Brownstone A local Top Chef rings her Southern bell

When DFW natives leave to get famous, they typically don't return -- Morgan Fairchild took off for LA and never looked back, while the great Billy Joe Tolliver took off for San Diego, Atlanta, Houston, Shreveport, Kansas City, New Orleans, and Green Bay, and now he would totally come back if he had bus fare, but that's not the point. Damn happy to be back in the Metroplex, the woman behind Brownstone, opening June 18.

Brownstone's helmed by Cedar Hill-raised Casey Thompson, who left Dallas for NorCal after nearly winning Season 3 of Top Chef, but's now returned with this cozy modern-Southern kitchen, complete with an antique-mirrored, marble-topped, saloon-like bar, and an antebellum-plush library-lounge with a raised, marble-encased fireplace and bookshelves lined with texts as vintage as your willingness to read. Heavy on local ingredients, the menu of upgraded "food you grew up loving" is revealed by unrolling your parchment napkin wrap, where you'll find starters like PBR'd tomato-broth clams w/ thyme-chorizo mayo dip, the preserve-slathered "Grandmother's Biscuit Pan" w/ venison sausage, a basket of mini chicken-pot pies, and jalapeno-pureed "Pork and Peppers" w/ house-made cheese, chili-mopped Berkshire belly, and Texas honey, who has repeatedly asked you not to call her that. "Heavier Fare" sees buffalo skillet rib-eye w/ dumplings & roasted 'shrooms, a 1/2lb brisket-chuck burger w/ Brazos Valley cheddar & waffle fries, and a Texas Wagyu skirt w/ buttered pan taters; sides range from "Slow Cooked Heirloom Pinto Beans and Cornbread" to "Chef's Favorite Soup": chicory chicken noodle with a poached farm egg, who's thrilled to be surrounded by chicks at such an early age.

To make you one with yourself, Brownstone boasts four taps (Stella, Fat Tire, Fireman's #4, Saint Arnold's Wheat) and around 20 bottles and 60 wines, plus a dozen modernized classic cocktails like the "Brownstone 75" (Blume Marillen Apricot Eau-de-Vie, Champagne, honey, lemon) and the "Serrano Celery Caipirinha" -- as hot as Morgan Fairchild and, given the Brazilian origin, almost as well traveled as Billy Joe.