JONATHAN ZIZZO
Combining vibrant flavors and cultures, Chef Sandoval’s unique Pan-Latin steakhouse concept in Fort Worth is the perfect spot to take friends and loved ones this summer for a blend of refined culture and cowboy. Toro Toro not only offers a great happy hour and daily features, they are also extending their weekend brunch (voted Best Of Fort Worth 2022) - so you can now avail yourself of brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.
Walking into Toro Toro in downtown Fort Worth you can’t help but feel the energy shift as you enter a domain where Latin cuisine meets the heart of Fort Worth in the stunning first floor of the Worthington Renaissance hotel. This unique Pan-Latin steakhouse is both rich in culture and intentional in design.
Chef Richard Sandoval shares a little about his inspiration and gives us a look behind this restaurant concept. Toro Toro all started with Sandoval’s upbringing in Mexico City where a love of savory, vibrant foods became part of his DNA working in his father’s restaurant. Sandoval has now successfully brought Toro Toro to many major cities across the globe.
When Sandoval opened his first restaurant in the USA 30 years ago, his objective is to reintroduce Mexican and Latin flavors in an authentic and refined presentation. “The Mexican food I was tasting in the US at the time was completely different from what I had been brought up on,” Sandoval says. After living in the states, Sandoval felt like something was missing from the Mexican cuisine he grew up on. “The main reason being the food from Mexico here (in the USA) in the early 1990s was always seen as very cheap, very inexpensive, so I wanted to introduce people to the richness of the food of my culture and my country.” A testament to this, Chef Sandoval’s flagship restaurant in New York City, MAYA, was the first Mexican concept to receive 2-stars from The New York Times and is still included in the MICHELIN Guide in 2022, 25 years later.
Sandoval, a former professional tennis player, left the game and decided to take a stab at serving culinary delights. Now, Sandoval has developed several successful restaurant concepts throughout the world “My father taught me the business side of restaurants and my grandmother taught me many recipes I have carried through to today,” Sandoval says.
Inspired by Latin traditions and the art of cooking with fire, the Toro Toro concept features an open kitchen with a wood-burning grill, meats presented and carved tableside, and family-style ceviches, tiraditos and antojitos.
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For date night in Fort Worth, you can’t go wrong with any of the menu items from this open-concept kitchen. Sandoval recommends “any of our ceviches and our sweet corn empanadas are amazing to share. I would recommend the Churrasco Skewer for two that is presented and cut tableside with grilled BBQ chicken, Brazilian-style Wagyu picanha steak, Ribeye and Colorado lamb chops that you can combine with our Roasted Brussels Sprouts or Grilled Avocado,” he says.
You won’t want to miss out on a lavish desert to end the night on a sweet note. Sandoval suggests La Bomba, an interactive dessert for two. This molded, chocolate half-sphere bowl is dropped on the table to reveal cajeta, strawberry and chocolate ice creams, and brownie bites. The grand finale to complete this edible art is applied by your server — a generous drizzle of vanilla and raspberry syrup.
Chef Sandoval credits his family, namely his grandmother, for the significant impact she had on the Toro Toro concept. Sandoval has specific memories of his grandmother’s authentic traditional cooking. When he recollects the ingredients that she used in her kitchen, he reminisces on the avocados, masa, and yellow corn cake. You can find that he incorporates many of these prominent ingredients in several menu items — yellow corn cake is one of the unique deserts offered at Toro Toro.
With daily features, every day is a good day to head to Toro Toro. Taco Tuesday is pretty hard to pass up, but you can be confident that good eats await on any day you fancy.
