Fat Tuesday Gluttony

Mardi Gras festivities top the 6 best Fort Worth food and drink events this week

Hurricanes are a Mardi Gras party in a glass.

Photo courtesy of Marugame Udon

Mardi Gras means it's time to drink hurricanes and wear beads for a night. This week is busy early with Fat Tuesday festivities, which range from casual to fine dining. Then it’s whiskey Wednesday with a dinner featuring the best from all over Texas, followed by an exclusive wine tasting on Thursday. Finish the week strong with yoga and brunch by Saturday morning.

Tuesday, March 5

Mardi Gras at Southern Classic Daiquiri Factory
No reservations needed for this down-home taste of New Orleans. The casual Cajun and Creole restaurant features dozens of frozen daiquiris, just like many corner dives around the French Quarter, and all will be $3 on Fat Tuesday. Think flavors ranging from white Russian and hurricane to amaretto sour and peach. In addition to the regular menu items like seafood gumbo, boudin balls, and red beans and rice, there’ll be a crawfish boil by Baton Rouge-based Southern Boilers along with DJ music. The party will run from 5 pm until midnight.

Fat Tuesday at Bourbon Street Oyster Bar & Grill
Details are fairly slim, but the Montgomery Plaza restaurant named for the official Fat Tuesday headquarters is promising crawfish, cocktails, and live music by a legit zydeco band. Festivities will run from 3 pm until midnight.

Mardi Gras at Waters
While chef Jon Bonnell is in New Orleans participating in official Mardi Gras festivities himself, his Sundance Square seafood restaurant will serve some authentic Crescent City cuisine. (The chef once interned at Mr. B’s Bistro in the French Quarter and keeps a close connection.) Go for menu specials like Gulf shrimp and crawfish etoufee, sea scallop and andouille sausage jambalaya, and French bread pudding. The specials end on Fat Tuesday.

Wednesday, March 6

Texas Whiskey Dinner at Del Frisco’s Grille
The first night sold out, so the Sundance Square restaurant added a second night to celebrate whiskeys and cuisine from around the state. Four courses will include Texas redfish ceviche, wild boar ribs, Texas quail, and apple cobbler. Featured whiskeys include Firestone & Robertson, Balcones, Herman Marshall, and Garrison Brothers. The dinner is $75, plus tax and gratuity, and begins at 6:30 pm.

Thursday, March 7

Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival Sipping Series: Reserve Wine Tasting
There’ll be more than 25 pours at this fine wine tasting, where local wine gurus will guide participants through reds, whites, and bubbly from around the world. The event will run from 6-8 pm at Café Modern, and assorted hors d’oeuvres are included in the $75 per-person price. The event is a precursor to the sixth annual festival, set to begin April 4.

Saturday, March 9

Brunch & Yoga at Magdalena’s
Add Magdalena’s to the growing list of venues pairing yoga with brunch. The caterer will serve tacos, mini chicken biscuits, French toast, and yogurt after a rejuvenating yoga class. Bring your own bubbly to make your own mimosas — Magdalena’s will provide the juice. The class begins at 10:30 am and spots are $30 at the door, but reservations in advance are encouraged. Don’t forget your mat.

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Thai Food News

Novel Thai restaurant in north Fort Worth comes with its own market

Bangkok Thai

A mom-and-pop Thai restaurant in north Fort Worth comes with a unique twist: Called Bangkok Thai Street Food & Market, it’s a restaurant serving traditional Thai food but also a market selling all sorts of goods, from cooking ingredients to clothing to household gear.

Bangkok Thai, which opened in December 2023 at 5801 Golden Triangle Blvd. #121, is owned by married couple Sirikanya and John Brown. John is a retired vet who worked in IT. Sirikanya moved to the U.S. from Thailand 11 years ago and previously worked in Thai restaurants across Fort Worth.

The concept sprung out a business that Sirikanya started out of their home, John says.

"About five years ago, she started an online market selling Thai products while working in Thai restaurants on the weekends," he says.

At the same time, Sirikanya missed the authentic flavors of the Thai food she grew up with, so she pitched the idea of opening a restaurant. Most of the recipes are inspired by the cooking of Sirikanya’s mother and ingredients from Thailand.

To capture those flavors, that means using traditional ingredients like tamarind instead of vinegar, and palm sugar in place of cane sugar.

“She's from Bangkok, and she worked in her mom’s restaurant, which is where she learned how to cook,” John says.

The menu features Thai classics like pad Thai, tom yum soup, green and red curry, and chicken satay with housemade peanut sauce. There are soups: boat noodle soup with beef broth, tofu soup with minced pork & Chinese cabbage, and a spicy Tom Kha.

There are also other Asian essentials like edamame and dumplings, plus their twist on chicken wings served with a Thai sweet chili sauce. They do not serve alcohol but there are teas, boba teas, and limeade.

Prices are affordable and average $6 for appetizers and $12 for curry and noodle dishes.

The market is inside the restaurant, next to the dining area, featuring shelves stocked with international items, such as clothing, rice baskets, refrigerated drinks, sauces, and noodles.

"A lot of it is imported from Thailand and some of it is sourced locally," John says. "Pretty much everything that you need, we have the ingredients for. Sirikanya also sells her own chili paste, and we often have other house-made dishes depending on the day."

They also host cooking classes, usually twice a month, such as a recent Thai curry cooking class where everyone learned how to make curry paste from scratch, cooked their own curry dishes. The classes are $60 a month and they’ll be taking a break during December but the classes will resume in January 2025.

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