Eats Beat: Short move, big results for Chop House

Chop House Burgers outgrew its griddle.

The Arlington favorite has moved five blocks west, joining David’s Barbecue and Mad Mike’s Ice Cream on Pantego’s restaurant row.

The new Chop House was chef Kenny Mills’ former steakhouse. As a burger cafe, it seats about 70 more diners than the old location.

Mills’ $20 “Backdoor Bootleg” bacon-fried chicken dinner is back, although it’s now sold at the front counter.

The new location also adds a bar with handmade craft sodas in 11 flavors — Mills recommends the strawberry-lime — and Blue Bell ice-cream shakes.

The Chop House episode of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives re-aired last week on the Food Network, and it brought a line of customers to the new location.

The burger grill gained fame as the two-time runner-up in DFW.com’s Battle of the Burgers, and its Chop House Burger remains the favorite.

But the menu has expanded from a handful of burgers to about 20 choices, including turkey and chicken burgers, gumbo and chili con carne, plus fried pies and the restaurant’s familiar pecan, chocolate chess or sawdust pies.

The menu even has a choice of salads, including a Caesar, a steakhouse-style wedge and a “chop chop chicken” with mixed greens, grilled chicken and a chipotle-lime dressing.

(Repeating a frequent explanation: Chop House Burgers in Arlington is not related to the singular Chop House Burger of Dallas and Euless and opening soon in downtown Fort Worth. Neither is related to Mercury Chophouse in Fort Worth.)

Chop House Burgers in Pantego is open for lunch and dinner Mondays through Saturdays and for lunch Sundays; 2230 W. Park Row Drive, 817-459-3700, chophouseburgers.com.

A Mansfield location closed.

Thurber Mingus city limit

Thurber Mingus, billed as a “bordertown cantina,” opens this weekend near the Trinity Trails trailhead on White Settlement Road in west Fort Worth.

Named for an Interstate 20 exit and two legendary coal-mining and honky-tonking towns, Thurber Mingus promises chef Coby Baumann’s tacos, a choice of designer burgers, chili, sides and chicken-cascabel empanadas with chimichurri.

The building, in the river bottom at the West Fork crossing, opened in 1946 as a laundromat and grocery. It has been a series of taverns and bars for more than 60 years, including a 1960s spell as “Eddie’s Swamp Angel Lounge.”

Thurber Mingus is brand-new, so be patient. But it opens this weekend for lunch and dinner daily at 4400 White Settlement Road; 817-570-0537, thurbermingus.com.

A foamy World

World of Beer opens next week, and also promises a world of barroom grub.

The Fort Worth location of the Florida-based brewhouse chain will have a more extensive menu than other locations, putting it directly up against the West 7th bar-restaurants.

Besides appetizers and sandwiches, the Fort Worth WOB will have a 25-item menu, but it won’t be posted until opening day Monday.

World of Beer is at 3252 W. Seventh St., next door to the forthcoming Dee Lincoln’s. An Arlington location has been open several months at 5005 S. Cooper St., 817-471-1101; worldofbeer.com.

This story was originally published February 26, 2015 at 8:06 AM with the headline "Eats Beat: Short move, big results for Chop House."