Dallas’ Kitchen LTO (formerly in Trinity Groves) will re-open in Deep Ellum at 2901 Elm Street on October 25 with Executive Chef Josh Harmon and Melissa Ellis as the featured artist.
Created by Casie Caldwell (founder of Greenz Salads and co-owner of Pink Magnolia), Kitchen LTO changes every six months as a new chef rotates in and introduces a new menu concept. Simultaneously, a new artist will install his/her artwork. Essentially, it is limited time only “LTO,” where a new restaurant is unveiled twice per year.
While the overall concept has stayed the same, some slight modifications are being made in its transition to Deep Ellum.
Caldwell, who has discarded the original voting process says, “I think Deep Ellum is perfect for a chef-driven restaurant with raw and rising talent in an area of our city that is especially supportive of independents and artistic endeavors. The space is intimate and purposely designed like a gallery which will allow the chefs’ food and artists’ work to be the star of the show.”
She and her management team will interview and choose the chefs while Ellie Visconti will serve as the Art Curator through newly named “Gallery LTO” where multiple artists may be featured during the six-month rotation. Also new is guests can literally walk into the kitchen, enjoy a cocktail (behind glass) and watch the chef in action.
Born in Tennessee, raised in Texas and graduating high school in LA, Chef Harmon was exposed to an array of different cultures that would play a big role in the way he cooks today. Harmon has trained and staged in some of the best kitchens in the states, from David Burke’s Townhouse, to Buddhakan in the Chelsea Market, Le Cirque in the Bloomberg Tower to Grace in Fort Worth as well as FT33 and Driftwood in Dallas.
When Harmon returned to Texas in 2012, he became chef de cuisine at The Milk & Honey Co. where he received multiple accolades. After leaving Milk & Honey in 2013, Harmon went to Grace and worked as chef de partie with Chefs Blain Staniford, Victor Villarreal, and Ryan Martin. In 2014, Harmon took the lead cook position at Savor in Dallas with Chefs Matt Hanke and Joe Sigliano.
He most recently created the new seasonally driven globally influenced French menu at Main Street Bistro & Bakery in Grapevine.
More emphasis will be placed on artists than before with Ellie Visconti serving as Art Curator for Gallery LTO. Visconti, a 15-year veteran of the Dallas design and art scene has chosen Melissa Ellis to be the first featured artist. Ellis is a Native Texan and East Dallas resident specializing in abstract and contemporary nature oil paintings. Her bold use of color is apparent in all of her work, from large-scale heavily textured abstracts, to delicate paintings of flowers, plants and trees. She uses creative and unique techniques, often using a palette knife, to create motion, texture, and depth.
