Pizza and Brunch
North Fort Worth restaurant park amps up lineup with pizza and brunch
UPDATE: First Watch will open its doors for business at 7 am Monday, June 10.
---
Two new restaurants are coming to Parkside at Alliance Town Center, the restaurant food park near Fort Worth Alliance Airport, bringing options for pizza and brunch.
The restaurants are First Watch and Mod Pizza, which will join the 3.5-acre food and entertainment destination with a ringside seat facing scenic Bluestem Park. When the project is done, it will include live music, shaded areas, and recreational activities like cornhole and bocce ball.
First Watch is the largest daytime-only restaurant concept in the United States, with more than 350 restaurants in 32 states. They first came to North Texas in 2016, and currently have nine locations across the area, including one nearby in far north Fort Worth that used to be an Egg & I (which First Watch acquired).
Their menu does upscale riffs on breakfast with dishes such as avocado toast, smoked salmon eggs benedict, breakfast tacos, lemon ricotta pancakes, and granola, plus indulgent and traditional breakfast, brunch, and lunch offerings.
Taking a page out of the Snooze book, the First Watch at Parkside will be the only First Watch restaurant in Texas with a bar/beverage counter, serving espresso drinks plus cocktails such as a vodka and kale tonic — a variation of their fresh-juiced kale tonic drink but with gluten-free vodka. Does regular vodka have gluten? Serious question.
Classic brunch drinks like mimosas and bloody Marys will also be available, in addition to wine, kombucha, and beer on draft.
Mod Pizza is known for its individual, artisan-style pizzas and salads made on demand, using any combination of over 30 toppings all for one set price. The pizzas are cooked in a gas-fired oven and ready in just minutes.
Mod was founded in Seattle in 2008 by husband-and-wife Scott and Ally Svenson. They were the first to do the quick, fast-casual pizza experience, like a pizza version of Chipotle, where you go down a line and choose your toppings and get your individually sized pizza baked in minutes.
Mod Pizza has 40-plus locations in Texas, in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio; the chain is now focusing on developing the Metroplex area for the next several years. There are eight locations open around DFW or else in the works.
Mark Miller, VP of Hillwood, the developer, says in a statement that "we are creating a first-of-its-kind, urban dining destination that is built on promoting community engagement." Which is a great-sounding claim, but is that really true? Do the other urban dining destinations promote people keeping to themselves and ignoring everyone else?
Already open at Parkside at Alliance Town Center is Grub Kitchen + Bar, now serving burgers, shakes, and more. Seafood restaurant Shell Shack is coming soon.