About this Event
What better way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our Fort Worth location than with an unforgettable five-course, wine-paired dinner? Join us for an extraordinary evening featuring acclaimed local chef Louise Lamensdorf alongside the renowned wines of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Together, they will showcase their craft through expertly curated food and wine pairings that highlight the artistry of both the kitchen and the vineyard. Raise a glass, savor every course, and help us toast 25 years of culinary excellence.
Chef Louise Lamensdorf
Louise was born and raised in Monroe, La. She lived in New Orleans for 12 years before moving to Fort Worth in 1966. She came by her love of food as a child when her French grandmother who lived with the family ran the kitchen. Gumbo may have been considered fine fare by some in the neighborhood, but Louise's grandmother turned out stuffed breast of veal, poached fish and Alsatian baked potatoes for her family.
She apprenticed for eight years with Fort Worth's Charles Finance, the first chef to lead the U.S. Olympic team and has studied under Andre Daguin at the Michelin two star Hotel de France in Auch, France, Sabine de Mirebeck in Polgate, England, at Simone Beck's School of Cooking in Grasse, France and Alembique School of Cooking in Seville, Spain. Additional training was done at the Cordon Bleu in New York City, with popular French chef Jaques Pepin and with Florence Simon who ran Fort Worth's first cooking school. A stage at La Bastide St. Antoine, a michelin two star Chateau and Relais under the chef Jacques Chibois sharpened her French Riviera skills.
In 1979, Louise and two partners opened The French Apron School of Cooking in Fort Worth. where students were taught to prepare American regional, French, Italian, Chinese, Spanish, Eastern European and healthy cuisines as well as pastries. The school which remained open 10 years praised not only by students, but also by such visiting chefs as Stephen Pyles, Diana Kennedy, Anne Rosenzweig and Madelaine Kamman.
Marchese Antinori/Stag's Leap Cellars
Stag's Leap is considered one of the most important wineries in California’s Napa Valley. Warren Winiarski founded Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in 1970 and today the winery is known worldwide especially for its production of excellent Cabernet Sauvignon wines.
This historic winery was made famous in 1976, the year of the "Judgment of Paris", a blind winetasting that was conducted in Paris with a panel of 9 French tasters who tasted samples of California’s best Cabernet and Chardonnay and matched them against some of the finest labels from Bordeaux and Burgandy. Despite pessimistic predictions, due to the fact that Californian wines were only considered an interesting “novelty” in the world of wine, they were declared the winners. First place was assigned to S.L.V. 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap, a phenomenon that created an upheaval in the world’s viticultural circles.
The Antinori family had been a managing partner since 2007 while in 2023, they acquired the entire Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars estate to preserve and continue to pursue the extraordinary legacy of this unique winery.
Event venue & nearby stays
Central Market Fort Worth, 4651 West Freeway, Fort Worth, United States
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