
Crystal Wise
Big Kat Burger
Big Kat Burgers, whose creative burgers have been proclaimed — by us, by you — as some of the best in the city, is the latest Fort Worth food truck to graduate to a brick-and-mortar. Run by lifelong friends Mike Sugg and Bryce Blackburn, Big Kat has found a permanent home at Crystal Springs Hideaway, a new beer and wine garden opened by J.D. and Shanna Granger, the power couple who’ve helmed or managed several of the city’s big-picture projects. Former Tarrant County prosecutor J.D. oversaw the development of the Trinity River Vision while Shanna oversaw marketing and programming for Panther Island Pavillion and its numerous events. Located in the burgeoning River District in a century-old bungalow that the Grangers refurbished, Crystal Springs is sort of an all-in-one wine and beer garden, cool hangout, and indoor/outdoor restaurant. In addition to Big Kat, there’s an on-site cheese and wine shop, whose menu of specialty wines and charcuterie boards was curated by Nonna Tata’s chef de cuisine Kelly Burton; I’m dying to try her bagel and lox board — a fantastic idea. I don’t know why I can’t think of these things and open my own restaurant. 113 Roberts Cut Off Road, crystalspringshideaway.com
Among the dozens of Valentine’s Day menus I get sent every year this time of year, the prix fixe menu from Wicked Butcher always manages to stand out. If I still blew a couple hundred bucks on my wife for V-Day (now she’s lucky if we go to Pulido’s), it’d be my go-to. This year’s menu sounds especially appetizing. Oysters with cucumber and black tobiko for a small starter. A choice of lobster bisque, beef carpaccio, a white truffle Caesar salad, hamachi crudo or a well-dressed burrata for an app. For main courses, your pick of filet mignon and lobster tail, ginger miso Chilean sea bass, duck breast with parsnip puree, rack of lamb, 12-ounce dry-aged rib-eye, or seared salmon with a housemade green curry. Desserts will feature dark chocolate tart with peanut butter mousse, mango lavender creme brulee, and banana pudding with housemade whipped cream and strawberry compote. $150 per person sounds like a good deal to me. For $75 more, you can pair wines with each course; caviar service can be added on for $210 per couple, as well. The menu will be available prix fixe on Feb. 14 and a la carte Feb. 15-16. 512 Main St., wickedbutcher.com
Fort Worth-born Heim Barbecue is expanding again, this time to Weatherford, where it’ll open in the spacious building, at 1910 S. Main St., where the Montana restaurant stood for more than two decades. Montana closed in December; the original location in Stephenville is still going strong. This Weatherford location of Heim will mark the restaurant’s fourth — there are two Heims in Fort Worth and one in Dallas; a location in Burleson closed late last year. heimbbq.com