Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Harmon.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was a terrible kid. Ha. I just had too much energy and didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was living and going to high school in Los Angeles. Once I graduated, I decided to go to film school. I had done some acting and liked it. But I got obsessed with food. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and reading about it etc. When I moved back home to Dallas my parents and friends convinced me to go for the food thing. So I moved to New York. I got really lucky, learned to cook from some of the best in the business. From Le Cirque to Town House and Buddakan. When I moved back I was lucky enough to cook for Stephen Pyles.
After that, my mom had a place that I would cook dinner in. It got really popular for weird southern food. Braised dandelion greens with goat cheese biscuits, brook trout with smoked mandarin and boiled peanuts. I left that to cook at grace in fort worth for about a year. Then did some consulting for a french place and that’s when I met Casie Caldwell. She asked me to audition for kitchen LTO and I did. I got the position and we started serving in deep Ellum. We won some awesome awards and made some great food. We ended up opening a place together called junction craft kitchen. There I won Eater chef of the year 2017 and was named 17 chefs to look out for in the nation by Zagat. I was a tastemaker runner up and we won chefs for farmers street food night. I sold my shares to the restaurant and did some pop-ups. Mostly at Petra and the Beast, Misti Norris’s place. I also did stuff at Revolver Taco Lounge and made some tacos from time to time. While that was going on the idea for Butlers Cabinet was happening. I grew up with my mom making so much food and treats for everyone.
From PTA to church functions or a friend’s mom that’s sick or whatever. She was always hiding that stuff in our butler’s pantry inside the cabinets. So, that I wouldn’t get to them. But I always did Haha and she would yell at me. I knew I could always find stuff in the Butlers Cabinets, from muffelatta‘s in hat boxes to cookies in old cake tins. From pies in a hatbox to muffalettas in cake boxes and cookies in tins. So, I opened a sandwich and pastry shop. Were we sell coffee as well. We smoke and cure our meats in house, make all condiments from mustard to mayo. We do all of our own pickling and even make our own cheese wiz and french style bourin. We use counter-culture for our coffee beans. And we have some really awesome drinks like our fig Lebowski, fig syrup, cold brew and a cream topper. With house-made chocolate simple syrup, salted milk Carmel and a scoop of Ovaltine please.
Has it been a smooth road?
It was really tough leaving my place in Deep Ellum. I would have moved back to New York or LA if it weren’t for Regino at revolver or Misti at Petra. Once I got back into things, I could see BC at the end of the tunnel. It was a struggle to get there but we are there and a year in and about to open another.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Butlers Cabinet story. Tell us more about the business.
Well like I said earlier..we make everything in the house. We won the best sando in fort worth by the fort worth weekly. And honestly its because everything you eat is made by us, from our pastrami to our olive salad or the pickled deviled eggs. It’s all us. When we first opened in the food hall, we got a whole pig from chubby dog farm and broke it down in the back and used every part for the deli. We try and utilize everything all the time. We also won restaurant rivals on the food network this past summer. So, that was rad too ha!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see a lot more ferments coming up. Which is what we do, from making koji to miso and vinegar. I see a lot more old school techniques emerging and slow foods. People are going back to tradition and combining it with new techniques and even old techniques. It’s pretty amazing to see how full circle it’s coming and how much work people are putting in. I’m a big forager and I see that coming up. We are also opening a Korean/southern chicken place in fort worth next month. And I think that will be a big trend, Korean food in general.
Contact Info:
- Website: Butlerscabinet.com
- Email: butlerscabinet@gmail.com
- Instagram: @butlerscabinet
Image Credit:
Kathy tran
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