Food Hall News

Fort Worth's Food Hall at Crockett Row adds cool hand-pulled noodle shop

Noodles are now in the mix.

Monkey King

The Food Hall at Crockett Row has a cool new eatery coming, whose roots are in Dallas' Deep Ellum: Monkey King Noodle Company, which serves hand-pulled noodles, soups, and dumplings, will open on April 26.

Owner and chief noodle maker Andrew Chen founded the restaurant in Deep Ellum in 2013 as a place to champion authentic Northern Chinese street food. The original location opened with a display window that opened onto Main Street where passersby could see the noodles being formed on the spot.

The menu is inspired by the night markets of China and Taiwan, with noodle dishes, soups, and salads, as well as several types of dumplings, including pork dumplings and vegetarian dumplings in two varieties — edamame and mushroom.

Recent additions include wonton soup and tater tots with Taiwanese toppings, which can be ordered vegan or topped with ground pork.

Monkey King is no stranger to food halls, having previously operated a stand in Legacy Hall, the food hall in Plano. Monkey King also had a restaurant in Carrollton. But both locations closed in 2018.

At the Fort Worth food hall, Monkey King Noodle Company will replace Rollin' N Bowlin', which will open a larger brick-and-mortar store in downtown Fort Worth.

The food hall has a new happy hour on weekdays from 11 am to 7 pm, with $3 off draft beer and wines by the glass, as well as $5 frozen and on-tap cocktails, such as a French 75 and Moscow mule.

The food hall has also extended its hours, with several operators — including Butler’s Cabinet, EB2, and Press Waffle Co. — offering new walk-up windows for late-night traffic.

That includes entertainment on the weekends: On Fridays and Saturdays, musicians will perform from 7-11 pm, followed by a DJ from 11 pm to 1 am. On Thursdays, a DJ will play from 7-11 pm.

Food Hall at Crockett Row is open Sundays through Wednesdays from 11 am to 9 pm, Thursdays from 11 am to midnight, and Fridays and Saturdays from 11 am to 2 am.

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TikTok News

TikTok critic Keith Lee visits Dallas spinoff of Fort Worth steakhouse

TikTok

Keith Lee

A TikTok critic paid a visit to a surprisingly fancy DFW restaurant: Viral critic Keith Lee, whose online restaurant critiques generate millions of views, bestowed a visit upon Wicked Butcher, a local steakhouse that started in Fort Worth.

Wicked Butcher is a fine-dining spot from hospitality group DRG Concepts that debuted in Fort Worth’s Sinclair Hotel in 2020 with a menu of steaks, seafood, and wine. Lee visited the Dallas location, which was originally known as Dallas ChopHouse, then reopened as a Wicked Butcher spinoff in early 2024.

According to a spokesperson for the restaurant, Lee visited on December 29, and gave no warning he was coming. He wasn't invited or compensated for the review; he just showed up as a guest and ordered food to go.

But he seems to have been recognized, since a general manager approached him and asked for his feedback on the food. The spokesperson, however, states that they ask for feedback from all their guests regardless of status.

A steakhouse is a little more highbrow than some of the small, independent spots Lee has favored in the past. In a four-minute TikTok video, he shares what he ordered, along with his ratings and comments.

Items he ordered along with his notes include:

Green Curry Salmon. "It's seasoned really well, it's not super spicy, but it does have a little kick," Lee says. "The rice has the perfect texture, too." 8.6 out of 10.
Steak Frites. He gave the fries and steak separate ratings. He liked the parmesan cheese on the fries, but wished they were more salted. The steak was medium rare. Said it was “very well-seasoned and extremely tender” and that it was “cooked perfectly.” Fries 7.5 out of 10; steak 8 out of 10.
Salmon tartare and rice crackers. Commented that the cracker is "seasoned perfectly, in my opinion," with a chili lime seasoning. 9 out of 10
Bread was described as “pillowy, layered, and flaky.” 7.5 out of 10.
Blackberry basil lemonade. He enjoyed it so much that he ordered two. “Another blackberry mint lemonade, please!” 9 out of 10.

He gave customer service a rating of 9 out of 10, remarking that customer service in downtown Dallas is usually good.

The total bill was $142.89.

“One thing I do love about the Dallas food scene— we’ve been here about a month, a month and a half— they do got some nice fine dining restaurants,” Lee says in the video.

Lee recently relocated to Texas from Las Vegas in November, after visiting Dallas on a number of house-hunting trips as well as roundups of Dallas-area restaurants. Wicked Butcher is not the only DFW-area restaurant he's explored; he recently visited Hutchins BBQ.

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