News You Can Eat
Seafood restaurant shutters due to I-35 and more Fort Worth restaurant news
Fort Worth's restaurant scene is enjoying a wave of post-pandemic prosperity with all sorts of openings, menus, and funky new dishes. We're back with a vengeance — but also with one sorry closure (or two) to dampen our joy.
Here's what's happening in Fort Worth restaurants right now:
Towne Grill, the latest restaurant from chef Felipe Armenta, has opened in Alliance Town Square. Bud Kennedy's Eats Beat notes that the menu is similar to The Tavern, Armenta's restaurant on Hulen Street (which is closed as it is being remodeled), although Towne Grill also boasts a raw bar.
White Rhino Coffee, the local coffee concept, opened the doors to its Near Southside location on June 11, and celebrated its grand opening over the weekend of June 12-13. "It was a huge success! We are so thankful for all the love and support we received these past few days and so excited to be a part of this neighborhood," they said.
Revolver Taco Lounge opened a new location in Sundance Square, where it also has a companion concept called Purepecha Room, which was originally a spinoff at the Deep Ellum location, except now that is a concept called La Resistencia. Confusing, but SideDish has it all figured out. Revolver serves tacos and such; Purepecha serves regional Mexican dishes.
La Onda, a Latin-inspired seafood restaurant with an upscale flair from acclaimed chef Victor Villarreal, opened in Fort Worth's River District on June 15. Menu features include a ceviche of the week and elegant seafood such as Ora King Salmon with green tomato, gremolata, and smoked salmon caviar, plus craft cocktails such as champagne with fresh watermelon.
Shell Shack, the Dallas-based seafood chain, is closing its location in Denton. The Denton store, which opened in 2018, is closing due to a massive and lengthy construction project on I-35. The last day of service will be this Saturday, June 19. The construction project will expand the highway from six to eight lanes and is meant to provide congestion relief to the busy area. But according to a statement from owner Dallas Hale, lane closures are having a fatal effect on business. He vows to find another location in Denton.
"With our Denton store located right off I-35, nobody can get here, and there's no end in sight," Hale says in a release. "The unfortunate thing is that the location was doing so well, but with it now impossible to get to, we are closing our doors and beginning to look for a new location in the area. We hope our faithful friends will come out to enjoy their favorite dishes between now and June 19."
Howard Wang's China Grill, an upscale Chinese chain from Dallas, is closing its location in Southlake at 1471 E. Southlake Blvd. on June 25, after eight years in the space. The closure was confirmed by Southlake Style. The space is rumored to become a location of the Mesero Tex-Mex chain. Three other Howard Wang's locations — in Uptown Dallas, Preston Hollow, and Frisco — are still open.
Melt Ice Creams, the Fort Worth-based ice cream concept, is opening a shop in Mule Alley, at 128 E. Exchange Ave., in the fall. They have three other locations: two in Fort Worth at Magnolia and Sundance Square, and one in Dallas at Bishop Arts.
Funky Town Donuts is doing a special-edition doughnut for Father's Day weekend only called the Meatzilla, with Texas whiskey maple glaze, candied bacon, Heim Barbecue brisket, and bacon burnt ends. It's a behemoth which can hardly even be called a doughnut — see what it looks like here.
Dillas Quesadillas, the Texas-based quesadilla chain, opened a location in Denton at 1715 A Loop 288 #10. Husband-and-wife Kyle and Maggie Gordon debuted Dillas in Plano in 2013, then opened Frisco in 2018, and McKinney in 2019.
Cotton Patch Cafe, the Southern chain, has opened its first ghost kitchen, located in Garland’s Revolving Kitchen. They'll offer the full menu, from chicken fried steak to salads and steaks. To order, visit cottonpatch.com or order through one of their delivery partners: DoorDash, Favor, and UberEats.
Old Chicago is debuting a new Detroit-style deep dish pizza, topped with sauce, toppings, and smothered from edge to edge with Wisconsin brick cheese. Varieties include Pepperoni, Farmer's Daughter (mozzarella, tomatoes, pesto sauce, brick cheese, arugula), Honky Tonk (cheddar and brick cheese, pickled jalapeño, chili, tortilla strips), meatball-mushroom, and Buffalo chicken.
Fish City Grill and Half Shells have added 16 new food and beverage items for summer including shrimp & watermelon arugula salad, Georges Bank scallops & bacon-wrapped shrimp, shrimp & mushroom linguini, and a fresh crab tower. There are also new cocktails including a watermelon margarita and an espresso martini.
Sprouts Farmers Market has rolled out 11 unique products for June, with eight exclusives available only at Sprouts that include: Nutpods creamer, Like Meat Chick'n, Truth & Dairy Artisan Gelato, Carbonaut Gluten-Free Bread, Healthy Crunch Crispy Squares and Sunseed Butter, and Vegan Robs Veganpop, a new popcorn exclusive to Sprouts.
Vitality Bowls has introduced savory entrees in the form of salads, grain bowls, wraps, and toasts. The new menu will be available only at Vitality Bowls locations in Dallas, Irving, Southlake, Plano, and McKinney. Supergreen Goddess Salad includes super greens, chicken, egg, and avocado. Chimichurri Steak and Roasted Potato Bowl has super greens, grass-fed steak, grains, and potato. The Vitality Wrap has hummus, avocado, super greens, grains, and potato. Its unique take on avocado toast has avocado, grape tomatoes, feta cheese, superseed crunch, and flaky salt on whole grain toast.
Logan's Roadhouse, the Nashville-based steakhouse chain, has added waffle fries, in choice of salt and pepper or with Logan's Smokehouse BBQ spice. The waffle fries are available as a side, or as a Loaded Pulled Pork Waffle Fries appetizer topped with pulled pork, cheddar cheese, jalapeños, green onions and drizzled with Roadhouse Ranch. They also have a new Summer Menu with BBQ sides that include coleslaw, okra, baked beans, BBQ brisket rice, and boneless wings with Teriyaki, Buffalo, Chipotle, or BBQ sauce.
Tacodeli is offering two limited-time menu items that are old favorites: The Akaushi Picadillo + Egg has scrambled eggs, HeartBrand akaushi ground beef, chile de arbol salsa, and cilantro; the Tikin Xic has achiote-marinated salmon, spicy salsa negra, habanero onion escabeche, and cilantro. Available through July 1.
Chick-fil-A has brought back the Peach Milkshake, combining Chick-fil-A Icedream and peaches, topped with whipped cream and a cherry, and available through the summer.
Ohla! Foods, a Dallas-based health food brand, debuted its Almond Flour Tortillas and The Ch!pOhla! almond-flour chips at Central Market. Ohla! Foods was founded in 2020 by Lauren Schwalb, who saw a lack of healthy alternatives to traditional household staples. Her chips are gluten-free, dairy-free, and grain-free. The tortillas can be ready to serve in minutes by heating in a skillet. The chips can be eaten with dips or solo.
Reddy Vineyards, the Texas grape growing pioneer, is now selling its 100 percent estate-grown wines including the 2019 Hardpress Italian Red Blend, 2019 Grand Vitis French Red Blend, and the 2019 TX Lovers Semi-Sweet Red, at Albertsons, Tom Thumb and Randall’s, United Supermarkets, Market Street, Central Market, H-E-B, and Total Wine & More, as well as local wine bars, liquor stores and restaurants throughout the state.
Twin Peaks just launched its new high-end bourbon program, named Grandpa's Stash, featuring the rarest allocated bourbons available in each market. Grandpa’s Stash is currently available at Twin Peaks locations throughout DFW. Each market's selections vary depending on the availability of bottles in the area, ranging between 10 and 40 extremely rare bottles on each menu. It could include Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 20 Year, William LaRue Weller, Eagle Rare 17 Year, and more. Served neat or with a crystal clear ice ball, prices range from $9-$90 for a 1.25-ounce pour.
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Stephanie Allmon Merry contributed to this story.