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Chef Jon Bonnell drizzles habanero hot sauce over chicken wings during ZestFest at the Will Rogers Memorial Center on May 25, 2024. (Alberto Silva Fernandez | Fort Worth Report)
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Fort Worth chefs have been stirring the pot lately with moves to new positions and a posthumous award for an icon who left his mark on the Fort Worth restaurant world. 

Walter Kaufmann, Old Swiss House

The late Walter Kaufmann set the bar for excellence and service in fine dining in Fort Worth, according to chef Jon Bonnell, who recently accepted a posthumous award from the Texas Chefs Association on behalf of Kaufmann. Kaufmann, who died in 2020 at the age of 91, was inducted into TCA’s Culinary Hall of Fame at their annual convention Aug. 5.“He paved the way for guys like me to have the kind of jobs that we have because Fort Worth did not have a fine-dining scene before Walter Kaufmann, for the most part,” Bonnell said in his speech honoring Kaufmann. 

Born in Switzerland, Kaufmann trained as a chef there before moving abroad to work in fine-dining establishments in London, Houston and eventually Fort Worth. Kaufmann ran the Old Swiss House restaurant, located first on Camp Bowie Boulevard and then on University Drive, from 1964 to 1994. The Fort Worth Food + Wine Foundation named its Lifetime Achievement Award after him in 2015.Bonnell told the story of his own 11th birthday celebration at Old Swiss House with his parents, when Kaufmann asked if there was anything special he could prepare. Bonnell said he asked for fondue because it was the fanciest thing he could think of, and even though it wasn’t on the menu, Kaufmann located a fondue set and prepared a full spread for his family.

“That was my first intro to fine dining,” Bonnell said. “I didn’t realize it at the time but I was a budding ‘foodie’ before that was even a word, and I started to understand what the difference was between going to a chain restaurant and going out to dine.” 

Kaufmann was known for his personal attention to guests, which turned many customers into friends over the years. Even after he officially retired, he volunteered at other restaurants to greet the guests as they arrived simply because he wanted to continue seeing former customers who had become like family, Bonnell said. 

Manuel Vasquez, Los Vaqueros West

Award-winning chef Manuel Vasquez, known locally as “Chef Manny,” is heading west after 11 years as the executive chef at Tarrant Area Food Bank’s Community Kitchen, a culinary training program for low-income students. Cisneros Restaurants Inc., the group behind the Los Vaqueros restaurants in the Stockyards and in Willow Park, announced it tapped Vasquez to be the culinary director and executive chef at Los Vaqueros West, including operations at a new event center that opened in June with seating for up to 200 guests.

Vasquez received his culinary training at the Art Institute of Atlanta. Prior to working at TAFB, Vasquez owned Manny’s Kitchen and Catering and worked as a chef at Vidalia’s, a restaurant that was located in the Worthington Renaissance hotel downtown. He was named “Chef of the Year” by the Fort Worth Chefs Association in 2020. 

Tony France, Loews Arlington Hotel and Convention Center

In June, Tony France became the executive chef at Loews Arlington Hotel and Convention Center, where he oversees food and beverage operations for five restaurants and lounges, banquets and special events, and 24-hour in-room dining for the 888-room resort. 

France most recently served as the executive chef at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Las Colinas, formerly the Four Seasons Resort, and Club Dallas at Las Colinas before it became part of the Ritz-Carlton brand. France received his culinary training at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, California, and worked in private clubs and luxury hotels in California before moving to Texas. 

Disclosure: Sonya Cisneros Wierzowiecki, director of development for the Fort Worth Report, is the granddaughter of the founders of Los Vaqueros restaurant. 

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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