Tuesday, August 31, 7:00 pm
Members $90, guests $115

You’ve got to believe that Jon Bonnell knew naming his restaurant Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine was going to raise a few eyebrows. For starters, a non-Texan might wonder, what’s with the word cuisine? If this is Texas we’re talking about, surely he meant cookin’? And what’s so fine about bbq, chili, and grits? Oh, but wait, that’s not what this guy is about at all, you realize as soon as you’re handed the menu. Bonnell tips his Stetson at Southwestern and Creole cuisines, and the results are mighty fine, indeed.

Nancy Schaadt of Fort Worth Weekly got it immediately: “Bonnell’s game meats are of such quality and the food is so remarkable,” she wrote, “Bonnell has begun a new chapter in the book of fine Texas cuisine. This is a pedigreed restaurant and a shoo-in for Best in Show.” Her prediction was spot-on. Bonnell was named 2002 Chef of the Year by the publication 11 months later.

Dotty Griffith of The Dallas Morning News gave the restaurant three and a half stars and directed her readers to a few of the standout dishes, including Bonnell’s chicken and wild mushroom pasta as well as grilled trout with mango salsa and wild rice pilaf. She was also taken with his creamy green chile and cheese grits, declaring them a “don’t-miss companion to many of the entrees” and touting them as “a perfect sponge for the wild mushroom cabernet sauce” that came with “garnet-hued slices of duck breast.” Her colleague June Naylor, writing for Texas Journey and the Star-Telegram, applauded the venison carpaccio: “Silken to the tongue, the appetizer is served on a nest of arugula with a creamy green-peppercorn dressing and crisp-fried capers.”

With food this tasty, small wonder that Bonnell’s was named Best New Restaurant and Best Southwest Restaurant by Ft. Worth Magazine and Best Restaurant by Fort Worth Weekly. Bonnell, a native of Fort Worth, began his professional life as a science and math teacher. After two years, he headed east and attended the New England Culinary Institute. While a student, he apprenticed at Mr. B’s Bistro in New Orleans’s historic French Quarter, where he fell hard for Creole food. After graduation he made his way back home and became a chef at Randall’s Gourmet Restaurant and Cheesecakery. In between drafting plans for his own place, Bonnell helped open Escargot Restaurant, and he worked as a personal chef. In the fall of 2001, he took his place at the stove at his namesake restaurant.