Fireside Pies
While most restaurants are lucky to get a second chance, Fireside Pies’ Fort Worth location is on its third.
After opening and closing twice in the tumultuous West Seventh area, the restaurant has found a new home a few blocks to the east, in the Left Bank Shopping Center at 628 Harrold St. The space is smaller and brighter than the West Seventh original — a change in direction not only for the Fort Worth store but the chain as a whole. The Fireside in Lake Highlands has also adopted a brighter, cheerier atmos.
The menu, too, has changed but only slightly. Most of the pies for which Fireside was known, from the Prosciutto & Parm to the vegetarian-friendly Garlic White, are on the new menu, along with pastas, including the addictingly rich butter noodles, and hugely popular — and just plain huge — salads. New menu items include stuffed eggplant, a garlic shrimp pie, and shrimp Alfredo pasta.
Also refreshed is the weekend brunch menu, which now includes dishes such as frittatas with bacon and avocado or chorizo, and chicken and waffles.
“This is us hitting the reset button,” says Joe Bozarth, director of operations. “It’s a new look and new menu but with the same high standards in terms of the food, service, and experience.”
When it comes to gourmet pizza, Fireside Pies is a pioneer. In 2004, long before the chef-inspired pizza trend hit North Texas, Dallas chef Nick Badovinus and then-partner Tristan Simon opened the original Fireside in Dallas, where the two freely experimented with interesting and exciting flavor combinations. By the time the restaurant opened a Fort Worth location, in the then-new West Seventh area, the Fireside brand was well known for its forward-thinking food.
With its dim lighting, oversized banquettes, hip vibe, and grade-A service, the Fort Worth store thrived, becoming one of the city’s toughest tables to snag. But over time, Fireside began to suffer from the same problems that plagued other early West Seventh restaurants, from the confusing parking garages to the surplus of unruly patrons to the multiplying number of bars that fueled them.
“I opened the Fort Worth restaurant as executive chef, and during those first few years, it had a great energy,” says Bozarth, who’s been with Fireside 16 years. “To see how much the area was changing was a shock. The traffic was terrible. There were a lot of incidents at those bars. It didn’t feel safe for our guests or employees. It just got to be too much.”
The restaurant, too, lost a bit of steam after it had undergone a change in name and ownership. For a while, it was known as 13 Pies before ownership changed once again and the original Fireside name was reinstated. By that time, West Seventh was no longer the ideal place for Fireside, Bozarth says, and it quietly closed in 2022.
A year later, it has reopened, with a new look and vibe — this time for good, Bozarth says.
“It was always our plan to return to Fort Worth,” he says. “This is a much more approachable location. You can park right outside, for free. It’s more family-friendly, too, but there are also a lot of young couples from the apartments nearby. It’s good for family night or date night. This is a Fireside that’s for everyone.”
Fireside Pies, 628 Harrold St., firesidepies.com
