Michelin-Starred Chef Michael White Debuts Two Italian Concepts at The Stoneleigh

Michael White’s Dallas debut landed at The Stoneleigh with two restaurants built to change the way Uptown eats and drinks: Lions Den and Bar Leonessa. The Michelin-starred chef, whose career has included five Michelin stars at once and multiple three-star New York Times reviews, is not just adding another hotel dining room. He is taking over a historic address and using it to push Dallas deeper into the luxury Italian lane.

The menu at Lions Den is coastal Italian and seafood-driven, but it still makes room for the details pasta diners notice first, handmade noodles, tableside touches and dishes that turn dinner into an event. Signature plates include porterhouse, Dover sole finished with brown butter and lemon, and veal chop with Marsala, while Marriott describes Lions Den as a “new-age supper club.” Bar Leonessa is built as the counterpoint, shifting from a daytime café into a cocktail lounge. Together, the two concepts give White a split personality under one roof, one dining room for long suppers and another for the before-and-after energy that keeps a restaurant alive past midnight.

That strategy matters because The Stoneleigh is not starting from scratch. The hotel first opened in October 1923 and Marriott calls it a National Historic Landmark, a property that was once the tallest structure west of the Mississippi. It began as The Stoneleigh Court Apartment Hotel, designed by local architect F.J. Woerner, then was bought by Colonel Harry E. Stewart in 1934. Stewart brought in Dorothy Draper, the first woman to own a U.S. interior design firm, and her maximalist touch still defines the penthouse, terrace, library, music room, dining room and the Draper and Stewart living spaces. Marriott says Draper added English oak and 500-year-old Italian marble to the 11th and 12th floors, a detail that fits White’s own old-world, high-drama Italian approach.

The reopening also folded The Stoneleigh into Marriott’s Autograph Collection after a full refresh by Fettle and a broader transformation backed by Brookfield Properties. Marriott is pairing the launch with a 10,000-bonus-points offer for Marriott Bonvoy members staying two nights or more, plus a Signature Stoneleigh Suite Escape that includes a chef-curated welcome amenity, a multi-course tasting menu at Lions Den with wine pairings and cocktails at Bar Leonessa. The package runs from May 10, 2026 to December 30, 2026, and a future “In the Den: Chef & Friends” tasting series is set for this fall.

The hotel’s lifestyle pitch stretches beyond the dining room, with a heated outdoor pool, bocce court and Peloton-equipped gym rounding out the relaunch. For Dallas, White’s arrival gives Uptown a rare combination: a landmark setting, a chef with serious star power and a two-concept Italian program meant for both polished business dinners and the kind of pasta-forward nights people remember.