Sevy Severson keeps hope in his heart. Every day, when Jim Severson gets in his car for the first time, he looks to the sky through his sunroof and thanks God for giving him another day.
The 65-year-old chef/owner of Sevy’s is grateful for his wife Amy, son Erik, daughter-in-law Jessica and their son, Bennett, daughter Jenna, and his wide group of friends, staff, and guests. Jim, or Sevy, as he’s known, was diagnosed with stage IV prostate cancer 16 years ago and was given three-to-five years to live.
He was diagnosed just when he had celebrated the 10th anniversary of his eponymous Preston Center restaurant, and was raising teenagers, and playing golf frequently and exceptionally well.
“I’ll fight this as hard as I can,” he said when he heard the news. “It’s gotta catch me.”
Fortunately, it hasn’t.
Sevy’s opened in 1997 and immediately became the social and business hub for Preston Center bankers and brokers who’ve made countless deals over corn chowder, Buzzy’s seafood tacos, and Sevy’s smoked beef tenderloin. The restaurant was an immediate success and investors earned their money back in a mere 19 months.
Today, Sevy’s revenue is back to pre-pandemic levels and investors have earned multiple times their original investment. That, dear readers, is a notable statistic for a one-unit chef-driven restaurant in Dallas.
On most days, you’ll find Sevy in the restaurant along with his son, Erik, who’s in leadership, and his culinary team. Sevy introduced me to the cooks prepping for the day, chopping, trimming, moving gracefully but with intention in the linear kitchen. Jim’s sparkling eyes met every one of theirs; the mutual respect and admiration clear. Eight have worked there since day one, the rest averaging a 15-year tenure. That explains the high quality and consistency of the food over two-and-a-half decades.
When he’s not at the restaurant, he’s at his beloved Port O’Connor home fishing for redfish.
It wasn’t in his plan to become such an avid fisherman, he says, but after his diagnosis he couldn’t play golf anymore.
“Richard was the first one to take me to Port O’Connor,” he says of his “Guardian Angel” Chef Richard Chamberlain. Sevy was shaken by the diagnosis and Richard invited him to go fishing. On the road trip down, Richard and Sevy had a deep spiritual conversation which led Sevy to accept and embrace his Christian faith in a way he hadn’t before.
“We pulled off the road and just cried for a while,” Chamberlain said.
Sevy is methodical. He started working on the plan for his restaurant two years before it opened, meticulously laying out his vision. A four-page manifesto completed October 1, 1996, still clings to a bulletin board in his is tiny office outlining the desired décor, food, demographics, and vibe. Aside from a few cosmetic updates here and there and the addition of a putting green on the patio, the restaurant represents his original vision.
Today Sevy’s, like Sevy himself, is warm, comforting and unfailingly amiable. A classic neighborhood restaurant in the heart of Dallas.
