There's big chef news at a buzzy Fort Worth Tex-Mex: Los Vaqueros Restaurant has appointed Manuel Vasquez to serve as culinary director and executive chef at Los Vaqueros West in Willow Park.
Vasquez, AKA “Chef Manny,” will expand the restaurant’s acclaimed Tex-Mex menu by introducing Southwestern, Latin, Spanish, and Southern influences in specials on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday brunch.
Chef Manny's specials will include dishes such as shrimp & grits, with garlic butter shrimp served over jalapeño Monterey Jack cheese grits, topped with a cream sherry butter sauce. Oooh fancy. These will also be offered at Los Vaqueros West’s new event center, which opened in June and includes a banquet hall that seats up to 200 people.
Los Vaqueros Restaurant has brought delicious Tex-Mex to the Stockyards since 1982 and to Willow Park since 2008, through three generations. The concept made the news in May with a decision to relocate from its longtime location in the Stockyards to another building also in the Stockyards: the 1911 Stockyards Exhibits building at 2513 Rodeo Plaza. That will open in August.
Vasquez, who previously owned Manny's Kitchen and Catering for 15 years, studied at the Art Institute of Atlanta’s Culinary Art School, then spent 11 years in Atlanta's restaurant scene, learning a variety of cuisines such as Southern, French, Italian, Spanish, Mediterranean, and Southwestern. He was executive chef at Atlanta’s Horseradish Grill before returning to Fort Worth and becoming a chef for The Worthington hotel’s restaurant, Vidalia’s.
He also served for 11 years as executive chef for Tarrant Area Food Bank’s Community Kitchen, a job training program for low-income students interested in the culinary arts — teaching aspiring chefs and working with guest chefs, as well as welcoming contributions from his mother who would come every Christmas to teach how to make tamales.
In 2020, the Fort Worth Chefs Association awarded Vasquez “Chef of the Year.”
Vasquez is also a longtime friend of the family, growing up playing baseball with Johnny Cisneros, and his aunt was best friends with Kiki, the matriarch and co-founder of Los Vaqueros. He became part of Vicki’s extended family when his uncle married her sister.
Cisneros Restaurants Inc. President Vicki Cisneros says they're looking forward to these many new developments for Los Vaqueros.
“We have been wanting to add a wider variety of flavors and cuisine to our menu, and Chef Manny brings a fusion we think our restaurant and event center guests will enjoy," Cisneros says. “And, while we’re renovating our new Stockyards location, this is a great time for everyone to come out to Willow Park to try one of Chef Manny’s new specials."
