Fort Worth’s Mardi Gras celebration: short on parade floats, but long on Cajun flavor
Tributary Cafe has been popular for seven years, and the rest of Race Street is finally catching up.
Concerts in the Post at River East and birria tacos at Calisience are bringing new patrons.
But nothing brings new crowds to the Riverside neighborhoods like the annual Race Street Mardi Gras.
So whether the parade is big or small, “laissez les bon temps rouler.”
It must be Texas’ tiniest Mardi Gras parade. The street party Saturday afternoon and 3 p.m. parade are barely a block long, with only a couple of floats and a handful of entries.
But in Fort Worth, it’s all we have.
The street party and parade center around Tributary, 3813 Race St., a homespun Cajun-Creole restaurant with simple dishes such as gumbo, jambalaya, Louisiana fried chicken and pastas.
Chef Cindy Crowder-Wheeler was familiar with Cajun cooking from her time at a popular restaurant in Waxahachie. She serves simple dishes made from scratch, not elaborate platters.
(If you’re expecting big dinners like at Boo-Ray’s or the Razzoo’s chain, then that’s where you need to go Tuesday to celebrate Mardi Gras.)
Currently, Tributary is featuring blackened chicken or pork chops with Creole mustard cream sauce, etouffee, muffulettas, seafood or roast beef po’boys, fried chicken and a choice of pastas and shrimp dishes, plus salads with okra and desserts such as bread pudding.
The dark gumbo ($7 small, $13 large) is among the city’s best. It compares to the excellent gumbos at Boo-Ray’s, Fitzgerald or Flying Fish.
Tributary Cafe is open for lunch and dinner Wednesdays through Saturdays, brunch Sundays; 817-744-8255, facebook.com/tributarycafe.
Also open on Race Street:
▪ Calisience, 2705 Race St., is the restaurant version of one of Texas’ busiest taco vendors, known for tacos dorados, birria tacos, ramen, horchata and daily specials. Vendors also will set up out front for Mardi Gras; 817-386-5287, calisience.com
▪ La Onda, 2905 Race St., is a much-heralded fine seafood restaurant serving ceviches, caviar, oysters, baked fish dishes and soups. The menu varies; 817-607-8605, facebook.com/LaOndaftw.
▪ The Post at River East, 2925 Race St., is a music venue but serves above-average sandwiches and bar snacks on a sprawling, friendly outdoor patio at lunch and dinner daily except Mondays.
On Tuesday, it hosts the Krewe of Cowtown Mardi Gras ball; 817-945-8890, thepostatrivereast.com.
▪ Zonk Burger, 2919 Race St., serves burgers, fries and Sunday brunch. The burgers are made with chickpea or black-bean patties. (Saves space for the double-fried queso fries.)
For dessert, there’s oat-cashew soft-serve. Sunday brunch includes tofu migas; 817-349-8646, Zonk Burger.
