When it’s safer to dine outside, Fort Worth diners go out for barbecue
When dining goes outside, Railhead Smokehouse is ready.
Along with Joe T. García’s and Reata, the Railhead is one of those old Fort Worth favorites with plenty of safe, distanced outdoor patio tables.
The tables along Montgomery Street used to be full of beer drinkers. Now, they’re full of lunch and dinner crowds coming for pork ribs at one of the few barbecue restaurants with both a drive-through takeout window and a big outdoor dining area.
Railhead isn’t craft barbecue. It doesn’t serve smoked bison meatloaf or artisan coleslaw.
But the prices aren’t as high, either.
The daily specials cost less than $10 with sides or fries and a drink. Saturday’s special is one of Railhead’s very best: a smoked half-chicken.
Sandwiches cost $6-$7. Dinners with sides cost $11-$13.
If you’re feeding a family, two dinners will easily serve three people or more for about $25.
The hefty pork ribs made Railhead famous, along with its location at 2900 Montgomery St. near Dickies Arena and the Cultural District.
On a recent Monday, the ribs were as fall-off-the-bone good as at anytime in Railhead’s 34 years. They don’t need the thick sauce, but you can add it.
State Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, was doing a big-time interview for the Texas Restaurant Association the other day when he talked about recent business trends at the Railhead as the first wave of coronavirus continues.
For one thing, he said: “Everybody gets a plate, and they go straight outside.”
You order at the counter, But then you can head past the bar and dining room to the patio.
(Keep at least 6 feet away from anyone who has taken off his or her mask.)
In a wide-raging podcast, Geren talked about how business improved in June but the spike in COVID-19 cases in July is hurting.
Railhead seats less than the allowed 50% of capacity inside in order to stick to the rigid 6-foot distancing rule, he said.
(People have to stay 6 feet from strangers, meaning the tables have to be further apart.)
He’s spent $10,000 on Plexiglas, required where anyone is closer than 6 feet, and added a dozen sanitizing stations.
As both a restaurateur and a state leader, he’s frustrated.
When White House adviser Kellyanne Conway blamed governors July 22 for rushing reopenings and said states “blew through our phases” and opened up “a little too quickly,” that stung.
“They were kind of pressured to open early” by the White House, he said.
Right now, with new case numbers coming down, the hospital numbers have to come down before any rules can be relaxed, he said.
Geren said he lost a 44-year-old friend two weeks ago and has a 42-year-old friend in the hospital.
Just wear a mask, he said.
(That means whenever you’re not actually eating or drinking, and particularly when you’re talking to a server. Help keep restaurant workers safe.)
“Don’t fight us about it,” he said. “Just do it.”
Railhead’s still selling plenty of barbecue, particularly from the drive-thru window. (The line is almost as long as at the Whataburger in the next block.)
Go early. The line forms before the 11 a.m. opening time weekdays and Saturdays; 817-738-9808, railheadsmokehouse.com.
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
