225° BBQ, Arlington's widely lauded barbecue truck that serves terrific mash-ups of barbecue and Mexican food, is getting a brick-and-mortar upgrade. Those who follow 225 will recognize the restaurant's location at 601 E. Main St. near Arlington's downtown area. It's the same building where owners Rene and Joyce Ramirez opened a brick-and-mortar in the winter of '22. But at that point, they were sharing the space with a sports bar - a relationship that didn't last longer than a few months; the bar subsequently closed. Now, Rene says, they have the entire space to themselves. "It'll be our restaurant, a hundred percent," he says. The couple is hoping to open by the end of August. https://www.facebook.com/225BBQ
Two of the city’s most well-known restaurants have new homes. Reata, downtown’s famed cowboy cuisine restaurant, has moved into the old Cantina Laredo space at 530 Throckmorton Street, on the ground floor of The Tower. It’s a full-circle move for Reata, which opened in 1996 on the top floor of the same building. The 2000 tornado that ravaged downtown displaced the restaurant until it found a new home in the old Caravan of Dreams spot in Sundance Square. Owner Mike Micallef moved the restaurant back to The Tower after he was unable to reach a new lease agreement with Sundance Square management.reata.net
Also on the move is Stockyards Tex-Mex favorite Los Vaqueros, which is moving from its home of nearly 30 years to 2513 Rodeo Plaza; the buildings are only about a block apart. The century-old building that housed the Cisnero family’s flagship restaurant for three decades was recently sold, prompting the move. The original Los Vaqueros opened in 1983 at its first location, 2609 N. Main St. The new location is in the Stockyards’ Exhibits Building, which dates to 1911. It’s slated to open later this summer. losvaqueros.com
The new Lowes Arlington Hotel and Convention Center next to Globe Life Field recently unveiled a new restaurant called Soy Cowboy. Yeah, I cringed a bit when I first heard the name, too. But it sounds like an interesting concept — Asian meets Western cuisine — and it comes from the Berg Hospitality Group, which opened the terrific B&B Butchers & Restaurant in Fort Worth. Soy Cowboy’s menu includes dishes such as glazed eggplant tacos, miso-marinated black cod, Korean barbecue ribs, a burger topped with roasted kimchi, and wagyu fried rice. There’s a huge sushi menu, too, with both traditional and specialty rolls, along with nigiri, sashimi, and omakase platters. 888 Nolan Ryan Expressway, soycowboy.com
People too lazy or rushed to get out of their cars to get their morning coffee — here’s looking at me — should take note of Townes Drive Thru, a newly opened drive-thru coffee house in southwest Fort Worth. It comes from the same owners as Bodega West 7th and offers a wide assortment of hot and cold specialty coffee drinks, with Fort Worth-centric names like The Fort, The Panther, and Cowtown, plus teas, lemonades, and breakfast bites. 4100 Bryant Irvin Road, instagram.com/townesdrivethru
