Crystal Wise
When chef Chetra Chau decided to open his own restaurant, he had a tough time making a vital decision: What kind of food would he serve?
Over the course of his 25-year culinary career, Chau had, after all, fine-tuned his skills in American, Asian, Italian, Mexican, French, and Mediterranean cuisines. Zeroing in on one wasn’t going to be easy.
In the end, the 48-year-old chef took advantage of his wide-ranging culinary knowledge, creating a menu in which he would serve a little bit of everything. The result is Chetra’s Kitchen, one of Tarrant County’s best new restaurants.
Crystal Wise
“I like to say, this is food that takes you around the world,” Chau says.
Although cozy and classy inside, Chetra’s doesn’t look like much from the outside; it’s located in an innocuous strip mall in Bedford.
It might be, in other words, the last place you’d expect to find Chilean sea bass, coated in a roasted garlic rub and a citrus Sichuan sauce, or a beef tenderloin linguine with demi port wine cream sauce, or a yellow fin tuna salad with a sesame vinaigrette.
Crystal Wise
We loved the blackened mahi mahi, topped with a plop of crab meat and a mini-shrimp tower, and served with orange ginger beurre blanc. A pan-roasted pork chop was impressive, too, as were the beef Wellington tacos, spiked with pickled veggies.
Some dishes combine elements of different cuisines. Others are just thoughtfully done, like fried catfish, which comes with sides of housemade tartar and cocktail sauces.
Crystal Wise
Chau grew up in Arlington and Dallas. He gravitated toward food at a young age, helping his mom in the kitchen. When he married, he married his in-laws’ family restaurant, too, and he found himself falling in love with the restaurant industry.
His marriage didn’t last, but his love for cooking did. Chau soon embarked on a career in the food industry as a private chef, corporate chef, and professional caterer. He traveled, too, from New York to L.A., soaking up as much culinary know-how as he could.
Crystal Wise
“That’s how I came up with [the] concept for Chetra’s,” he says. “I combined everything I’d done into one restaurant. If you want to come in at night and order a filet mignon, you can. If you want to come in at lunch and have a quick burger, you can. I want to be the Amazon of the local restaurant scene. I want to be for everyone.”
Chetra's Kitchen, 2817 Central Drive, Bedford, chetraskitchen.com
