Darrell Byers
Puffy Taco Dinner at Pulido's Kitchen & Cantina
The rebirth of Fort Worth-bred Tex-Mex chain Pulido’s continues: The Westland Restaurant Group has reopened a location in the city of Eastland, about 90 minutes west of Fort Worth, and another will soon rise a little closer, in bustling Willow Park. The Willow Park location is brand-new and is being built at 104 S. Ranch House Road in what used to be a western wear store. Willow Park location manager Luis Suarez, whom I chatted with as he was training at the reopened Pulido’s in Hurst, says he’s hoping to bring back some favorite dishes that have yet to appear on other Pulido’s menus, such as carne guisada. Suarez worked for nearly 20 years at another Fort Worth-famous Tex-Mex chain, Rio Mambo. Pulido’s dates back to 1967, when Pedro and Dionicia opened their original restaurant just west of downtown. Numerous locations came and went over the next several years. Westland acquired the brand in 2023 and began reopening some of the shuttered locations, including the Hurst store and Fort Worth original. Look for the Willow Park location to open this fall. pulidostx.com
Brix Barbecue may have closed last month, but owner and pitmaster Trevor Sales is continuing his cooking journey through another endeavor: a private dining experience called Tallow. Started in 2021, the dinners are announced a few weeks out on Instagram and typically sell out quickly. Open to 12 people, they’re held in private locations. The six-course menus change with every dinner. A few recent dishes included wood-fire oven sausage and peppers, mini dry-aged tomahawks served with garlic confit chimichurri, and a pasta tirrena with cured and fried tasso ham, fire-roasted San Marzano tomatoes, and grated pecorino cheese. Dude needs to open an Italian restaurant. Cost for the dinners varies. For more information, follow Tallow on Insta: instagram.com/tallowfortworth.
Sorry, Fort Worth, but we often have to drive to the ‘burbs for good Indian food, and here’s another place worth the trek: The Spark, a newly opened Indian and Nepalese restaurant in North Richland Hills. It’s a family-owned spot, run by the same owners as the similar Aroma restaurant in Keller. The Spark’s menu is vast — there are 14 naan options alone, CultureMap recently pointed out, no doubt equally shocked. Fourteen. Other items include butter chicken, various rice and noodle dishes, and eight different types of momos, along with other items you don’t see a lot around here, like khasiko bhutan, stir-fried goat intestines, and marpha ko aalu, a spicy potato dish comprised of deep-fried potatoes sauteed in butter, garlic, and Sichuan peppers. 8245 Precinct Line Road, North Richland Hills, thesparkindiannepalicusine.com
Fort Worth-born Rodeo Goat took its sweet time opening an Arlington location, but here it is, a newly minted locale in A-town at 333 E. Division St. Just a couple blocks away, a second location of south Arlington/Dallas fave The Breakfast Brothers will soon open at 400 E. Front St. Owner Rickey Booker’s immensely popular breakfast and lunch spots serve deliciously indulgent dishes such as fried catfish with red velvet waffles, fried chicken with French toast, lamb chops and eggs, and fried salmon with pancakes. I only wish they served sides of Zepbound.
