The pace for Fort Worth restaurant news has not flagged, with some exciting new openings led by acclaimed chefs. Without delay, let's get to it:
Mesa Grapevine will open November 7. Chef-owner Raul Reyes has been eyeing the Mid-Cities for some time and found a spot in Grapevine, where he'll serve the same award-winning Mexican food as the original branch in Dallas' Oak Cliff, but with a few new dishes and signature drinks.
At 6,000 square feet, this will be three times larger than Oak Cliff's 2,000 square feet. Reyes, a proficient handyman, did everything from interior construction to fixtures to a welded metal wall sculpture. Mesa is going into the former Vineyard Steakhouse space, in a small shopping center across from the Great Wolf Lodge and the Gaylord Texan.
Piattello Italian Kitchen, the new restaurant from chef Marcus Paslay, is slated to open in late November or early December at Fort Worth's new Waterside development. The menu will include antipasti, soups, salads, and house-made pasta and pizza, as well as breakfast and coffee. A full bar will have spirits, craft beer, and a "curated selection" of wines. (We need a time out on "curated." Curate is what you do at a museum, not a wine list.) Appetizers will range from $6-$10, and entrées will range from $15-$28.
Designed by Mitchell Garman Architects, the interior will have a casual, modern vibe with concrete floors, metal-framed windows, and a pizza oven faced in red penny tiles.
Thurber Mingus, the Fort Worth restaurant known for burgers and tacos, has closed. It was opened in February 2015 by chef Coby Baumann. The goodbye was posted on the restaurant's Facebook page, stating, "We are now permanently closed. Thanks for the good times."
Bronson Rock Burgers & Beer, a Keller restaurant with a like-minded focus on burgers and beer, closed as well, after five years. Are burgers no longer a sure thing?
AT&T Stadium introduces new menu items in time for NFL football. New sandwiches include the spinach and feta turkey burger with garlic aioli; a Mexican pambazo with a potato-chorizo mixture, refried beans, and Oaxaca cheese; a chorizo meatball sub with chorizo meatballs in mole sauce on a bolillo bun; and a chicken mozzarella sandwich with basil-pesto aioli, spinach, tomato, and fresh mozzarella cheese on Parmesan Cuban bread.
Guests at the suite and club sections get trendier options such as white bean hummus, artichoke ranch dip with potato chips, kale salad, short ribs with corn spoonbread, and chicken and waffles with chicken-fried chicken and Belgian waffles.
Piada Italian Street Food, the fast-casual Italian chain from Ohio specializing in wraps on thin pizza-like bread, has new seasonal menu items. There's salad with chicken, field greens, feta, Granny Smith apples, pepitas, dried cranberries, spiced pecans, and butternut squash; a steak avocado piada with steak, arugula, pancetta, avocado, mozzarella, pepitas, and butternut squash; and farm club Tasca, a layered sandwich with piada dough, fried chicken, avocado, arugula, tomatoes, pancetta, and pickles. Piada debuted in Frisco in 2015 and now has branches in Richardson and in north Fort Worth.
Max's Wine Dive, the king of chicken and champagne, has new seasonal menu items, including bone marrow with apple-bacon jam and pretzel crostini, fried lobster risotto, pot roast with white-cheddar scallop potatoes, and pork chop with mashed potatoes and bacon broccolini.
Martin House, Fort Worth's innovative brewery, just released its blackberry Altbier, a collaboration with the folks at Turtle Survival Alliance.
Rahr & Sons Brewing Co., Fort Worth's veteran brewery, will mark its upcoming 12th anniversary with the release of a new beer called Zwölfjahre. That's a German word that means "12 years." It's an American Wheatwine aged for 12 weeks in Cabernet wine barrels with cherries. It will be available in 22-ounce bottles and on tap around Dallas-Fort Worth in November, debuting at a celebratory event at the brewery on November 5.
Division Brewing, Arlington's boutique brewery, has just released an enticing new sour. Called Sacred Grove, it has orange and ginger and a 7.9 percent ABV. They're also releasing the Onion Man, an earthy IPA with a hint of onion and an ABV of 6.7 percent.
Mesa in Grapevine will have the same authentic Mexican food as the original in Oak Cliff.
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