A Magnolia Avenue restaurant calls it quits after 8 years in Fort Worth’s Southside
UPDATE: The Pantry dumpling shop remains open, now as The Pantry on Magnolia.
Fixture, one of the city’s leading brunch restaurants, has closed amid a shakeup of restaurants on West Magnolia Avenue in the Near Southside.
Ongoing labor and food costs and a decline in weekday and weeknight business led chef Ben Merritt to close Fixture, 401 W. Magnolia Ave., after eight years, he said.
The closing follows the announcement that the local outpost of Montana-based Great Harvest Bread Co., 1305 W. Magnolia Ave., remains open but is for sale.
Also, co-founder Hao Tran has left The Pantry, a small dumpling shop at 713 W. Magnolia Ave.
It remains open under co-founder Natasha Bruton, now as The Pantry on Magnolia. Tran continues at her nearby culinary ventures, The Table and Hao & Dixya.
Fixture weathered the COVID-19 pandemic but couldn’t weather inflation that is driving food costs up and business down in the hospital district, Merritt said.
“Brunch is still great, but people are just not going out to eat as much right now,” he said. “It used to be that people went out three or four times a week. Now, they go out once.”
Diners weren’t coming at night Wednesdays and Thursdays, he said.
Fixture was one of the first Southside restaurants to open Sundays. Merritt, a past winner on the Food Network show “Chopped,” expanded the brunch menu to daily to boost business. But lunch sales also declined.
Since Fixture opened, some Magnolia business has shifted to South Main Village and a half-dozen new restaurants there, including brunch favorite Wishbone & Flynt.
More competition is expected on Magnolia Avenue next year when Walloon’s, a new restaurant by Clay Pigeon chef Marcus Paslay, opens in The 701 development.
“When we started Fixture, there was nothing over there — now it’s blown up,” Merritt said.
Last spring, Fixture closed more than a month for kitchen repairs and rehire staff. Merritt scaled down menu prices but could not make it work, he said.
Originally called Fixture Kitchen and Social Lounge, Fixture opened in a former flower shop and Tex-Mex restaurant.
It became known for a large outdoor patio and for brie-cranberry nachos, duck tacos, roasted goat hash and beet fries.
The patio is well-suited for an Irish pub or a casual grill-and-bar, he said.
“it’s a great space that would make a good neighborhood place,” he said.
Merritt continues at his new seafood restaurant, Fitzgerald, 6115 Camp Bowie Blvd. Fitzgerald recently added a brunch menu.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
