Valentine's Day Dining

The best Fort Worth restaurants to dine on Valentine's Day 2016

News_Caroline_roses_heart_floral arrangement_Jan. 2010

Valentine's Day provides a platform for romance.

Courtesy photo

Hello, young lovers. It's time to eat. Valentine's Day is your golden opportunity to declare your devotion. With just one meal, you can pretty much skate for the rest of the year. Any omission or oversight on your part can be forgiven with a simple reminder that you splurged on a Valentine's dinner.

Here's where to go in Fort Worth:

Aventino's
Special limited menu features choices such as foccacia mozzarella, garlic bread, meatballs, Italian sausage, carpaccio, pastas, eggplant Parmigiana, lasagna, shrimp diablo, and salmon fettucine. February 12-14. 817-570-7940.

Bird Cafe
Three-course menu with choice of crab soup, Little Gem and treviso salad, sole with chopped shrimp and roasted tomato lobster sauce, sirloin, quail, raspberry panna cotta, chocolate mascarpone espresso cake. 5-10 pm. $65. 817-332-2473.

Blue Sushi Sake Grill
Specialty sashimi and maki, plus a special dessert. 817-332-2583.

Buffalo West
Valentine's celebration extends from February 12-14, spotlighting the famous "chocoholic" dessert bar. 817-732-2370.

Cacharel
Three-course menu includes choices from butternut squash-lobster bisque, scallops, Caesar or watercress salad, salmon, chicken, duck breast, tenderloin, chocolate souffle, Bailey's creme brulee, or chocolate trio. February 12-14. $79. 817-640-9981.

Cafe Modern
Three-course menu with pear and Brie soup, beef carpaccio, scallop sashimi salad, beef cheeks, sea bass and sous vide lobster, mushroom risotto, and panna cotta for dessert. February 13-14, 5-9 pm. $65. 817-738-9215.

Cafe on the Green
Three-course menu with options such as lobster tail, duck breast, oysters gratin, butternut squash grits, and more. $98, plus $35 for wine pairings. 972-717-2420.

Cast Iron Restaurant
Four-course menu for two includes buffalo carpaccio, lobster bisque, lamb, angelshark, squab, and a dessert table with cakes, tiramisu, berries, and creme brulee. $100 per couple, or $150 with bottle of Champagne. Valentine's Day brunch buffet features omelets, eggs, red velvet pancakes, pastries, short ribs, chilled shrimp, salads, and a dessert buffet. 11 am-2 pm. $32, or $16 for 12 and under. 817-350-4106.

Chef Point Cafe
Valentine's Day menu with a la carte items includes butternut squash soup, fried green tomatoes, duck breast, lamb, short ribs, shrimp pappardelle, prime rib, and bread pudding. 11 am. A special menu featuring choices from leek soup, New York Strip, sea bass, chicken provolone, and mascarpone crepes will also be available February 12-14 for $100 per couple. 817-656-0080.

Classic Cafe at Roanoke
Three-course menu includes choice of soup or salad; entrees such as coq au vin over noodles, smoked beef tenderloin, blackened fish, or zucchini and mushroom strudel; and vanilla rosemary panna cotta for dessert. February 12-14, 5-11 pm. $75. 817-430-8185.

Clay Pigeon
Three-course menu with pear and frisée salad with candied pecans and blue cheese, and choice of tenderloin, seafood, or pasta. Dessert choices include chocolate pot de creme or mixed berry galette. 5-10 pm. $65. 817-882-8065.

Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House
Menu of guest favorites, including lobster mac and cheese, salmon, steak, and filet with lobster tail for $79. February 12-14. 817-877-3999.

Del Frisco's Grille
An extended brunch features red velvet Belgian waffle, The Grille Benedict, chocolate brownie with chocolate pudding, and a cocktail with Stoli Razberi and pomegranate juice. Lunch and dinner feature regular menus, plus prime rib and a steak-and-lobster-tail combination. February 13-14, 11 am-3 pm. 817-887-9900.

Ellerbe Fine Foods
Three-course menu includes choices such as potato soup, fish, steak, mousse cake, or tres leches cake. February 13-14. $75, plus $35 for wine pairing. 817-926-3663.

Flying Saucer
O'dell Friek Brewing Company event features O'dell Friek brews and other holiday-inspired beers. Steak dinner, chocolate fondue, and the Mud Island tort, a molten chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream and framboise lambic sauce. 817-336-7470.

Fort Worth Club
Five-course menu includes grilled Romaine and ahi tuna salad, poached trout, sorbet, filet of Waygu beef, and a mini-dessert buffet. 6:30 pm. $95. 817-336-7211.

LightCatcher Winery and Bistro
Four-course menu with live music. February 13-14, 6-8 pm. $95. 817-237-2626.

La Choza Fine Food
Special dishes include tenderloin and shrimp, lobster-shrimp ravioli, or cioppino Yucatan. 817-751-9060.

Lonesome Dove
Four-course menu features "tapas platter" with hamachi tartare, tuna with blood orange ponzu, Arctic char; plus butter lettuce salad, Brussels sprouts, acorn squash ravioli, buffalo NY strip, lamb chops, or blackened redfish. February 13-14. $95. 817-740-8810.

Max's Wine Dive
Three-course menu for two features smoked redfish eggrolls; choice of sea bass, sirloin, or vegetarian lasagna; and dark chocolate pot de crème. February 12-14. $65. 817-870-1100.

Melting Pot Arlington
Four-course fondue menu. $70. 817-472-9988.

Michael's
Four-course menu with red bell pepper soup, romaine salad, sirloin Oscar, duck breast, swordfish, and choice of strawberry cheesecake or chocolate terrine heart. February 12-13. 817-877-3413.

Queenie's Steakhouse
Five-course menu includes "tapas platter" with grilled langostino, tuna, and shrimp cocktail; plus choice of wild mushroom salad,butter lettuce salad, shaved vegetable salad, squash soup, tenderloin, seared venison, blackened redfish, red velvet cake, or crème brulee. $85. 940-442-6834.

RA Sushi Southlake
Three-course menu. February 12-14. $35. 817-601-9590.

Ranch at Las Colinas
Brunch buffet from 10 am-3 pm. 972-506-7262.

R Bar & Grill
Four-course menu features tomato basil soup, blood orange and pomegranate salad, lobster Thermidor with beef tenderloin, and chocolate and raspberry Napoleons. February 12-13, 11 am-midnight; February 14, 11 am-11 pm. $60, plus $20 for wine pairing. 817 640-4711.

Restaurant 506 at The Sanford House
Three-course menu with duck, lamb lollipops, spinach salad, lobster Thermidor and beef tenderloin, pork shank, diablo seafood pappardelle, and choice of dessert from coffee ice cream or chocolate mousse pie. February 12-14, 5:30-9 pm. 817-801-5541.

Silver Fox
Special menu includes III Forks salad, lobster bisque, filet mignon and rock lobster tail, served with whipped potatoes, sugar snap peas, creamed corn, and a chocolate dessert. February 6-14. $160.

Simply Fondue
Fixed-price menu with Champagne toast and cheese fondue served with breads, vegetables, and Granny Smith apples. Also includes choice of salads such as spinach and apple or Caesar, and array of entrées such as chicken, bacon-wrapped pork, chicken apple sausage, salmon, and rosemary buffalo meatballs served with yellow squash, new potatoes, stuffed mushrooms, and three-cheese ravioli. Afternoon seating, 12-3 pm: $60. Dinner seating, 4-10 pm: $80. 817-348-0633.

Thompson's Book Store
Bar partners with Magdalena's Cocina on four-course menu for two. Choices include salad, short rib Bourguignon, pineapple mousse, two cocktails, and Champagne toast. 7-9 pm. $107 for two. 817-882-8003.

Uncle Julio's
"Plato de amor," with six jumbo bacon-wrapped shrimp with chicken and steak fajitas for two. 817-377-2777.

Vivo 53
Four-course menu for two. February 12-14. $54 for two. 682-207-8700.

---

Want more great stories like these delivered to your inbox daily? Then sign up for our emails.

holidays

Chef News

Fort Worth's Will Rogers Memorial Center welcomes bright new chef

FortWorthtx.gov

Will Rogers Memorial Center

There's a new chef in town: Waylon Cornelius, named executive chef of catering and concessions for Craft Culinary Concepts, the food and beverage provider at Will Rogers Memorial Center.

Will Rogers Memorial Center is the 120-acre entertainment complex anchoring Fort Worth’s Cultural District, owned and operated by the City of Fort Worth. Cornelius will oversee menus for trade shows and other events at the center which bring in more than 2 million visitors a year.

Craft Culinary Concepts is headquartered in Glendale, Arizona, and manages food and beverage programs for entertainment, sports and cultural facilities.

Chef Waylon Corneliusfortworthtx.gov

According to a release, Cornelius joined the team this summer and is already shifting the expectations of guests from a typical “BBQ and beans” menu to a bill of fare satisfying every kind of palate.

“We always have fajitas ready to go, but we also make a beautiful Beef Wellington or baked salmon with a pink salt crust,” Cornelius says in a statement.

For consumer trade shows, Craft and its partners Caribou and Taco Heads offer more choices for the thousands of guests who attend events at WRMC annually.

“Some of our equestrian guests are away from home and here for several days, and they need more than popcorn and hot dogs,” Cornelius says. “Our concessions offer biscuits and gravy, burritos made in-house, strawberry salad, fruit and yogurt cups.”

A native of Mansfield, Cornelius grew up helping in a farm-to-table kitchen. He was raised on a farm with his mother, grandmother, and grandfather -- a Vietnam veteran who enjoyed vegetable gardens and raising hogs and chickens. He studied computer science after high school and holds an associate's degree in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis from Tarrant County College.

He's a 2003 graduate of AIMS Academy of Culinary Arts in Dallas where he was mentored by a number of great chefs. While training as assistant executive sous chef at the AAA four-diamond Grand Hyatt DFW, he worked with Executive Chef Sutti Sripolpa, chef Eric Dreyer (who went on to be Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef), and Chef Jean-Claude Plihon, under whom he honed his French cooking skills.

As executive sous chef at the opening of Perry’s Steakhouse and Grille in Southlake, Cornelius gained expertise with volume. While at HG Sply Co., he learned about gluten-free items and other food allergies.

HG Sply is also where he crossed paths with Chef James R. Schell III, Craft’s general manager at WRMC, who recruited Cornelius to the complex.

"James said he needed someone who can hit moving targets, push the culinary team to be more avant-garde and use locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, so here I am," Cornelius says. "Culinary is a small world."

“I want people to say, ‘When we were in Fort Worth, you won’t believe what we got at Will Rogers!’” Schell says. “Even the celebrities who perform [in the auditorium] are surprised. When Chicago played here recently and we served dinner backstage, they said they felt treated like the Rolling Stones.”

chefs