Tavern owner to open a new barbecue restaurant and bar near West 7th in Fort Worth
A barbecue truck known for its wide-ranging menu of side dishes will park soon at a new restaurant near West Seventh Street.
F1 Smokehouse, currently a brisket-and-burgers stand behind Press Cafe in the Clearfork neighborhood, will open a full restaurant and bar at 517 University Drive, partner Felipe Armenta said.
F1 Smokehouse serves Texas brisket, ribs and turkey, like any barbecue joint. Armenta, known for eight local restaurants that include The Tavern Bar & Grill, Pacific Table and Maria’s, raises the stock on a Central Texas ranch.
But in its first year on the Trinity Trail in Clearfork, F1 also became known for actually serving green stuff.
The menu also includes a kale salad or peanut slaw, along with barbecue “bowls” where brisket, turkey, carnitas or bacon burnt ends are laid atop quinoa, beans or sticky rice with pico de gallo, marinated carrots or housemade pickles.
The brisket taco isn’t just brisket in a tortilla. It has cabbage, relish, cotija, housemade salsa and guacamole.
The new restaurant will open by the winter holidays, he said. It will replace Austin City Taco at the corner of University and West Fifth Streets.
It will become the closest barbecue restaurant to the Modern Art Museum or the forthcoming Crescent Fort Worth hotel.
“I like that spot and University Drive is a great street,” said Armenta, a former Houston’s and Hillstone executive who grew up in San Angelo. He came home to Texas in 2010 to open the Tavern and the first of several Cork & Pig Tavern restaurants.
He said he expects more and newer development around the Seventh-and-University intersection. The new Don Artemio Mexican Heritage, 3268 W. Seventh St., is praised in the current Texas Monthly, and the Crescent, 3300 Camp Bowie Blvd., will include a restaurant by renowned Dallas chef Dean Fearing.
“That’s going to change the city,” Armenta said. “I’m just trying to get in there before the madness starts.”
Armenta also plans to open Cafe Margot, a simple French cafe serving salads, entrees, breads and martinis, by winter in a former chain bakery cafe at 3150 S. Hulen St.
He also co-owns The Tavern, Press Cafe, Pacific Table and Maria’s Mexican Kitchen, plus Towne Grill in Alliance Town Center. He also has a hand in Cork & Pig Tavern locations across Texas.
The current F1 Smokehouse truck took a summer break but will reopen in September, Armenta said; 4801 Edwards Ranch Road, 817-989-9702, f1smokehouse.com.
(The original truck at that location, Flores Barbecue, relocated. But that barbecue is still served Saturdays at Roy Pope Grocery, 2300 Merrick St.)
