Pickled radish adds crunch alongside fork-tender chicken, and turmeric miso vinaigrette ties everything together. Fresh, earthy and elevated—it’s all in James Provisions’ Favorite Bowl, a vivid array of food that tastes as good as it looks. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll discover the dish’s health-boosting benefits. Turmeric reduces inflammation. Miso’s probiotics improve digestion. Purple rice is loaded with protein and antioxidants.

Williamson opened James Provisions in March 2024 after moving back home to Texas.

“Food is fundamental,” says Deborah Williamson, chef and owner of James Provisions restaurant in Hurst. “It’s the baseline for how you’re going to function in the world. I truly believe that food is, on some level, medicine.” Williamson grew up in North Richland Hills and left for New York City two decades ago, where she worked in marketing for GQ and Vanity Fair. She soon married a chef, and the couple launched their first restaurant in Brooklyn in 2008 — a farm-to-table eatery called James. Situated in a historic brownstone with hardwood floors, James gained a loyal following as well as critical acclaim in The New York Times, Time Out and Bon Appétit.

In 2021, the ground shifted under Williamson’s feet when her father passed away. She had been traveling back to Texas regularly to help care for him, and the time here made her realize what she had been missing. “I love being in nature, and in New York, that’s a little challenging. You forget what it’s like to hear the birds in the morning and to see the sun come up and down,” she says. “The air is so fresh here … I could feel the difference in my energy.” Most of all, she wanted to be closer to her family. “I just knew that it was time for a new chapter. I felt like the universe was calling me home,” Williamson says.

The self-taught chef closed her Brooklyn restaurant, moved back to Texas, and in March 2024, she opened James Provisions. With an easy-breezy insouciance and clean, airy design, the casual bistro has a come-as-you-are appeal. Live herbs and plants add pops of green against neutral tones of steel, stone and wood. Open shelves and an open kitchen feel modern and inviting. 

“Texans are a little less formal, so the vibe here is a little less formal. It’s more relaxed,” she says. “I wanted to give really beautiful food that’s well-sourced, chef-driven, beautifully plated, but without it having this whole formality to it.” Part of the restaurant’s minimal approach is its unique hybrid service model: Guests order at the counter but then enjoy full service at the table.

James Provisions offers a menu full of healthy, earthy foods like Flatbread.
Photo courtesy of Gentl and Hyers

Her food is also a bit different. “There were no tacos on the menu in New York,” she laughs. Now salmon tacos are one of her bestsellers. On Taco Thursday, you can try several other tacos including chipotle chicken or grass-fed steak with chimichurri and shiso, a leafy Japanese herb in the mint family. For the vegetarian taco, cauliflower is slow-roasted with in-house turmeric salt and then topped with feta and garlic-parsley gremolata.

Veggies shine on the menu, along with keto-friendly, gluten-free treats like the crispy cassava crust flatbread. It’s smeared with scratch-made ricotta and pesto, then piled high with arugula, beet microgreens and golden tomatoes. Aleppo pepper packs a tiny zing. Ricotta also comes with the roasted carrots, which are dusted with Ethiopian berbere spice. A plate of “pickled things” satiates cravings for tangy, salty and crunch.

But carnivores are certainly not left out. “In New York, we were known for our burger, so I wanted to really crush it with our burger here,” Williamson says. 

After numerous tastings with Texas beef providers, she settled on grass-fed, hormone-free, antibiotic-free beef from 44 Farms in Cameron. “They had all the elements we wanted, and the most flavor,” she says. 44 Farms supplies all the beef for their steaks and burgers, including a keto burger. “I think there’s a pretty strong keto audience here, and I’m also keto,” says Williamson, who also makes an “insane” keto chocolate mousse with pink salt and pistachio.

Keto or otherwise, Williamson is very mindful of people’s dietary preferences. “What I like about this place is that you can come in with all your friends: one’s keto, someone’s paleo, someone’s gluten-free, you’ve got a vegetarian, a normie and the guy that just wants a killer burger,” she says. And everyone can find something to love. 

The aptly-named “Favorite Bowl” is a popular dish.

The restaurant buys local and organic whenever possible and filters all the water for cooking, drinking and ice. One-third of the menu changes seasonally. But James Provisions’ biggest calling card is a commitment not to use seed oils such as safflower, soybean, corn and canola. They’re one of the only North Texas restaurants to do so. “It’s a movement that’s starting,” Williamson explains. “Seed oils are super inflammatory because of the way they are highly processed. They’re heated, they’re bleached, they’re sort of conditioned with hexane, which is a neurotoxin.” Seed oils are also incredibly cheap and used en masse in restaurants and processed foods, she says. “Once I learned more about them, I couldn’t live in good conscience and serve seed oils.” Instead, she cooks with butter, olive oil, coconut oil, bacon fat and beef tallow. “It’s giving people real food and real fats. I don’t want to be a part of the process of potentially giving people food that isn’t going to nourish their body,” she says. 

For Williamson, it’s not about rigid dietary rules but simply a greater conscientiousness about what you eat … so you don’t have to skip dessert. Her salted chocolate chunk cookies are worth fighting over, and the yuzu olive oil cake is a lighthearted farewell for your meal. Autumn weather brings soul-warming treats like apple crisp and kabocha squash cake. “We line the patio chairs with wool camp blankets and send fresh hot toddies out in plaid thermoses,” she says. Craft cocktails and mocktails are another of the restaurant’s strong suits and feature creative ingredients like saffron ginger and elderberry rose.

“Whether we’re pouring a margarita, or baking a cake or just slicing radishes … I love the idea that beauty is everywhere,” Williamson says. “I want people to have that experience when they come in, to have a pretty little table and plates as beautiful as we can make them, a great time and a meal sourced to the best of our ability.” Feeling good afterward is just the icing on the cake.

James Provisions Hot Toddy

To give this recipe a spring flair, add spring berries; for colder months, work in a liqueur such as Kahlua or Grand Marnier. Yields 5 to 6 servings in 6-ounce ramekins.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces local apple cider
• 2 ounces bourbon
• ¼ ounces fresh lemon juice
• ½ ounces honey
• ½ ounces Verino Tentura Antica Verino cinnamon liqueur
• Lemon wheel and cinnamon stick for garnish

Preparation: 

Heat up the cider in an electric kettle. 

While it heats, combine the next four ingredients in a hot toddy glass and stir gently. 

Add the heated cider and garnish with a lemon wheel and cinnamon stick.