Out of the oven

One Trick Pony Pizza Tavern from Heim BBQ founders debuts in Fort Worth

Dig that hot, fresh pizza.

Photo courtesy of One Trick Pony

The time has arrived for one of Fort Worth's most anticipated restaurant openings of the year: One Trick Pony Pizza Tavern, the pizza-and-martini spot from Heim Barbecue founders Travis and Emma Heim, will open Wednesday, June 10 in South Main Village.

The restaurant has taken over the former Hot Box Biscuit Club space at 313 S. Main St., a high-profile address in the Near Southside that has sat empty since Hot Box closed in 2024.

First announced nearly a year ago, One Trick Pony specializes in Chicago-style tavern pizza - the thin, crispy pie cut into squares that's become a darling among pizza aficionados in recent years. Signature pizzas include The Big Hurt, topped with spicy Italian sausage and giardiniera.

One Trick Pony pizza The pizzas will be thin-crust.Photo courtesy of One Trick Pony

Travis Heim told CultureMap in June 2025 that pizza had become a passion of his after years in the barbecue business.

"I love pizza — I could eat it every day," he said when revealing the plans for One Trick Pony. "We'd go to New York and Chicago and see these awesome neighborhood tavern spots where you can get a martini, and maybe some pizza or a burger. We'd talked about doing a pizza concept, and felt like this space would be perfect."

Heim said he was especially drawn to Chicago's tavern-style pies, which were largely unavailable in Fort Worth: "I love a Chicago thin crust — they call it 'tavern style' — and there's not a place you can get that in Fort Worth," he said.

They'll be using a fancy Pizza Master electric oven, in which they'll bake not only pizzas but also hoagie rolls and hamburger buns.

The menu at One Trick Pony (abbreviated "OTP" by the Heims in a release) goes beyond pizza to include house-made meatballs featuring HeartBrand Wagyu beef; mozzarella sticks; and a Chopped Italian salad with iceberg lettuce, red onion, pepperoncini, cherry tomatoes, Gorgonzola, salami, olives, sourdough croutons, and house-made creamy Italian dressing.

One Trick Pony buger There's a "double burger" on the menu.Photo courtesy of One Trick Pony

There'll also be homemade pasta, a double burger, and playful desserts such as a build-your-own Ballpark Sundae served in a custom One Trick Pony mini baseball helmet. A rotating cookie skillet and other featured desserts will appear regularly, they say.

The tavern's cocktail program, created by well-known local mixologist Tia Downey, focuses on ice-cold martinis, including a Pepperoncini Tini designed to pair with the restaurant's crispy pizzas, they say.

"We want to be cocktail-forward, not crazy mixology but solid cocktails and a nice wine list," Heim told CultureMap last year.

OTP's opening comes in the midst of a Pizza Renaissance in Fort Worth. In the past year or so, a new wave of pizzerias has been bringing better pies to the table, featuring artisanal toppings and crust so good, you want to eat the ends. It joins other hot new pizzerias that have opened around the city, including Burattino Pizza in North Richland Hills; Felina, a spinoff of the acclaimed Bocca Osteria Romana in the Near Southside; Ozzi's, a chef-driven pizzeria located on the southwest side of Fort Worth, and more.

When it officially debuts, One Trick Pony will be open 5-9 pm Wednesday-Thursday and 5-10 pm Friday-Saturday; closed Sunday-Tuesday. Reservations are now available online for dates beginning June 10.

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Teresa Gubbins contributed to this story.

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Plate Lunch News

Hawaiian foodie favorite Pine Isle expands from Dallas to Fort Worth

Pine Isle

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A Hawaiian-inspired restaurant founded in Dallas is expanding to Fort Worth: Called Pine Isle, it'll be located at 3005 S. University Dr., in the former Dutch's Burrito Bar, where it will open in early fall.

Pine Isle is from Kevin Singharaj, who debuted the original Pine Isle in Dallas in 2025 as a takeout shop focused on Hawaiian dishes including poke, Spam, and the Hawaiian plate lunch — a comfort food dish featuring a protein like chicken paired with rice and macaroni salad, which has been a trendy item around DFW in recent years.

Singharaj, whose family owns the Zaap Kitchen chain, once lived in Hawaii and brings a personal and artisanal level to the genre, earning a following among foodies in the know.

"Hawaii was very special to me," he says. "Life was totally different there, and I want to provide an insight into my experiences in Hawaii to DFW residents."

The menu at Pine Isle features Hawaiian favorites like Spam musubi, the Spam version of sushi with a slab of Spam on top of rice; and loco moco, a plate with a beef patty and sunny side egg on top of steamed rice with brown gravy.

There's a big selection of lunch plates including Kalua pork with cabbage, teriyaki beef, garlic shrimp, miso chicken, chicken katsu, fried chicken, and kalbi Korean barbecued beef ribs. Other options include tuna poke bowls, poke nachos, hamachi, ahi tuna tataki, and garlic kimchi fries.

They recently added chicken teriyaki, which can be ordered a la carte or as a plate lunch; plus spicy Spam musubi; and spicy fried musubi.

Fort Worth will follow the same menu, quality, and overall experience as Dallas, but with a little extra.

"The biggest difference is that we’ll finally have indoor seating and an outdoor patio," Singharaj says. "Our Dallas location is only 950 square feet and was built around takeout, so this will give customers a different way to enjoy the food."

"We’re taking over the former Dutch’s Burrito Bar space, so we’ve had to get creative with the layout and operations to make sure we can maintain the same efficiency we’ve built in Dallas," he says. "I’m sure there will be some growing pains along the way, but our goal is simple: serve the same quality food and provide the same level of hospitality that got us here in the first place."

They weren't actively looking to open a second location, but Fort Worth turned out to be a perfect place for expansion.

"When Pine Isle started taking off, our first focus was investing back into the original store," he says. "We wanted to make sure we could handle the growth before chasing another lease. But this Fort Worth location just made sense. It’s right by TCU, and I also knew the area well since our Zaap Kitchen Fort Worth location is only a few minutes away."

"On top of that, customers have been asking us to come west for a while," he says. "Fort Worth has grown a lot over the years, and we’re excited to be a part of that growth."

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