Shrimp Cocktail News
Michelin taqueria to spin off new seafood restaurant in Fort Worth
Will there be shrimp cocktail at new Mariscos Cortez?
A restaurant with heavy-hitting credentials is coming to Fort Worth: Called Mariscos Cortez, it's opening at 1151 Martin Luther King Jr Fwy., as a seafood-centric spinoff of Birrieria Y Taqueria Cortez, the family-owned restaurant which made the list of restaurants that earned nods in the Texas Michelin guide.
The restaurant will open walking distance from its sibling in a space that was originally built to become a location of Huddle House, the breakfast-all-day chain.
According to founder Rogelio Cortez, it'll open "hopefully in time for summer."
The family shared the news an Instagram post on April 15.
"As y’all may know, the Cortez family, we know how to cook,” says Alejandro Soto, turning to gesture towards their Michelin award hanging on the front of Birrieria Y Taqueria. "For those of you who have been asking us, 'When's your next venture gonna be?' I’m here to tell you right now we are going to be opening a new sister restaurant, right across the street."
"It's the same family, the same cooks, the same food you all love, but a whole new menu with different menu items — now we're going to kick in to the seafood," Soto says.
Birrieria Y Taqueria Cortez started out in 2020 as a food truck that specialized in the hot-hot trend of birria, the crispy, cheesy twist on a taco. According to WFAA, founder Rogelio Cortez was a roofer who was sidelined by injury and began to sell food out of his mother’s house before borrowing $15,000 from his father’s 401K to buy a truck.
They opened a brick and mortar a year later, at 2108 E Rosedale St. (Their original food truck still operates as a drive-thru window at 2220 E. Rosedale St.) Their fortunes rose in 2024 when they became one of only three Fort Worth eateries to earn a Michelin recommendation along with Panther City BBQ and Goldee’s BBQ, which received a Bib Gourmand. (Smoke 'N Ash in Arlington also garnered a recommendation.)
Birriera's menu is limited to birria and its variations such as tacos, flautas, and a birria pizza, and they plan to take the same limited approach at Mariscos Cortez, with a maximum of 10 items.
While they have not reveailed a menu, they outline the differences in an Instagram post, amusingly called "Mama Cortez vs. Papa Cortez."
"Y'all know that Mama Cortez got the birria flavor down, but a lot of you didn't know that Papa Cortez used to be a cook his whole life, and his specialty, guess what it was — seafood," they say. "Mariscos Cortez will bring old school, traditional, authentic flavors — a process that will assure freshness and flavor in our seafood!"
They've already begun updates on the space, painting the interior a pretty marina-style aqua blue, and meanwhile they playfully pose a question:
"Is Cortez turning East Rosedale into the hottest Food District?" their post asks.
