Meet brothers Wes and Brad Ebey, the classically trained chefs behind Jack Ryan’s restaurants

Published 12:00 am Saturday, September 1, 2018

When brothers Wes and Brad Ebey get together, the conversation inevitably turns to food — specifically fine dining. Who can blame them. They have been talking about and cooking great food all of their lives.

The brothers grew up in Longview, trained for culinary careers at Le Cordon Bleu School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and worked in some of the most prestigious restaurants in Dallas before opening the Jack Ryan’s Steak and Chophouse restaurants in Kilgore and Tyler.

Wes and Brad attended Spring Hill High School. Their father was in the food industry and at a young age they too worked in restaurants.

“One day I Googled something about the quickest way to train to be a chef and the first thing that popped up was the Cordon Bleu in Minneapolis,” Wes says.

He moved to Minneapolis and called Brad who was attending classes at Kilgore College. 

“I hated it,” Brad says of his time in college. “I was miserable.”  

It didn’t take much for Wes to convince Brad to join him. At Le Cordon Bleu, the Ebeys received training in French culinary traditions, global cuisines and current food trends.

With degrees in hand, they returned to Texas.

Brad landed an internship at the French Room at The Adolphus, one of the highest-rated restaurants in the United States. Wes worked in the kitchen at the Four Season in Las Colinas. 

“I was like a sponge,” Brad says. “I was soaking everything (about the culinary world) in.”

After years of working in Dallas and other cities, they were ready to return home and open a restaurant of their own.

“We wanted to do something that had not been done here before,” Wes says. 

The original Jack Ryan’s Steak & Chophouse (named for Brad’s young son) opened in a 5,000-square-foot space in downtown Kilgore in 2013 serving elevated American cuisine.

“We weren’t focused on being really fancy but being really nice,” Brad says. “We were about really great food. And it’s more than just about the food, it’s everything.”

“It’s great food, great service, great atmosphere,” Wes adds.

Just when Jack Ryan’s was building a clientele and a reputation for excellence, the brothers were given the opportunity to open a restaurant in Tyler.

Investors Garnett and Tim Brookshire and Andy Bergfeld had by this time launched a multimillion dollar renovation of the 1930s-era Peoples Petroleum Building, an art deco building on the downtown square that for decades represented the riches of the East Texas oil boom.

The trio approached the Ebeys about becoming the anchor tenant.

“They brought us over to Tyler and asked if we could envision a restaurant here,” Brad says. 

The 11,000-square-foot space that once housed the bank lobby and offices, had a mezzanine, an open floor plan perfect for the main dining room and smaller rooms for private parties. Better yet, it had priceless original art deco lighting, marble wainscoting on the walls and an atmosphere that spoke of yesteryear luxury.

“It was gorgeous,” recalls Wes.

The Ebeys opened the second Jack Ryan’s in 2015. 

Both locations serve a lunch menu of mostly sandwiches and salads and traditional favorites, such as chicken fried steak, pasta, chicken and catfish, that run about $11. 

Dinner entrees include New York strip steak, black angus ribeye, pork chops, veal, shrimp, duck, halibut and salmon. The prices range from about $30 to $40.

The menu also includes special seasonal items that change.  

Jack Ryan’s uses the sous vide method in which food is sealed in airtight plastic bags and placed in a water bath or steam environment. The method ensures the food is cooked evenly and retains natural moisture. 

“Food cooked sous vide doesn’t brown, but a simple sear adds that traditional flavor where needed so that you can have the best of both worlds,” explains the restaurants’ website.

“It’s all about quality control,” Wes says. “The food comes out perfect every time.”

Brad says using the method shows their commitment to excellence. “We want to get better every single day.” 

Although the Jack Ryan’s in Tyler has an undeniably fancy atmosphere, the Ebeys want patrons to feel that it doesn’t have to be a special occasion to dine there.

“We want you to come as you are,” Brad says. “There’s no dress code. That’s not what we’re about.” 

“We’re good old East Texas boys,” Wes adds. “We hunt and fish and spend time with our families.”