This Week in Gluttony

These are the 8 best food and drink events in Fort Worth this week

Bonefish Grill hosts a multicourse dinner paired with Francis Coppola wines.

Photo courtesy of Bonefish Grill

It’s Carnival season in Texas, as some area restaurants prep for early Mardi Gras festivities by this weekend. Also plan for wine dinners, a Chinese New Year celebration, and yoga paired with brunch. But first, sip on some bread pudding stout thanks to a collab between two local breweries — it’s a sweet way to bid farewell to February.

Tuesday, February 26

A Martin House x HopFusion Collaboration
Coordinated by the folks behind the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival, the two Fort Worth breweries will team up to release a bread pudding stout. The 10 percent alcohol-by-volume brew was inspired by Ellerbe Fine Foods’ Maw Maw’s bread pudding, brewed with roasted pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, and Texas toast. Visit Martin House’s kid-friendly Riverside Lounge at 4 pm, when they’ll tap the first keg. LUCK at Trinity Groves will be on site to serve grub for purchase, and the lounge will close at 10 pm.

Wednesday, February 27

Ellerbe Chinese New Year
The farm-to-table restaurant continues to celebrate its 10th anniversary with a monthly dinner highlighting a different country’s cuisine. The year of the pig is the theme for this month’s Chinese New Year-inspired, three-course affair. There’ll be Shanghai-style shrimp rolls, pork and cabbage dumplings, ginger-soy steamed fish, a citrus lamb chop over noodles, and green tea ice cream. The meal is $40, plus tax and gratuity, and wine pairings are extra. Dinner starts at 5:30 pm.

Thursday, February 28

Champagne Tasting at Umbra Winery
Toast to the last day of February with bubbly at this downtown Grapevine wine bar. There’ll be four French champagnes paired with bites including lobster bisque, smoked chicken and gouda crostinis, beef tenderloin and veggie skewers, and peach zabaglione. Tickets are $55 plus tax and tasting will run from 6:30-8:30 pm.

Perfect Pairings: A Night with Coppola at Bonefish Grill
This three-course dinner could almost be considered a six-course affair, as the main course features three dishes. There’ll be seared ahi tuna, Georges Bank scallops, and lobster roulade. The Southlake seafood restaurant will pair Francis Coppola wines with each dish. Finish with Jamaican coconut pie or a macadamia nut brownie. Reservations are $50 per person.

Saturday, March 2

Yoga + Tacos at Bartaco
CorePower Yoga will lead an all-level power flow class on the restaurant’s riverfront patio. The class starts at 10 am, and a brunch of chips, guac, tacos, and aguas frescas will immediately follow. The $25 price per person includes everything. Arrive about 10-15 minutes early, and bring your own mat.

Mardi Gras Fest on Race Street
Race Street will turn into Bourbon Street during this family-friendly parade and festival. The folks behind the New Orleans-inspired Tributary Café are behind the second annual event, which includes live music, a street dance, and vendors. Visit the restaurant all day for a crawfish boil, meat pies, Abita beers, hurricanes, milk punch, and sazeracs. The festival will run 12-6 pm, with the parade to begin at 1 pm.

Mardi Craw 2019 at Texas Live!
Wash down gumbo, oysters, and smoked crawfish with hurricanes at this inaugural Mardi Gras celebration at the Arlington entertainment complex. Packages range from $15 for hurricane samples only to $60 for all-you-can-eat crawfish and hurricane samples, plus a specialty cup and T-shirt. The event will run from 4-8 pm and parking is free.

Gumbo Cook-off at Twilite Lounge
The New Orleans-inspired bar will host its first-ever amateur gumbo competition, and patrons get to taste and vote for their favorite. Go for the gumbo, but stay for the live music by Willie Green Project, who’s coming all the way from the Crescent City. Voting will run from 6-8 pm, and winners will be announced by 9 pm. Admission is free.

craft-beer dinner wine news-you-can-eat

Closure News

Tropic Lady restaurant-bar on Fort Worth's Race Street says aloha

Tropic Lady

The dip trio at Tropic Lady.

A chill restaurant and bar in Fort Worth's River East district has closed: Tropic Lady, which opened in the former Fuzzy's Taco space at 2719 Race St. in 2023, has closed.

The restaurant, which closed in mid-December, was a sibling to Bearded Lady, the popular gastropub in Near Southside; their last Facebook post was on December 10. Their phone number is not working, and their website is no longer active. Owner Shannon Osbakken was unavailable for comment, but a Bearded Lady employee confirmed the closure.

Tropic Lady was a tropical-themed gastropub opened by a trio of friends: Bearded Lady owner Shannon Osbakken, her business partner Sarah Allen, and general manager Amanda Yunger. It offered a similar menu as Bearded lady but with more tropical-inspired fare, including shrimp tacos, bacon-wrapped grilled pineapple bites, and guacamole dotted with mango.

For a gastropub, they did interesting food with dishes like watermelon salad with feta and cucumber; or their Dip Trio, with mango guacamole, tomatillo salsa, and queso blanco served with house-made tortilla chips. Definitely not run-of-the-mill. They also had great lunch specials like a smashburger with curly fries for $10.

Food did not seem to be the problem.

Decor featured artwork and murals created by local artists. A beautifully landscaped patio wrapped around the building’s facade. So the setting did not seem to be a factor.

It's tempting to point the finger at its location on Race Street, which has witnessed a round of closings in the past two years including buzzy birria taqueria Caliscience, which closed in February 2024; as well as The Post at River East, a restaurant and live music venue that shut down the same month.

In 2023, three other restaurants on Race Street closed: Tributary Cafe, the Bon Appetit-lauded La Onda, and vegan burger spot Zonk Burger. But separate reasons can also be found for each of those closures, whether that be inexperience or lease issues.

For years, the city and neighborhood advocates have been trying to turn Race Street into a trendy hotspot. As part of the city’s Urban Villages program, the city of Fort Worth invested $5.6 million in revitalizing the area, making improvements to traffic flow, sidewalks, landscaping, and outdoor lighting.

When Osbakken opened the bar, she said she loved the area, stating "it reminds me of Magnolia when were first were on it 10 years ago in our old location. It's a great community and the neighbors have been friendly and reaching out."

And there are still restaurants along the street, including a popular Mexican restaurant called Tesoro, the Dough’d Up doughnut shop, and Kingyo Sushi & Ramen House, as well as a coffee shop, Race Street Coffee.

The Bearded Lady continues to flourish. Osbakken originally opened the popular gastropub on Magnolia Avenue in 2013. Six years later, she moved it to the South Main, where it’s still going strong.

closings

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Closure News

Tropic Lady restaurant-bar on Fort Worth's Race Street says aloha