Dallas, TX
Owner of Val’s Cheesecakes in Dallas says he’s ready for a change
DALLAS – From inspiration to his reason why, a North Texas cheesecake shop owner tells the story of opening Val’s Cheesecakes.
Valery Jean-Bart told CBS News Texas the inspiration for Val’s Cheesecakes came after caring for his mother through a years-long bout with terminal cancer; cheesecake was Marie Jose Labossiere’s favorite dessert.
Jean-Bart said he and his mother formed an even deeper connection while they baked through more than 200 sweet and savory creations each week, while he helped care for her.
“We baked a cheesecake every Sunday. Every single cheesecake that’s on the menu, was a specific Sunday with her…every single item on the menu is perfected by the memories that I have with her,” he said.
After his mother passed away in 2012, Jean-Bart pondered what to do next.
A former civil engineer, he channeled his grief and a desire to honor his mother’s legacy into a new career, and an eventual partnership with Oddfellows restaurant in the Bishop Arts district helped grow the enterprise.
Eventually, Jean-Bart began selling the desserts to other restaurants in the area.
It was a move Jean-Bart said “spiraled out of control beautifully,” and he eventually opened one location on Maple Avenue in Dallas followed by others. As of 2024, two brick-and-mortar shops exist on South Akard Street and Greenville Avenue in Dallas, in addition to a thriving e-commerce platform.
But, after 12 years of running the successful venture, Jean-Bart said he’s ready for a change.
“[I need to] take better care of myself, spend time with family and friends,” he said. “I’ve never had time to just be Val…I went directly from caregiver to business owner [and] that’s a major transition,” he added.
Now, Jean-Bart is writing a new chapter in the story: his own.
“People have been asking me what I’m going to do? I’m going to have a life. There’s relief [and] there’s also grief because I’ve been holding on to my mom,” he continued as he gestured around the shop located on Greenville Avenue in Dallas.
The memories of his mother can be clearly seen, down to the details: the shop is accented by a bold blue hue, representing his mother’s favorite color.
A hibiscus mural, symbolizing Haiti’s national flower and their heritage, lines the walls.
“The chocolate on the wall….that’s her skin color,” he added.
Jean-Bart will operate his current business model through the end of the year. In the meantime, he’s also working to secure a licensing that would allow him to hand Val’s Cheesecakes over to a new owner.
Along with a new focus on offering classes and consulting to clients, he is also developing Val’s Blue Label, a smaller-scale, niche brand of dessert offerings, in addition to cheesecake. In a twist, Jean-Bart revealed his favorite dessert is actually sweet potato pie.
“I do want to pivot [and] I do want to offer a different side of the story…make some time for me [and] take better care of myself and spend time with me family,” he said. “I’ve been holding on to her a lot, I just need to let her go.”
Val’s Cheesecakes will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. in celebration of National Cheesecake Day on July 30, at both locations: 2820 Greenville Avenue and 1112 South Akard Street, in Dallas.
Dallas, TX
Dallas weather: June 28 morning forecast
Temperatures are expected to climb into the upper-90s and triple digits over the next week, with no real sign of relief! Sunshine dominates the forecast, with only a very slim chance of rain by the end of next week.
Dallas, TX
Dallas shooting injures 2 as police search for suspect
Dallas police are searching for a shooting suspect after two people were shot early Saturday morning.
The shooting incident happened around 6:30 a.m. when Dallas officers responded to a shooting call in the 7600 block of South Central Expressway, where two people had been shot.
Officials said one victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition by Dallas Fire-Rescue. The other was transported by private vehicle in stable condition.
No arrests have been made as of Saturday afternoon, according to Dallas Police.
The shooting investigation is ongoing and this story will be updated as we learn more.
Dallas, TX
All-day restaurant and patio coming to Dallas’ Knox and more top stories
UPDATE 6-26-2026: Gracie has been found about four miles south of the Cedar Hollow Ranch, according to a Facebook update from Real County Animal Rescue. Ranch manager Vic Jones has assembled a team to safely bring the wandering giraffe home.
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A giraffe named Gracie is missing in Texas, and the search for her has become a tall order.
Gracie, who is about 3 years old, has been missing for nearly two weeks after escaping her enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch in the Texas Hill Country, said Vic Jones, who owns the remote property about 100 miles west of San Antonio. He said Wednesday, June 24 that Gracie had wandered into a part of the privately owned preserve that other giraffes previously avoided.
Jones said he has sent up helicopters to look for Gracie, a few sightings have trickled in, and a $5,000 reward is on the table.
But the giraffe, which stands roughly the height of a tree, hasn’t turned up.
“She wound up going up and feeding in an area on the hillside and the rocky ledges that none of the other giraffes had ever gone on before,” Jones said. “And when she came down off of there, she came down on the wrong side of the gate.”
The ranch is in rural Real County, where its roughly 2,700 residents were put on alert to be on the lookout for a missing giraffe. Jones said the search area is extremely remote, and the likelihood of Gracie encountering any humans is low.
“People are not in danger of her because she’s not around people,” Jones said. ‘She’s out in very, very rough, heavily wooded lands.”
The Texas Hill Country has one of the largest concentrations of exotic captive animals in the country. Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson said the mild climate and rugged terrain seems to serve as a good stand-in for most of the animals’ native African environments.
He rattled off a list of animals that have gone missing over the years, especially after floods, but said this was his first giraffe.
“I’ve had wildebeests, I’ve had water buffalo, I’ve had monkeys, I’ve had zebras, all go missing,” Johnson said. “Sometimes we recover them, and sometimes we don’t.”
While the middle of Texas is not a giraffe’s native environment, Jones said Gracie should be able to find plenty of leaves and other vegetation to eat. He said other animals were not likely to bother her.
Jones said he initially had helicopters searching an area of about 7,500 acres (3,000 hectares) with no luck. A few days later, there was a report that Gracie was spotted to the south.
But by the time they could search the area, Jones said, she was already gone.
“We’re always two three days late for where the information is coming from, so that makes it tough,” Jones said.
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