Eats Beat: For Valentine’s, take another little pizza my heart

Why not pizza for Valentine’s Day?

I’m not kidding. And I’m not talking about Partons Pizza, although that old-school west Fort Worth favorite is perpetually decorated with red-checked tablecloths and red-heart chairs.

Vivo 53, the California wine bar and pizzeria on a tucked-away corner in downtown Fort Worth, is running a weekend promotion with a price to love: a $54 four-course dinner for two with $40-ish Napa Valley wines, or less than $100 per couple to share Valentine’s dinner in a contemporary restaurant.

Guests can choose a personal brick-oven pizza Margherita or sausage pizza, or the sausage-spinach pasta. There’s a choice of appetizers plus soup or Caesar salad, and cannoli for dessert.

The special is valid Friday through Sunday, so make it a weekend warmup or the Sunday main attraction.

Vivo 53 is open for lunch and dinner daily and also for brunch Sundays at 525 Taylor St., in the Tower; 682-207-8700, vivo53.com.

The company has opened a second location in Bellevue, Wash., now that the Fort Worth restaurant is up and running more smoothly.

Pie, wine, valentine

Not to be outdone, familiar favorites such as Cane Rosso and Thirteen Pies will be out for their share of Valentine’s dining.

Cane Rosso’s offer is straightforward: “No set menu, no prix fixe, just a few sexy specials and our usual awesome pizza.”

It’s a genuine Neapolitan-style pizzeria with a short selection of pastas and salads; 815 W. Magnolia Ave., 817-922-9222, canerosso.com.

Thirteen Pies, the local remnant of the former Fireside Pies, also will serve its elaborate regular menu of 13 pizzas, pastas, salads and chalkboard specials such as a mussels appetizer.

It’s open for lunch and dinner daily at 2949 Crockett St.; 817-769-3590, thirteenpies.com.

Change of heart

Cafe 1187 is taking the weekend off for the first Valentine’s in 20 years.

Unfortunately, that’s because chef Michele Tezak broke a leg playing with one of her dogs and is out of commission for the busy weekend, and maybe well into springtime at the cozy country-house restaurant on a horse ranch near Benbrook.

A helper, Penny Bonkowski, was phoning customers this week to tell them about the weekend cancellations. The restaurant may be able to reopen for lunch sandwiches shortly, she said, but Tezak will be out of dinner business for a while.

Watch Cafe 1187’s Facebook page or call 817-443-1473; cafe1187.com.

A real super Sunday

Still mostly available for Valentine’s night Sunday, according to OpenTable.com and Facebook.com:

▪ Bravo!, Buffalo West, Byblos Mediterranean, Cast Iron, Lightcatcher Winery & Bistro, Lucile’s, Mercury Chophouse, Table, Terra Mediterranean Grill and the Wild Mushroom Steak House in Fort Worth.

▪ Mac’s Steaks & Seafood and R Bar & Grill in Arlington.

▪ And in Northeast Tarrant County, Citrus Bistro, J.R.’s Steak and Grill and Next Wood Fired Bistro in Colleyville; Ferrari’s Italian Villa and Zeppole Coastal Italian in Grapevine; FnG Eats in Keller; Classic Cafe in Roanoke; and Buca di Beppo, Howard Wang’s China Grill and TruFire Kitchen & Bar in Southlake.

This story was originally published February 9, 2016 at 10:49 AM with the headline "Eats Beat: For Valentine’s, take another little pizza my heart."