Smoked out

Fort Worth chef Tim Love pulls the plug on his 3 Houston restaurants

Woodshed Smokehouse Levy Park Tim Love interior

The Houston outlet of Woodshed Smokehouse has closed.

Courtesy of Love Management Inc

Fort Worth chef Tim Love has bid the Bayou City farewell.

The celebrity chef has closed the three restaurants he operated in Houston, two of which were spinoffs of Fort Worth staples, as follows:

Woodshed Smokehouse: his "homage to all things wood grilled, roasted, steamed, braised, and slow-cooked"
Love Shack: the chef's take on a classic burger joint
Side Dough: a double-decker bus serving coffee and pastries

The sudden shutterings end Love's presence in Houston. A notice announcing the closures is posted on both the doors at Woodshed and on the websites of all three restaurants. The original Fort Worth locations of Woodshed Smokehouse and Love Shack both remain open, as well as the Love Shack at DFW Airport.

CultureMap has contacted representatives for Love for comment about the closures. We will update this article when they reply.

First announced in 2017, Love's restaurants debuted with considerable fanfare, opening to the public on March 12, 2020. But their timing couldn't have been worse. One week later, Gov. Greg Abbott closed restaurants for in-person dining on March 21.

Woodshed boasted an expansive patio and flexible indoor-outdoor environment that suited the requirements of pandemic-era dining, but it never quite seemed to achieve notoriety commensurate with Love's celebrity status.

Love may have exited Houston, but he remains a dynamic presence in his hometown. He recently opened Caterina's, an ode to Italian-American food that features an upscale environment and a policy forbidding the use of smartphones while dining. This fall he'll open Tannahill's Tavern & Music Hall, a bar, restaurant, and concert hall, in partnership with Live Nation.

Best known for his flagship restaurant Lonesome Dove, the acclaimed chef operates establishments in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, and Knoxville, TN. He's also a reality TV star known for his appearances on Iron Chef America, Top Chef Masters, and Restaurant Startup, a Shark Tank-style show he hosted with Masterchef judge Joe Bastianich.

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Teresa Gubbins contributed to this article.

chefs parks closings

Fort Worth's acclaimed Heim Barbecue closes location to open another

Courtesy photo

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One of Fort Worth's most celebrated barbecue restaurants is on the move: Heim Barbecue, a small chain that prides itself on traditional Texas style barbecue, is closing its location in Burleston, at 139 W. Ellison St. #101 in the Old Town development.

According to owner Will Churchill, the last day will be December 29.

The Burleson location first opened in 2023 and lasted a year. Churchill says it's closing because it wasn't performing as well as they expected and wasn't the right price range for customers in the area.

"We had really good clients, but our average ticket price — because of the premium products that we use — is a little high for that market," he says. "That falls on us a little bit, but it can't be substantiated in that market."

However, there's a reprieve for BBQ fans in the area, as the chain will open a new location in Weatherford by 2025.

Churchill is not yet divulging the address for Weatherford, but is upbeat on the area. In-the-know locals are speculating that it’ll take the spot of the former Montana’s Restaurant, which closed in November.

"The Weatherford market is growing substantially from an influx of people with a number of restaurants with opening success that makes it a great fit for us," he says.

The menu will be the same but this space will be bigger, with a larger bar and a retail section with frozen meat for sale.

Heim started out as a Fort Worth food truck and became a barbecue hotspot with its brisket and bacon burnt ends. They opened their first brick-and-mortar location in 2016.

Former owners Travis and Emma Heim sold the restaurant in March 2024 to Churchill, who at the time was an operating partner. They have three other locations still up and running, with two in Fort Worth: at the flagship on Magnolia Avenue and in the River District; and one in Dallas on Mockingbird that opened in 2020, near Love Field Airport.

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