Where to find Valentine’s weekend takeout in Fort Worth, including a Cowtown special
A Fort Worth Stockyards steakhouse has decided that Valentine’s requires more than chocolate.
At Riscky’s Steakhouse, 120 E. Exchange Ave., they’re celebrating romance over a platter of — yes — calf fries.
If you have to ask what part of the calf is the fry, you probably don’t want to know.
It’s what gets left behind when a calf becomes a steer.
And let’s just say that nobody ever considered them a restaurant delicacy until about 100 years ago, in Fort Worth.
The way the story goes, one day in the 1920s, a ranch hand shuffled into Theo’s Cafe at that location and asked the owner, Macedonian immigrant Theo Yordanoff, for calf fries, a home-cooking dish from the ranch.
Yordanoff didn’t know what they were. So he went to the packinghouse nearby and asked.
The packinghouse gave them away free. So Theo’s began selling calf-fry sandwiches for 15 cents.
In the 1930s, Theo’s Star-Telegram ads said the restaurant was “Famous for Calf Fries.”
The calf fry fortune paid for Theo’s expansion and eventually the steakhouse was sold to another immigrant family, the Risckys.
So if you go on Valentine’s night for the two-for-$69.95 steaks-and-calf-fries dinner, you won’t just be dining on bulls’ bric-a-brac.
You’ll also be part of Stockyards history.
Seriously, Riscky’s is offering a dinner with a ribeye and filet, calf fries, either a baked potato or another side dish and a choice of either a salad or Riscky’s old-world kapusta (cabbage) soup.
If you’re dining inside the restaurant, the dinner also includes two complimentary glasses of wine.
Yes, the dinner is available through takeout or curbside pickup; 817-624-4800, risckys.com.
Here are a few other Valentine’s specials, mostly for safe takeout but a few for patio or inside dining (never dine indoors if it’s crowded, which probably includes almost anywhere on Valentine’s Day):
▪ Reata Restaurant, 310 Houston St., is offering a two-for-$125 Valentine’s Day remote pickup dinner with wine (add flowers and it’s two-for-$160). It’s also serving specials at the restaurant.
Frankly, the takeout dinner looks like a deal. It features a choice of tenderloin-and-shrimp for two or spinach-chicken roulade, with sides, a chocolate bread-pudding tamal and sparkling wine.
It’s available Feb. 14 only. Call 817-502-8851 by noon Feb. 12 to order, and expect to pick it up after 5 p.m. at the Southwest Regional Library lot off South Hulen Street. The last pickup is at 5:45 p.m.
If you’d rather dine at the restaurant or order takeout, the special menu Feb. 12-14 will feature a tenderloin-and-shrimp dinner ($70), a rib-eye ($65), chicken or hailbut ($50-$60); 817-336-1009, reata.net.
▪ Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine, 4259 Bryant Irvin Road, is offering a two-for-$135 curbside takeout Valentine’s dinner Feb. 14 only, featuring two tenderloins, a lobster tail, salad and a chocolate ganache tart. (It’s two-for-$185 with champagne and a crab cakes appetizer.)
The dining room menu, also served Feb. 14 only, features a $90 dinner with choice of a tenderloin, duck breast, trout or vegetable Wellington with an appetizer, salad and dessert sample; 817-738-5489, bonnellstexas.com.
▪ B&B Butchers & Restaurant, 5212 Marathon Ave., is offering a two-for-$150 heat-and-serve dinner Feb. 11-14 with a choice of chateaubriand, beef Wellington or two filets mignons, sides and dessert (order a day ahead).
B&B also is offering a $125-per-person takeout dinner featuring a filet mignon and lobster tail; prime rib-eye; seared sea bass; beef Wellington; or crab-stuffed lobster tail, plus appetizers, sides and dessert; 817-737-5212, bbbutchers.com.
▪ Toro Toro, 200 Main St., is offering a $75 takeout or dine-in special featuring either a rib-eye or halibut, an appetizer and chocolate cake; 817-210-2222, torotorofortworth.com.
▪ The Silver Fox Steakhouse, 1651 S. University Drive, is offering a two-for-$170 curbside-pickup menu beginning Feb. 5, featuring two filets mignons with a lobster tail, salad or soup and chocolate ganache cake; silverfoxcafe.com.
▪ More restaurants with safe outdoor tables: Gemelle, Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Mercury Chophouse, Piattello Italian Kitchen, Piola Italian Restaurant & Garden, Waters, and Wishbone & Flynt, along with several chains.
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 12:00 AM.
