Where to eat in Fort Worth right now: 5 hot new restaurants for August
August 5,2019
See full CultureMap article by Malcom Mayhem here.
Fort Worth is enjoying what feels like an unprecedented wave of new restaurants opening all over town. For this edition of Where to Eat, our monthly guide to the best restaurants to check out, we bring word of the five newest restaurants, hot off the grill, including a new barbecue joint, a sandwich shop, and a sports bar downtown.
Here's where to eat for August:
Bearded Lady
Shannon Osbakken's beloved beer and burger bar has found a new home at 300 S. Main St., in an old flag manufacturing warehouse in the burgeoning South Main Village. Like the original Near Southside spot, the restaurant's pride and joy is a spacious patio — this one's twice the size of the original. Old menu favorites return, including fried leeks served with housemade ranch and the L.U.S.T. burger, touted by Texas Monthly as one of the state's best burgers. New items include the pigmento sandwich, made with smoked pork, blueberry compote, and homemade pimento cheese; and a brisket burger topped with barbecue sauce fashioned out of Big Red.
Buffalo Bros Sundance
Scheduled to open on August 9 at 415 Throckmorton St., this downtown spinoff of local chef Jon Bonnell's TCU-area sports bar will be much like the original — but bigger in size and minus the frat kids. Bonnell's menu, developed with biz partner and New York native Ed McOwen, will be a mirror reflection of the TCU location, with an emphasis on New York-style pizza, wings bathed in various sauces, and specialty dishes like beef on weck. There will be no fewer than 90 TVs and almost that many types of regular and craft beers.
Funky Picnic Brewery & Café
Another addition to the South Main Village area is this newly opened sandwich and suds spot at 401 Bryan Ave. by a group of local friends and brewers. The restaurant offers a rotating lineup of their own craft beers, along with selections from other local breweries such as HopFusion and Rahr & Sons. A small food menu consists mainly of cheffy sandwiches, ranging in price from $10-$15. There’s a cured ham and house pimento cheese sandwich, topped with pale ale-dilled pickles; and a turkey sandwich made with avocado, bacon, smoked cheddar, and peppercorn-dill aioli. Other items include beer cheese fondue, a cranberry spinach salad, and Key lime pie.
Smoke-A-Holics BBQ
Since opening last week, this new east side barbecue joint has been attracting sold-out crowds. No surprise: Before he opened this tiny brick and mortar at 1417 Evans Ave., owner Derrick Walker had already established himself as an expert pitmaster, running a successful food truck that specialized in ‘cue essentials such as brisket, sausage, and ribs. You’ll find those items at his new location, along with unique dishes such as brisket nachos and a monster of a sandwich piled high with chopped brisket and smoked mac and cheese.
Punch Bowl Social
Touting a huge menu of burgers, tacos, and sandwiches, this Denver-based chain has landed in Fort Worth's West 7th area, at 1100 Foch St., in the space originally occupied by Times Ten Cellar. It’s a games-and-grub concept: You can bowl and play games while eating scratch-made dishes, dreamed up by chef Sheamus Feeley, such as chicken and waffles topped with chipotle-citrus syrup, crab rangoon dip, and nachos topped with cauliflower.