best new restaurant by Food and Wine. In 1998, Pyles sold Star Canyon and AquaKnox to Carlson Restaurants WorldWide and during the next two years opened new versions of Star Canyon: in Las Vegas, Nevada, at The Venetian, and at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel in Austin, Texas. Back in Dallas he opened FishBowl, an Asian-themed restaurant, and a casual Mexican restaurant called Taqueria Cañonita, which was later replicated in several cities around the U.S.A. He has appeared around the world as a guest celebrity chef and was one of five chefs worldwide invited to prepare dinner for Jimmy Carter’s 70th birthday. In addition to his first cookbook, The New Texas Cuisine, Pyles has also co-authored Tamales, and written New Tastes from Texas, and Southwestern Vegetarian. He further worked full-time on the PBS TV show New Tastes from Texas. Pyles was also a cuisine consultant for a number of hotel and resort companies as well as for American Airlines. Change & New Discoveries In 2001 Pyles took a five year “siesta” from the restaurant world; he used the time to travel, educate, teach, and write. During this hiatus, he spent significant time in Latin America, the Eastern Mediterranean including the Levant, Spain and India. These places would all provide cultural influences for his new restaurant ventures. In 2006, Pyles opened in Dallas a new restaurant named after himself. The "Stephan Pyles" Restaurant is located in the Dallas Arts District and serves an ever newer and more cutting-edge genre of cuisine, "New Millenium Southwestern Cuisine." This is a global tapestry of tastes, flavors, aromas and textures from Texas, South America, Spain, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. On November 22, 2009, a second new Dallas Arts District restaurant by Chef Pyles was opened, "Samar by Stephan Pyles". The word "Samar" is a concept designed on combining three cultures, Spain, Eastern Mediterranean and India. Philanthropy, consulting, and scholarship fund Stephan Pyles is a founding board member of Share Our Strength, America’s largest hunger relief organization. In 1998, Share Our Strength presented Pyles the Humanitarian of the Year Award for his outstanding patronage. Pyles founded Dallas’ Taste of the Nation event for the organization in 1988, raising over $1,500,000 for local ministries and food pantries. He also serves as a life board member of The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB), an organization which “seeks to eliminate hunger by distributing food and grocery products