Crystal Wise
When Vivek Rajbahak began to look for a second location of his Bankhead Brewing Co., he found what he considered to be a primo spot. Recently closed, Funkytown Fermatorium on University Drive, had everything he needed for a Fort Worth spinoff of his Rowlett-based brewpub, including a couple million dollars’ worth of beer-making equipment.
“It was just perfect,” he says. “It’s so rare to come upon a building pretty much ready to go. It’s even more rare to find a closed brewpub with all of the brewpub equipment still intact. I took that as a sign that this was the place.”
Not that he needed additional affirmation, but he got it anyway. After he landed the spot, a friend pointed out the building sits a block from a Fort Worth stretch of the old Bankhead Highway. The original location in Rowlett, opened in 2016 by a different set of owners, sits on the Bankhead; Rajbahak had zero idea the Fort Worth location practically does, too.
Crystal Wise
Vivek Rajbahak
“You can imagine how I felt when I found out,” he says. “Obviously I knew I had made the right decision in opening here. It was a very happy coincidence.”
Luckily, Rajbahak’s knowledge of food and beer supersedes his expertise in Fort Worth geography. Opened over the summer, Bankhead offers housemade brews and brewpub grub in a low-key but still lively atmosphere. The food menu consists of a half-dozen wood-fired pizzas (try the Carnivore of Love, made with meatballs, sausage, pancetta, speck, jalapeños, and aged provolone), sandwiches such as a brisket smeared with bacon marmalade, small plates such as brisket-stuffed avocados, and larger entrées, including a fire-roasted pork chop.
Astute servers recommend which of the 16 beers on tap to pair your food with, be it Liquid Language, an imperial oatmeal stout, or Gussy Up, a raspberry wheat beer.
What makes Bankhead slightly different from other local breweries, Rajbahak says, is its food-forward philosophy.
“I like to think of us as a restaurant first, a brewery second,” Rajbahak says. “Not many breweries serve chicken-fried steak and house-ground meatloaf, which we grind three times, and not many offer a children’s menu and a cocktails menu. We’re a brewery but also a restaurant, a bar, a place to watch the game, and a place to take your kids. I think we’re the rare brewery that does it all.”
Bankhead Brewing Co. 611 University Drive, bankheadbrewing.com
