Coffee News

Dallas' Ascension Coffee opens new location with an extra: wine on tap

This will be the sixth location but the first with wine on tap.

Ascension

Dallas' acclaimed coffee concept Ascension Coffee has opened a new location in Fort Worth's WestBend complex, where it's doing coffee, food, beer — and wine on tap.

This is the sixth location, following Dallas' Design District, Addison, Crescent Court, The Star, and Cypress Waters; it's been in the works since 2016.

However, it's the first location to offer wine on tap, in a partnership with Sixty Vines, the wine-centric restaurant from Front Burner Group Dining (Whiskey Cake, Velvet Taco, Mexican Sugar).

Russell Hayward founded Ascension in 2012 with the goal of elevating the everyday American café experience to the level he had grown up with in his native Australia, where coffee is taken very seriously.

The Design District location was first, and was an instant and lasting success, thanks to its easygoing atmosphere, great coffee, and full menu of food, with breakfast all day, lunch, and weekend brunch. Bestsellers include ricotta soufflé pancakes, A-Bar-N Wagyu pastrami hash, steak sandwich, lamb meatballs, Ahi tuna power bowl, and a vegetarian Hippie Bowl.

The drinks menu includes espresso drinks, lattes, pour-overs, nitro coffee on tap, and Doki Doki (a Kyoto-style cold brew method).

They blend and roast their own coffee, and Hayward still oversees the procurement of beans from around the world. Company president and food & beverage veteran Bill Schaffler oversees operations. Since he came on board, Ascension has initiated a series of partnerships with luminaries such as Fort Worth's premier Black Rooster Bakery, whose croissants and pastries are featured at all of the shops.

The new Fort Worth location overlooks the Trinity River with a patio and a walk-up window for coffee and grab-and-go items. Safety protocols are in place, including masks, socially distanced seating, and hand sanitizer stations.

Fort Worth is enjoying a coffee bounty with 11 new coffee shops coming soon or already open.

Ascenion's hours are Monday-Thursday 6:30 am-5 pm, and Friday-Saturday 6:30 am-9 pm. A daily Happy Hour at 3 pm includes $5 glasses of tap and Australian house wine, $3 draft beers, and $6 craft cocktails.

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Taste the tropics

Coco Caribbean Haus brings a taste of Haiti and Jamaica to The Colony

Photo courtesy of Coco Caribbean Haus

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A new restaurant is fusing bold and spicy flavors from Jamaica, Haiti, and the greater Caribbean islands in The Colony. Coco’s Caribbean Haus opened quietly in September at 4940 State Highway 121, Suite 135, in a strip center it shares with The Yard Milkshake Bar, Tabla Indian, Pepper Thai, and other restaurants and retailers.

The full-service Caribbean restaurant will host its grand opening party on Saturday, October 17. Proprietors say in a press release that they will bring North Texas an "experience inspired by Jamaican, Haitian, and Latin Caribbean culinary traditions."

The “Haitian-born, food-obsessed” Coco Caribbean Haus founder, Marsha Telfer, moved to Texas from New York City about six years ago, she says in an Instagram video, adding that her family is Haitian and Jamaican, so she intends to bring flavors from those parts of the world, “plus a little bit of soul food,” to North Texas diners.

Coco Caribbean is Telfer’s second North Texas restaurant venture; in 2023, she co-founded Reggae Jerk Grill in McKinney.

The culinary team at the new Coco Caribbean includes Head Chef Adrian Telfer, who intends to draw from Jamaican recipes passed down through his family, and Chef Marie Exalus, who is responsible for most of the menu's Haitian influences.

The restaurant, says the release, embodies “cultural heritage and contemporary hospitality."

Rasta pasta, jerk chicken, “rice and peas done right,” sweet plantains, plantain cups with spicy shrimp, “snapping’ cabbage,” and a mac-stuffed spicy beef patty are a few menu highlights mentioned on Instagram.

Behind a basic brick exterior, which features Coco's orange and yellow logo, the eatery's interior is spacious with mirrored walls, tufted forest green booths, deep-seated leather chairs in rich browns, and tropical touches such as leafy coconut trees and greenery on every table.

The full menu will be revealed at Saturday's grand opening.

caribbean restaurant jamaican food haitian food the colony marsha telfer adrian telfer coco caribbean haus