Walter Kaufmann
It’s hard to imagine, says longtime Fort Worth restaurateur Adam Jones, that the city’s fine dining landscape would be what it is today had Walter Kaufmann not helped define it.
“There were a few nice restaurants in Fort Worth before Walter came along,” says Jones, the owner and operator of downtown’s Grace restaurant. “But he set the standard. His food, his service, they were second to none. He’s probably the single-most influential figure in Fort Worth’s fine dining community.”
Kaufmann, who died Tuesday at the age of 91, perfected the art of fine dining in Fort Worth at his restaurant Old Swiss House, introducing European cuisine and white glove service to a town unaccustomed to either.
For three decades, from 1964 to 1994, a who’s-who of well-heeled locals — and passing-through-town celebrities — dined at “the Swiss House,” swooning over the Swiss-born chef’s lamb chops, veal Oscar, frog legs, and brandy-flamed goulash.
“He paved the way for all of us in the fine dining industry here,” says Fort Worth chef Jon Bonnell. “There was a time when if you wanted a nice meal around here, you went to a country club, or you went to Dallas. Walter changed that.”
In his hometown of Lucerne, Switzerland, Kaufmann was an apprentice for renowned chef Charles Finance. He later moved to London, where he worked at the acclaimed Grosvenor House hotel. “I poured a little wine once for Sir Winston Churchill,” Kaufmann told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2014. “The head waiter took his order.”
At age 28, Kaufmann moved to Houston, answering an ad in a Swiss newspaper for a job as a sous chef at the Petroleum Club. But the city’s balmy temperatures drove him further north, to Fort Worth, where he started his restaurant career in earnest.
After stints at Ridglea Country Club, where he once again worked with Finance, and Colonial Country Club, Kaufmann opened Old Swiss House, turning a west side office building, at 5412 Camp Bowie Blvd., into what is still considered by many to be Fort Worth’s finest restaurant.
“He was serving the type of food you didn’t see in Fort Worth,” Jones says. “And he was doing it successfully.”
Part of the restaurant’s success can be attributed to Kaufmann’s approach to customer service. He greeted and often befriended his guests, benevolently moving from table to table, offering a level of service that, at the time, in this city, bordered on rare.
“I remember my first meal at Old Swiss when I was 10,” Bonnell recalls. “It was my birthday, and my parents told me I could go anywhere and get anything. So I thought of the fanciest place in town and got the fanciest dish I knew of, which was beef fondue ... It wasn’t even on the menu, and he made it happen. That’s the kind of service he offered, the kind of guy he was. It was that personal touch that made his restaurant so important.”
In 1982, expansion of Interstate 30 forced Kaufmann to move Old Swiss to a new location on University Drive, near the Fort Worth Zoo. The restaurant thrived for another 12 years; in 1994, it closed.
Kaufmann remained a fixture in the restaurant community. He often worked in the dining room and kitchen at the fondly remembered Bistro Louise, where his wife Glenda also worked. On more than one occasion, the restaurant hosted an event called “Old Swiss House Night,” in which Kaufmann would serve staples from his beloved Swiss House menu.
For a time, he also led the kitchen at the short-lived Stonegate Mansion and was, briefly, a managing partner at The Balcony restaurant. In 2017, he retired from his position as chef consultant and ambassador for produce distributor FreshPoint.
He was also a member of several food and restaurant-related boards and committees, including the Fort Worth Chef’s Association. The Fort Worth Food + Wine Foundation, the company that hosts the yearly food festival of the same name, honored Walter by naming an award after him.
But it was his kindness and sincere humility for which he’ll be best remembered, says longtime friend Michael Thomson, chef-owner of Michael’s Cuisine.
“He was what all of us should strive to be,” he says. “Kind, knowledgeable, giving, and always about others. I’ll miss him dearly, and I know our city will, too.
