Crystal Wise
Owner Felipe Armenta, stands next to a portrait of his mother, for whom the restaurant is named.
For years, Felipe Armenta knew he wanted to open a restaurant that paid tribute to his mom. The right place at the right time came last year, appropriately enough, on Mother’s Day.
A year later, to the day, on what is known as Mexican Mother’s Day, Fort Worth’s most prolific chef and restaurateur opened Maria’s Mexican Kitchen in the TCU-area building once home to Hoffbrau Steak & Grill House.
Crystal Wise
Flautas come topped with savoy cabbage and streaks of crema sauce.
“When I saw this space, I knew this was it,” says Armenta, who also owns Press Café, Pacific Table, and The Tavern in Fort Worth, plus a half-dozen other restaurants in Texas. “It was in the middle of the pandemic. I knew it would be hard, and it was. But I felt like it was meant to be.”
From its elevated menu to its exquisite interior, Maria’s goes against the grain of the city’s typical Tex-Mex restaurant.
Crystal Wise
For the menu, Armenta took his inspiration from his mother’s recipes, perfected at the family’s eponymously named restaurant in San Angelo, where Armenta grew up cooking, side by side with Mom. There are sopes topped with short rib, snapper seared over hot coals, and mole enchiladas, one of his mother’s signature dishes.
Armenta collaborated with West Side design firm Maven Interiors to create the restaurant’s stunning architectural elements, from the intricate custom tile work to the scalloped mohair banquettes to the landscaped patio, a tranquil area shaded by oak trees and cooled by a quartz-lined water feature.
Crystal Wise
Housemade sopes are filled with black beans and short rib meat.
The focal point of the restaurant is undoubtedly the artwork. Hanging in the bar area are vivid paintings done by San Angelo artist René Alvarado, a friend of the family. In the main dining room is a commissioned portrait of Armenta’s mother, lovingly created by local artist Joey Lancaster.
Maria’s isn’t Armenta’s only project on tap for 2021. Later this year, he’ll open the Towne Grill restaurant in the Alliance Town Center. Maria’s Mexican Kitchen, 1712 S. University Drive, mariasmexicankitchen.com
