Taco News

Buzzy Velvet Taco sets date for new location in north Fort Worth

Velvet Taco

Photo courtesy of Velvet Taco

A Dallas taco chain is opening a location in north Fort Worth: Velvet Taco, which specializes in globally inspired tacos, will open a restaurant at 2852 N. Tarrant Pkwy. on Monday, April 21.

This marks the second Velvet Taco in Fort Worth. The first opened at 2700 W. 7th St. way back in 2014. There's also a location in Grapevine that opened in 2023.

This new location will span 2,939 square feet, with indoor seating for 52 and an additional 65 seats on the patio.

“Fort Worth has incredible energy and community spirit that perfectly aligns with our brand's personality,” says Velvet Taco North Fort Worth General Manager Luis Narro. “Our restaurant brings something truly distinctive to the local dining landscape—combining unexpected flavor combinations with fresh, scratch-made ingredients in a vibrant, unconventional atmosphere. We can't wait for to serve up our bold flavors to the North Fort Worth community!"

The restaurant will open with 20-plus tacos and bowls, plus a signature rotating Weekly Taco Feature. Their number one seller is the Spicy Tikka Chicken Taco, but the Bacon Smash Burger Taco is also a popular dish, according to a release.

Everything is prepared in-house, including brisket roasted for 18 hours and their popular Backdoor Chicken marinated for 48 hours.

The menu features unexpected foodie-level ingredients like cilantro basmati rice, candied pepitas, and Thai basil — unusual in the fast-casual restaurant world.

They also serve alcohol, including margaritas, local, and Mexican beer, and they have one notable signature dessert: Red Velvet cake.

The chain was founded in 2011 with a location on Henderson Avenue at the intersection of US-75 — a location that's now closed. But there's no shortage, with 17 in the DFW area, stretching from Fort Worth on the west to Rockwall on the east, including a location that just opened in McKinney on April 14, and more than 50 locations across the U.S.

They'll open at 11 am with their tradition of giveaways: The first 50 dine-in guests will get free Velvet Taco hats.

tacos openings

CFS News

Southern comfort food restaurant in Watauga to close after 10 years

Campfire Grill

Watauga mom-and-pop Campfire Grill, a Southern comfort food restaurant at 6321 Rufe Snow Dr. #100 famous for its chicken-fried steak, is closing after 10 years.

According to a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page, their lease is ending, and they'll close on May 30.

Husband-and-wife Kareem and Jessica Lawton first opened the restaurant in 2015, with former partner Pablo Resendez (who left a year ago, according to Kareem). It became a community hub for Watauga and North Richland Hills, especially through the pandemic when they added a prayer wall and giving wall for contributions from customers.

Kareem said he notified employees of the closure first because he didn't want to blindside them before letting the public know.

“Our lease is ending and it’s just a good exit point for me,” Kareem says in a call. “I just want to focus more on my family because owning a restaurant is a big deal.”

Kareem had dreamed of owning a restaurant since he was 14. They first opened in a different location about a mile away at 6751 Rufe Snow, then closed and relocated to the current location in 2020.

The star of the menu was chicken fried steak with gravy made from scratch with bacon drippings; hickory-smoked meatloaf with BBQ sauce; Nolan Ryan burger; and fried catfish with three filets and three sides.

They also had chicken-fried chicken, chopped steak, pork chops, meatloaf,fried shrimp, and catfish, fried or blackened. Plus wings, a patty melt, fried pickles, and desserts such as banana pudding, peach cobbler, and brownies.

The couple have not determined what's next.

“I’m not quite sure where I’ll land at this point, but I will take a little bit of time and hopefully clear my mind and put my resume together today,” Kareem says.

“I didn’t come to this decision lightly, and I’m not closing because I have to,” he says. “But I’d like to have a job that when I leave, I don’t have to keep thinking about it. I’m not downing the idea that I’ll ever do it again; my wife is more ready to try it again, but she was also more ready to close it than me.”

closings