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    Foodie News

    The best-eating band in America: Iconic Texas chefs power the sweet foodie musicof The Barbwires

    Sarah Rufca
    Sep 13, 2011 | 6:03 am
    • The Barbwires with Johnny Reno, Tim Keating, Chris Rote, Dean Fearing, RobertDel Grande and Peg Honea
    • Robert Del Grande and Dean Fearing performing at RDG + Bar Annie last year
      Photo by Andrea Gibbs/A.G. Photographix
    • Chef Robert Del Grande
      Photo by Michelle Watson/LastNightPics.com

    Bands get groupies for all sorts of reasons. Maybe it's the potential to have a song written for you. Maybe it's the tight pants. It's definetely something to do with the swagger.

    But when your band is The Barbwires, and your leads are two of Texas' most famous chefs, Robert Del Grande (of RDG and The Grove, among others) and Dean Fearing (who rose to fame at The Mansion on Turtle Creek and now owns Fearing's in Dallas), it's the combination of a funky Texas twang and some legendary post-gig meals that makes fans of foodies and famous musicians alike.

    In the 1980s, Del Grande and Fearing, along with Stephan Pyles and others, established their own takes on a new southwestern cuisine and began traveling and presenting dinners together around the country, gaining national recognition for a food movement that would later earn each one of them a James Beard Award.

    "We called it the room service tour — nobody ate better room service than us," Fearing says. "Thirty people, 11 room service carts, these are the days when you could sign it all off. I'd go back to The Mansion and turn in a $700 bill for room service."

    The tours only began to include music after Robert's wife Mimi let it slip to Fearing that all her husband did when he wasn't cooking was "play that damn guitar." Fearing told him to bring it along, and over the chords of Derek and the Dominos' "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad," a band was born.

    "We called it the room service tour — nobody ate better room service than us," Fearing tells CultureMap. "Thirty people, 11 room service carts, these are the days when you could sign it all off. I'd go back to The Mansion and turn in a $700 bill for room service. Robert and I would be playing and everyone would be singing.

    "Stephan Pyles even went to school for voice lessons. It was amazing. As time went on other chefs would bring their guitars so it became a giant jam session — we'd have guitars, base players, drummers on anything in the room that could make a beat, we were having fun with it."

    It wasn't for another decade that the jam sessions would turn into a serious musical concept. By 2000 the main players were Fearing and Del Grande, who decided that they should give the band a name and start writing their own music. With Fearing in Dallas and Del Grande based in Houston, the writing process took place long distance, with Del Grande sending Fearing lyrics and Fearing coming up with a tune, the two playing guitar back and forth into telephones and trying to replicate and riff on what the other came up with.

    With inspirations ranging from Crosby, Stills and Nash to Buffalo Springfield and The Byrds, the duo settled into a rockabilly/surfer country sound that combined several genres while remaining true to a unique Texas musical identity.

    "The whole cooking idea was to have something that resembled what Texas was all about, something you’d call the home flavor, that we would be different from New England or California," Del Grande says. "And sound-wise, too, we wanted to be a Texas sound, as opposed to Nashville, because Texas has all the sounds, between country, western, blues, folk, etc. I was always keen on what the sound should be.

    "They do kinda fit together and they should make sense together. It would be strange if we were cooking Texas food and we were in a waltz band or heavy metal or something."

    While the name The Barbwires evokes a classically tough Texas vibe, the original idea was a little less polished. According to Robert Del Grande, it all started as a (somewhat corny) homage to the classic bands that included the players' names in the title. "I said hey, it’ll be Dean Fearing and the Bob Wires, and I’ll be Bob, and the band will be The Wires and I’ll run the band and you’ll be Dean Fearing. And the next thing I know, Food and Wine magazine is calling me and says they’re doing a little story about our band, and they wanted to know 'Do you spell that B-a-r-b-e-d Wires or B-a-r-b-w-i-r-e-s?'

    "I knew if I explained it was actually the Bob Wires it would sound stupid, so I was like, 'Yes, B-a-r-b, Barbwires.' And then it went to print, so that’s that."

    The Barbwires took the band up a notch when the Del Grande/Fearing duo gained some experienced backers, including famed saxophonist Johnny Reno.

    "All the musicians now are big food and wine guys, and Johnny Reno, the saxophone player, he lives in Fort Worth and started coming to a lot of my cooking classes," Fearing says. "I couldn't believe that Johnny Reno, who I've seen a hundred times, was interested in my cooking. We got to be friends and he said, 'Hey let me bring my sax,' and eventually said, 'Hey, let me bring my band and we'll be your band.' So his band started to be The Barbwires."

    The bold-name list of Barbwires doesn't end with Reno. The guest list reads like a who's who of both chefs and Texas musicians, including Norman Van Aken (harmonica), Tim Keating (vocals), Joe Abuso (bass), Mickey Raphael, Steve Winwood, Wynonna, Buffalo Springfield's Richie Furay and Jimmy Messina.

    "It's fun because all these people are big foodies," Fearing says. "I can die peacefully now, I played with all my idols."

    "We’re the best-eating band in America," Del Grande says. "It’s always about food and wine and what’s the scotch today?"

    The band has released a studio album, 2007's Bliss and Blisters, and unites for live gigs a couple times a year, including a performance in Houston on Tuesday night at the Second Annual Best Cellars Celebrity Dinner. But as much as Fearing and Del Grande dig the music, food is never far from the scene.

    "We’re the best-eating band in America," Del Grande says. "It’s always about food and wine and what’s the scotch today? If you played and food and wine were really important to you, you could join. Dean was a friend of Mickey Raphael’s brother — Mickey, of course, plays harmonica with Willie Nelson. So Mickey came and played with us, and then we had dinner. We’ve got all the amps and stuff lined up and there a table with white linen and everything in the corner, so we were set up for a little five-course dinner. We pour the wine, fill up the plates, and Mickey is like, 'Wow! You guys do this all the time?'

    "We said this is just kinda how we do things. Because that was always part of it. We would never play and not eat. Even now with our squad who are professional musicians, it’s always, 'You wanna play? You wanna eat?' "

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    and the winner is...

    Innovative Houston chef is the city's newest James Beard Award winner

    Eric Sandler
    Jun 17, 2025 | 6:00 am
    James Beard Awards 2025 Thomas Bille Belly of the Beast
    Photo by Getty Images for James Beard Foundation
    Thomas Bille is Houston's newest James Beard Award winner.

    Add another Houston chef to the city’s growing list of James Beard Award winners. Thomas Bille, chef-owner of Belly of the Beast in Spring, earned Best Chef: Texas at the James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony.

    Held at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on Monday, June 16, Bille was one of five finalists for the award, along with fellow Houstonian Emmanuel Chavez (Tatemo), Emil Oliva (Leche de Tigre in San Antonio), Regino Rojas (Purépecha in Dallas), and Michael Anthony Serva, (Bordo in Marfa). Neither of Houston’s other finalists — Mexico City-inspired cafe Casaema (formerly known as Ema) for Best New Restaurant and fine dining tasting menu restaurant March for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program — earned awards in their categories.

    A Los Angeles native who moved to the Houston area to be closer to his wife’s family, Bille took a winding path to his James Beard Award. He opened the first iteration of Belly of the Beast in 2020 as a chef-driven taqueria that was known for its ceviches and birria tacos. He then spent about a year at Chivos, an ambitious but short-lived Mexican-American restaurant in the Heights.

    In late 2023, he and his wife Elizabeth opened a new version of Belly of the Beast in a Spring shopping center. It showcased a broader array of Bille’s skills, with a wide-ranging menu that pulled from global flavors — lamb shank rendang, anyone? — that included meat, seafood, and pastas. The new restaurant quickly earned wide acclaim, including a Bib Gourmand in the 2024 Michelin Guide and CultureMap Tastemaker Award nominations for both Restaurant of the Year and Chef of the Year.

    “I feel a depth of gratitude,” Bille tells CultureMap in a text message. “Knowing that my wife and I were able to reopen on our own terms. Gratitude for my family, staff, and guests to give us love and support. It is much appreciated.”

    In an interview from the ceremony shared by the James Beard Foundation, Bille paid tribute to his wife, Elizabeth, for her role in the restaurant’s success.

    “The risk that my wife and I took to open this restaurant is more than worth it. My wife left her industry, she was a national director for nonprofit organization,” he said. “I said, ‘We’re going to reopen Belly of the Beast. I need you with me side-by-side the whole time.’ The first iteration she held down her job and supported us. With her at my wide, I’m able to focus on the kitchen, on the food, and mentoring my cooks. Able to see the bigger picture instead of just being in the weeds all the time.”

    Bille is the second Houstonian to win Best Chef: Texas, joining Street to Kitchen chef-owner Benchawan Jabthong Painter, who won in 2023. Since the category of Best Chef: Texas has only been awarded since 2022, Bille is the first man to earn the title. Prior to being its own region, the James Beard Foundation included Texas in the Southwest, where chefs Robert Del Grande (Cafe Annie), Chris Shepherd (Underbelly), Justin Yu (Oxheart), and Hugo Ortega (Hugo’s) all won awards.

    The only other Texas finalist to win his category was Arjav Ezekiel of Birdie's in Austin, who became the first winner of Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, one of three beverage-oriented categories the foundation added for 2025.

    In addition to Bille and Ezekiel, Texam Chad Houser, founder of Cafe Momentum in Dallas, received the Humanitarian of the Year Award. Toni Tipton-Martin, a Houston-based author, scholar, and journalist, received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Houstonian Alba Huerta, who won Outstanding Beverage Program for her bar Julep in 2022, presented one of the night’s awards.

    “It’s with deep celebration that we congratulate the 2025 Restaurant and Chef Award winners — distinguished culinary, beverage, and hospitality leaders whose talent and vision are shaping our dining landscape,” said Clare Reichenbach, CEO, James Beard Foundation, in a statement. “These outstanding professionals are the epitome of ‘Good Food for Good,’ elevating our industry’s standards and redefining what’s possible in American cuisine.”

    James Beard Awards 2025 Thomas Bille Belly of the Beast
      

    Photo by Getty Images for James Beard Foundation

    Thomas Bille is Houston's newest James Beard Award winner.

    awardsjames beard awardchefsthomas billebelly of the beast
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