Toro Toro chef out; national team taking over flashy new Worthington steakhouse
The new Toro Toro Pan Latin Steakhouse and local chef de cuisine Jason Harper have parted ways less than a month after the opening of the new Worthington Renaissance hotel restaurant.
Colorado-based executive Richard Sandoval will oversee operations and his executive chef team will remain in place at the flashy new downtown restaurant, 200 Main St., a spokesperson said.
“We are very pleased with Jason Harper’s effort in our opening and helping us to bring the first Toro Toro to Fort Worth,” the restaurant said in a statement from senior vice president Greg Howe of the Richard Sandoval Hospitality Group.
A new chef de cuisine will be named after the new year, Howe’s statement said.
For now, Toro Toro is under corporate licensing chef Steven Lartz, a former Chicago chef, and Alejandro Melendez, the company’s culinary trainer.
Harper, the former chef at Trio in Colleyville and a former sous chef at Abacus in Dallas, designed the local menu based on Sandoval’s other Toro Toro restaurants. At the grand opening, Sandoval said the local menu is similar to the Toro Toro in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Asked Monday about his departure, Harper texted back, “It’s a long story.”
The steakhouse is operated by Sandoval’s company for the drastically remodeled Renaissance. It serves lunch and dinner daily. (Breakfast is served in a separate Worthington cafe.)
Toro Toro has announced a special Christmas Day menu; 817-210-2222, torotorofortworth.com.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 10:47 AM.
