Fort Worth’s David Shaw nearly died, then opened a new Shaw’s restaurant anyway
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- David Shaw survived a life‑threatening injury, infections and cancer to open a new Shaw’s.
- Shaw’s Southwest Grille's opening was delayed while Shaw recovered from complications.
- The Granbury restaurant offers a spicier menu and is busy at weekday lunch and on weekends
Fort Worth restaurateur David Shaw has run bar-and-grills for nearly 50 years. But not like this.
Shaw, the founder of Shaw’s and predecessor Abernathy’s in Fort Worth, survived a life-threatening injury, multiple surgeries, infections and cancer to open his newest restaurant, Shaw’s Southwest Grille on the Granbury square.
Shaw, 73, co-owner of Shaw’s Patio Bar and Grill on West Magnolia Avenue, was looking forward to opening a new Shaw’s in the tourist town 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
Then, during construction, he fell on a heavy metal bolt that stuck deep in the right side of his chest, severing two arteries and chipping his clavicle.
After a series of complications and treatment for prostate cancer, he came back in November. By then, his wife and co-owner, Ann Diakis Shaw, had opened the newest Shaw’s.
“It wasn’t easy, let me tell you,” David Shaw said.
He credits the staff at John Peter Smith Hospital’s Level I Trauma Center, where he was rushed Aug. 12 after the accident and returned twice for stays after surgery and heavy antibiotic treatment.
“It was just like the movies, the way four people came out and started treating me in the driveway,” he said. “It was crazy.”
What followed was weeks of painful treatment, beginning with packing and repacking the wound. Then came an infection, surgery and more complications.
He thought he was healing. But it hurt to stoop over.
“They said, ‘You need to come back.’ I was there for another six days.”
Shaw is from an old south Fort Worth family that owned Shaw Bros. Creamery in the early 1900s.
But his new neighbors in Granbury were “so sweet” about the delay in Shaw’s opening, he said.
“All they asked was how I was doing,” he said. “They were just so patient. And then Ann did such a great job.”
The recovery also delayed his treatments for prostate cancer. That’s no longer showing on tests.
“I’m just so happy with this place,” he said, sweeping an arm around the dining room with local art on limestone walls lined with booths and dark wood trim.
Any day now, he plans to open an upstairs bar, Stringfellow’s, in the 150-year-old limestone landmark, an early-1900s Granbury boarding house once named City Hotel. He also added a bed-and-breakfast.
In Fort Worth, Shaw also plans to redecorate the Near Southside restaurant to bring some of the Southwestern menu items and a fresh look.
The top sellers in Granbury, as you might expect, are the chicken-fried steak and chicken-fried chicken in jalapeño cream gravy, along with the thick poblano-bacon cheeseburgers on sweet Hawaiian buns.
Reviews on social media also praise the piled-high “border nachos” with brisket, queso, guacamole and charred jalapeños.
The menu is spicier than at the Fort Worth restaurant, with a habanero-serrano-jalapeño cheeseburger, a chipotle club sandwich and deviled eggs with hot honey shrimp.
A surprise top seller: fish and chips with tempura cod.
The restaurant is busy at weekday lunch and all day weekends. Both the dining room and a sprawling back patio were full at midafternoon on a Saturday.
Like the Fort Worth restaurant, Shaw’s Southwestern Grille features live music and, occasionally, karaoke. He plans street parties for Granbury’s three-day Hometown 4th of July Celebration July 4-6 and parade.
Shaw’s Southwestern Grille is open for lunch and dinner daily except Mondays, with the bar open late on weekends. It’s at 101 E. Pearl St.; 682-205-1351, shawsswgrille.com.
The Fort Worth restaurant is open for lunch and dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays and brunch Sundays; 1051 W. Magnolia Ave.; 817-926-2116, shawspatio.com.
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This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 9:26 PM.
