Chicken and waffles from the now defunct Fixture
In the same issue in which we honor the arrival of local chef Ben Merritt’s restaurant Fitzgerald, we bid farewell to another Merritt venture, the long-running Fixture. The restaurant, which served cheffy interpretations of American classics, opened eight years ago in the then-burgeoning Near Southside. Wielding a terrific chicken and waffles, fries made out of beets, and an irresistible blueberry, cream cheese bread pudding, Fixture quickly established Merritt as a talented, up-and-coming chef. Merritt says he’ll now focus full-time on his third endeavor, Fitzgerald (he also ran a burger joint on the east side called Ben’s Triple B’s, but it fell during the pandemic), which you can read about in our Best New Restaurant story elsewhere in this issue.
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Local chef and restaurateur Felipe Armenta is opening several new restaurants in ‘23. So busy is he, he’s hired another chef to oversee them all. Not just any chef will do, of course. Armenta went for gold, hiring celebrity chef Graham Elliot. The Chicago-based chef is best known for his many appearances on TV shows such as “Top Chef,” “Iron Chef” and “MasterChef”; earning two coveted Michelin stars for his now-shuttered, self-named Chicago restaurant; and his white glasses. Armenta has many restaurants in the works – a steakhouse called The Duke, destined for the Stockyards, a French restaurant called Café Margot, coming to Hulen Street, among them. Armenta and Elliot will work together on developing and executing the menus for each.
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Tickets for the 2023 edition of the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival will go on sale December 1. This year’s festival, happening March 30 ‒ April 2, will feature six returning events, in addition to a handful of new ones. Gone is the evening dessert blowout, Desserts After Dark, held at the TX Whiskey Ranch, but in its place may be something more interesting: an event called Night Market in which global street food will be the dish du jour; it’ll be held in the evening at TX Whiskey Ranch. Also new is Noche del Soul, a collaborative, soul-food-meets-Mexican-food dinner featuring chefs Tiffany Derry and Juan Rodriguez. Back again are fest favorites: Tacos + Tequila, The Main Event, Rise + Dine, Burgers, Brews + Blues, Ring of Fire, and a separate pre-fixe brunch event called Hunt & Gather. Most of the happenings will once again take place outdoors at the Heart of the Ranch at Clearfork. For tickets and more information, visit fortworthfoodandwinefestival.com.
