Crystal Wise
Guapo Taco
Guapo Taco
Years ago, I wrote a story for the Star-Telegram about the best places to eat on the east side of Fort Worth, an often-overlooked mecca of fantastic mom and pop restaurants. Included in the story was a tiny gas station restaurant called Tacos Cantu that served excellent Mex-Mex and Tex-Mex favorites. Unfortunately, the restaurant later closed — the story of any food writer’s life. If we dig it, it’ll close. Good news is, one of Cantu’s former managers took over and reopened the space late last year, brandishing a new name and expanded menu.
Now called Taqueria Castillo, new owner Blanca Castillo’s charming little spot inside a Shell gas station is open for breakfast, lunch, and early dinner. For breakfast, go for the massive burritos stuffed with eggs, beans, cheese, and your choice of shredded beef, bacon, ham, chorizo, or sausage, all jammed into a housemade flour tortilla.
The burritos are a heckuva deal, too — just $7. Chilaquiles are sometimes a breakfast special, and from time to time, they’ll make a batch of doughnuts. Lunch and early dinner options include sopas, tortas, enchiladas, and tacos in various flavors, a plate-engulfing chile relleno and small mountains of nachos. There’s at least a half-dozen agua frescas, in flavors such as pineapple and horchata, and desserts such as strawberries and cream, rice pudding, and champurrado, a unique hot chocolate drink thickened with ground field corn. Hours are 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday. 1401 Cooks Lane, 469-353-6663.
MELT Ice Cream
MELT Ice Creams, the artisan ice cream shop chain founded by Fort Worthian Kari Crowe-Seher, recently closed one location and opened another. Melt’s five-year-old Sundance Square outpost became the latest restaurant closure to hit Sundance when it shut down in September. But soon after announcing that closure, Melt sent word that a new location had opened in Willow Park, one of several booming communities between Fort Worth and Weatherford, at 480 Shops Blvd. in a new retail and restaurant area called The District. Some of Melt’s current flavors include peach cobbler cheesecake, key lime pie, and cherry limeade sorbet. melticecreams.com
Tokyo Cafe on the west side has launched a new happy hour menu. Just $5 for seared steak nigiri with mushroom and sweet ginger soy, smoked sriracha wings, or macaroni salad with peas, carrot, yuzu, and kewpie, or all three for $13. A select number of sushi rolls are $4-$7, and those killer tok fries are just $5. There are also specials on cocktails, beer, and wine. Happy hour is 3 to 6 p.m., Monday-Friday. 5121 Pershing Ave., tokyocafefw.com
Guapo Tacos, the beloved gas station taqueria manned by localite Angel Fuentes, has temporarily closed, but not to worry. Fuentes is, as of press time, putting the finishing touches on his new Mexican food eatery: Los Guapos Mexican Street Food, which’ll soon open at 2708 W. Seventh St. Fuentes closed the gas station location to focus on the new spot, where he’ll serve all the dishes you know and love, like his birria tacos and surplus of vegan dishes, plus new Mexican street food-inspired items such as tortas, alambre, and huaraches. instagram.com/losguaposfw
