Crystal Wise
Dena and Trent Shaskan.
Anyone who thinks dining and drinking in downtown is dead clearly hasn’t met Dena Shaskan.
Along with her husband, Trent, Dena has been leading a culinary campaign to bring diners back downtown, opening not one or two but three new eat and drink concepts: 3rd Street Market, a breakfast and lunch café where bread is made daily; Hopscotch, a snack shop designed for both kids and adults; and, most recently, Wines from a Broad, a cheekily named wine bar where every wine is crafted by a female winemaker.
The two have been involved in other food and wine-related projects, including The Table, a small market in the South Main area. It was there, and at Clearfork Farmers Market, where expert bread maker and California native Trent sold his handmade sourdough bread under the name Icon Bread.
Dena, of course, is known to many for her decade-plus career as executive chef at Cafe Modern, the restaurant inside the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. After she left Cafe Modern, she ran her own catering business.
Trent says a chance encounter with Sasha Bass put the wheels in motion for the Shaskans’ first venture downtown, 3rd Street Market. Trent bumped into Sasha at a local farmers market, and the two struck up a conversation about bakeries and downtowns and how the two have, historically, relied on one another. “Sasha is a super smart, active, amazingly observant person of all things city and downtown,” Trent says. “She’s really into Sundance and brings a worldly perspective to bear.”
Soon after, the Shaskans found themselves on the receiving end of an invitation to open a bakery and restaurant in Sundance Square. The timing could not have been better, too, as Dena was forced to close her catering business as a result of the pandemic.
“As COVID waned, it was time to reimagine our future,” Dena says. “And I was burned out on catering. All my established catering staff had ‘pivoted’ to other careers, and I honestly wasn’t into it anymore. Sundance approached us about a brick-and-mortar, and it made sense. It was our next logical step.”
The Shaskans and Sundance Square agreed 425 W. Third St. would make a primo spot for Dena and Trent, whose combined talents — chef and bread maker — would make for a unique concept, unlike anything else in downtown. Opened in October 2022, it has been just that, an all-in-one market, bakery, soup and sandwich cafe, coffee bar, and wine shop.
The large 8,000-square-foot space has allowed the couple to dabble in special food events, such as cooking classes.
“The space we chose is huge, so we invited Dixya Bhattarai to join us and create her Indulge Cooking school,” Dena says. “She offers a mélange of instructional classes for those wanting to learn about food. It’s been a great collaboration.”
With 3rd Street Market in place, and doing well, Sundance approached the Shaskans about opening another concept, this one in the recently vacated Jamba Juice building at 101 W. Third St., a cool, slender building that dates to 1920.
“We jumped on the opportunity,” Dena says. “What Sundance Plaza seemed to need was a fast-casual place where people visiting downtown could just pop in and enjoy a quick refreshment.”
The resulting concept, Hopscotch, opened last summer, offers a mix of food and drinks with both kids and adults in mind, from snow cones and nice wines to chili dogs and lemonades in flavors such as raspberry and rose-limeade. There are also cocktails and mocktails, made fresh. Again, it’s a new concept for downtown.
“We make almost everything in-house, from juicing our own citrus, ginger, and pineapple,” Trent says. “We hired a top-notch mixologist that builds our menu weekly and juices her little heart out to make some really incredible drinks.”
For Dena, the couple’s third concept, Wines from a Broad, is her most personal. Located at 317 Houston St., it’s a small, charming wine bar and store that puts women front and center. Every wine is made by a female winemaker. Small plates of items savory and sweet are made by Dena or other female chefs, such as Katherine Clapner of Dallas’ Dude, Sweet Chocolate. The PA music — all female singers and musicians.
“This was a passion project for sure,” Dena says. “I have forged so many relationships with winemakers and wine reps that when asked to open a wine store, there was no way I could say no. Making it a female-produced wine concept only made sense to me, being a female chef in a male-dominated industry.”
Trent says the couple could not have built this small empire of eateries and drinkaries without each other.
“These are our unique skills and backgrounds,” he says. “These experiences have melded in totally surprising, unpredictable ways.”
