The Chefs
Molly McCook, Ellerbe Fine Foods
Molly McCook is co-owner and executive chef at Ellerbe Fine Foods, the award-winning farm-to-table restaurant and market located in Fort Worth’s Near Southside district at 1501 West Magnolia Avenue. Trained in sustainable dining practices in some of the country’s finest restaurants, Chef McCook brings a special touch to her innovative, seasonal menu items in the Ellerbe kitchen.
Chef McCook fondly remembers her childhood in Shreveport, La., where the garden provided fresh ingredients for her family’s cooking. She spent a lot of time at her grandparents’ house on Ellerbe Road, a much-loved location that she honors in her awardwinning new restaurant, Ellerbe Fine Foods in Fort Worth, Texas.
Molly arrived in Fort Worth in 2006 after developing her culinary skills in locations and restaurants across the country. She originally left Shreveport for Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo., where she earned her bachelor’s degree in restaurant and resort management while working for a local catering company. Inspired to focus on cooking, she moved to San Francisco as a student at the California Culinary Academy, where she earned the Danielle Carlisle Award for excellence in culinary studies.
In northern California, Ms. McCook completed an internship at Gary Danko, and she worked at Stars under Amaryll Schwertner, where she learned to develop innovative menus around seasonality, local ingredients, and sustainability.
Moving south to Los Angeles, Chef McCook was sous chef at Luques under Chef Suzanne Goin, an early apprentice of renowned chef, restaurateur and passionate proponent of sustainable dining, Alice Waters. Ms. McCook’s skills and menus reflect this heritage of culinary apprenticeship to the finest locavore chefs worldwide.
Ms. McCook relocated to Austin, Texas, and she and Shreveport childhood friend Richard King began their plans for their own restaurant in 2006. Three years later, in June 2009, Ellerbe Fine Foods opened its doors and has been steadily collecting awards since then.
Lanny Lancarte, Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana
Chef, restaurateur, e
ntrepreneur, visionary and Fort Worth native Lanny P. Lancarte II is the owner of Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana, a dynamic dining experience constantly pushing boundaries and forging the unexpected. Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana’s menu is a vibrant work of art, changing with the seasons, giving Lanny’s diners innovations that are the result of one of the most inspiring culinary curiosities in creative cuisine today.
Lanny takes great pride in his educational achievements. He completed his undergraduate studies at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas at the age of 37—the first in his family to earn a college degree. Having also graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, Lanny took advantage of a number of culinary study tours to Mexico, working with and learning from luminaries like Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless. His hunger for a meaningful place in the kitchen landed Lanny on Bayless’s staff at the renowned Frontera Grill / Topolobampo restaurants in Chicago.
Eventually returning to his culinary beginnings, Lanny opened his first dining room deep within the patio gardens at his family’s landmark Mexican restaurant, Joe T. Garcia’s on Fort Worth’s historic North Side. Joe T’s, as it is known to literally millions of fans, is a national icon in the restaurant industry. Joe T’s was one of the first casual restaurants honored by the James Beard Foundation. Lanny’s great-grandfather Joe T. Garcia not only founded this remarkable institution, but ingrained in his descendants a vision for perfection and pleasing the palates of guests, a legacy that Lanny upholds today.
While at Joe T’s, Lanny was able to experiment, explore, and perfect what would become his signature tasting menu. They were the ideal representation of Lanny’s cuisine when he decided to go out on his own in 2005.
That year, Lanny opened Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana just three miles south of his family’s exemplary institution. Lanny’s new restaurant’s neighborhood was also rich in culture and warmth—Lanny’s Alta Cocina is in the heart of Fort Worth’s celebrated Museum District just a mile west of the vibrant, revitalized downtown and home to five acclaimed museums and the Will Rogers Center that each year hosts the historic Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. Within a month, he received an invitation from the James Beard House to participate in their illustrious program, an opportunity that, within six months, contributed to Lanny’s new restaurant being lauded as one of the best “top 10 restaurants” in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by the Dallas Morning News, “Top Five Up and Coming Chefs” by Texas Highways 2005, “Top Five new places to dine” 2005 by Texas Monthly, “Best New Restaurant” 2005 Fort Worth, Texas Magazine, “Top 10 New Restaurants” 2005 D Magazine, and earning 4.5 stars from the Dallas Morning News. He certainly earned the “rising star chef” kudo given to him by starchefs.com.
Lanny’s heritage, his innate talent, his good nature, and his dedication to excellence and creativity in the kitchen continue to command rave reviews. The most desired distinction, however, is simply knowing he’s met or exceeded the expectations of the many happy guests who grace Lanny’s dining rooms and patio five days a week.
Jon Bonnell, Bonnells Fine Texas Cuisine
Chef Jon Bonnell pairs his native Texas heritage with classic culinary training to create inventive and delicious dishes featuring decidedly Texan ingredients to inspire the palette. Distinguished as one of the foremost experts on fine wild game and Texas Cuisine, his innate understanding of flavor combinations and perfected techniques entices diners to experience new culinary creations. With a passion for sharing knowledge with others, there is never a technique or recipe he won’t share.
Chef Bonnell is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and the prestigious New England Culinary Institute. He has authored two cookbooks Jon Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine and Jon Bonnell’s Texas Favorites. Chef Bonnell has cooked at the famed James Beard House in New York City in 2004, 2005 and 2008. He has been featured on NBC’s The Today Show, CBS’s The Early Show, CBS’s This Morning, ABC’s Nightline, ABC’s GMA Now, Better TV, as well as The Food Network’s BBQ with Bobby Flay and The Food Network’s Meat & Potatoes. His namesake restaurant, Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine in Fort Worth, has won the “Award of Excellence” from Wine Spectator each year since 2004.
Contact 
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