As the former executive chef at Eddie V's in the Museum District, Fixe co-owner and chef James Robert has spent enough time in Fort Worth to know two things: We're friendly folks and we like Southern food.
We're the perfect fit, in other words, for the second location of Fixe, his Austin-based ode to amped-up Southern food. With dishes such as lobster and crawfish potpie and deviled eggs with smoked trout roe, Fixe goes beyond standard Southern fare. But tell us about those biscuits, man.
Fixe isn't exactly your grandmother's chicken and dumplings, right? This is next-level stuff.
What we are up to at Fixe is taking those very nostalgic dishes like fried chicken, pot pie and biscuits and putting a modern spin on them. It may be new ingredients sourced locally, new cooking techniques, or simply a progressive aesthetic.
What are some of the inspirations behind Fixe?
My biggest inspiration is, hands down, growing up in a Cajun home where our whole family sat down for supper together every night, always prepared by my mom - the greatest cook I've ever known. Food was the focal point, but it was so much bigger than that. Family, togetherness, love and kinship. We try to communicate these feelings in everything we do at Fixe. We very much want it to feel like a Southern home.
Biscuits are a big deal at Fixe. What makes them so special?
As with any great dish, we start with great ingredients. After that, a whole lot of care and love is put into their preparation. One thing that sets ours apart is the fact that every single order is cooked-to-order, 100 percent of the time. This means every guest will have the same experience - breaking open this golden-brown, crusty-on-the-outside, soft-and-pillowy-on-the-inside little piece of goodness, watching the steam billow out before slathering with whipped butter, local honey or housemade preserves. This, to us, is what a biscuit experience should be.
Fort Worth is in the throes of a biscuit renaissance. What is it about biscuits that people love so much?
The feelings and memories that are evoked. I would venture to guess that everyone has some memory from childhood that involves biscuits, if you are from the South, anyway. Whether that memory is of Mom cracking open a can of Pillsbury - my sisters and I would call these "little biscuits" - or watching her bring dough together, roll by hand, then punch and bake from scratch - we'd call these "big biscuits" - chances are those memories are happy ones.
Fixe is scheduled to open late January/early February at The Shops at Clearfork.
See what made our list of the Best Biscuits in Fort Worth.
by Malcolm Mayhew
