Fort Worth will get a better class of food courts when the Food Hall at Crockett Row opens soon. Tentatively scheduled to open late November or early December, in a new 16,000-square-foot space in the Crockett Row at West Seventh area, the hall will feature a half-dozen storefront eateries, along with indoor/outdoor seating, a separate bar area and a stage for live music. Picture a hipster version of a shopping mall food court, and you've got it.
Sandwich from Not Q
Sandwich from Not Q
Not Just Q
The concept is similar to Legacy Food Hall in Plano and will even share some of the same vendors, including Knife Burger from Dallas chef John Tesar and the Press Waffle Co., a gourmet waffle shop. There will be two spots with ties to TCU: Not Just Q, a brick-and-mortar version of former TCU football player David Hawthorne's popular barbecue truck, and Rollin" N Bowlin", an acai-bowl spot from Sophia Karbowski and Austin Patry, both TCU grads.
Rollin Bowlin Acai Bowl
Rollin Bowlin Acai Bowl
Rollin' n Bowlin'
Rounding out the lineup will be Abe Froman's, the cheekily named Italian spot from local chef Victor Villarreal. The name, as you know, is a nod to Ferris Bueller's Day Off – and if you didn't know that, there's no way we can be friends. Villarreal, who has worked in some of the city's top restaurants, including Grace and Clay Pigeon, will make his own sausage, gnocchi and pizza.
3000 Crockett St.,
Happy anniversary to downtown fine dining gem Grace, which this month celebrates its 10th anniversary. Swing by and toast owner Adam Jones and his crew for a job supremely well done.
777 Main St.,
The burgeoning South Main area will welcome two new restaurants late October/early November: Four Sisters, a new Vietnamese concept, and Hecho, an upscale Texana restaurant.
Four Sisters comes from local chef Tuan Pham, who cut his teeth at Shinjuku Station and Tokyo Café. The name was inspired by his quartet of sisters, two older and two younger, and his menu is made up of family recipes. "This restaurant is all about family," he says. "My mom came up with a lot of the recipes, and some of my family will be working here. This is a true family restaurant."
The menu includes skewered beef wraps, lobster fried rice and pho made with housemade noodles, a rarity in Fort Worth. "This is the food I grew up eating," Pham says. "And the food I still eat today."
1001 S. Main St.,
Just north of Four Sisters is Hecho, a West Texas-inspired concept from local chef Michael Shaddox, who worked in the corporate restaurant industry for nearly three decades before moving to West Texas and starting his own food truck, called Hecho. Now back in Fort Worth, he landed a sweet brick-and-mortar spot in The 4 Eleven, a boutique shopping center housed in a 1920s warehouse.
Shaddox describes Hecho's food as a fusion of Southern, Latin and Western flavors. Menu items include lobster empanadas, cheeseburger tacos, chipotle ribs and various cuts of steak, his signature item. Much thought was put into the restaurant's décor. Award-winning visual artist Sarah Ayala has provided several pieces of mandala art, and acclaimed Texas photographer Emily McCartney was recently commissioned by Shaddox for a special photo project to be displayed at the restaurant.
411 South Main St.,
Snooze Breakfast Plate
Snooze Breakfast Plate
Fort Worth could certainly use a few more all-day breakfast spots - reason enough to celebrate the arrival of Snooze, a Denver-based breakfast and lunch chain that opened a branch in the Left Bank shopping center in October. The restaurant specializes in quirky, decadent breakfast/lunch/brunch fare, from a breakfast pot pie draped in rosemary sausage gravy to pineapple upside-down pancakes to Benedicts stuffed with mashed avocado, prosciutto, pulled pork and steak. Cool touches: The restaurant utilizes seasonal ingredients, even in cocktails, and a percentage of all sales benefit local charities.
2150 West Seventh St.,
Fans of authentic Greek food, take note: The annual Fort Worth Greek Festival is happening Nov. 9–11 at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. For the uninitiated, it's like a big Greek food potluck: Church members serve homemade dishes such as dolmas, gyros, spanakopita, moussaka and flaming saganaki – cheese set ablaze with liquor and served on pita bread – against a lively backdrop of music and dancing; it's a major blast. Admission is $1, and all food items are purchased with tokens, sold for $1 each.
2020 NW 21st St.,
