Darah Hubbard
Since I’m not 25, a heavy drinker, or itching for a fight, I haven’t found much reason to visit the West 7th area over the past few years, save for some daytime excursions to Hatsuyuki Handroll Bar, the amazing sushi restaurant located on the outskirts of West 7th.
A guy who loves and lives to eat, I used to be an area regular, back when Fireside Pies, Tillman’s Roadhouse, Brownstone, the Fort Worth Food Hall, Terra Mediterranean, Rodeo Goat, and other restaurants were West 7th’s pride and joy. And of course, burger and beer stalwart Fred’s was still there, a magnet for every walk of Fort Worth life. Kind of hard to believe, but there was a time when West 7th was very much one of the city’s budding culinary destinations.
As you and I witnessed, though, the area became better known for its surplus of bars — and accompanying idiotic behavior — and no matter how many times the name has been changed (it’s now called Artisan Circle and is owned by Younger Partners Investments, a Dallas-based real estate firm), it hasn’t been able to shake its bad rep.
Adam Chanaa is bent on changing that narrative.
“We want to bring restaurants back to the area,” Chanaa tells me on a picture-perfect Sunday afternoon at his picture-perfect restaurant, La Cabrona, a colorful, upscale Mexican eatery he and his family opened a few weeks ago in the old Tillman’s spot. “Food is why people came to this area in the first place, and we want it to be the reason people come back.”
Darah Hubbard
Chanaa is certainly on the right track: La Cabrona is a real beauty, outfitted in vibrant, festive decor meant to conjure big smiles and good vibes. Dig the beautiful murals inspired by Day of the Dead imagery; the bustling patio; the U-shaped bar and, nearby, a cool, vintage Chesterfield couch upon which you can sip a great margarita and lounge.
Chanaa’s wife, chef Rosario Ortega, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, creates colorful plates of food that match the atmosphere. Tacos and enchiladas are artfully presented, and taste as appetizing as they look. There are dishes for casual Tex-Mex lovers, including the popular quesa-birria tacos, and a few that dig a little deeper, like huachinango, a whole red snapper, marinated and fried, topped with minced garlic, and aguachile, a light, bright mashup of shrimp, lime juice, red onions, and avocado that’s similar to a ceviche.
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Small touches go a long way here. Housemade chips, for instance, come with not one but three dips: two salsas, one mild, one fiery, and a refried bean dip filled with spicy pork. Freshly made corn tortillas are infused with blue masa harina, giving them a slightly sweet flavor, not to mention, kind of a cool look. Housemade jamaica agua fresca, made from dried hibiscus flowers, comes in a drinking glass that resembles a flower pot.
“There are a lot of Mexican restaurants in Fort Worth, a lot of really good Mexican restaurants,” Chanaa says. “We wanted to do some things that made us different, little things that people will remember.”
That the food is of such good quality shouldn’t come as any surprise. After all, the Chanaa family also own the fondly remembered — and soon to be reborn — Terra Mediterranean Grill.
“My wife always wanted to open a Mexican restaurant to pay tribute to her family and their recipes, in the same way we do with Terra,” Chanaa says.
By the time you read this, or maybe shortly thereafter, Terra should be open in its new home, right across the street from La Cabrona, between Mash’d and Social House, and just down the block from where it reigned over West 7th’s restaurant scene for nearly a decade.
The family closed the restaurant in 2019 after they’d grown disenchanted with how the area was changing, but they vowed to return to Fort Worth. Not that they really left. Over the past few years, the family focused on its catering and delivery business — the Chanaas were among a circle of local restaurateurs who sold family meals during the pandemic — along with their two concepts in the Dallas area, Ali Baba Mediterranean in Richardson and a Plano location of Terra Med.
Adam’s daughter, Leena, who is COO of the family’s restaurants, says Terra Med Fort Worth 2.0 should be open in November. “It’ll be bigger and better than the original,” she says. “The first location had a small dining area. This one will be huge. And, yes, the daytime buffet will be back, seven days a week.”
La Cabrona and Terra Med play a vital role in Younger Partner’s plans to revitalize the area. In August 2022, the real estate firm purchased Crockett Row — then the name of the West 7th area — with the intent to beef up the area’s restaurant and retail business. Luring the Chanaa family back to West 7th is nothing short of a major coup.
It should be noted the Chanaas’ restaurants aren’t the only new restaurants in the area. Earlier this year, a terrific new Spanish/tapas-inspired spot, Si Tapas, took over the space once occupied by Fireside Pies.
“We feel like it’s a good time to come back,” Adam says. “Things are changing here, and we want to be a part of those changes.”
La Cabrona, 2973 Crockett St., lacabrona.com
