Cellar 55
Locally owned restaurants come and go all the time in Amarillo, but few garner the kind of instant buzz and positive attention that accompanied the launch of Cellar 55 this summer. Owner Chris Hazel’s modernization of a large space off Civic Circle—most recently it had been home to Copper Fire Grill—makes a solidly upscale first impression.
The food seals the deal. And as many now-regular patrons will attest, Cellar 55 seems to have made it into the fall with very few growing pains.
Hazel is known locally for his wine expertise from years in the industry. The Cellar 55 name comes from the ideal storage temperature for storing wine—55 degrees—and also has personal significance for Hazel, since that number, his favorite, has also become his son’s football number and daughter’s chosen volleyball number.
A frequent traveler who gathers menu ideas from visits to other restaurants, Hazel has teamed up with Executive Chef Shelby Swindell to create a menu he describes as “steak-and seafood-focused New American cuisine, but with something for everyone.”
That includes the popular seafood tostada and the fun bacon sampler, which creatively displays different cuts of bacon hung from clips. One of his favorite restaurants, Press in Napa Valley, serves a hanging bacon appetizer as a secret, off-menu item at its bar. “You have to ask for it. All the locals know about it,” he says.
Recreated at Cellar 55, that sampler is no secret.
One of the restaurant’s most popular menu items is also Hazel’s personal favorite. The Sweet Tea Fried Chicken, served with Alabama white sauce, has already earned a dedicated local following. “I lived in South Carolina for a handful of years,” Hazel explains. “About 15 years ago, I stopped at this hole-in-the-wall barbecue joint in Birmingham” called Saw’s Soul Kitchen. “I saw something called Sweet Tea Fried Chicken on the menu. Got it, and it was fantastic. I always had it in the back of my mind.”
While developing the menu with Swindell, Hazel explained the concept of a bone-in chicken brined with sweet tea. Swindell developed the dish and customers love it. “A few weeks ago, I had someone ask for me to come to their table,” Hazel continues. “I went out there and he said, ‘Where did you come up with Sweet Tea Fried Chicken?’”
Hazel started to tell the Birmingham barbecue story and the guest stopped him: “Saw’s?”
The man had grown up in Alabama and not only knew the dish, but knew the restaurant where Hazel first encountered it. “He said he ordered it, planning on complaining about it, but ours was actually better than what he grew up with,” he says.
Beyond the menu, diners have raved about Cellar 55’s attentive service and the luxurious space itself. “The entire layout is 3 percent me and 97 percent my design team,” Hazel adds. “They walk in the door and [say], ‘I don’t feel like I’m in Amarillo.’ That was the goal in mind.”
2800 Civic Circle, Suite 500
806.322.7655
cellar55ama.com
