For These Dallas Chef Couples, Being in the Kitchen Is Date Night | Eater Dallas

"The two first met in seventh grade, remained friends through high school and college, and eventual romantic interest surfaced when Bookman asked Anderson out; she recalls, "He did tell me that he had loved me all his life… [Then] I saw him out with another one of his exes two weeks later," she says, rolling her eyes. They later reconnected when Bookman saw her working at a now-defunct nightclub—"She was the door girl," Bookman says. On their first Valentine’s Day Bookman took Anderson to the Adolphus Hotel with the room swathed in roses and jokes, "Plus, I got you a massage that you didn’t take advantage of." Anderson calls that their last Valentine’s Day extravaganza: "Don’t waste your time [and money]. I’ll tell you what I want," she says now. They eloped—"We eloped. It was cheap," Anderson says—and after moving out West she spent over a decade informally recipe-testing vegan meals at home. Bookman maintains that Anderson is the "boss" of the operation; now a vegan convert who works in finance, he handles restaurant operational responsibilities she does not enjoy. The restaurant is open for date nights in February, whether diners are vegan or not." - Didi Paterno