Cantina With a Twist

Fort Worth joint Thurber Mingus will do West Texas proud with burgers and beer

Fort Worth will get a taste of West Texas in January 2015 with the opening of Thurber Mingus, a restaurant that aims to offer a contemporary twist on the border-town patio cantinas of West Texas.

Featuring "rustic border cuisine," the restaurant will open at 4400 White Settlement Rd., in what was once the Froggy's Boat House space. Chef-owner Coby Baumann hopes to re-create the food and ambience he grew up with in West Texas.

"We are building what I call a throwback West Texas-style cantina with a modern twist on tacos and burgers," he says. "We hope to host acoustic music outside with a garden patio, and quick service upstairs. Our bar will feature local breweries only, from around the Metroplex, and only beers from Texas."

Beers on the short list include Franconia, Peticolas, Rabbit Hole, Revolver, Four Corners and Rahr.

Baumann is a trained chef who's been consulting for the past few years, and he has worked in the country-club scene at institutions such as Sky Creek Ranch in Keller and the Fairway Oaks Country Club.

"I've been sitting on this concept for about eight years," he says. "I'm gearing it towards Millennials. They're the ones who are pushing the market forward."

The menu includes tacos with pork; chicken empanada; chili with stewed meat, beans and a fried egg; pupusas stuffed with sirloin and queso; chips and salsa; salads; and tacos with choice of chicken thigh, sirloin, skirt steak or green chili pork.

Burgers come topped with green chili, caramelized onions and blue cheese, goat cheese and bacon jam, or poblano with queso and green onions. Sides include beans and rice, guacamole, and French fries with herbs or a spicy "border" flavor. Desserts include banana pudding and pound cake with fruit.

The design incorporates reclaimed pallets, galvanized metals and other rustic art. "It was a rundown building, but it fit the concept," Baumann says. "It has a lot of masonry work that’s beautiful."

The name is a combination of two small towns west of Fort Worth.

"My wife threw it out there," he says. "Originally, those towns were ghost towns named after a man. Thurber went on to become one of the biggest brick providers in the area; most of these towns are actually built on Thurber bricks. That area represents where East Texas becomes West Texas."

The beer list will include only Texas brews, such as Franconia.

Franconia Brewing Co

The beer list will include only Texas brews, such as Franconia.

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Burger News

Family-owned Patty Lou's Smashburgers will open in old downtown Plano

Photo by Sara Aurora Cimminiello on Unsplash

Smashburger

A new restaurant starring a buzzy burger is coming to old downtown Plano: Called Patty Lou's Smashburgers, it will feature the namesake smashburger, and will open at 1004 E. 14th St. #105, in a historic location that was most recently home to a Starbucks.

Patty Lou's is a new concept from Urban Family Concepts, the hospitality company whose other restaurants include Urban Seafood Co., Urban Rio Cantina & Grill, and Italian restaurant Urban Crust, all located in the downtown Plano area.

Patty Lou's is their burger entry, a quick-service spot serving smashburgers, the flattened version of a burger with crisp edges that's been a hot trend for the past year.

According to Urban Family Concepts partner and spokesperson Dana Blaugrund, the restaurant will open in late spring.

Patty Lou's is also a sweet homage to a family member — named for Patty Lou Peters, of "Patty Lou and her Texas Sweethearts" fame, an all-female country & Western / Western swing group founded in the '40s, when female groups were a rarity.

Patty Lou was the mother of Bonnie Shea, who co-founded Urban Family Concepts with her husband Nathan Shea. Infusing the personal touch into everything they do is part of the company DNA, says Urban partner Michael Lee.

"Urban is generally driven by what we like," Lee says. "Urban Rio, our Mexican concept, came about because Bonnie loved that cuisine, and Urban Seafood Company, Nate loves seafood. Burgers are a favorite of their son-in-laws."

Their version of the smashburger will feature American cheese and onions that melt into the meat, Lee says. They'll be served on potato buns, and there'll be some toppings — but they won't go too crazy.

"It'll have onions, lettuce, and pickle, but we're going to stay minimal, with additional toppings on the side," he says. "Going overboard with ingredients can get complicated. Our goal is, very simple burgers that taste very good, at a value price, so that everyone can enjoy coming back and getting a burger."

The menu will also feature smashed chicken burgers, hand-cut French fries skin on, lightly battered onion rings, and milkshakes. They'll also serve alcohol, including bottled beers, wine by the glass, and a signature frozen cocktail. Eventually, they'll add specials like a burger of the month.

The location was originally home to the Ice House, built in 1917, an institution that provided ice products to Plano residents and businesses, says Urban partner Payton Hickey.

"You could pull up and get a block of ice from workers with tongs," Hickey says. "During remodeling, we could still see the raised floor where the freezer was, where they kept the ice."

They operated a licensed location of Starbucks in that space until 2024, when Starbucks opened a store nearby with a drive-thru in the former longtime Jack in the Box at 15th Street and US-75.

Decor at Patty Lou's will embrace a diner feel with counter seating, while incorporating elements from Patty Lou Peter's life, Blaugrund says. (It's a nice coincidence that her name syncs up with "hamburger patty.")

"We'll have her original guitar and some memorabilia in the restaurant — a cool mixture of country music and burger restaurant," Blaugrund says.

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