Weekday Happy Hours

New Fort Worth bar and grill fills gap on Sundance Square landscape

Sundance Square gets a new restaurant and bar.

Photo courtesy of the Beck Group

A new bar and grill is taking over a space in Sundance Square that's been empty for a year. Called 3rd Street Bar & Grill, it's a collaboration between Fort Worth food and beverage veteran Al Abbood and chef Steve Mitchell, and will go into the space at 425 W. 3rd St. in the Carnegie building, across from the Central Library.

Abbood also owns Z Grill in Flower Mound, and Sonoma Grill, which is now closed. Mitchell most recently opened the short-lived M Bistro in the Montgomery Plaza and previously worked at Yucatan Taco Stand and The Harbor on Possum Lake.

The prior tenant at this location was a branch of Dallas-based Frankie's Grill, which had been there for five years before closing in January 2017 — leaving a gap that Sundance Square president/CEO Johnny Campbell says they were eager to fill.

"We have been looking for the right partners for this space and Al and Steve will bring a lot of experience to Sundance Square," Campbell says in a release. "We envision 3rd Street Bar & Grill providing visitors with a comfortable interior and patio space to relax and enjoy a fabulous meal, as well as fun entertainment."

The restaurant and entertainment venue will feature an extensive menu with appetizers, salads, burgers, sandwiches, and entrees — in other words, all the categories. The bar will serve beer, wine, and spirits, including local favorites. A happy hour will run weekdays from 3-7 pm.

Entertainment-wise, 3rd Street Bar & Grill will offer everything from sports viewing, happy hours, and live music, both local and regional musical acts, filling a steady calendar of pop, rock, Texas country, jazz, and blues. In other words, all the genres.

Opening is anticipated to happen in January 2018.

openings downtown

Breakfast News

White Rock Cafe in North Richland Hills is a breakfast & lunch gem

White Rock Cafe

A family-owned cafe is serving Mexican eats and coffee in North Richland Hills: Called White Rock Cafe, it's located at 7640 NE Loop 820 #110, in North Hills Village, in a former event space called Eventfully Yours, where it opened in May.

Not to be confused with White Rock Coffee or White Rock Lake, White Rock Cafe is named after a location in Oaxaca, Mexico — Rosa Blanca — and the ancestral hometown of sisters Jenny and Stephanie Pantoja, who own the restaurant with their cousin Kevin Nazario.

"It's where my father grew up," Jenny says. But she and her sister and her cousin all grew up in NRH.

“We decided to open in North Richland Hills because even though we live on the edge of Fort Worth, we kind of grew up here and are familiar with the people," Jenny says. “That’s why we decided this would be the perfect community to open a breakfast place.”

Their menu ranges from Mexican breakfast to comfort food to burgers and chicken-fried steak. There are all your bacon-and-egg-and-pancake combos with choice of potatoes or grits, but there are also crepes, topped with berries, and a Mexican Benedict, featuring an English muffin topped with grilled red onions, green peppers, seasoned chorizo, poached eggs, avocado, and Hollandaise sauce.

They also have a coffee program including brewed coffee, espresso, white coffee, hot chocolate, and hot teas.

White Rock CafeWhite Rock Cafe

Lunch has a homey home-cooking vibe, including a daily special with dishes like chicken fried steak and pot roast with two sides and Texas toast for only $8. There's a perfect California club with crisp bacon, red tomato slices, and fresh Romaine on toast, neatly trimmed, for $10; and that DFW classic combo of grilled cheese sandwich served with tomato-basil soup.

Prices are low, topping out at $14 for chilaquiles. They're open every day from 7 am-3 pm.

Jenny works in a surgery program most days when she’s not at the restaurant. She got her start working at a breakfast restaurant and grew to appreciate the hours and the culture, inspiring her and her family to open this breakfast cafe of their own.

It's a friendly, tidy place, with black vinyl booths and a lovely mural on the wall that summons the Mexican area for which it is named.

“My father used to work at a Cracker Barrel and other breakfast places, then he had the dream of opening his own place,” Jenny says. “That was the same for me too."

breakfast openings