Top Fort Worth Chefs Share Their Favorite Holiday Traditions — How Restaurant Maestros Celebrate at Home

Fort Worth chefs often put in long hours through the holidays so diners can spend time together with loved ones at beloved restaurants like Emilia’s, Provender Hall and Clay Pigeon. Amid the hustle of the busiest time of year, we caught up with some top Fort Worth chefs who shared the family traditions they hold onto during this festive time of year.

Chef Victor Villarreal

After three decades in the food service industry, Chef Victor Villarreal tells us that finding time to gather as a family has always required careful planning. Whether Victor, his wife Misty and their family go out for dinner or head to his sister’s home for chicken flautas and menudo, Villarreal notes it’s a “special time”

“We are a blended family,” he says. “When (Misty and I) get the holiday to ourselves, we enjoy crabs, caviar, coconut cake and champagne. That’s the point — to have a good time and relax.”

Villarreal recently started a monthly dinner series held at the Star Cafe and Cocktail’s side dining room, which Villarreal calls the Devil’s Den. As GM and executive chef at the Star Cafe, life is busy for the venerable Fort Worth chef. These days he’s learned to enjoy home life and time with his kids. Treasuring those moments.

“Now that we have our dogs and kids, I’m enjoying being back to a family man,” Villarreal tells PaperCity Fort Worth.

Chef Jenna Kinard

Chef Jenna Kinard has much to be grateful for these days. This spring will see the opening of three projects she will head as executive chef: The Public Market Cafe & Goods, Bar Willow and a lavish Southern food restaurant dubbed Madrone. Coming from a big family means Christmas Day dinners are usually potluck-style, she notes.

“It’s nothing fancy or overthought,”  Kinnard says. “Everyone just brings their go-to dish like most families do. And yet somehow, every single year, we still end up with five whole turkeys and two hams. No one plans it. It just happens.

“At this point, it’s basically our tradition that we each get a huge bag of leftovers to take home and eat over the next week, which we’re all totally OK with.”

Chef Marcus Paslay

Clay Pigeon Chef Marcus Paslay’s kids and guests alike look forward to making sugar cookies from an old family recipe during the holidays. With an array of colorful icing and candy toppings, the tradition becomes a fun — and admittedly messy — way to unwind and spend time with friends. Christmas Eve comes with its own traditions of candlelight service at church, followed by dinner at the home of Paslay’s parents, and then each family member opens one present.

“Mom always cooks pot roast,” he says. “I’ll bring a side item, bake bread, or make a dessert. I might roast butternut squash with brown butter, sage, Marcona almonds, and dried cranberries. We make a sweet cornbread with honey butter to slather over the top.”

To Paslay, the holidays are a time to celebrate Jesus’ birth and spend time with friends and family. The Fort Worth chef and restaurateur says he is grateful for his family’s good health and the success of his restaurants during a challenging time for the entire industry.