A Fort Worth restaurant plans a 2nd location in Irving. It will help fill a ‘Big’ vacancy
One of the bigger restaurant closures of 2018 was actually the closing of five restaurants: Big Beat Dallas, a complex that opened with much fanfare in March at Irving’s Toyota Music Factory and closed before the end of May.
The five-restaurant/bar complex had a Fort Worth connection: It was the brainchild of Billy Bob Barnett, the “Billy Bob” in Billy Bob’s Texas, although he has not been associated with the Stockyards honky-tonk since 1988.
Now we’re getting word of restaurants replacing the ones in the Big Beat Dallas. And there’s a Fort Worth connection.
Reservoir Bar Patio & Kitchen, a popular restaurant/bar in Fort Worth’s West 7th corridor, will add a second location in Toyota Music Factory, a big collection of restaurants that’s also home to concert venue the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory.
Emil Bragdon, president and CEO of Reservoir parent company Funky Lime Hospitality Concepts, has an Irving background: He’s a graduate of MacArthur High School, and, according to a release, the Music Factory is only a short distance from where he grew up.
“To be able to launch our second location less than a mile away from where I grew up and went to junior high and high school is a little surreal,” Bragdon says in a release.. “I’m excited to bring some local flair to the area, and I know Reservoir will be a great addition to other amazing concepts and operators at Toyota Music Factory.”
Funky Lime’s other concepts include Whiskey Garden, another West 7th-area spot, although unlike Reservoir it doesn’t have a restaurant side (it does, however, have a resort-style pool). According to its website, it will also open a restaurant/bar in the West 7th area called West Side Pawn. Reservoir, which opened in late 2012, was a key part of the growth in the West 7th corridor.
The new Reservoir will be on Texas Lottery Plaza in the Music Factory, across from an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. It is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Toyota Music Factory has space for 25 restaurants, which included the five restaurants that the Big Beat Dallas complex housed. Kitchen 101, a fast-casual concept, and Violet Room, an upscale restaurant that “will offer seasonal menus with creative plating and execution,” are also expected to open by year-end in the development. Both are from Kim Forsythe of Sambuca.
The original Reservoir is at 1001 Foch St. in Fort Worth, http://www.bar-reservoir.com