Bodega South Main cafe in Fort Worth shifts gears: Breakfast is up next
Bodega South Main isn’t just a little grocery anymore.
Six years after it opened as a reliable little neighborhood market and sandwich counter, Bodega is now an excellent breakfast-lunch-and-takeout cafe, and it’s only a half-mile from downtown.
Bodega is a survivor in South Main Village. It was one of the first food shops on the street and faithfully fed neighbors through both the pandemic and the diastrous 2021 Texas freeze.
Now, the little cafe at 203 S. Main St. serves a growing menu of paninis, Reubens, quiche and desserts, with a full-service breakfast menu coming soon.
“The grocery component was great in theory and I still miss the idea,” owner-chef Tasha Monticure wrote in a message.
She didn’t elaborate, but there isn’t as much demand for small neighborhood markets anymore. Supermarket delivery is cheap and easy.
So Bodega is more of a cafe-bakery.
It’s good at both.
On a recent visit, a turkey Reuben on bakery rye with a spicy Russian dressing was a complete surprise.
That’s one of the menu favorites, along with a turkey-brie sandwich with apricot preserves, a roast-beef-and-cheddar on ciabatta or a ham-and Gouda on a croissant.
These are huge sandwiches. Save half for dinner.
Spinach-cremini mushroom quiche ranked with the best. A blueberry pie, uncommon in local bakeries, was loaded with flavor.
Bodega also has muffins, cookies, bagels with a schmear and sometimes, one of its custom cakes.
That’s what caught my attention. Teddy Wong’s Dumplings & Wine nearby sells Bodega’s cakes. A “slice” of the Italian cream was big enough for the table to share.
Monticure’s background is in baking and catering. Her family owned grocery stoes in Wisconsin.
She’s shortened the afternoon hours — Bodega closes at 5 p.m. weekends, 4 p.m. Saturdays — to expand the breakfast. It opens weekdays and Saturdays at 8 a.m.
South Main Street is not as lonely as it used to be.
With new restauants opening nearby, Bodega will focus on “delicious scratch-made everything,” she said, from sauces to baked items.
Park on the street or behind Bodega; 682-224-5148, bodegasouthmain.com.
