Return of a classic: Roy Pope Grocery reopens with longer hours, new choices & a patio
Roy Pope Grocery isn’t a neighborhood secret anymore.
The 78-year-old corner supermarket, 2300 Merrick St. in west Fort Worth, is now an urban grocery serving coffee from 7 a.m. every day, along with pastries, sandwiches, platters and beer and wine.
The opening this week brought a crowd of coffee drinkers, beer guzzlers and lunch diners, as if they got lost on their way to Starbucks or the barbecue joint.
The former grocery serving line was filled with charcoal-cooked chicken, grilled salmon, meatloaf, pork chops and fresh vegetables from regional growers. Customers waited for meatball sandwiches, BLTs or hot Italian subs.
“We’ve tried to expand the offerings,” said restaurateur-chef-consultant Lou Lambert.
That’s an understatement.
The kitchen is three times the size of the old supermarket deli. There’s also a giant new coffee-wine bar and patio along Merrick Street for morning breakfast tacos or summer evenings in the shade.
Lambert and the owners brought in James Beard Award-nominated chef Bria Downey to make over the menu. The result is a flashy selection of hot food platters, salads plus a grab-and-go section with new recipes for chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad and other deli-counter staples.
“I think everybody’s so busy, it’s hard to make time to cook,” Lambert said.
The charcoal-cooked chicken is a flavorful contrast to other delis’ baked or rotisserie chicken.
“We’ve got some of the classic recipes, and we’ll be reintroducing them with some tweaking,” he said.
Roy Pope will eventually mesh with the Paris Coffee Shop, Lambert said. That’s the iconic 95-year-old lunch counter that Lambert and operator Chris Reale recently bought with investors.
The Paris, 704 W. Magnolia Ave., will take a break in late summer for remodeling, Lambert said. When it reopens, it will expand to all-day hours and also handle baking for both locations. (You might see the Paris’ pies at Roy Pope.)
Roy Pope also will sell barbecue on football weekends in the fall, host a grilling night for steaks and offer home catering, Lambert said.
The location is barely a mile from Central Market north of Camp Bowie Boulevard, four blocks north of Uncle Julio’s or three blocks west of Kincaid’s Hamburgers.
It’s open for breakfast tacos and pastries, lunch and dinner daily; 817-732-2863, facebook.com/roypopegrocery.
This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
