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Posted on Fri, May. 02, 2008

Bud Kennedy's Eats Beat

By Bud Kennedy

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

The best Sunday buffet in Arlington is coming to Fort Worth.

Mac's Steaks & Seafood is building a new steakhouse in Montgomery Plaza.

For 20 years, Mac's in Arlington has been a reliable restaurant for classic steaks, lunches and unlimited salads. A newer Mac's in Colleyville serves the same menu.

The Fort Worth location will open this summer along the plaza driveway near Gloria's.

That way, Mac's will get a head start on other forthcoming Cultural District steakhouses, such as Eddie V's Edgewater Grille.

Besides its popular brunch salad and dessert buffet, Mac's also has something else vital to Fort Worth: a first-class chicken-fried steak.

To try it now, check Mac's at 6077 Interstate 20 W., Arlington, or 5120 Texas 121, Colleyville; http://macsteak.com.

Besides Mac's chicken-fried steak, here are two we rarely mention:

Drew's Place, the home-cooking cafe named here recently for fried chicken, also serves a fork-tender chicken-fried steak. It's open for lunch and early dinner six days a week at 5701 Curzon Ave., one block south of Camp Bowie Blvd.; 817-735-4408.

And the venerable Chuck Wagon Restaurant in Weatherford might look a little timeworn, but nothing has changed on the hand-breaded chicken-fried steak platter. At $6.49, it's a bargain; 1104 W. Park Ave. at Interstate 20, 817-613-1303.

When did south Arlington get so health-minded?

Besides the new Sweet Tomatoes salad buffet, the Arlington Highlands shopping center also has a Veria Wellness Center and Natural Cafe.

It's a wrap, salad and organic coffee cafe, not as big as the neighboring Tomatoes. On the other hand, Veria also doesn't have a long line; 4001 Arlington Highlands Blvd., 817-557-1796, www.veria .com.

The usual Dallas hotel restaurants are serving up huge Mother's Day specials: the Mansion on Turtle Creek, Fearing's at the Ritz-Carlton, the Fairmont, the Four Seasons in Irving.

But does Mom like -- pizza?

Two chain spinoffs from famous pizza restaurants will offer specials for Mom:

Grimaldi's Pizzeria, new in Dallas and patterned after the original Brooklyn location, promises free tiramisu or cheesecake for Mom all day May 11; corner of Cityplace Boulevard West and Noble Avenue, 214-559-4611, www.grimaldispizzeria.com.

And reliable Uno Chicago Grill, founded in Chicago by a Texan and freshly named the healthiest of all chain restaurants, will offer a special mahi-mahi entree plus Mother's Day coloring sketches and photos for the kids; 300 Houston St., 817-885-8667, www.unos.com.

New and worth a try: Deer Creek BBQ, 9116 Camp Bowie Blvd. West in a grocery shopping center; 817-244-7774.