There’s a new brewery moving into that $3 million Fort Worth restaurant and pub
Bankhead Brewing of Rowlett, named for a century-old federal highway, will open its second location in a $3 million brewery in west Fort Worth.
The brewpub and restaurant will move into the former Deep Ellum Brewing Co., 611 University Drive. It’s one block north of West Seventh Street, which was part of the historic Bankhead Highway across America.
Bankhead Brewing opened four years ago and serves a menu of wood-fired pizzas such as the “Carnivore of Love” with meatballs and sausage or the “Little Piggy” with pork, bacon and sweet figs.
Besides pizzas, the menu includes a brisket grilled cheese, burgers and salads, along with a sriracha cheddar-beer soup.
“While other breweries are focused 90% on beer, 10% on food, we put equal focus on both,” said owner Vivek Rajbahak, a former Pabst Brewing executive involved in the company’s craft beer strategy.
Bankhead wants patrons to come in “for the amazing food” as much as for beer or drinks, he said.
It’s a dining favorite in Rowlett and promotes specials such as prime rib on holidays.
The brewhouse was ranked the 2017 Brewery of the Year by Dallas-based CentralTrack.com but has changed hands since it opened.
The lease was handled through Trey Durham of San Antonio-based Restaurant Realty Group.
Bankhead emphasizes the history and craft of fine brewing and connects it to the history of the Bankhead Highway, Rajbahak said.
The highway was a major cross-country corridor for celebrities traveling to Hollywood and for America’s migration to California and the West. It was named in 1926 and was the forerunner of the interstate highway system.
It stretched from the White House lawn to California, passing through Dallas-Fort Worth on the old U.S. 67 and U.S. 80, including East Lancaster, West Seventh Street and Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth.
The brewery was attracted to the West 7th neighborhood for its location along the Bankhead, Rajbahak said, and for the “modern and affluent surrounding development.
Rajbahak wants to add Bankheads across Dallas-Fort Worth along the highway, meaning possible locations in Arlington’s Urban Union development, the Lakewood neighborhood of Dallas and elsewhere along Spur 580, Texas 180 or old U.S. 67.
“The key is to keep things simple and consistent and not overdo it,” he said.
“People can only drink so many ‘caramel-infused French toast pretzel stout’ [beers] in a seating, after all. But at the end of the day, who doesn’t like a great authentic beer and a pizza?”
Deep Ellum Brewing also left a turnkey, 5-barrel brewing operation, he said.
The $3 million Fort Worth craft brewery closed in June, ending a 1-year run that began in controversy and ended with a pandemic.
It was one of at least nine major West 7th-area restaurants to close last year, along with Punch Bowl Social, Cork & Pig Tavern, Terra Mediterranean Grill, Stirr, Bar Louie, Tortaco, Oni Ramen (replaced by Kintaro Ramen) and El Bolero.
The Dallas location of Deep Ellum Brewing remained open.
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 3:55 PM.
