Top Spots To Dine in Cowtown

Where to eat right now: 10 hot restaurants in Fort Worth

In the ebb and flow of restaurant openings, Fort Worth is definitely flowing. Whether it's a Dallas restaurant expanding westward or a Tarrant County regular stretching its wings, Fort Worth has emerged as the hottest restaurant neighborhood this spring. Most of the 10 restaurants on this list have opened since 2014, so it's a new crop. Time to hit I-30 and check it out.

AF+B
Having opened one alphabet-crazy restaurant — CBD Provisions in downtown Dallas — Consilient Hospitality's Tristan Simon follows up with AF+B, a similarly impeccable restaurant with a modern American menu in Fort Worth's West Seventh District. Overseen by former Bolsa chef Jeff Harris, the menu has memorable dishes, both big and small, such as Scotch eggs; fried quail; and snapper with large white beans, kale and clams.

Bird Cafe
Having opened one beer-happy restaurant next to a city park in Lark on the Park, Shannon Wynne follows up with Bird Cafe, overlooking the renovated Sundance Square. Overseen by chef David McMillan, Bird's menu is pretty much a clone of Meddlesome Moth, with the signature ricotta cheese "moth balls," bacon lollipops, and battered fish and chips.

Cane Rosso Fort Worth
It's possible that you've had the pizza at Cane Rosso Deep Ellum. Maybe you've even had the pizza at Cane Rosso White Rock. You owe it to yourself to have it in Fort Worth too. There's a thick Cuban sandwich and a Fort Worth-only pizza called the Gipsy Danger, with mushroom, roasted jalapeños and soppressata "marmalade." The neighborhood's hip, and you'll definitely want to squeeze pizzaiolo Shon Ben-Kely's biceps.

Clay Pigeon
Charming newbie in the old Lambert's space embodies everyone's dream restaurant: small, chef-driven, made in house, gourmet but not kooky. Chef Marcus Paslay previously worked at Neighborhood Services, and you can see that experience in upscale down-home dishes like butter-poached lobster; scallops with capers and artichokes; and flatbread topped with onion jam, roasted pear and blue cheese.

Kona Grill
With 26 branches including one at NorthPark Center, Kona Grill is far from your chef-driven farm-to-table foodie-lingo option. Its sprawling menu, with everything from sushi to meatloaf, puts it more on a par with Cheesecake Factory. But the "Hawaiian" theme to the menu gets you kitschy fun like a steak topped with a slab of grilled pineapple. And besides, flatbread with grilled apple, Brie, red onion jam, figs and toasted walnuts is yum.

Little Red Wasp
Neighboring sibling of fine-dining downtown restaurant Grace goes more casual and basic, with familiar classics like a Reuben sandwich, Cobb salad and roast chicken. Relaxed atmosphere and snappy cocktails like the Horned Frog with Creme de Violette make it a good bar drop-in, and there's a decadent Sunday brunch.

Max's Wine Dive
Though small in scale, Max's is a chain, specializing in fried chicken. But each branch is unique. Fort Worth features the culinary stylings of chef Stefon Rishel, whose seasonal menus are innovative and sometimes whimsical. Current offerings include the amusing fried bologna sliders with "house-made Cheez Whiz" and grilled onions on toasted brioche bun, as well as a vegan-friendly cauliflower soup made with coconut milk, kaffir lime and pumpkin seeds.

Pizza Snob
Build-your-own-pizza place near TCU is part of a national trend with players such as 800 Degrees, Pie Five, Blaze Fast Fire'd Pizza, Uncle Maddio's and Tulsa-based Top That! Pizza. You walk through a Chipotle-style line, specifying toppings, and get a pizza almost by the time you've paid your bill. There are a few choices on sauce, cheese and toppings; whatever you decide, just be sure to include the candied jalapeños.

Sera Dining & Wine
Sera represents a Sapristi reunion of sorts, taking place as it does in the old Sapristi space with the former GM and former chef. But it's been refreshed for 2014. Spanish and French tapas, wines to match, and lots of vegetarian options combine to give this tapas/wine bar a sophistication. Every Tuesday, there's a weekly paella, and fruity sangria is always on tap.

Velvet Taco
For its second branch following the original on Henderson Avenue in Dallas, Velvet Taco opened in Fort Worth's West Seventh District — one block from Revolver Taco Lounge, which opened in 2011. A tad aggressive, maybe? Fortunately, the two do not compete directly. Revolver is a family operation with a broader menu, while Velvet Taco does a dozen tacos and a couple of sides, including corn and tater tots. This month's special: Italian meatball taco.

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Scotch eggs with chorizo at AF+B.

Photo courtesy of AF+B

Scotch eggs with chorizo at AF+B.

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Hottest Headlines of 2025

Top Dallas restaurant news of 2025 cooked up celebs, closures & Costco

Soul Shack

Fried chicken, mac & cheese, collards at Soul Shack.

Editor's note: As we look back at the most-read restaurant stories of 2025, it clear that the fate of a Dallas landmark — and its even more iconic popovers — kept readers riveted. There were exciting openings and heartbreaking closures, as well as one very controversial taco pop-up, and even ice cream delivered by drone. And news of a new Costco (or three) was a hot topic from all the way back at the beginning of the year.

Here are the 10 hottest restaurant stories of 2025 in Dallas:

1. The 2 Dallas restaurants where reservations are now impossible to get. Cafe Dior by Dominque Crenn is the restaurant inside the new Dior boutique in Highland Park Village, which opened in at the start of the year. Zodiac Room is the about-to-close restaurant inside the storied downtown location of Neiman Marcus, which has had several imminent closure scares but now states it will remain open past the 2025 holidays.

Popover, Zodiac Room, Neiman Marcus Downtown Zodiac Room popovers. Photo courtesy of Lisa Crossett

2. Dallas Caramel Company founder Rain McDermott dies at 52. Dallas entrepreneur Rain McDermott, who founded artisan caramel maker Dallas Caramel Company when she was only 34 years old, died in June after a battle with breast cancer; she was 52.

3. Dallas celebs are flocking to Soul Shack, new restaurant in Cedar Hill. The original was a fast-casual concept in Chicago called Soul Shack Express, which is still open. The Dallas location is a more ambitious effort, with a full-service restaurant, full bar, and swanky nightlife atmosphere. They've quickly earned notice from celebrities including TikTok phenomenon Keith Lee, who touted them with a review in their first week open (giving it a high rating of 8 out of 10 on his scale); and celebrity Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal, who dropped in for a surprise visit.

4. Salad and Go reveals the 18 locations closing around Dallas. In good news, 25 locations will remain open. The one-of-a-kind salad chain specializing in low-priced salads in a drive-thru-only format previously announced its plan to close 41 restaurants. But the chain is still firmly committed to the Dallas metro area and Oklahoma, plus stores in Arizona and Las Vegas.

Salad and Go is going going gone. Photo by Salad and Go

5. Award-winning Dallas burger joint opens location in Forney. Blues Burgers is from Howard and Catherine Baldwin, who opened the original Blues Burgers near Love Field in Dallas in 2014 (it closed in February 2025 so they could focus on this venture). They use Angus beef for their burgers, and make their own sauces and spreads in-house. They fry in beef tallow, and their sodas are made with cane sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. They also do fried pies, made in house.

6. Costco lines up 3 new stores opening in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2025. Cult-favorite grocery warehouse Costco is gifting Dallas-Fort Worth with three new stores, two of which opened in mid-March: Prosper and Weatherford. The Celina location's timeline has shifted to late 2026.

7. Blue Bell hosts extravagant freebie to get Dallas to try new ice cream. The new flavor is Classic Pecan Pie Ice Cream, a brown sugar ice cream with roasted pecans and pieces of pie crust mixed with a pecan pie filling. Now is a good time to mention that pecan pie is the state pie of Texas. Blue Bell partnered with Wing, the drone delivery division of Google parent company Alphabet, and Walmart, to give DFW residents the chance to try it for free via drone delivery.

Blue Bell Classic Pecan Pie ice cream. Blue Bell

8. Michelin-starred taqueria from Mexico City to do pop-up in Dallas. El Califa de León was to come to Texas for a limited-run 14- day, culinary pop-up, but following less-than-stellar reviews on social media, the restaurant pulled the plug one week into the engagement.

9. 2 Dallas steakhouses proclaimed among the best in the world. Nuri Steakhouse and Knife join 17 others in the U.S. that made the cut. The ranking, by London-based company Upper Cut Media House, is based on incognito reviews of each restaurant by so-called "Steak Ambassadors" who have industry backgrounds as chefs, food journalists, or "certified meat- and Wagyu masters."

Nuri Steakhouse ranked 84th on the list. Photo courtesy of Nuri

10. Beloved Richardson burger joint pivots to smaller more affordable mode. After 12 years, Haystack Burgers & Barley has reimagined its flagship location at 100 Central Expwy. #17 into a new concept called Little Stack, a more concise, more budget-friendly version of itself.