This Week in Gluttony

These are the 5 best food and drink events in Fort Worth this week

Learn to make delicious chocolate truffles from Dr. Sue.

This week starts spicy and ends sweet. A Hatch chile buffet provides a final taste of the New Mexico pepper before this year’s harvest is gone. Then there’s a party celebrating local foodie entrepreneurs, and featuring their tasty creations, at a brand new kitchen space in buzzworthy South Fort Worth. The weekend brings a cocktail festival as big as Texas with around 1,500 people expected to attend, followed by a Sunday pork roast party at a local barbecue trailer. End on an indulgent note with a chocolate truffle class paired with wines.

Wednesday, August 22

22nd Annual Hatch Chile Festival Buffet Dinner at Blue Mesa Grill
Hatch, New Mexico chilies — known as some of the best — are harvested once a year in August and make their way to stores and menus across the country. Find a whole buffet dedicated to the piquant pepper at Blue Mesa Grill locations on this day only, from 5-9 pm. Spicy specialties will include chile-wrapped Oaxaca cheese bites; chile rellenos with cheese, smoked chicken, or pulled pork; chile-stuffed steak, and more. The buffet is $18 per person and $7 for children ages 6 to 11.

Thursday, August 23

Locavore Launch Party
The premise behind the new, shared commercial kitchen is to provide food entrepreneurs a home to take their business to the next level. There’ll be appetizers from Z’s Café (owner Carlo Capua is behind the Locavore concept) along with beer, wine, and samples from some of the local small business owners renting space. Guests can expect items like sweet potato pound cake, Venezuelan arepas, and “the best ranch dressing you’ve ever had in your life, with fresh vegetables,” says Capua. The event will run from 5-7:30 pm and is free to the public.

Saturday, August 25

Fort Worth Cocktail Festival at The Yard
Little Red Wasp, Fixture, Whiskey & Rye inside the Omni Fort Worth Hotel, and the brand new Tricky Fish in Fort Worth are just a few of the restaurants and bars participating in this massive cocktail competition. A $25 ticket gets you admission and a card good for 15 one-ounce samples, plus one voting chip for choosing your favorite. Pay $5 more and be granted early admission at noon. General admission entry is 2 pm and the event runs until 6 pm.

Sunday, August 26

Pig Roast with Panther City BBQ and Lost in the Sauce
Roasted pork is always better when it’s slow-roasted whole on a spit. That’s how the folks from South Fort Worth’s Panther City BBQ will spend their Sunday, and the public is welcome to partake in the end product. Pop-up chef extraordinaire Hao Tran of Lost in the Sauce will be on site to prep the succulent pork in banh mi sandwiches, pork dumplings, and Vietnamese noodle soup. The lunch bell rings at high noon, so arrive early before sell-out.

Truffle-Making Class at Messina Hof Winery in Grapevine
Spend Sunday afternoon hand-rolling rich chocolate truffles while sipping paired Texas wines. The class will be led by Dr. Sue Williams, owner of Grapevine-based Dr. Sue’s Chocolates and a practicing physician whose mission is to fight obesity-related disease through all-natural dark chocolate. The class will run from 2-4 pm and tickets are $39.99 per person plus gratuity.

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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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