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Fort Worth is exploding


wild_turkey

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On 10/2/2023 at 7:16 PM, wild_turkey said:

Felipe Armenta has had great success with his other restaurants - Pacific Table, Press Cafe, Tavern, Maria’s, and Le Margot. He seems to have a magic touch, but those places mostly combine a good ambiance with a somewhat upscale menu, and no one looks for that in BBQ. It’s hard to envision F1 Smokehouse having similar success for him.

Two things: when Pacific Table opened, they had the best coconut cream pie in the whole damn world-not available anymore.

When Terry Black's opens on 7th in the old Wendy's location, F1 will become a distant memory with a quickness, unless it happens sooner.

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Pulido’s, a local Tex-Mex restaurant company with 57 years of history, will shut its locations indefinitely beginning Oct. 14 while owners plan its future, a spokesman for the family said Wednesday. 

A sign on the door at Pulido’s flagship location near Interstate 30 in Fort Worth says the doors are closing for now but “Hopefully we will be back!”

All three Pulido’s — two in west Fort Worth and one in Hurst — will be affected, the spokesman said. The last two of eight outlying locations, in Cleburne and Stephenville, previously closed. 

The restaurants remain in the Pulido family. Dionicia and Pedro Pulido founded the flagship location in 1966 to feed his co-workers in the adjacent Texas & Pacific railyard. 

That location, 2900 Pulido St., is on a one-block long street since named after the family. Other locations are at 5050 Benbrook Highway, in Fort Worth near Benbrook, and 1224 Precinct Line Road, Hurst. 

Benbrook location had fallen incredibly hard. Hundreds of meals there as a kid after baseball. 

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When I worked in downtown Ft Worth the original Pulidos was in my TexMex rotation along with La Familia, El Fenix, LoS Vaqueros and others. We most often went to the cafe in Arlington. Always cheese enchiladas and crispy tacos and tamales. It was very solid TexMex but when it closed in Covid and never reopened we forgot about it. A few months ago we stopped at the one in Cleburne coming back from Hlen Rose and ir was just bad all around.

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On 10/12/2023 at 12:29 AM, bluto said:

Ate at the central FW location once years ago and never went back. No idea how the hell it ever hung on in that weird location 

I went a few weeks ago. The credit card machine was down and the place smelled like the plumbing was stopped up. 

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Here's the long-ass Ribbee's article. 

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When you’re Texas’ No. 1 barbecue restaurant, what do you do next?

The owners of Goldee’s Barbecue knew what they would never do: open a second location.

“If we tried to spread ourselves too thin with another Goldee’s, it’d just make them both worse,” said Jonny White, one of the triumvirate of former Arlington elementary school classmates among the co-founders of Goldee’s and now the new Ribbee’s Smokehouse.

Ribbee’s, 923 E. Seminary Drive east of Interstate 35W in Fort Worth, won’t be a barbecue joint. It’ll just be a rib joint.

The new restaurant in a 50-year-old former Sonic Drive-In will serve only baby-back ribs five different ways, macaroni-and-cheese and french fries.

Ribbee’s will be different enough to give diners a reason to visit before or after a trip to Goldee’s, 8 miles down Business U.S. 287 at 4645 Dick Price Road south of Kennedale. 

Ribbee’s also will be open for lunch and dinner Wednesdays through Sundays, longer hours and days than Goldee’s.

To White, Jalen Heard and Lane Milne, classmates since Wood Elementary, Boles Junior High and Martin High School, it’s a chance to develop a ribs-forward restaurant and try different sauces and rubs.

“Brisket — you don’t mess with that. That needs to be your best brisket every time,” White said. “So we thought it would be fun to serve ribs in different flavors.”

For example, Ribbee’s might serve a choice of ribs in sweet, spicy, tangy and dry-rub styles, plus a rotating sauce of the month.

In Fort Worth, Ribbee’s firmly establishes Interstate 35W as the Broadway of Barbecue.

From the south, Burleson has a Hard Eight BBQ now and a new Heim Barbecue under construction.

Closer to downtown, top 10-ranked Panther City BBQ, Brix Barbecue, Robinson Bar-B-Q and Smoke-A-Holics BBQ are within a mile of the highway either way.

White said the partners found the Ribbee’s location, formerly home to a variety of barbecue, Indian and Chinese restaurants, when it was advertised on Facebook Marketplace.

That stretch of East Seminary Drive is now best known as the home of ice cream favorite Alma’s Paleteria, 1215 E. Seminary Drive.

But it’s also where the barbecue landmark Sausage Shoppe drew patrons for 20 years of house-made beef sausage plates. Sausage Shoppe is now in east Fort Worth at 6513 Brentwood Stair Road.

White said the partners saw new small businesses opening along East Seminary Drive and viewed the old Sonic with its drive-in bays as a good deal in an improving location.

The restaurant is only 2 blocks east of Interstate 35W on East Seminary Drive, a busy route to a Tarrant County College campus, a high school sports stadium and the La Gran Plaza mall.

It’s a contrast to Goldee’s rural backroad.

“The location is a lot better than Goldee’s,” he said.

Milne and White planned Goldee’s in 2019 along with another Arlington friend, Dylan Taylor. All had worked in Austin’s best barbecue restaurants, including Franklin, Valentina’s, La Barbecue, Freedman’s and Micklethwait.

They brought that flavor home to Tarrant County when Goldee’s opened in early 2020. But it was open only three weeks before restaurants shut down due to the COVID pandemic.

For months, there was no line. There were even a few weeks when Goldee’s seemed at risk of closing.

Crowds picked up along with dining room reopenings, and then came a No. 1 ranking in Texas Monthly magazine’s November 2021 issue.

That opened the door for barbecue patrons to discover more Fort Worth restaurants, including Panther City BBQ and Dayne’s Craft Barbecue in far west Fort Worth and soon, Aledo.

Ribbee's is expected to open in late November, White said.

A later update will bring beer along with added menu items, such as giant beef ribs and maybe pork rib tips, he said.

Goldee's is open only for lunch Fridays through Sundays; goldeesbbq.com. The best time to go is about 1 or 1:30 p.m., after the early lunch line slows down. 

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And now the long-ass Reata article. 

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Reata Restaurant will move back to its original home next year, taking over a vacant street-side restaurant space in the Tower for now until a potential future hotel location takes shape.

The 27-year home of Texas “cowboy cuisine” will move two blocks into a ground-floor corner of the Tower, 530 Throckmorton St.

That’s the same building where Reata opened on the top floor in 1996. That restaurant was destroyed by the tornado that struck downtown March 28, 2000.

Reata, currently at 310 Houston St. in Sundance Square, will replace a Cantina Laredo location that closed in 2020 when downtown business slowed early in the COVID pandemic.

The restaurant’s announcement described the move as a “stepping stone before a more permanent flagship home is constructed.”

Reata and president Mike Micallef had hinted in an April newsletter that the restaurant was looking at “some great locations in and around downtown.” 

Reata’s announcement said nearby office towers, the Fort Worth Convention Center, the Bass Performance Hall and new hotels have made downtown a “thriving environment.”

“Our history with The Tower is both storied and strong,” Micallef was quoted in the statement.

Referring to the restaurant’s mobility, Micallef said: “Like Fort Worth, Reata is a testament to resilience and rebirth. Together, we will continue to create unforgettable experiences, regardless of geography.” 

A citywide search and widely promoted customer poll seeking advice on a new location with 12,000-20,000 square feet and “up to 200 parking spaces” instead led Reata back where it started.

Omni Hotels executive Bob Rowling had said last spring that the hotel is talking to downtown restaurants about moving into the new second Omni tower, now under construction at 1500 Houston St.

He said landing the downtown restaurant he talked with “would be really exciting.” 

The original Omni tower, 1300 Houston St., is closer to the Fort Worth Convention Center and an even more attractive location. That currently hosts the hotel’s all-day restaurant, Cast Iron, and a Bob’s Steak and Chop House.

Neither the hotel nor the restaurant has announced any agreement or deal. 

Micallef had already said the increased convention and tourist business downtown make the city center attractive to Reata, the restaurant that launched “cowboy cuisine” and produced a generation of chefs known for contemporary Western cooking.

Micallef had announced in March that the restaurant would leave its current home, the former Caravan of Dreams nightclub and rooftop patio, in June 2024. The restaurant was unable to work out a new lease, he said, and had concerns about a price hike for valet parking. 

The new location will offer valet parking along with free parking in the Tower garage for up to three hours with validation, Micallef said Wednesday.

The Tower is also home to the Mercury Chophouse prime steakhouse and the Salsa Limon taqueria.

Mercury Chophouse offers $10 valet parking at the Studio Eighty nightclub, 500 Taylor St.

Reata’s announcement mentioned that the Dickies workwear company has moved its local headquarters into the Tower, owned by Illinois-based SADA Tower LLC partners.

Reata also operates a Reata at the Rodeo location for four weeks every year in the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibits Hall during the Stock Show rodeo. 

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A) wtf happens to the monster space left behind 
B) isn’t the current space one of the big draws in terms of rooftop? Doesn’t seem like new location has that. 

That was a perfect restaurant space for Reata. During my time working in downtown Ft Worth Reata was the usual place we took vendors. And the rooftop bar was always popular when it wasn’t 120 degrees outside. I hate seeing them move; Sundance will be challenged finding a successful replacement.

They are going to their original building which got blowed away by the tornado. Different space. It’s off the drag so maybe they can move their clientele but it’s a risk.

It was so great when Grady Spears was there before he lost his mind. Remember folks saying “12 bucks for a chicken fried steak! But it’s so good!” And it was amazing. It’s still pretty good. Though I usually go tenderloin tamales and the chicken chile relleno
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Not sure this is the best plan, that location rather sucks. 

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Enchiladas Olé, voted one of Texas’ 10 best Tex-Mex restaurants in a national newspaper survey, will open its third location in the Ridglea neighborhood of west Fort Worth, owner Mary Patino Vasquez said Thursday. 

The Tex-Mex restaurant known for Vasquez’s gourmet enchilada sauces will replace a brewpub and patio in a former supermarket at 6473 Camp Bowie Blvd., on a street popping lately with new restaurants.

Enchiladas Olé, 2418 Forest Park Blvd. in Fort Worth and 9005 North Tarrant Parkway in North Richland Hills, began 10 years ago as Vasquez’s brand of specialty enchilada sauces and gravies. 

She sold her sauces in Central Market and other supermarkets in Central and West Texas. 

Eventually, she developed a restaurant around brisket, beef, chicken, cheese or veggie enchiladas with seven sauces — creamy Hatch green chile, ancho-pepper chili, green sauce, mole sauce, queso, Santa Fe red chile and sour cream. 

The new location replaces Boozie’s, an unfortunately named brewpub that replaced a Wild Acre Brewing location after that company was sold and that brewpub moved. The new Olé is in the east end of what was previously a Kroger supermarket. 

“I think it’s a perfect location for an Enchiladas Olé,” Vasquez said. 

“The patio is almost identical to our Forest Park location. We have customers now who come from the west side, and they’ll love it.” 

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The Guapo Taco food truck moved in to the back patio where that bullshit Fanboys Grill was, next door to Abbey Pub.

I don't know about the rest of the menu but the pastor torta is the fucking shit. I have eaten four in the past week and I look forward to my fifth tomorrow some time after Texas beats the piss out of Houston.

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On 10/23/2023 at 12:27 PM, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Whitey-on-whitey slander really isn't an issue. 

Also I wasn't even referring to skin color, but Zilla is a dumb fuck.

On 10/23/2023 at 1:07 PM, Herbie Hancock said:

Fucking Zilla'd. Goddammit

I will make sure to include some real blatant and horrible racist takes at the end of all my future restaurant reviews. Just for Zilla. He's going to be mortified when he hears what I think about the Swedes.

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