Raise a Glass

Total Wine & More pops open second location for Fort Worth

Total Wine & More_South Austin_Sunset Valley_value wine_2015

For residents of far north Fort Worth and northeast Tarrant County, the route to liquor is about to get quicker.

Photo by Nicole Raney

Times are good for tipplers in far north Fort Worth, who will soon get their own branch of Total Wine & More. The liquor retailer is opening a location at 3101 Texas Sage Trail — poetically, in a former Hobby Lobby store, so they'll still be closed on Sundays.

According to a company representative, the store is scheduled to open in mid-November, just in time for the holidays.

Founded in 1991, Total Wine & More is based in Bethesda, Maryland and is the nation's largest independently owned retailer of fine wine, beer, and spirits, with more than 150 superstores in 20 states.

The store will be the third in Tarrant County; the first opened in the Hulen Fashion Center in 2012, and the second opened in Arlington in 2014.

In November 2016, voters in several Tarrant County cities — including far north Fort Worth, Haltom City, Hurst, North Richland Hills, Richland Hills, and Watauga — approved the sale of packaged hard liquor. The measure was placed on the ballot thanks to a Total Wine political action committee.

Several liquor stores have opened in far north Fort Worth since the beginning of the year. Previously, residents who wanted to buy a bottle of liquor were consigned to drive to Colleyville or northwest Fort Worth.

Total Wine & More VP Edward Cooper told the Fort Worth Star Telegram that "we have a number of customers in the metroplex, and we listened to our customers ... and our customers said they wanted to have a store close to them."

Total Wine stores generally offer more than 8,000 wines from every wine-producing region in the world, more than 3,000 spirits, more than 2,500 beers, and a walk-in humidor featuring more than 300 fine cigars.

There's also a wine-tasting bar where customers can sample and learn about producers, regions, and varietals. A wine education center classroom offers consumer classes and special tasting events like "Meet the Maker" series and virtual tastings with producers from around the world. Employees participate in more than 100 hours of specialized instruction and training on various wine regions, production methods, varietals, brew styles, and tasting profiles.

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Mex Mex News

El Garambullo Mexican restaurant in Hurst is the real deal

El Garambullo

Sopes plate at El Garambullo

A restaurant in Hurst is serving something that just about everybody wants: authentic Mexican food. Called El Garambullo, it’s a family-owned place located in the former Harwood Cafe space at 109 Harwood Rd., where it's serving breakfast, fajitas, and house-made horchata.

El Garambullo is owned by Lisa Rodriguez and her family, who come from San Luis Potosi in Mexico. That's where they got the inspiration for the name of the restaurant: a garambullo is a type of cactus native to northern Mexico that Rodriguez views as a connection to her family origins.

Signature dishes include enchiladas, flautas, street tacos, and the fajitas, with a choice of the usual beef, chicken, or shrimp, or a more inclusive El Piquin Grill fajita plate featuring a combination of all three meats plus sausage.

Here's where to get a molcajete, a piping hot stone bowl and mixing pestle filled with sausage, shrimp, peppers, and cheese. Plus breakfast every day, including chilaquiles, eggs & chorizo, and huevo rancheros. Prices range from $10 for breakfast plates to $40 for fajitas that can feed two.

"I would describe our style of cooking in three simple words: Traditional, authentic, and for the whole family," Rodriguez says. "Our food is what you would imagine to taste in every town in Mexico. Most of the ingredients we use are from there, and we stick to our traditional recipes."

The horchata is made with homemade rice milk and spices. One thing you won’t find at this restaurant, however, is a margarita. There’s no bar or alcohol served here, but it is a BYOB restaurant.

Rodriguez, who learned to cook as a child from her mother and grandmother, worked in several restaurants but always dreamed of having her own restaurant and she wanted to do it in her own hometown.

"Hurst is not only the place where this restaurant opened its doors, but also the place I chose to live in for me and my family," Rodriguez says. "It's a very good place, along with all of the neighbors and the community."

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