A new Italian restaurant is coming to a downtown Fort Worth landmark
July 21,2021
See full Fort Worth Star-Telegram article by Bud Kennedy here.
One of Fort Worth’s most successful restaurateurs will open a new modern Italian eatery in a landmark 1960s skyscraper, the first major dining option at the western gateway to downtown.
Grace owner Adam Jones and chef Blaine Staniford will team up again for 61 Osteria, overlooking a sculpture plaza and Burnett Park from the show windows of the First on 7th tower, 500 W. Seventh St.
It’s their third restaurant, counting Grace and a mid-price downtown grill, Little Red Wasp.
The name “61” refers to both the year the First on 7th tower was built and the year Jones was born, he said.
“Everything about this building is so beautiful — the [18-foot-tall] windows, the sculptures, the park — it feels like something in midtown Manhattan,” said Jones, now in his 30th year running Fort Worth steakhouses and grills.
The restaurant will open late next year and will have a midcentury modern look, Jones said. It will serve lunch, happy hour and dinner for workers and residents on the west side of downtown.
The Burnett Plaza office tower, federal court building and surrounding apartments have small restaurants such as Picchi Pacchi and Bailey’s Bar-B-Q, but the nearest full-service restaurant is Branch & Bird, on the 12th floor of a bank tower at 640 Taylor St.
Diners at 61 Osteria will have a panoramic view of 100-year-old Burnett Park and the 2002 Jonathan Borofsky sculpture, “Man With Briefcase.”
Jones said he originally wanted to open Grace in the First on 7th lobby before settling into a bank lobby at 777 Main St.
He and Staniford plan a menu of simple Italian dishes with regional ingredients, he said.
Locations Mentioned: Bailey's Barbeque, Branch & Bird, Burnett Park, Grace, Little Red Wasp, Picchi Pacchi