Chef Tim Love opened Lonesome Dove in the Fort Worth Stockyards 25 years ago this May.
Chef Tim Love opened Lonesome Dove in the Fort Worth Stockyards 25 years ago this May.
Chef Tim Love opened Lonesome Dove in the Fort Worth Stockyards 25 years ago this May.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Before the skyline, before the name recognition, before the culinary empire — there was a window. A small window in the heart of the Fort Worth Stockyards.
“I found this little spot here,” Chef Tim Love says, remembering the moment that changed everything. “I looked through the window and I called the people… it was cheap.”
That little spot became Lonesome Dove, the first of what would grow into more than a dozen restaurant concepts across Fort Worth, down Highway 35 to Austin, and out east to Knoxville, Tennessee.
But back then — 25 years ago this May — it was just an empty room, and two friends determined to build something out of nothing.
For two weeks, they worked with their own hands: installing fixtures, crafting the furniture, even creating the artwork that still drapes the walls. A hand-drawn map — a Tim Love original — remains a silent witness to the early days of grit, dreams, and determination.
“We built Lonesome Dove ourselves,” Love said to WFAA in an empty dining room before the restaurant opened its doors for the day.
Today, Love’s name is synonymous with Texas dining. His empire spans 14 restaurants and employs about 1,000 people, drawing food lovers, tourists, and even national attention to the Stockyards and beyond. With every new concept, he’s helped reshape the area’s identity to a dynamic culinary destination.
But Love is quick to say there’s no secret ingredient to his success. Just hard work.
“This business isn’t built for people who want to work 50-hour weeks,” he said. “It’s a 100-hour week business. That doesn’t make it right, wrong, or make anybody cool — but if you wanna be in it, you gotta work.”
That relentless spirit has not only fueled Love’s career but also helped drive a larger transformation, turning the Stockyards into a vibrant hub of food, music, and culture.
After 25 years, Tim Love’s story is a testament to what grit, vision, and a lot of elbow grease can achieve — and he’s still just getting started.
Love said he is celebrating 25 years of Lonesome Dove with a 25-course tasting menu, by reservation only.