At 27, Graham Elliot made history as the youngest chef to earn four stars from a major publication. But his journey didn’t stop there. After securing two Michelin stars in 2013, Elliot turned his creative energy back to his roots, crafting cuisine inspired by the flavors of his hometown. Since 2022, he’s joined forces with chef Felipe Armenta under the banner of Far Out Hospitality, blending regional passion with flair to create a distinctive dining experience.
Far Out Hospitality is true to its name, with concepts ranging from Cowboy Prime Steakhouse to the French bistro Le Margot to the coastal seafood-focused Pacific Table. Far Out Hospitality is centralized in the Fort Worth, Texas metro area, and operates nearly 20 restaurants, with concepts including The Grill, Tavern, Press Cafe, F1 Smokehouse, Pacific Table, Maria’s Mexican Kitchen, Towne Grill, Cowboy Prime, and Le Margot, with more to come. Pacific Table recently opened its third location in Southlake, marking the brand’s continued expansion in North Texas.
Founders: Felipe Armenta and Graham Elliot
HQ: Fort Worth, Texas
Cuisine type: Pacific Northwest Inspired
Number of units: 3
Year founded: 2013
Elliot himself hails from the Pacific Northwest, specifically Seattle. As the son of a 32-year U.S. Navy Captain, he says, “I ended up moving all over the world and was exposed to lots of foods, so I was always excited by that.” At 17, his family settled down in Virginia, where Elliot worked as a dishwasher and busboy, and where he says he “fell in love with the kitchen, and I’ve been doing that since.”
During COVID, Elliot was living in Hawaii, and found himself looking for a next step in his culinary career. He had done a culinary internship in Dallas and was faced with an opportunity to return to North Texas after speaking with Armenta. The goal of Far Out Hospitality when Elliot joined the team was to drive innovation and expand their portfolio of restaurant concepts and offerings. For Elliot, the choice to come on board was a “no-brainer.”
His since-closed Graham Elliot Bistro was one of only 15 American restaurants at the time to receive two Michelin stars. The restaurant was French-inspired and a mix between fine and casual dining. With Far Out’s Le Margot now under his wing as an executive chef, Elliot has continued cooking and creating with a French flair. “Based in technique and classics,” he says, Le Margot offers splashes of caviar and flambé alongside a chef-driven tasting menu.
While he enjoys the modern contemporality of French cuisine, Elliot says, “If it’s not broken, break it. If you look at a tomato, is it sliced caprese salad, or a tomato sorbet with basil panna cotta, or a tomato chutney that’s stewed over grilled scallops and corn puree?” Elliot suggests, “coming at [cooking] with this open mind, as opposed to ‘It’s only Japanese cuisine’ or ‘You can’t diverge from this Italian because that’s the concept.’”
Breaking boundaries is what Elliot enjoys doing in his culinary endeavors, creating dishes “based in spontaneity.”
Pacific Table has been open for over 10 years, so returning customers already have their go-to dishes that are known and loved. “There’s always [room] to tweak [these classics]: try and make it better, use new ingredients, how it’s actually prepared,” says Elliot. “But, being able to take 25 percent of the menu and switch it around and offer features, that’s a good way to continue to push it forward.”
While Pacific Table is rooted in its fresh coastal seafood items, its new Southlake location has upped the ante in its menu list. All three locations have a sushi program that has fish flown in daily from Hawaii, but Southlake’s summer menu included stone crab claws, which Elliot notes costs the company nearly $30 a pound. “A lot of restaurants don’t have the ability to cover that, so the fact that we are a great restaurant also business-wise in the back-end, it’s rewarding.”
“You do a lot of high-end cuisine and fine dining where people are coming in for an anniversary or birthday, you’re trying to break even because you’re doing this really immaculate type of food and service,” he says. “With Pacific Table, [we’re] able to still offer these ingredients and beautiful food that’s delicious, but I found a way through Felipe and [Far Out Hospitality] to learn how to make that profitable at the same time.”
Despite his 30 years of experience in the restaurant industry, Elliot says he most enjoys “giving guests food that they love. They keep coming back, repeat customers, in the volume that we do, and it’s exciting because it shows that I can continue to learn things on my journey.”
Elliot’s travels around the world and to all 50 states have had a major impact on his menu curation at Pacific Table. “Pacific Table in general [has] a lot of ocean influence, as well as California. You’ve got sushi, grilled artichokes, beautiful smoked salmon, and something cooked on a cedar plank that gives it that Northwest flair. It’s near and dear to me.”
After working at a restaurant in California, Armenta was inspired by the oceanside ingredients and the methods of cooking he was exposed to. Upon moving back to his native Texas, Armenta opened Pacific Table, selling sushi, sashimi, salads, and vegetable dishes with a distinct Pacific Northwest flair.
Elliot notes, chuckling, “Texas first, America second. There’s no place that has more love for where they’re from and who they are than Texas, and I’ve always loved being down here.” Still, Elliot asserts that there is no restaurant like Pacific Table, saying, “Being one of the first ones to do that [type of cuisine], especially here in Fort Worth, I think it really came at the right time.”
Pacific Table’s menus differ slightly from location to location, based on the specific market. Southlake has distinct features, such as the lobster roll, but their signature clam chowder is seen on all three menus.
“That’s how I love to work and cook,” says Elliot, “being able to get excited and switch things around all the time, it’s a blessing.”
The concept has resonated so well with the Fort Worth community that a downtown Dallas location will be opening soon in 2025. Amid their expansion, Elliot believes that the concept can maintain its brand DNA and coastal cuisine by “staying true to the original vision, looking to the Pacific coast, drawing from the ingredients, and finding a way to implement that into whatever location you’re in.”
