BBQ News

New BBQ restaurant with soulful touch opens on Fort Worth's east side

Brisket is on the menu, of course.

Photo courtesy of Smoke-A-Holics

The east side of Fort Worth will soon be home to a new barbecue restaurant, thanks to a chef who imbues his food with a soul-food touch.

Called Smoke-A-Holics BBQ, it will open in July at 1417 Evans Ave., in a spot most recently occupied by a bakery and cake shop. The 1,000-square-foot restaurant will be cozy, seating a dozen people inside and a dozen on a patio area outside.

The restaurant will be the first brick-and-mortar venture for owner Derrick Walker, a Fort Worth native who got started in the barbecue business in 2006, catering special events and hosting pop-ups.

Last year, he purchased a food truck from the owners of Panther City BBQ and started parking on weekends on South Hulen Street, where he quickly developed a following.

"After I got the food truck, it blew up," Walker says. "At the same time, there was a paradigm shift toward barbecue. It really took off in Fort Worth. I’ve fought off investors. I wanted to open my own place, my own way."

Walker's take on barbecue is refreshingly different from others. In addition to staples such as brisket, sausage, chicken, and spare ribs, he'll offer several items with a soul food twist, including smoked ox tails with cheese grits and smoked and smothered chopped steak.

Side dishes will include collard greens, candied yams, and hot water cornbread.

Some items will be available on his regular menu; others will as a special on Sundays only. His hours will be 11 am to 7 pm Thursday-Sunday.

He'll also offer most of the items available on his food truck, including traditional barbecue sandwiches, brisket nachos, and a signature dish called the Big Macc, consisting of a pile of smoked mac & cheese topped with chopped brisket, green onions, sausage, and barbecue sauce.

"If I had to coin a phrase for my food, I'd call it 'Tex soul food'," he says. "There's a lot of Texas in it, a lot of soul food, and a lot of me."

Meats will be smoked in a 1,000-gallon offset smoker, over a mix of pecan and mesquite.

Walker has spent the majority of his life working in the food industry. For 18 years, he worked for the Baylor Health Care System in Fort Worth as an executive chef and food service director.

He learned how to barbecue from his grandfather. "Ten years old, I was outside, learning how to season meat from my grandad," he says. "We had lands in east Texas, and we were always having big family get-togethers out there, big cookouts. That's where I learned everything."

The restaurant will be located about five minutes from where Walker grew up.

"I definitely feel like I’ve come full circle," he says. "To be opening a place right around the corner from where I grew up – that's something special to me."

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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.

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