Jon Bonnell is Fort Worth through and through. Fourth-generation, born and raised, the kind of guy who hunted and fished growing up and never really stopped thinking about what ended up on the plate. He went to Vanderbilt, came home, taught science and math for a couple of years, and then had one of those moments — watching a cooking show, of all things — where something clicked. He enrolled at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, did his internship at Mr. B’s Bistro in the New Orleans French Quarter, and came back to Fort Worth in 1997 with a plan already forming.
That plan was Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine, which he opened in 2001. The concept came straight from a culinary school assignment — create a restaurant from scratch. He researched game farms and ranches around Fort Worth, built out a whole vision around fine wild game and Texas ingredients, and when he turned it in his instructor asked if it was based on a real restaurant. It wasn’t yet. It opened three years later and has been one of the top-rated restaurants in Texas ever since, holding a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence every year since 2004 and consistently landing in the upper tier of Zagat’s Texas survey.
Wild game became his calling card nationally — he’s widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on fine game cookery in the country — but Bonnell has always been just as comfortable with seafood. He cooked in New Orleans, he traveled, he paid attention, and eventually those instincts led him to open Waters in 2013. It started in the West 7th area and moved to its current home in Sundance Square in 2017, where it has settled in as the finest seafood restaurant in downtown Fort Worth.
The concept at Waters is built around sourcing — wild, seasonal, sustainable seafood, flown in fresh and treated with real respect. Executive Chef Anthony Felli runs the kitchen day to day alongside Bonnell’s vision, and between the two of them they bring over 40 years of Fort Worth fine dining experience to every plate. A few things worth knowing about before you go:
- Bonnell’s Signature Seafood Gumbo ($16 cup / $32 bowl) — shrimp, crawfish, andouille, okra, jasmine rice. This one has been on the menu since the beginning, built on the Creole foundation Bonnell absorbed during his time in the French Quarter. It is exactly what it should be.
- Halibut ($54) — fresh Alaskan fish over sweet potato mascarpone gnocchi with lemon-basil cream and macadamia pesto. It sounds like a lot on paper and comes together beautifully on the plate.
- Ruby Red Trout ($42) — hazelnut crust, Frangelico butter, haricot verts, lump crab on top. The kind of dish you order once and immediately start planning your return visit around.
- Lobster-cargot ($38) — Maine lobster tail, aged Havarti, lemon-garlic butter. A riff on escargot that has become something of a signature starter and works better than it has any right to.
- Lump Crab Cake ($24 appetizer / $48 entree) — crab forward, no fillers, citrus arugula, lemon-chive aioli. Bonnell’s position on crab cakes is well known around here. He won’t pad them, and it shows.
The room at Waters — 301 Main Street, right in the heart of Sundance Square — is what Bonnell calls Fort Worth Fancy. The dress is casual, the food is serious, and the atmosphere hits that particular sweet spot that makes a restaurant work for a Tuesday night dinner and a special occasion equally well. The patio is one of the best outdoor dining spots in downtown, with a full bar of its own and a welcome sign out for four-legged guests. The wine program, built by Bonnell and wine director Kalvin Rhone, has earned more than 15 Wine Spectator Awards of Excellence over the years. Hours are Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, and Sunday for dinner only. Reservations are available through OpenTable or by calling 817-984-1110.
Beyond the restaurants, Bonnell has authored four books — three cookbooks including Jon Bonnell’s Waters Fine Coastal Cuisine, and Carry Out, Carry On, his 2020 account of navigating the restaurant industry through COVID — and has cooked at the James Beard House three times. He has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Early Show, and multiple Food Network programs. He is also the celebrity chef for TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium and has long been one of Fort Worth’s most active philanthropists, sitting on numerous boards and leading fundraising efforts for causes ranging from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to the North Texas Food Bank.
Earlier this year, Bonnell shared publicly that he was diagnosed with stage 3 squamous cell carcinoma and has been undergoing treatment. The response from Fort Worth was immediate and overwhelming — thousands of messages, the kind of outpouring a community reserves for someone it genuinely loves. His prognosis is good, and the restaurants remain open and in good hands. Fort Worth is pulling for him, and there’s every reason to believe he’ll be back in his kitchens where he belongs…