Cowtown Chronicles

Great news, food fans!!! A branch of The Flying Fish (a member of the 8.0 family, which also includes The Flying Saucer) has opened here in Fort Worth! It’s almost directly across the street from Railhead BBQ, and is worlds away in terms of quality.

I’d been to the Addison location; it opened while I was still a bartender at The Flying Saucer there. The menu is simple - essentially it’s catfish, shrimp, crawdads (in season), and oysters. Of course there are the outlyers and the “froofy” stuff like hamburgers and chicken and salmon. All of it I’m told is outstanding, PARTICULARLY after a trip to the Rahr Brewery for the Saturday morning tour. I have a confession, though; I hate catfish, and I don’t eat invertebrates, so I had a hamburger. Jenna had the shrimp boil plate, another member of our party had oysters on the half shell (they’re 25 cents on Sundays), yet another had calamari and seviche, and the last had a po’ boy. Everyone agreed that it was the best “down home” seafood they’d had in a long time.

Prices are probably market, the shrimp boil (at least a pound of shrimp) was around $12, my bucket of 6 cold beers was $13, so it’s not ridiculously priced like so many of the new restaurants in Fort Worth.

It’s on Montgomery across from Railhead, and unlike BBQ joints in Texas, it’s not afraid to be open on Sundays when you’re really craving some “down home” food. Check it out, it’s totally worth it!

Technorati Tags: fort worth, new places, restaurants

I had intended to try Dutch’s on July 4, but they were closed for the holiday. Still, I kept hearing stories about how great it was, so I finally went there for dinner tonight.

For those of you who have not heard the stories, Dutch’s is a new burger joint opened by well known FW Chef Grady Spears. It’s located at 3009 S University Drive, in the space where Jon’s Grille once operated. The place is named after a legendary TCU football coach.

For me, the atmosphere was a little squeaky clean for a college-campus burger & beer joint. It lacks that worn-in, crayon-writing-on-the-walls, hole-in-the-wall authenticity that Jon’s had. It’s like they white-washed Jon’s, added a fancy bar and some trendy Chipotle-style seating, hung some shiny new reprints of old TCU football photos, and called it a day. Not that any of that is terrible; it just doesn’t have the character I was hoping for.

The food, though, it great. We started with an order of the roasted green chile queso, just because the menu mentioned homemade tostadas. What a great choice! The freshly made chips were fantastic, and the queso had a style all its own. Just unique enough to make an impression, yet traditional enough to please the Tex-mex fan inside all of us.

The burgers were a hit too. I ordered a burger called “the lineman.” It was an impressive burger, but if you aren’t a lineman you probably would be better served by another burger. I had no problem finishing it (fat boy gotta eat), but I’m still feeling inexplicably full writing this review 3 hours later. The buns were robust enough to handle my two huge patties, cheddar cheese, bacon, and fixin’s without crumbling or becoming a soggy mess. These are beef-lovers’ burgers, without a doubt. The patties are thick and hearty, and are clearly ground from high-quality beef. Suddenly after eating it, $8 for a burger didn’t seem so out of line.

Our meal:

I was glad to see that Dutch’s serves Rahr and Sons beer, as well, because I like having the opportunity to support my local brewer.

That’s it for the review; check Dutch’s out for a killer burger… here’s to hoping that in a few years the place can build a little “atmosphere!”

Yes, you heard right: DINNER! Lili’s is finally open for dinner during the week, and it was worth the wait.

Jenna and I went last night with some friends and had a GREAT time. I had the Beef Tenderloin Tips, everyone else had something different off the menu, and it was all really great. We even had a couple of bottles of wine, probably the first bottles sold on their new liquor license.
Great job again, Vance and Marnie!

Technorati Tags: magnolia ave, fort worth, restaurant

Remember at the beginning of the year when I said I was going to make an effort to live more sustainably?

In general, I’d say we’ve done okay. Thanks to switching (and then losing) jobs, I’ve GREATLY cut down on the number of miles we’re driving. In the last 8 weeks, we’ve driven just about 1000 miles, and that’s only because of a couple of trips to Denton.

Today, however, I threw a lot of that out the window with one little decision…

We went to Babe’s Chicken Dinner House in Roanoke. I just found out that they had other locations, but Roanoke is the first and most have said the best. So, not only did we drive 30+ miles for dinner, we also had fried chicken (one of the most environmentally harmful of livestock).

I have to say that the menu at Babe’s helped a lot with Jenna’s normal indecisiveness. Having only 2 choices (chicken fried steak or chicken fried chicken) sure makes it easy to find something. I had the chicken, of course, and so did Jenna, and I have to say, it’s probably the best I’ve ever had. Perfectly crispy, not too greasy. The sides (normally the part of a meal like this that sucks) were excellent, as well. The perfectly moist biscuits and the REAL mashed potatoes and gravy were just what we were looking for.

Now if only there was one in my neighborhood that served chicken-fried tofurky…

Technorati Tags: sustainable, restaurant, roanoke

Remember when I announced a new restaurant on Magnolia to be called Lili’s Bistro? Well, they have launched there website, where can learn a little about the owner/chef and his plans for the place.

Go see the Lili’s Bistro website for yourself. It looks very promising!

Technorati Tags: 76110, bars, downtown, food, fort worth, magnolia, restaurants

Coming soon to 1310 W Magnolia (that little space between the Spiral Diner and Panther City Bicycles):

Lili’s Bistro

Hopefully this restaurant will be run by more knowledgeable restaurant folk than the last one to occupy that space. It’s a perfect little spot, and deserves a good tenant who’ll bring more people to the area.

Seems to me like a Bistro in that location would be well-poised to serve Nonna Tata’s overflow crowd, who may sometimes get tired of waiting for a table…

I’ve been spending more time around Magnolia Ave lately, visiting Bernie and eating/drinking at some of the great restaurants and bars up there.

About a month or so ago, we went to Benito’s with some friends. I can’t tell you how much this place was hyped to me as the BEST Mexican restaurant in the city. I’m not going to rip on them too much except to say that the drinks were VERY cold (I hear their margaritas are excellent), and the food was VERY hot (in the “hurts the next day” sense). I wasn’t impressed with my dish, and Jenna said that hers was only so-so as well. I did like the atmosphere. The live tree taking over the entry and front booths was interesting and kind of a cool touch for a storefront restaurant.

My next stop will be Nonna Tata, I hope we can get a table inside if we go tonight, it’s freakin’ COLD out there!

BTW, the restaurant between PCB and Spiral Diner closed. I’m thinking of opening a BBQ joint in there. Anyone want to provide financing and a good BBQ recipe and teach me how to make a brisket? Maybe I can convince Metzler’s to front me some cash and show me their secrets…

What do YOU think would be a good fit for that tiny little location?

Technorati Tags: food, magnolia, 76104, restaurants

Way to go, team! Fort Worth is 4 places less fat in than we were last year, according to Men’s Fitness magazine.

25% (6) of the fattest 25 cities in the United States are in Texas, the highest number among the states with cities in the top 25. The next closest was California with 5. I wonder if we’re fortunate that they counted Arlington separately from Fort Worth and Dallas. I’m guessing that if they’d considered the whole Metroplex together we would have fared much worse.

Austin made the top 25 fittest, coming in at 21st. But that’s down from 13th last year. They must have had some people move in from San Antonio…

Technorati Tags: fitness, surveys, Texas

As I mentioned a few days ago, Jenna and I were invited to the soft opening of 29º Tavern, in the same shopping center as Central Market, off Hulen and 30.

The decor was excellent. The bar top was a plate of burnished stainless steel, the stools were VERY comfortable (we sat in the bar), and the bathrooms had tap handles on the sinks! Very attractive, warm, and well executed.

We only got to see a limited portion of the menu, but what we did see was very promising! Louis had the Chicken Fried Steak, which comes with a Chipotle gravy, which everyone agreed was excellent. Emily had the Fried Chicken Salad, and commented that her experience with honey mustard dressings has been hit or miss, but the dressing on this salad was “just right.” Jenna had the Fried Shrimp (I’m seeing a “fried” trend here) on a bed of shoestring french fries. She liked it very much, particularly the cocktail sauce, which our waitress informed us was made with “sweet chiles.”

I had the prime rib, which wasn’t on the “official” menu for the evening, but was available. It was very well marbled and flavorful. The Au Jus that came with it wasn’t much, and the horseradish was not particularly hot, but all in all it was good. My mashed potatoes were cold, but still very good.

I did (as promised) have a beer, which was served at 29º (at least they say it was, it spent a lot of time on a tray waiting to get to me). I chose an “American Light Lager” (Miller Lite) because I just couldn’t justify wasting one of Fritz’s wonderful brews like that. Emily warned me at the beginning of the evening not to be “Beer Snob Pete” and to just have a good time, so I didn’t, and I did.

Service was as to be expected for a new joint. They seemed to be working well together, but there were a few mixups. Our waitress was excellent, but either she or the drink runners need to work on table numbering a bit more. It was no big deal though, everyone eventually got what they ordered, and we really did have a good time.

The prices seemed reasonable, and it looks like they’ll have a great happy hour, so we’ll definitely be back.

So, I’ve been invited to the opening (soft opening, actually) of the new 29º Tavern in Fort Worth. It’s over off Hulen and 30, by Central Market.

I’ve been told that it’s from the same people that brought you Bennigan’s and The Plano Tavern. I have to say that I haven’t been impressed with either of those concepts, and the thought of beer (especially good beer) served that cold makes me well, shiver. Or sad and disgusted. I guess I’ll just be drinking Miller Lite, since “American Light Lagers” are designed to be served that cold.

I’ll be back on Friday or Saturday with my full report!