Wicked Butcher
Tomahawk steak with wild mushrooms from Wicked Butcher
After a four-month break, Arlington’s excellent A Taste of Europe has reopened, quelching rumors that the long-running restaurant, featured on the hit television show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” had closed. In August, owner Alexandre Tsalko said the restaurant was going to close and possibly move to Rowlett, where Tsalko lives. But after the restaurant received an outpouring of support from the local food and restaurant community, he decided to stay put and just close temporarily to make several needed repairs to the building. Tsalko spent four months installing new, dimmer light fixtures, updating the bar area, adding terra cotta tiles to the floor, and sprucing up the market area where you can buy chocolates imported from various European regions. The restaurant, one of the few in the area to serve Euro-style dishes such as handmade pierogies, kolduny (potato pancakes stuffed with beef and chicken), chicken kiev, and stuffed meatloaf, was opened more than 20 years ago by Tsalko’s grandfather, Mikhail Frumkin, who emigrated from the eastern European country of Belarus to the North Texas area. 1901 W. Pioneer Parkway, Arlington, tasteofeuropetx.com
Please give a warm welcome to Julio Cartagena, who recently joined Toro Toro Pan Latin Steakhouse as executive chef. Cartagena brings with him a robust wealth of experience and knowledge from tenures at Wyndham Palamas and Wyndham Rio Mar in Puerto Rico, at least according to a press release. If you haven’t been to Toro Toro, you’re missing one of downtown’s best restaurants. It’s located inside the Worthington Hotel. 200 Main St., torotorofortworth.com
An anniversary of great note: It was 20 years ago, as of this writing, at the tail end of 2004, that Fritz Rahr took a chance on a beat-down building and a craft beer concept and opened Rahr & Sons Brewing Co. Two decades later, Rahr and his two sons Hayden and Will, who are now very much involved in the business, are still going strong, having outlived trends and other breweries that have come and gone. The Rahr family celebrated their 20 years in the local beer biz with a food and booze event on Dec. 12, whose proceeds benefitted their animal rescue organization, Rahr Rescue. Good, good people, they are. rahrbrewing.com
Downtown steakhouse Wicked Butcher has a twin restaurant in Dallas that was recently named the sixth best new restaurant in the U.S. by Yelp users. Our Wicked Butcher serves the same menu as the Dallas Wicked Butcher, though, so no need to drive to Dallas to try it out. The Fort Worth Wicked Butcher, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, opened four years ago as the on-site restaurant for the beautiful Sinclair hotel, housed in a historic art deco building. 512 Main St., wickedbutcher.com
