Eats Beat: Brunch on the way next at Enchiladas Olé

Tiny Enchiladas Olé is making big moves.

Owner Mary Patino Perez’s tiny boutique enchilada cafe will add a weekend brunch buffet this spring, and has expanded its sauce sales.

When everyone else was chasing taquerias, Perez decided to focus on enchiladas. Her thick, rich sauces are in Central Market and other Texas-based grocery chains, and will be coming soon to Kroger.

The tidy North Sylvania Avenue shop is full for lunch most days. (A second location inside John Peter Smith Hospital has closed.)

Enchiladas Olé is all about enchiladas, and particularly about Perez’s ancho-chile, poblano mole or verde sauces.

Fillings include ground sirloin, smoked brisket or chicken or vegetables. The menu also includes quesadillas, nachos and occasional fajita specials.

Perez said she went to a Blue Mesa Grill Sunday brunch and decided to launch one at Olé. She’ll be open on the Sunday spring holidays.

Enchiladas Olé is open for lunch Mondays through Wednesdays, lunch and dinner Thursdays through Saturdays at 901 N. Sylvania Ave., 817-984-1360, enchiladasole.com.

Drumstick duel

Feathers are fixin’ to fly over fried chicken.

This week’s fresh-plucked news is that Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, a Memphis favorite, will open a Fort Worth location.

That comes on the heels of the news that Slim Chickens, an Arkansas tenders chain, will build a location in north Fort Worth near Keller.

Gus’s arrives just when many restaurants have abandoned traditional, bone-in fried chicken. It remains popular at Babe’s, Damian’s Cajun and Sistahs Mississippi Style in Arlington, along with Buttons, Drew’s and Roy Pope Grocery in Fort Worth, along with the regional Lisa’s chain. gusfriedchicken.com

Soup’s on, for charity

Fort Worth’s best food festival started with soup.

Empty Bowls, the lunchtime Friday charity benefit for a food bank, first featured soups, stews and desserts but now offers anything lunchable.

AF+B debuts this year with sweet-potato soup, and LightCatcher Winery will serve a horseradish-cream bacon soup.

Bonnell’s wild game stew and Fred’s chili are fixtures, along with Blue Bonnet Bakery cookies and Paris Coffee Shop pies. Tickets cost $50 for the 11 a.m. event (10:30 for a $130 VIP ticket) at the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibits Hall; tafb.org.

Not just California pizza

Vivo 53 Italian, a flashy new artisan pizzeria and bar from Southern California, has opened in the former Vault space in The Tower.

Vivo opened last weekend, but the pizza oven hasn’t worked some days. The remaining menu of pastas and salads is plenty; 525 Taylor St., 682-990-5150, vivo53.com.

This story was originally published February 20, 2015 at 12:24 PM with the headline "Eats Beat: Brunch on the way next at Enchiladas Olé."