American Food and Beverage (AF+B)
For this month's installment, we head to Cowtown for brunch atbrthe newest outpost in the Consilient Hospitality empire, headed up by TristanbrSimon. If you have dined at Fireside Pies, The Porch, Hibiscus, Victor Tangos,brCBD Provisions or The Front Room, then you are familiar with Simon'sbrrestaurants.
AF+B (American Food & Beverage)bris similar in look, feel and menu to its sister restaurant, CBD Provisions,brlocated in Dallas' Joule Hotel. Having dined at both establishments, it's clearbrthat AF+B shines much brighter in the execution of its menu. The main reason forbrthis is the restaurant's executive chef, Jeff Harris, of Craft (now closed) andbrBolsa fame. Harris is a protégé of Tom Colicchio (owner of the Craft restaurantbrchain and co-host of “Top Chef”) and has proven to be a star chef in just aboutbrany kitchen he works in.
You have to pay close attention tobractually find the restaurant, which is located in Fort Worth's West 7thmixed-use development. The exterior is comprised of a wall of windows, darkbrsteel and a lone sign made up of a slender four-sided pole with the lettersbrAF+B screened onto the sides. The interior is more inviting but still leansbrtowards minimalism, although there is liberal use of wood in the ceiling, onbrthe floors in the main dining area and tabletops throughout, made of reclaimed walnutbrto warm up the interior. The bar is topped with a cast zinc surface backed bybrmassive wood shelving for liquor and beer taps.
Chef Harris sources much of thebrmenu's ingredients from local farmers and producers, and the menu notes thatbrbecause of this, a certain dish might not be available due to the smallbrquantities that these local sources produce. The menu is simple and easy tobrunderstand with sections for snacks/small plates, larges plates and sides forbrlunch, dinner or brunch. Everything, even the condiments, is house-made.
Our foursome dived right into thebrmenu with a plan to order many things so we could share and try as much asbrpossible. We ordered the house-made pastries that for this particular morningbrwere jalapeño bread and banana walnut muffins served with whipped butter andbrseasonal apricot jam. We added a cup of the grass-fed beef chili topped withbrcornbread crumble, sour cream and pickled jalapeños. The chili had just thebrright amount of kick and, much to my delight, no beans.
We moved on to the large platesbrwith the arrival of the twice ground, grass-fed beef burger cooked perfectly andbrserved with a side of hand-cut fries. It wasn't the most spectacular burger anybrof us had sampled, but it was a solid choice. The grouper sandwich had thebrlargest chunk of fried fish we had ever seen; it was definitely fork and knifebrterritory. Again, it was cooked perfectly with no oily sogginess and toppedbrwith a pickled slaw and slightly spicy remoulade sauce. Our next two largebrplates were recommendations from our server. The duck pot pie was a high-endbrtake on the usual chicken version with flaky crust outside and generous hunksbrof duck and vegetables inside. The turkey pastrami sandwich was good but didn'tbrlive up to the “best sandwich on the menu” promise of our server. Finally, webrhad a side of AF+B's version of mac & cheese but made with their house-madebrrigatoni, cheddar and bacon. The service was excellent, and the relaxedbratmosphere added to our enjoyable brunch experience. You won't be disappointedbrin this new star of the Cowtown dining scene.
AF+B
2869 Crockett St., Fort Worth
817-916-5300
AFandBFortWorth.com
Fish City Grill
It's crawfish season at this renovated seafoodbreatery
Dave and Mary Garner are perhaps best known as the owners ofbrWildwood Grill, a Southlake staple since 2009. In December 2013, thebrrestaurateurs also acquired Fish City Grill, a seafood lover’s haven. Sincebrtaking over the Southlake location, Garner has hired new staff and completed abr$50,000 renovation. After giving it a fresh coat of paint,brreupholstering chairs and booths and adding other personal touches like artworkbrand a chalkboard detailing daily specials, Dave says the restaurant now has thebratmosphere it was missing before. “We wanted it to feel like a cozybrneighborhood restaurant as opposed to a Pappadeaux you might find near a busybrhighway.”
Fish CitybrGrill's menu reflects its unique ambiance. Dishes like the oyster nachos (friedbroysters with chipotle tartar sauce and fresh pico de gallo) and crispy calamaribr(topped with Parmesan and kosher salt and served with olive aioli and Thaibrchili sauce) offer surprising twists to everyday seafood favorites. Other FishbrCity must-trys include fish and chips, honey chipotle shrimp tacos, crawfishbretouffee and the crawfish po' boy. The grill sources its crawfish frombrLouisiana — the tasty creatures are caught, delivered overnight and always cookedbrto order. On April 19, Fish City kicked off its all-you-can-eat crawfishbrSaturdays.
Also popular are the weekly chalkboard specials that rangebrfrom all-you-can-eat Alaskan snow crab to sea scallop with lemon scented ricebrand marinated sliced tomatoes.
"Fish City Grill is a nice complement to what we offerbrat Wildwood Grill and Mary and I are committed to bringing the same high levelbrof service and our personal touch to Fish City Grill,” Dave comments, notingbrthe restaurant has already catered an event for Southlake Style magazine and is participating in otherbrcommunity activities.
Fish City Grill
2750brE. Southlake Blvd., Ste. 130, Southlake
817-748-0456
FishCityGrill.com