Chef Tim Love

Texas is home to five restaurants of which Love is at the helm.

“Growing up in Texas, obviously we grilled a lot of meats and we smoked a lot of meat,” Love says. “And so now I think we’re trying to get a little bit more intense of what wood does to food as opposed to just smoking and grilling. I’m trying to reinterpret what barbecue is and provide a new point of view on how meats can be cooked and how vegetables can be cooked.”

 Watch: Chef Fabio Viviani After Winning ‘Top Chef’ Fan Favorite

Click here to subscribe to genConnect’s new YouTube channel for more great video interviews with top chefs like Tim Love as well as expert advice on sex and relationships, health and fitness, career and business, and more!

Follow us on:

• Twitter @genConnect
• Facebook
• Google +
• genConnect.com

Watch Tim Love discuss how Burgers 4 Babies impacts his local community of Fort Worth, Texas:

Watch: FEED USA Expands Global Charity to American Kids (VIDEO)

Tim Love

Love, whose twin daughters were born premature and spent time in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), started Burgers 4 Babies to help ease the stress of other families with preemies.

“I fly in chefs from all over the country and we do a big bash and we take all the money and we build a new room at the NICU in Fort Worth, Texas,” Love says. “It’s directly related to people in my own community and also directly makes people’s experience in that NICU a lot better.”

Spoons Across America, a source for children’s culinary education, educates children, teachers and families about the benefits of healthful eating.

Love sits on the board and participates in a Spoons program called The Dinner Party Project.

“I teach kids (5th-8th graders) how to throw dinner parties,” he says. “We teach them not only to cook the meal, but also the manners at the table, and how you greet guests at your home.”

Watch: Tim Love’s Secret to Getting Kids to Try New Foods (VIDEO)

Love is convinced that sharing meals around the family table opens lines of communication.

“My kids tell me everything that happens at the dinner table,” he says. “There’s a sense of trust I think with kids when they sit down and they’re eating a meal. Turn the TV off, put the phones away, and just have a roast chicken. How much you learn about your children in that 30 minutes is unbelievable.”

• For more daily expert updates, follow genConnect on Twitter and Facebook.
• To stay on top of the latest contributions from experts: Sign Up for genConnect.

If you’re a parent, you inevitably experienced a tough time in getting your kids to try certain foods. And when it comes to the holidays, there’s no shortage of new and exotic foods to try to get kids to consume. When it comes to Chef Tim Love’s kids, his strategy of getting his them to try new foods is literally paying off. Watch to learn more from Love on how he gets his kids involved in food:

What’s his secret? “I just bribe my kids,” says Love, father of three. “I pay them to eat crazy stuff. And hopefully, if they like it, they continue to eat it. … My kids are always adventurous enough to try anything.”

Related: How to Get Your Kids to Eat Vegetables—and Like Them

As a busy chef running multiple restaurants in Fort Worth, Texas, how does he juggle a busy work schedule and family? Having a great partner is the key, he says.

“It’s a tough balance but, for instance, here in Aspen, we bring the kids with us,” Love says. “Anytime I can, I bring them with us.”

Related: Celebrity Kids’ Chef Cricket Azima on Fun, Healthy Eating

genConnect was credentialed press at the 2012 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colo., where we interviewed the top chefs, wine experts and culinary gurus from the event. For more of our video interviews and articles from the 30th Annual Food & Wine Classic, click here.

Follow us on:

• Twitter @genConnect
• Facebook
• Google +
• genConnect.com

Watch Love brave the zip line at the Lexington Army in New York City during the Global Bazaar for a one-of-a-kind interview on genConnect:

Chef Tim Love prepares to fly across the Lexington Army at the 2012 Travel + Leisure Global Bazaar

Related: Where Does Chef José Andrés Find Culinary Inspiration?

“The Global Bazaar is exactly what it says; it’s bizarre. It’s insanity,” Love said. “They invite a bunch of people, eat a bunch of great stuff, drink a cocktail … it’s the Bazaar!”

Among the highlights of the multi-ethnic event, were belly dancers outside the armory greeting guests, a Delta Sky Lounge, a zip line across the back of the armory; live music and dance and plenty of things to buy, including embroidered silk scarves from Asia, bottled sand from Jordan, jewelry made in Tibet and much more.

Related: T+L Editor-in-Chief Nancy Novogrod: ‘Travel Is a Change Agent’

Click here for more of our coverage from the 2012 Travel + Leisure Global Bazaar. Don’t forget to follow us on:

• Twitter @genConnect, or @TravlandLeisure #TLGlobalBazaar
• Facebook
• Google +
• genConnect.com

Click the play button below to watch Tim Love get fired up about grilling and the success of his restaurant The Lonesome Dove:

As the unofficial mayor of Fort Worth, Texas, Tim Love has become a nationally recognized culinary personality known for his signature urban western cuisine. In addition to his critcally-acclaimed Lonesome Dove restaurant, in 2007, Love opened a classic burger joint called The Love Shack in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards district.  Love opened a second Love Shack in July 2009 and has plans for a third location in early 2011.

genConnect is credentialed press at the 2011 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colo., where we are interviewing the top chefs and wine experts from the event. For more of our video interviews and articles from the 29th Annual Food & Wine Classic, click here.

Sign up for genConnect.com and automatically be entered to win a trip to Aspen! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@genConnected) for additional Food & Wine coverage from the Classic (#fwclassic)