Evans has traveled the wine-producing regions of the world and worked with master winemakers to create a private label collection - from an oaked, rich berry Barbera to his exclusive Madison, a Riesling Brut made in Mosel, Germany with a slight hint of grapefruit.



The Riesling, grown from grapes at some of the highest elevations in Mosel, Germany, was created specifically for Evans' polenta crusted calamari and Thai chili. His Barbera, from fruit harvest in Lodi, California, was made to complement his winter squash sage Gnocchi with tomato goat cheese fondue or pumpkin spaztel with spiced lamb loin.



The classically trained chef partnered with hotelier and salutatorian of his own class at the Culinary Institute of America Bob Voelker and Gateway Hospitality Group to create Blue Canyon Kitchen and Tavern, which in addition to the original location in Ohio, has locations in Kalispell and Missoula, Montana.



For more information: www.bluecanyonrestaurant.com