On June 5 the Epicurean World Master Chefs Society will pay tribute to Ewald Scholz, one of the greatest chefs to ever cook in Dallas. Scholz created the first “open” kitchen in the city, a novelty that lingers in the memory of Dallas diners as vividly as his signature fried parsley and spaetzli. Anyone who has memories of Ewald’s should make time to attend this event. It will surely be filled with other great European chefs that ruled the Continental cuisine scene from the ‘60s to the ‘90s.
I had lunch with Schultz earlier this year and, despite some health setbacks, he was a bundle of energy. He’s a great story teller and remembers almost every chef who ever moved from Europe to Dallas.
In 1997 former D Magazine dining critic Mary Brown Malouf wrote:
In a city where so many restaurants that open in a given year fail, Ewald Scholz is an anomaly. Scholz worked in his parents’ bakery in Germany in 1945 right after the war. Then he apprenticed to a cook in Switzerland. Cooking, he says, offered him an opportunity to see the world-or the eighth continent, anyway. He still lights up when he talks about the travel opportunities, working in hotels and on cruise ships. He came to Dallas in 1961 to open the Cabana Motor Hotel. (Where the Beatles stayed, remember? It’s now the Decker Detention Center.) In 1968, Scholz opened his restaurant on Lovers Lane near Inwood Road, known at the time as “restaurant row” because those blocks housed the only fine dining in Dallas: Ewald’s, Mr. Peppe’s. Marcel’s, and Dominique’s, all continental dining rooms run, owned, and cooked for by European chefs.
Come celebrate a big slice of Dallas culinary history. The festivities take place on June 5 from 6-9PM at Chef Pete Nolesco’s Catering at 2505 Farrington St. There will be live music, a martini bar, Master Chef food stations, and ice carvings! Tickets are available here.
