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2024

Rick’s Chophouse: The Wine Room

Harvest at The Masonic: first floor bar, wine wall

 Rick’s Chophouse & Harvest at The Masonic Earn 2024 Wine Spectator Restaurant Award

—Wells Group, Rick’s Chophouse & Harvest at The Masonic Among the World’s Best Restaurants for Wine—

McKinney, TX June, 2024 — Rick’s Chophouse & Harvest at The Masonic have been honored for their outstanding wine programs in Wine Spectator’s 2024 Restaurant Awards, which celebrate the world’s best restaurants for wine.

“The restaurant industry is growing and thriving, with restaurant openings surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time. To take advantage of the uptick, restaurateurs are re-investing in their wine programs,” said Marvin R. Shanken, Editor and Publisher, Wine Spectator. “Restaurants that make wine a priority are what the Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards program is all about. I’m pleased to congratulate all 3,777 restaurants for their dedication to wine and exemplary wine lists.”

Launched in 1981, the Restaurant Awards represent the world’s only program focused exclusively on restaurant wine service. They are assigned on three levels: the Award of Excellence, the Best of Award of Excellence and the Grand Award, with 2,150; 1,531; and 96 winners this year in each respective category.

Rick’s Chophouse & Harvest at The Masonic have won the AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

The Award of Excellence recognizes restaurants whose wine lists feature a well-chosen assortment of quality producers along with a thematic match to the menu in both price and style.

Wine Spectator’s special Restaurant Awards issue becomes available to readers July 9.

Follow Wine Spectator on Instagram (@wine_spectator), with hashtag #WSRestaurantAward, and at WineSpectator.com/Restaurants, featuring guides to the winners, interviews with leading wine directors and wine picks, and pairing tips from sommeliers at award-winning programs. In the Restaurant Search, all winners can be searched by name and location, along with attributes including proximity, award level, cuisine, wine specialties and pricing. Winners are also profiled in the free Restaurant Awards app, available for iPhone and iPad users.  


About Wine Spectator 

Wine Spectator is the world’s leading authority on wine. Anchored by Wine Spectator magazine, a print publication that reaches around 3 million readers worldwide, the brand also encompasses the Web’s most comprehensive wine site (WineSpectator.com), mobile platforms and a series of signature events. Wine Spectator examines the world of wine from the vineyard to the table, exploring wine’s role in contemporary culture and delivering expert reviews. Parent company M. Shanken Communications, Inc., also publishes Cigar Aficionado, Whisky Advocate, Market Watch, Shanken News Daily and Shanken’s Impact Newsletter

2023

Harvest Pays Homage to the Past and the Present in McKinney

From EATER Dallas

On a rainy night during Halloween weekend, Harvest at the Masonic in McKinney opened its doors to the public to show off the results of its big move. It wasn’t the distance from their original location that was great — the building it relocated a five minute walk away. The scope of their ambitions that was massive. Owner Rick Wells started looking for a bigger location five years ago and tells Eater Dallas he had the opportunity to buy entire city blocks to develop, but it just didn’t feel right.

“Harvest is about restoring and repurposing,” Wells says. It wasn’t until he stumbled on the former Masonic Lodge, also on the Square in McKinney, that he saw the restaurant’s future. However, If you don’t know about Harvest, you must wrap your head around its past to understand why Wells saw this location as its future.

 2022

McKinney Made

McKinney Made celebrates the culture of dining and entertainment in McKinney, Texas and features the city's most iconic restaurants and talent. Check out this mini-documentary excerpt from the McKinney Made video on the creation and expansion of our Wells Group companies and our mission to create a more sustainable world.

 2021

 

Betting on McKinney

From Dallas Morning News -

Restaurateur Rick Wells likes to call McKinney “one of the most business-friendly places in the country.” So the owner of Rick’s Chophouse is doubling down on the city’s picturesque downtown.

His hospitality company, the Wells Group, has acquired two buildings on the square, the 121-year-old Masonic Lodge and the Grand Hotel, where his steak restaurant has attracted diners since 2007. Wells considers the seller, Don Day, a longtime mentor.

 

The Bitter Garden

From Edible Dallas & Fort Worth -

In 2016 I flew to London, and I got to see some authentic English tea gardens. They were lush, vibrant in color and abundantly fragrant, and they were everywhere, from extremely urban areas to the English countryside. The same year I became a Master Naturalist in Collin County and became fascinated with our native plants and prairies and all of their uses.

Rick Wells with farmer Megan Neubauer (Christie Connell / Christie Connell)
 

Seeds of Sustainability Taking Root in North Texas

From City Lifestyle Dallas -

“When you take care of your community there is a ripple effect of positive results.” explained Rick Wells, local restaurateur and Founder of the Seed Project Foundation (SPF). The Foundation was established on the premise that funding sustainable ideas today will support ecological and social balance in the future.

 2020

Rick Wells farmer Megan Neubauer, who work together on the Seed Project Foundation, helped transform One Heart McKinney from idea to reality.

Rick Wells and Megan Neubauer, who work together on the Seed Project Foundation, helped transform One Heart McKinney from idea to reality.

 

McKinney restaurateur mobilizes aid for local farms and others financially impacted by pandemic

From The Dallas Morning News -

The call went out early and fast. While most of us were just awakening to the possible impact of the coronavirus, McKinney Mayor George Fuller was shifting into warp drive. His 19-year-old daughter, Layla, tested positive for COVID-19 in March.

“He saw firsthand what was coming,” says McKinney restaurateur Rick Wells, one of the first people Fuller wanted on an action team to come up with a response and recovery plan.

Pure Land Organic Farm, an organic pick-your-own fruit and vegetable farm in McKinney. (Photography courtesy of Meg NeuBauer)

Pure Land Organic Farm, an organic pick-your-own fruit and vegetable farm in McKinney.

 

New Farm Crisis Fund Created to Help Struggling North Texas Farmers

From Dallas Observer -

The Farm Tour for the Farm Crisis Fund will take guests on a six-hour, three-course dinner, touring farms no farther than 30 minutes away from McKinney.

The goal is not just to eat, drink and explore area farms but to raise money for this new fund, which falls under the Seed Project Foundation, a nonprofit that "funds educational, agricultural and community initiatives that support sustainability.

Owner Rick Wells poses for a portrait at Harvest farm-to-table restaurant in Historic Downtown McKinney. (Lynda M. González / Staff Photographer)

Owner Rick Wells poses for a portrait at Harvest, a farm-to-table restaurant in Historic Downtown McKinney (Lynda M. González / Staff Photographer)

 

Look for the helpers: 8 local food advocates who stepped up during the pandemic with hot meals and more

From The Dallas Morning News -

Harvest Seasonal Kitchen and Rick’s Chophouse owner Rick Wells wants to do more than own farm-to-table restaurants in McKinney. He also wants to strengthen his community with sustainability and charitable initiatives to end hunger and poverty.

 2019

Roast chicken with greens and radishes by Andrea Shackelford at Harvest (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

Roast chicken with greens and radishes by Andrea Shackelford at Harvest (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

 

McKinney’s Harvest restaurant honored by Laura Bush’s nonprofit group for conservation efforts

From The Dallas Morning News -

Harvest Seasonal Kitchen is among the 2019 TxN honorees of Texan By Nature.

It’s hard to overstate the significance of Harvest Seasonal Kitchen’s inclusion among the 2019 TxN 20 honorees of Texan By Nature, a nonprofit linking businesses and conservation that was founded by former First Lady Laura Bush.

 2018

Owner Rick Wells poses for a portrait at Harvest farm-to-table restaurant in Historic Downtown McKinney.(Lynda M. González / Staff Photographer)
 

McKinney Restaurant Vandalized, Finds Humor in Mess

From NBC DFW -

“Okay, okay! We’ll put the tortilla soup back on the menu! Please stop breaking things,” a sign on the front door read.

McKinney police arrested a man accused of breaking the windows and doors of a business on the McKinney Square. Monday morning at around six, officers were called to Rick's Chophouse, where they arrested 28-year-old Kyle Weltner inside the restaurant.

Rick's Chophouse owner Rick Wells said he doesn't recognize Weltner and doesn't believe the man ever worked for him.

Andrea Shackelford (Photography by Melinda Ortley)

Andrea Shackelford (Photography by Melinda Ortley)

 

Lookin’ At You, Kid

From Edible Dallas & Fort Worth -

One foot in the garden, one in the kitchen, chef Andrea Shackelford is a talent on the rise.

With her cherubic face and generous smile, her dark hair pulled back in double sumo-wrestler knots, Andrea Shackelford isn’t the first person you’d pick out of a lineup as an up-and-coming chef.

“A lot of chefs are kind of loud,” says Rick Wells, her boss and coconspirator in several farm-to-table ventures in McKinney. “Alpha dogs.” His first impression of Shackelford? “She wasn’t. I liked that she was unassuming.”

Today, she’s executive chef at Wells’ Harvest Seasonal Kitchen and creative director of his Rick’s Chophouse, both on the McKinney square.

 2015

Andrea Shackelford Executive Chef at Harvest

Andrea Shackelford Executive Chef at Harvest

 

Look for the helpers: 8 local food advocates who stepped up during the pandemic with hot meals and more

From The Dallas Morning News -

Another talent to watch on the Modern Texas cuisine front is 30-year-old Andrea Shackelford, executive chef at Harvest in McKinney.

A Houston native who grew up in Dallas, Shackelford learned to cook on the job. Her first few gigs, starting when she was 15, were in bakeries, including Kathleen’s Art Cafe (which later became Kathleen’s Sky Diner).

 2014

Owner Rick Wells poses for a portrait at Harvest farm-to-table restaurant in Historic Downtown McKinney.(Lynda M. González / Staff Photographer)
 

Restaurant Review: Harvest Seasonal Kitchen

From D Magazine -

Andrea Shackelford learned to cook in big-city kitchens. Then she moved to the country.

Upon entering Harvest Seasonal Kitchen, the new restaurant off McKinney’s historic Chestnut Square, the first thing you notice is a shelf where chunks of cucumber, watermelon rind, and strawberries hang suspended in mason jars. Here and elsewhere, spirits are infusing, pickles pickling. You’re seeing an ethos, not just an aesthetic. The watermelon to which those rinds belonged may have grown in a field 20 minutes away.

Owner Rick Wells at Harvest farm-to-table restaurant in Historic Downtown McKinney

Owner Rick Wells at Harvest farm-to-table restaurant in Historic Downtown McKinney

 

Harvest on the Square: Farm-to-table restaurant opens Sept. 19 in downtown McKinney

From The Mckinney Courier-Gazette -

A new restaurant coming to downtown McKinney aims for an impact beyond city limits.

Harvest, a farm-to-table dining spot, will open Sept. 19 on the southwest corner of the square. Owner Rick Wells is replacing his casual Italian restaurant, Sauce, with a more unique, fresh venture.