Barbecue, tacos, a great burger grill & brunch: where to eat near Dickies Arena
If you’re visiting Dickies Arena, understand that it’s in the Cultural District, not downtown.
There’s only one place to eat — Taco Heads restaurant and bar — directly across at 1812 Montgomery St.
Fortunately, Taco Heads has great street tacos and five sensational margaritas, some of the best in Fort Worth.
Along Montgomery Street, both the Quick Pick Grocery burger grill and Montgomery Street Cafe are well worth a stop for lunch, but they’re not open nights or Sundays.
Beyond Montgomery, here’s what you’ll find near the arena:
▪ Michaels Cuisine, a 1-mile walk north on Gendy Street to 3413 W. Seventh St., is a timeless Texas “ranch cuisine” restaurant and bar serving weekday lunch, happy hour specials all day and a bar menu late in the local legend Ancho Chile Bar.
Michaels opens at 11 a.m. weekdays and 5 p.m. Saturday, but not Sunday; michaelscuisine.com.
(If you want something fancier with a clubby atmosphere, it’s a few blocks east to Eddie V’s Prime Seafood.)
▪ Winslow’s Wine Cafe, a half-mile west at 4101 Camp Bowie Blvd., is actually the closest full-service restaurant to the arena.
Take a 15-minute walk west along Crestline Road and you’ll find a wine restaurant and shop with a full bar, plenty of light bites and a weekend brunch including Sunday for pregame dining.
Winslow’s opens at 4 weekdays, 10:30 a.m. weekends including Sunday; winslowswinecafe.com.
▪ Railhead Smokehouse, 2900 Montgomery St. at Interstate 30, is a typical Texas barbecue-and-beer hall with ribs, brisket and frosty mugs of cold beers.
It’s not craft barbecue — you’ll have to go to Heim or Panther City in the hospital district for the prime stuff — but Railhead is reliable and a good place to watch games; lunch and dinner daily, railheadsmokehouse.com.
(It’s closed Sunday, so you’ll have to go to Heim then.)
▪ Rodeo Goat, 2836 Bledsoe St., is a cowboy beer-and-burger bar with burgers like the “chaca Oaxaca” with chorizo or the Terlingua with excellent brisket chili.
There are several great burgers near Dickies Arena, particularly at Mash’d, Fred’s Texas Cafe, Kincaid’s Hamburgers and Swiss Pastry Shop.
But Rodeo Goat has more of a college sports atmosphere and a choice of beef, chicken, turkey, salmon or black-bean burgers. rodeogoat.com.
▪ While you’re in Texas, you might as well have a Whataburger, open 24 hours at 3701 West Freeway near Montgomery Street.
▪ For great fried chicken tenders at five spice levels, try the Cookshack, 500 University Drive.
▪ The nearest soul food restaurant is Drew’s Place, known for the city’s best fried chicken and smothered pork chops, 5701 Curzon Ave.
▪ For classic Tex-Mex and margaritas, The Original Mexican Eats Cafe at 4713 Camp Bowie Blvd. has been around 90 years. Chimy’s, 1053 Foch St., is a college sports bar known for margaritas and nachos.
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
