Where to Eat

Where to eat in Fort Worth right now: 7 best comfort food restaurants

Comforting CFS at Old Neighborhood Grill.

Photo by Malcolm Mayhew

January brings cooler weather — usually. We are in Texas, after all. But when the temperature does dip, we turn our attention to food that warms us up. Fortunately, Fort Worth has plenty of options in that realm.

This month's Where to Eat is devoted to the ultimate in body-warming dishes: comfort food.

Billy’s Oak Acres BBQ
Billy Woodrich’s rustic barbecue joint on the far west side of Fort Worth may have ‘cue in its name, but it’s also known for comfort food. Plate-engulfing chicken-fried steaks are so huge, there’s barely any room for the mandatory sides: fluffy mashed potatoes with cream gravy and green beans spiked with bacon, plus freshly made rolls. Smoked pork chops, available on Wednesdays only, may be the best in the city; each weighs about a pound. Billy’s also serves terrific burgers, in addition to barbecue essentials.

Buttons
Originally opened and run by chef Keith “Buttons” Hicks, this southwest Fort Worth mainstay was one of the first restaurants in the area to offer chef-driven takes on Southern and comfort food staples. Hicks’ cool rendition of chicken and waffles — made with hand-battered fried chicken and a freshly made Belgian waffle — helped popularize the dish locally, and his edgy renditions of meat loaf, pot roast, and other comfort staples has brought the restaurant much acclaim.

Drew's Place
Open for more than three decades, Drew Thomas’ cozy café in the Como area of Fort Worth is often regarded as home to the city’s best fried chicken. You’re warned it’ll take a bit, as each order is freshly prepared; it’s worth the wait. The restaurant also serves chicken-fried steak, fried or smothered pork chops, meat loaf, and catfish. There’s also an impressive number of vegetables, which come as sides or as part of a veggie plate. Selections include candied yams, mashed potatoes, collard greens, fried okra, and the seldom seen fried corn on the cob. Freshly made desserts rotate but typically include sweet potato pie, chocolate sheet cake, and peach cobbler.

Madea's Down Home Cooking
This long-running soul food spot in the tiny town of Everman offers a fun, upbeat atmosphere, along with terrific comfort food. Gospel music — or The Game — blares through speakers while you move through a buffet-style line, first picking an entrée, such as beef tips, smothered turkey wings, and chicken and dumplings, then your sides, which rotate but usually include mac and cheese, broccoli casserole, and black-eyed peas. Bread costs extra but the hot water cornbread is worth the extra pennies — and calories.

Old Neighborhood Grill
Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, this snug café in the Park Place Village shops has been a neighborhood favorite since it opened 22 years ago. Owners have changed but the menu’s the same. For breakfast, try the ginormous pancakes. Lunch and dinner feature sandwiches, burgers, soups, and plates of chicken-fried steak, grilled pork chops, and steak fingers, along with fancier dishes such as a black Angus ribeye.

Paris Coffee Shop
Fort Worth is home to a several beloved cafes that specialize in comfort food but none may be as cherished as this historic coffee shop and restaurant in the Near Southside area. Housed in a 1927 building, it’s a magnet for every walk of Fort Worth life, from politicians to the down-and-out. There’s often a wait at lunch, when people line up for daily specials such as chicken-fried pork loin, ham hocks and steamed cabbage, fried chicken, and grilled chicken livers. Finish off your meal with a slice of freshly made pie.

Stormie Monday's
Mom-and-pop hidden gem on East Berry serves excellent home-cooking staples in a modest, frills-free atmosphere. Owner Stoney Johnson is master at comfort food classics, everything from fried chicken to meat loaf to chicken-fried steak. But the restaurant is best known its oxtails, oven baked and unbelievably tender. Sides include candied yams, collard greens, and macaroni and cheese.

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Sandwich News

Where to eat in Fort Worth right now: 5 essential sandwiches to try

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Shredded chicken sandwich from Taste Project.

Summer is (almost) over, we're all headed back to school and back to work. We need lunch plans. We need a great sandwich.

When it comes to sandwiches, Fort Worth has its favorites. If this were that list, it would include classics like the — well, you know who you are: the Rachel at Carshons, the Italian grinder at the Colossal Sandwich Shop in Bedford, the Italian beef at Weinberger's Deli in Grapevine.

But this is not that list.

Instead, this list is five newcomers on the sandwich scene — whether a newly opened restaurant or else a new handheld from a restaurant we know and love.

For this month's Where to Eat, we present five new classic sandwiches in Fort Worth:

Po’ boys at Always Cooking Nola
Always Cooking is a new restaurant inside a Chevron station in River Oaks, at 5001 River Oaks Blvd., serving New Orleans and Cajun-inspired classics: dirty rice, etouffee, crawfish mac and cheese, gumbo, and jambalaya. Po'boys are a big deal here — good news for DFW which has a fondness this crusty Louisiana sandwich. Always Cooking owner Damian Crockem, a New Orleans native, stuffs his generously with choice of soft shell crab, fried shrimp, or fried catfish, and insists on using appropriately crusty French bread he brings in from New Orleans.

Italian beef at Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
Whether you credit Portillo's, the Chicago hot dog chain which entered the Dallas-Fort Worth market in 2023, or else FX series The Bear, this Italian beef sandwich — basically a pot-roast sandwich served on a soft hoagie roll, topped with provolone and pickled peppers — is having its moment. As you can guess by the name, this year-old, indie spot in south Arlington specializes in deep-dish pizza, but owner Ashraf Ghousheh also serves an excellent Italian beef. His is not quite as messy as others: the au ju, which the sandwich is typically dunked in, comes on the side, allowing you to control the napkin factor. The roast beef, sliced wafer thin, is topped spicy giardiniera, and served with a bag of chips - not a bad deal for $10.

Philly cheesesteak at Philly Dave’s
New sandwich shop in far north Fort Worth specializes in its namesake dish: the super cheesy, meaty and bready sandwiches known as Philly cheesesteaks. Opened recently in the old Stevie’s Diner space, the restaurant comes from 70-year-old David McCurtain, who ran a similar restaurant in Watauga, The Burger & Philly Shack, from 2009 to 2022. McCurtain’s experience shows: He builds his cheesesteaks out of shaved rib eye meat and Amoroso's rolls from Philadelphia, and douses them in your choice of cheese: provolone or melted yellow cheese whiz. Other toppings include hot and sweet peppers, grilled onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms. Many say there is no better Philly cheesesteak in town.

Jambon beurre at Swiss Pastry Shop
Long-running bakery on Fort Worth’s west side is famous for its Black Forest cake, pies, and other sweet and savory treats. Owner Hans Peter Muller loves to throw down a special — who could forget his epic burgers — and he recently introduced a sandwich that's startling in its simplicity. Called a jambon-buerre, it's a fancy take on a ham sandwich from France where it's typically made with just three ingredients: baguette, butter, ham. In Muller's version, he tricks it out with two extras — Dijon mustard and Gruyere cheese — and of course he makes the French baguettes in-house. To ramp up the specialness, the sandwich is available on Fridays and Saturdays only.

Eggplant parmesan at Taste Project
Fort Worth’s non-profit, pay-what-you-can restaurant on the Near Southside recently debuted several new dishes, including an eggplant Parmigiana sandwich. They use roasted Japanese eggplant, layered with various Italian cheeses and housemade marinara, and serve it on a toasted ciabatta roll — like a luscious Italian casserole in sandwich form. Even if this were not a fantastic sandwich, not to mention a fantastic vegetarian sandwich, it would be notable if for no other reason than the fact that you do not see eggplant Parmigiana sandwiches around DFW too often. The restaurant also introduced a new barbecue chicken sandwich, featuring shredded chicken and two sauces — Alabama white sauce and peach barbecue sauce — on a toasted bun.

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