Four A-list chefs have come together to open The Table, a market and culinary studio in the South Main area. Dena Peterson Shaskan will sell products from her Mockingbird catering company, from soups to sauces to entrees. Husband Trent Shaskan will offer freshly made bread under his biz name Icon Bread. And Hao Tran and Dixya Bhattarai will sell their incredibly popular dumplings. Dena says the space will also be used for pop-up events, cooking classes and to spotlight the handiwork of other local chefs and farmers market vendors. Look for it this spring in the Dickson-Jenkins Lofts & Plaza, next to Record Town and Leaves Book and Tea Shop.
120 St. Louis Ave.
More signs of life in the burgeoning South Main area: A new coffeehouse has arrived. Crude Craft Coffee Bar, housed in a 66-year-old building on South Main Street, comes from mother-son team Teresa and Corey Bloodworth. Barista Corey uses beans from Dallas-based Cultivar Coffee and mom makes the desserts, which include crème brulee, tiramisu, tarts and a rotating roster of pies.
804 S. Main St.,
The Bearded Lady's original location on the Near Southside has reopened as Magnolia Tree Tavern. Bearded Lady owners Shannon Osbakken and Eric Clayton amicably went their separate ways last year. Osbakken got the name and recipes and is taking them over to South Main (see separate story elsewhere in this issue), while Clayton got the building, a snug bungalow built in 1926. Magnolia Tree Tavern is primarily a drinking spot now, with a major emphasis on craft beer. But Clayton says he'll be adding food any day now, including burgers, soups and artisan sandwiches.
1229 Seventh Ave.,
facebook.com/magnoliatreetavern
South side Mexican restaurant Americado has rebranded itself as a food hall. But unlike the new Food Hall at Crockett Row, in which you walk around and order from each individual vendor, Americado has adopted a sit-down, full-service concept, in which you order from different vendors off one menu. Items include ramen from Shin"ya Ramen, barbecue from Brix BBQ (Saturdays and Sundays only) and coffee, churros and tacos from the Americado crew. There's also a bar with craft cocktails. Americado is open for dinner nightly and lunch and dinner Saturdays and Sundays.
2000 W. Berry St.,
One of the more interesting food trucks to hit the streets lately is Turkish Texans, run by local married couple Mustafa and Crystal Dinc. Mustafa hails from Turkey, Crystal from Saginaw. The truck is named after their two daughters, who have been nicknamed, of course, "Turkish Texans." Their small menu is whimsical, made up of messy, fun-to-eat items that combine the couple's two culinary worlds. There are four kinds of kumpirs – mammoth baked potatoes piled with butter and cheddar cheese and your choice of toppings such as brisket, gyro meat, pickled red cabbage, chili and tzatziki. Gyros are both traditional and not (the brisket gyro is out of this world) and elote comes spiked with a fiery smoked chipotle sauce. They're often parked at Hop Fusion Ale Works. For their full schedule, follow them on Facebook.
Construction will soon begin on a permanent home for Fort Worth barbecue trailer Panther City BBQ. The new digs are going up in the exact same spot where Chris Magallanes and Ernest Morales" popular "cue trailer currently resides: in an open lot next to Republic Street Bar. The building is being designed by Studio 97W, the Near Southside architecture firm that also designed or helped design Heim Barbecue, Melt Ice Creams and Pedego Electric Bikes. Panther City's new spot will closely resemble the Pedego building, in that it will be in the form of a shed, accented with metal trim and siding and concrete floors. Should be open by spring.
201 E. Hattie St.,
facebook.com/817PantherCityBBQ
Biscuit Brisket
Biscuit Brisket
Near Southside pizza joint Cane Rosso capped off the year by introducing several new lunch and brunch items. Particularly fantastic at lunch is a housemade truffle carbonara pasta, topped with diced bacon, so much bacon, a housemade truffle cream sauce, egg yolk and cracked pepper. Also at lunch is a new pizza and salad combo for $13, which comes with your choice of a 10-inch pepperoni, sausage or margherita pie, along with a house or Caesar salad. New brunch items are nuts: Get a load of this – a breakfast taco pizza with tater tots, chorizo, egg yolk, candied jalapeños and cilantro crema; and chicken and waffles with habanero honey and bacon marmalade. That place is gonna be the death of us all.
815 W. Magnolia Ave.,
