What’s new going into 2020: The biggest and best restaurant openings of the past year
Flashy, high-design restaurants moved into Fort Worth in 2019, and some did not make it to 2020.
Small, charming, local restaurants turned out to the biggest new hits of the year, along with any restaurant, roadside stand or truck selling barbecue.
New locations for heralded 407BBQ, BBQ on the Brazos and Panther City BBQ, a second Heim Barbecue and the surprising new Smoke-A-Holics BBQ led the headlines in a year when Fort Worth barbecue was called the “best kept secret” in Texas:
▪ BBQ on the Brazos, Fort Worth’s highest-ranked barbecue restaurant in the last Texas Monthly ratings, moved from Hood County to 3803 Southwest Blvd. on the Benbrook Traffic Circle and instantly drew lunch crowds.
▪ Heim, where the small-batch, craft barbecue revolution began in Fort Worth, added a huge second location at 5333 White Settlement Road. The popular 407BBQ moved across Interstate 35W to 831 Farm Road 407 West, north of Texas Motor Speedway.
▪ It wasn’t much of a move, but Panther City BBQ returned to a new stand and dining area two doors east at 201 E. Pennsylvania Ave..
▪ Smoke-A-Holics became the biggest barbecue news of the year, opening at 1417 Evans Ave. and drawing lines of lunchtime customers for prime brisket, Duroc ribs and turkey.
Derrick Walker insisted on opening in the neighborhood where he grew up. Texas Monthly took note as Smoke-A-Holics brought craft barbecue success and crowds east of Interstate 35W.
▪ The new Derek Allan’s Texas Barbecue, 1116 Eighth Ave., also drew attention for its craft barbecue and breakfast offerings.
▪ Hurtado Barbecue brought craft barbecue to Arlington and quickly started building a restaurant at 205 E. Front St. in the Urban Union district.
Small independent restaurants
The big newsmakers were pizzerias as Fort Worth maintained an almost daily diet of new Neapolitan-style or New York-style pizza.
▪ As the year drew to a close, the hottest new restaurant in town was probably Zoli’s Pizza, 3501 Hulen St., winner as “best pan pizza in America” at a Las Vegas contest.
Zoli’s is new from Cane Rosso owner Jay Jerrier.. It also offered pastas, salads, a double-double cheddar burger and ice cream, along with a giant kids’ playground.
▪ A new Tim Love restaurant, Gemelle, drew praise in Texas Monthly for its square Detroit-style pizzas and for its rotisserie chicken, but failed to impress a sneering Dallas critic., who gave it ½-star.
(Gemelle, 4400 White Settlement Road, is offering a Jan. 6-12 special for diners to give it another try: a $39 Winter Restaurant Week menu with a choice of spaghetti al pomodoro or cacio e pepe, a Caesar and a butterscotch budino.)
As the new year dawns, Love is near the opening of Atico, a bar and light-bites cafe on the roof of the new SpringHill Suites by Marriott in the Stockyards, 2315 N. Main St. across from his Lonesome Dove restaurant.
▪ One of the most popular openings of the year was tiny Belzoni’s Catfish Cafe in White Settlement.
At 110 N. Jim Wright Freeway, it’s a simple catfish and seafood restaurant run by a former school principal from Belzoni, Mississippi, “Catfish Capital of the World.”
▪ Chicken sandwich restaurants were as popular locally as nationally, led by the new Cookshack hot chicken stand near the Cultural District.
Owned by the co-founders of Cheddar’s, the Cookshack, 500 University Drive, offers chicken sandwiches and tenders in five heat levels up to “AMF” — euphemistically, “Adios My Friend.”
Near TCU, the new BirdieBop stand inside the Moon Bar at 2000 W. Berry St. serves Nashville hot, southern and Korean fried chicken, including a southern fried chicken sandwich called the “Closed on Sunday” in tribute to Chick-fil-A.
Ben’s Triple B — biscuits, burgers and brews — added a chicken sandwich to its already-popular menu of biscuit sandwiches. It’s a casual burger grill that has brought new traffic to 3020 E. Rosedale St., near Texas Wesleyan University.
Soul Bird CHKN opened in Roanoke near year’s end and drew regular waiting lines for five different chicken sandwiches. It’s at 310 S. Oak St., four blocks from chicken legend Babe’s.
A grocery blockbuster
Besides barbecue, the second biggest food story of the year did not involve a restaurant.
The opening of a new H-E-B supermarket at 100 Hudson Oaks Drive in Hudson Oaks rejuvenated hope that San Antonio-based H-E-B will expand more into Tarrant County, already served by the company’s Central Market stores.
The 80,000-square-foot store opened with a bombastic rally including cheerleaders and marching bands from Aledo and Weatherford.
The next opening is expected at 1670 E. Broad St. in Mansfield.
H-E-B has eight locations in outlying Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs, including Burleson, Cleburne and Granbury.
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 7:20 AM.
