Dale Wamstad is opening Four Sisters Café in Richardson. The food will be “True American.” Mr. Wamstad was once a huge force in the Dallas restaurant scene: he founded Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse, III Forks, and Silver Fox. Those are just the business highlights.
In 2000, Mark Steurtz, then of the Dallas Observer, wrote a feature story on Wamstad titled “Family Man: Dallas restaurateur Dale Wamstad portrays himself as humble entrepreneur and devoted father. The family he abandoned in New Orleans has a bone to pick with that.” Wamstad sued the Observer but lost.
If you think Tesar vs Badovinus was interesting, you should take a few minutes to read Steurtz’s piece which includes a public fight with his ex-wife who pulled out a gun and shot him three times. Below is a clip from Steutz’s story:
The purse on the sofa held the .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol her husband had given her two years earlier to protect herself when she closed the restaurant at night alone. As Rumore exited the restroom, she heard a loud slam. Wamstad had burst through the front door. He demanded that Theresa open the front door and he pushed a briefcase in her face. Lena told him to stop. “Then he screamed, ‘You fucking bitch, what do you think you’re doing closing and putting that sign out there?'” Lena says. “And he hurled the briefcase at me, and I mean with force.”
She pleaded with Wamstad to let her explain what had happened, but he came at her again. She reached into her purse and pulled out the gun.
“He kinda laughed, ‘You fucking bitch. You better use it on me, because if you don’t use it, I’m going to kill you with it,'” Rumore recalls. “He started coming close, like he was going to take it from me. So I fired.”
Rumore fired four shots before the gun jammed. One bullet missed. Another went into Wamstad’s jaw, while a pair of slugs entered his back. He moaned. She screamed and dialed 911.
The police didn’t arrest Rumore…. On July 16, 1986, Lena Rumore was found innocent. The judge ruled that she had acted in self-defense.
Loads of folks around here admire Dale Wamstad’s business sense. The guy is a warrior of the restaurant business. Four Sister’s Café sits in the apex of The Shire, a mixed-use development in Richardson near George Bush Turnpike and Jupiter Road. The developer? Wamstad.
Mike Hiller has pictures and an interesting story about the name and the artwork designated to play center stage. Welcome back, Dale. You got here just in time. Oh, the menu.
