How does a high school in the metroplex’s best hiding spot develop the state’s most successful football program of all time? Spoiler: They’re not even sure.
By Brian Kendall
26 Rustic, Redefined The rugged charm of the West meets elevated elegance. Luxe neutrals, artisan craftsmanship, and bold turquoise accents breathe new life into traditional ranch style.
By Jenny Davis
32 Good for the Soul
Every bite of Fort Worth’s finest soul food spots tells a story. From Drew’s Place to Madea’s Down Home Cookin’, these cherished neighborhood gems serve up dishes that are as rich in flavor as they are in history.
By Malcolm Mayhew
52 ‘I’m No Entertainer’ Fort Worth native T Bone Burnett, one of music’s most enigmatic powerhouses, continues to influence generations of artists with his storytelling genius and groundbreaking innovations.
By Michael H. Price
DEPARTMENTS
10 City Dweller
A team of father-and-son investors are giving new life to historic shotgun homes.
14 Calendar
What’s going on in February? The world’s most famous blonde-mustachioed man in a silverbelly hat swings by Dickies Arena, for one.
16 Fort Worthian
Tamara Ogle, Cowtown Marathon training director: She do run, run, run, she do run, run.
18 Cowhand Culture
Fort Worth played a pivotal role in the career revival of Rudy Ray Moore, the man Eddie Murphy called an influence.
20 People
Colt McCoy, UT legend, finds life after football in Fort Worth’s real estate realm.
22 State Lines Hico: pop. 1,460.
24 The Reverie In defense of Kay Granger.
On Determination
In the summer of 2024, I decided I was going to follow the Aledo Bearcats football team for a single season.
“Oh, sounds like a ‘Friday Night Lights’ kind of thing,’” every other person said when I’d present them the idea. Yes, I’m aware it’s not the most original concept I’ve pulled out of my hat, but I found taking a deep dive into high school football in the post NIL world intriguing. But, since I don’t have the time or ability to focus on a singular subject, I wasn’t entrenched in people’s lives as if I was filming a documentary or writing an expose worthy of The New Yorker.
Instead, I largely witnessed and studied things from afar. I interviewed current players, old coaches, new coaches, and a player’s father who happens to be a former NFL tight end. I also attended nearly every Aledo home game this year. Nearly. But someone who attended every home game this year was photographer Richard Rodriguez, whose incredible shots you can see starting on page 40.
Richard has clearly done this, sports photography, before. When we met in the press box of Tim Buchanan Stadium for Aledo’s first home game of the year, I was incredibly impressed to see his sports-shooting system of carrying two cameras and a lens so heavy it requires a stand. Even more impressive was his determination to get the best shot. This should not have shocked me.
Richard, you see, has been shooting for us for quite some time — many of those beautiful ads you see are his work. But I did assign editorial to him during my first year as editor of the magazine. The subjects were wild horses that lived on a ranch near Fort Worth. Wild horses, I’ll have you know, don’t take direction. The shoot was early, as most shoots on ranches are, and it was 40 degrees and raining — photos exist of me on the shoot looking miserable with hands in my pockets. At the time, we had an art director named Ayla Haynes, who had a specific shot
she was hoping to get of the horses. While the specifics are fuzzy, it was a difficult shot to achieve under our circumstances, but Richard refused to leave until he got it — I had fled to my car long before he was finally able capture what Ayla wanted.
Fast-forward to Dec. 6 of last year, and Richard and I are at the regional championship game between Aledo and Denton Ryan. The weather was very reminiscent of our first shoot together, and so was his determination. We stood in freezing cold rain for the entire second half of the game, something you never get used to. And when Denton Ryan ultimately defeated Aledo, Richard remained on the field for 20 minutes after, getting incredible shot after incredible shot of what was ultimately a disappointing moment. And never once did I hear him speak of being cold. He just did the thing. He did his job. And I can’t thank him enough for it.
Located
CORRECTIONS? COMMENTS? CONCERNS? Send to executive editor Brian Kendall at bkendall@fwtexas.com.
NEXT MONTH
Fort Worth in 2050
National Medal of Honor Museum
Texas Twister: 25 Years Later
ON THE COVER:
not too far from our offices, Drew’s Place is a soul food restaurant regularly patronized by FortWorth Magazinestaff members. We’re happy make this incredible photo by Thanin Viriyaki of owner Andrew Thomas our February cover.
Brian Kendall EXECUTIVE EDITOR
What is the worst first date you’ve ever had?
While waiting for a table at Reata, my darling date went to powder her nose. As she was walking back toward me, I was finishing an answer to a text message or email. I can’t remember. Like the most severe nun of Catholic school, she sternly told me being on my phone was unacceptably rude. How can I make this table for two go away, I immediately thought? Cotillion didn’t prepare me for this.
High school. Car started to overheat. Had to stop multiple times throughout the night to put water in the radiator. Then got a nail in the tire and had a slow leak. I guess she overlooked these things; we dated for almost a year.
I was attending UNT, but my family lived close by in a small town, so I would visit on weekends. It was here that a good ol’ boy asked me out, and I thought, “Why not give country a chance?” He proved why. He took me to a tractor pull. It was as if demolition derby and WWF got married and had a kid. No thanks.
owner/publisher hal a. brown
president mike waldum
EDITORIAL
executive editor brian kendall
contributing editor john henry
digital editor stephen montoya
contributing writers jenny davis, malcolm mayhew, michael h. price, shilo urban
copy editor sharon casseday
ART
creative director craig sylva senior art director spray gleaves
contributing ad designer jonathon won contributing photographers darrell byers, darrah hubbard, richard w. rodriguez, thanin viriyaki
ADVERTISING
advertising account supervisors gina burns-wigginton x150 marion c. knight x135
account executive tammy denapoli x141 account executive jim houston x158 territory manager, fort worth inc. rita hale x133
senior production manager michelle mcghee x116
MARKETING
director of digital robby kyser director of marketing grace behr events and promotions director victoria albrecht project manager kaitlyn lisenby
I accidentally slammed two of my fingers in a car door the day of my junior prom. Needless to say, my date was less than impressed that I was dressed to the nines with a giant bandage on my hand. She never called me again after that.
In high school, I had a date who had an automobile accident on the way to pick me up. After being severely injured, he made a full recovery months later, thankfully. No second date, though.
I went on a date with a guy once who didn’t talk at all. He asked me out, but then stayed silent the whole time. I was so confused, thinking, “Why are we even here?” It felt like I was randomly chosen for a social experiment, or someone was playing a joke on me. I kept looking around for hidden cameras.
Went to TGI Fridays with this guy and went back to his place to hang out afterward. At his house, he asked if I wanted to see his snakes. I said, “Sure, why not?” Well, his collection of snakes consumed his entire bedroom closet, and he had several large yellow boa constrictors in tubs with lids under his bed.
I am an animal lover, but I made up an excuse and bolted for the door. Looking back, I probably should have called animal control.
DIGITAL EDITION:
The virtual editions of both current and previous issues are available on our website. Flip through the pages to read more about the great city of Fort Worth by visiting fwtx.com.
FortWorthMagazine(ISSN 1536-8939) is published monthly by Panther City Media Group, LP, 6777 Camp Bowie Blvd., Suite 130, Fort Worth, TX 76116. Periodicals Postage Paid at Fort Worth, Texas. POSTMASTER: Send change of address notices and undeliverable copies to Panther City Media Group, PO Box 213, Lincolnshire, IL 60069. Volume 28, Number 2, February 2025. Basic Subscription price: $21.95 per year. Single copy price: $4.99
Blazing Trails for 25 Years
THE FORT
PEOPLE TO KNOW THINGS TO DO PLACES TO GO
‘AIN’T TOO PROUD’ If you’re too busy to dust off your Temptations records, seeing this popular jukebox musical abut the Motown crooners is the next best thing. Heck, it might be even better.
WHAT WE’RE WRITING ABOUT THIS MONTH:
On page 10 Historic shotgun houses get revived On page 16 Tamara Ogle runs marathons and thinks you can, too On page 18 Fort Worth helps Dolemite return On page 20 Go figure, Longhorn legend loves Cowtown On page 22 Billy the Kid lives on in Hico On page 24 Cool it with the Kay Granger hearsay
by John Henry
Road to Revival
Historic shotgun houses in Fort Worth’s south side get a new lease on life.
Ffather-and-son real estate entrepreneurs are poised to present a solution — and, more importantly, a future — to a row of shotgun houses in distress, yet rich with historical and architectural importance in the Historic Southside.
Bart and Mateson Gutierrez’s Fort Worth Energy Holdings LLC, a partnership between the son and Bart Gutierrez’s Gutierrez Land Company, closed on the property on East Oleander in December.
They are already working on turning this eyesore into an asset. Cleaning up the property was a job unto itself. Vagrants turned squatters have turned two of the houses into temporary homes.
“We’ve made good progress already on-site,” said Mateson Gutierrez, who added that he’s been in contact with District 8 Councilmember Chris Nettles, who has had to deal with issues of code compliance on the property before the Gutierrezes bought it.
The exact plans for the row on Oleander are still to be determined, but whatever emerges will be a Lazerene rehabilitation. When the Gutierrezes
took possession, the property was in a neglected state.
In July, the city’s Code Compliance Department opened a case for a number of violations, including fire damage, property maintenance, trash disposals, and issues of squatters.
The Gutierrezes are showing patience with their inherited guests. They will eventually have to move on. It’s the beginning of new life on Oleander, which sits between New York Avenue to the east and Evans Avenue to the west. The neighborhood’s major artery is East Rosedale Street, one block to the north.
The property is a stone’s throw from a long-sought-after Evans and Rosedale development. Milwaukee-based Royal Capital is the new developer and working on plans of a new concept. Officials are eying a piece of property nearby on the other side of Rosedale for the planned National Juneteenth Museum.
The four shotgun houses are what remain of an original seven constructed in 1938 on the site. Few of these remain in Fort Worth. There is another row of them near Joe T. Gar-
cia’s and a smattering of others in that area. Rent Historic Fort Worth offers two on the North Side for rent.
Shotgun houses represent a type of affordable home and efficient design built during that era for poor and working-class families. Shotgun became a practical solution for inexpensive housing in cities nationwide between 1880 and 1920.
They are characterized by a wood frame, a gable roof, and a shed porch. The architecture of shotgun houses, typically no more than 12 feet wide and often featuring two to four rooms arranged linearly, enabled efficient use of small urban lots. A hot summer day could be at least alleviated somewhat by opening the front and back doors to allow airflow through the entire home.
The shotgun house is often more associated as a quintessential element of Southern architecture, particularly in New Orleans. While often associated with the South, shotgun houses spread across the U.S.
Shotgun houses have experienced a resurgence in recent years, with historic preservation groups restoring them as charming, practical homes, according to a story by Country Roads. In cities like New Orleans, “singlization” — the conversion of double shotgun homes into single-family residences — has become a popular trend. The design also aligns with contemporary interests in small, efficient urban living spaces, making it a potential template for first-time homeowners or urban starter homes.
That kind of template is one possibility for the row on Oleander.
According to the city, the property owner was Joseph Kida, who passed away in June 2023. The property fell into a long probate process with no legally recognized owner to manage evictions of squatters or “restoration matters,” which were exasperated by fires at 936 E. Oleander and 940 E. Oleander in late June and early July of this year.
In October, city’s Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission concluded that despite the damage done
to the structures by fire, the properties at 936 and 940 Oleander could be “reasonably” rehabilitated. As “highly significant endangered properties,” the properties are eligible to receive the city’s Historic Site Tax Exemption for up to 15 years. Moreover, if they were used as rental properties, they could also be eligible for state and federal historic tax credits.
A daughter of Mr. Kida, who resides in Chicago, was finally identified as the rightful heir. With the probate settled, the Gutierrezes were able to purchase the property.
A preliminary plan is to renovate all four of the properties. The two houses have extensive fire damage. One other possibility is to bring back all seven, Mateson Gutierrez said, “to showcase what the location would have truly looked like in its original days.”
“We’re so early in the stage that nothing is decided,” Gutierrez said. It would indeed be amazing as a victory for preservation as economic development. The row could also be that template for what the concept of tiny homes and that form of affordable housing would look like a 21st century urban setting. Big cities in Texas are exploring just that.
The property is zoned for mixed-use, so, there is also the possibility of the buildings being converted into use for business.
There are lots of ideas. The first order of business is getting the property cleaned up and in compliance.
“Soon we will seek to visit with the Fort Worth Historic Preservation office,” as well as the Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission, “to hear what ideas they have.”
Gutierrez also has had preliminary discussions with potential partners with expertise and a track record in renovating historic properties. He is committed to ensuring that any work done respects and preserves the historical significance of the site.
“Something like that is, I think, what we want to do,” Gutierrez said, “because this is a big piece of meat to chew on.”
Faithful Servant
Rest in peace, Paul Reyes — a great Fort Worth life.
Paul Reyes, a celebrated figure in both the local and global boxing communities, died on Dec. 28 after what his family called a battle with health challenges.
He was 85.
Reyes was an Army veteran who served his country with honor before transitioning to a career that would leave an indelible mark on the sport of boxing, producing world champions Donald Curry and Paulie Ayala.
In 1986, he was named Boxing Trainer of the Year. He was later inducted into the Texas Boxing Hall of Fame.
Even in retirement, Reyes continued to shape the future of boxing by mentoring young athletes alongside his son Vincent at Reyes Boxing Gym. Friends and family say his impact extended beyond the ring, as he was a man of deep faith and a steadfast pillar of his community.
Throughout his career as a trainer, he was often a father figure to his athletes, including feeding and clothing many of them.
“My dad would take them running early in the morning, he would feed them, he’d buy them clothes,” Vince
Reyes told the Fort Worth Report. “A lot of them were underprivileged. He knew.”
“He cared about his fighters personally, what they were doing, how they were doing, making sure they were on the right track.”
Paul Reyes was born on March 12, 1939, in Fort Worth. He was raised on the North Side and graduated from Fort Worth Technical High School — today called Trimble Tech. He started boxing at age 16 in the Texas Golden Gloves.
After high school, he was drafted into the Army and honorably discharged after three years. He went on to enjoy a career at General Motors. While at GM, he began training amateur boxers on the side, utilizing the local United Auto Workers Local 276, which represents organized workers at the Arlington plant, for sponsorship help.
With David Gorman as manager, Reyes helped make Donald Curry, his most prized pupil, one of the best, if not the best, fighter in the world, pound-for-pound.
Curry knocked out Milton McCrory in Las Vegas in December 1985 to unify the welterweight class, the first undisputed welterweight champion since Sugar Ray Leonard retired in 1982. Curry, a member of the Boxing Hall of Fame, shared The Ring’s Fighter of the Year in 1985 with Marvin Hagler.
Ayala was Fighter of the Year in 1999 after defeating Johnny Tapia for the WBA bantamweight title in Las Vegas. Ayala handed Tapia his first career loss in what The Ring named its Fight of the Year.
In addition to his son Vincent, Reyes was survived by Cynthia “Cindee” McElroy and Paul Reyes Jr., as well as grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.
He was laid to rest in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Paul Reyes, a great life of Fort Worth.
by
Stephen Montoya
Turn Up the Volume
The Post reopens in a hallowed spot near Seventh Street.
The Post — a cornerstone of Fort Worth’s music scene — is making its much-anticipated comeback.
After closing its River East location in March, the venue was slated to reopen on Feb. 1 in a space steeped in local music history — the original home of Lola’s Saloon at 2736 W. Sixth St.
“It’s good to know we were missed,” says Brooks Kendall, president of Afallon Productions, The Post’s PR arm, on the outpouring of support since the announcement of the reopening. “Reactivating this space as a home for original live and local music in Fort Worth means the world to me.”
The original Lola’s Saloon was a legendary spot for live music. The Post reopening there feels like the passing of a torch — a perfect match of history and fresh ambition.
This new chapter brings some changes. While the previous location included a restaurant, the new Post will focus entirely on being a listening room and bar, with plans for food partnerships to keep guests fed.
The core of The Post remains the same: A space dedicated to showcasing artists in an intimate setting.
“It’s always been about creating a connection between the artists and the audience,” Kendall says.
The February lineup is already stacked, starting with Cory Cross and Ryker Hall on Feb. 6, followed by Trace Bundy and Jacob Furr on Feb. 7. Highlights include Courtney Patton’s album release on Feb. 8 and Walt Wilkins’ return to town on Feb. 15.
For Kendall, reviving The Post is a step toward revitalizing the city’s music culture. The pandemic and venue closures left a void, with many small music spaces shuttering for good. The Post’s return offers hope and a much-needed boost to the local music ecosystem.
“This space is legendary, and I hope people see the significance of that,” Kendall says. “It’s exciting to see how many people are cheering for us to be back.”
Around Cowtown in 8 Seconds
A
smattering of things you might’ve missed
1. RIP, President Carter: The nation said its goodbyes to the 39th president in January. Fort Worth had a nice little bond with this Georgia peanut farmer, who used the city as a platform for his political and humanitarian ambitions.
2. Down, Set, Action! Jerry Jones’ cameo in Taylor Sheridan’s “Landman” garnered rave reviews from even his most biting critics, proving he might have missed his true calling. If he were that good as an NFL general manager, fickle Cowboys fans might finally have something to cheer about — like a Super Bowl parade … or even just a playoff run.
3. Down, Set, Arlington! The United Football League, the second or third (not sure) iteration of the USFL announces that Arlington’s Sports and Entertainment District will be its new home in the largest office real estate transaction in two years in Tarrant County.
4. Say It Ain’t So: The California fires are a tragedy beyond words. The burning and destruction of Will Rogers’ home and the priceless works of art in there hit close to home.
5. Goats, a goat, not a GOAT: In an apparent case of ag envy, the president of her high school’s chapter of the Future Farmers of America in Cedar Park has been accused of poisoning and killing a rival’s goat, whose caretaker, according to the accused, was a “cheater.” Performanceenhancing hay?
6. Quit Doing That: Officials with the Lockheed Armed Forces Bowl didn’t appreciate our story angle on this year’s game, which focused on ESPN welcoming viewers to the game with a graphic of downtown Dallas. Here’s a suggestion: Stop doing that. Quit referring to Fort Worth as if it’s Dallas. (We’re a sponsor of the game, by the way.)
7. TCU’s New Man: Cold weather and the biting cold realities of a student-athlete payroll and transfer portal greet new Athletic Director Mike Buddie.
8. Now That’s a Maximum Wage: Fort Worth announced recently that it will pay a human resources consultant up to $450,000 to evaluate its compensation structure, which recently included an increase in the minimum wage to $18 an hour. YouTube is full of Milton Friedman videos free of charge.
February
1-8
Jambaloo
Spread across four different DFW venues, Jambaloo is a weeklong, free music event that will include performances from RJD2, The Unlikely Candidates, Lou Charle$, Twain, and Kolton Moore — all of whom will be playing Tulips. Check the venue website for exact dates.
Tulips tulipsftw.com
6-March 15
Animal Crackers, Jim Malone
Jim Malone’s use of mixed media results in surreal, otherworldly depictions of the American Southwest. A decades-long local favorite, this will mark Malone’s fourth solo exhibition at Artspace111 and his first in over six years. Artspace111 artspace111.com
7-8
Tony Bennett: The Official Music Celebration
Though Mr. Bennett left this world a couple of years ago, his biggest tunes and unmistakable vocal delivery live on thanks to this official musical experience that features three vocalists performing with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Bass Performance Hall basshall.com
Harlem Globetrotters
No-look, behind-the-back passes and plenty of hijinks will ensue as the world’s most famous basketball team, the Harlem Globetrotters, take on their perennial
lamb, the Washington dickiesarena.com
11-16
‘Ain’t Too Proud’
Like “Jersey Boys” before it, “Ain’t Too Proud” follows a billboard-topping oldies act — this time The Temptations — as they navigate the choppy waters of fame, fortunes, and creative and personal differences. And they’ll sing a lot of great songs, too.
Bass Performance Hall basshall.com
14
Muscadine Bloodline
Having just released a new single with Josh Meloy, this Southern Alabama duo bring their distinct brand of red clay country (don’t dare confuse it with red dirt country) and tight harmonies to the World’s Largest Honky Tonk.
Billy Bob’s Texas billybobstexas.com
15
Alan Jackson
The world’s most famous blonde-mustachioed man in a silverbelly hat swings by Dickies Arena on his “Last Call: One More for the Road” tour. We reckon it will be past five when he belts out “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.” So, feel free to indulge in the spirits. Dickies Arena dickiesarena.com
21
Mary J. Blige
The Queen of R&B, whose lengthy list of accolades will give Meryl Streep a run for her money, is touring in support of her latest album, Gratitude. But Blige’s set is bound to include old favorites from her 33-year career.
Dickies Arena dickiesarena.com
21-23
Cowtown Marathon
Call it sightseeing with a little cardio thrown in. The 26.2-mile course for one of the biggest races this side of the Mississippi includes all the city’s hot spots, including the Cultural District, Trinity Park, Botanic Garden, the Stockyards, and downtown. Will Rogers Memorial Center cowtownmarathon.org
22
Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country
Clearly growing up with a penchant for acts like The Allman Brothers Band, The Grateful Dead, and fill-in-blank-with-anyother-act-from-Woodstock, the Nashville native has earned a reputation as a superb live act.
Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall tannahills.com
photos provided by Artspace 111 // Dickies Arena
Animal Crackers, Jim Malone
Mary J. Blige
Tamara Ogle
Training director
Cowtown Marathon
By Brian Kendall Photo by Darah Hubbard
The inspiration for the original marathon came from the story of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger who, according to legend, ran over 25 miles from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of a Greek victory in the Battle of Marathon before collapsing and dying from exhaustion. Yeah, doesn’t sound like the most enticing thing.
And Tamara Ogle, despite being a training director with the Cowtown Marathon, understands one’s hesitance at or dislike for running such distances. After all, she was once in the same boat.
“I grew up with a dad who ran marathons, and my mom also was very active, and I just didn’t understand it,” Ogle says. “He took me to a 5K when I was 13, and I hated every minute of it.”
But, like a child developing a palate for veggies as they grow older, Ogle began to enjoy running as an adult and would eventually tackle her first Cowtown Marathon in her 30s. Unfortunately, her father, whom Ogle credits as her role model, got sick when she was first starting to run and died before he could see her complete a marathon. “So, on my first marathon,” Ogle says, “I had a little sign on my back that was dedicated to him.”
And Ogle, a wife and mom of three, would also discover that, despite the fate of Pheidippides, running and training for marathons or half-marathons had the opposite effect: It was lifesaving.
“I think some people don’t even realize how big a part of their life [running] can be,” Ogle says. “That is until they get into it, and it becomes very rewarding.”
After spending 14 years as an educator — 10 years teaching sixth grade and four years teaching PE — Ogle began teaching boot camps and triathlons. And, over time, the girl who once hated running began sporting a resume that now includes four Ironmans (this includes a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile marathon), 10 marathons, and a run up Pikes Peak to boot.
And with a job at Cowtown Marathon, a place she’s now worked for seven years, it’s safe to say that Ogle has made endurance sports her life. As the marathon’s training director, Ogle coordinates the Cowtown Trailblazers, a six-month training program for people who want to complete a half, full, or ultra marathon.
“We start out with really low mileage, and then we work our way up depending if someone’s doing a half marathon or marathon,” Ogle says. “I make routes from [our Cowtown Marathon offices] and they run all around Fort Worth, and we put out water stops and switch it up every week.”
Ogle says Cowtown Trailblazers is for everybody no matter their experience in running. “Men, women, sometimes it’ll be first-time runners, and we have people in their 70s and even a 14-year-old. So, it’s just a wide variety of people.” And, according to Ogle, it’s being part of this community, not completing races, that makes running so rewarding.
“Anybody can go and run by themselves,” Ogle says. “But when they have a team of people that they’re running with every Saturday, they become like a little family.”
BY THE WAY....
Ogle has been vegan for 5 1/2 years. While she prefers to cook at home — and has some incredible recipes — here are some of her favorite restaurants with vegan options in Fort Worth.
• Pizza Verde
• Belenty’s Love Mexican Vegan Restaurant
• Maiden
Favorite spots for Cowtown Trailblazer group running courses:
• Trinity Trails
• Overton Park
• Main Street Bridge
• North Side
1. Summer running camp, where kids ran a 5K around Bluebonnet Circle. 2. Belenty’s Love Mexican Vegan Restaurant. 3. Ogle’s daughter, Sydney; son, Jack; daughter, Samantha; and husband, Jack. 4. Annual run to Sundance Square Christmas Tree with Cowtown Trailblazers. 5. Pistol squats at the top of Enchanted Rock. 6. Morning run from LA Fitness to her father’s memorial bench on Trinity Trails. 7. From a mobility class Ogle teaches at Cowtown Marathon.
by Michael H. Price
The Fort Worth Rebirth of Dolemite
The second half of Rudy Ray Moore’s story would be far less interesting if not for one memorable performance at a Cowtown club
Many movie buffs will trace an emphatic comeback for Eddie Murphy to a Netflix perennial called “Dolemite Is My Name” — the story of an elder comedian whose rude-and-raunchy routines had influenced Murphy in his younger days. Few will identify the subject, Rudy Ray Moore, with a comeback of his own that began in Fort Worth, back in 1988.
“Dolemite Is My Name” trades upon Moore’s fictional character: Dolemite, a heroic outlaw. Moore’s frankly impolite routines of the 1970s had inspired Murphy, as a youngster, to become an entertainer.
“Dolemite Is My Name” landed a wealth of critics’-circle awards during a big-screen run of 2019. Murphy’s
symbolic nod of gratitude depicts Moore’s stubborn defiance of obscurity: His failure as an R&B recording artist only triggered larger ambitions. Then, his DIY comedy albums attracted a commercial record label — leading to a self-financed career as a movie star.
As “Dolemite Is My Name” ends, Moore’s raggedy film of 1975, “Dolemite,” has become a draw, despite nay-saying critics. Moore had sensed that Black audiences yearned to see Black talents as leading characters, undiluted.
His endearing amateurism stood out even from the larger, better-financed films of the period’s Blaxploitation movement, such as “Shaft” and “Blacula.” Moore would persist through 1979s “Avenging Disco Godfather” — a case of diminishing returns.
I met Moore in 1988 — partly on newspaper business, mostly with an interest in his unique station. Whitehaired and grandfatherly at 61, Moore was visiting church-folks family in Texas, for whom he would perform “some of my more G-rated comedy routines” as a courtesy.
Moore (1927-2008) also used the occasion to resurrect his “Dolemite” trademark at The HOP on West Berry Street. A filmmaking colleague, Thomas C. Rainone, and I had booked the appearance as an experiment in rediscovery. Rainone and I claimed no stake other than to pay homage and reconnect Moore with a strayed audience. (The name HOP was an abbreviation of House of Pizza, but the place also was an entertainment hub.)
Finding this customarily whitebread collegian venue an unlikely showcase, Moore warmed up with a reminiscent ramble: A singing career had eluded him, he explained — never a quitter, but relentlessly hopeful and resourceful. This condition persisted, he said, “until I dropped the hit-record pretensions and began talkin’ down-and-dirty,” seeking censor-baiting commercial acceptance — the first entertainer to commit expressly bawdy, Black-tra-
Rudy Ray Moore
dition material to mass-produced recordings. Although Moore meant no harm greater than an ironic jolt, still he tacitly encouraged imitators. Accept no substitutes.
• • •
The occasion had arisen from a conversation about favorite (impolite) entertainers while Tom Rainone and I were meeting at his family’s Rainone Art Gallery in Arlington. The name of Rudy Ray Moore came up as one of the groundbreakers who had made the world safe for “Saturday Night Live.”
“Wonder what ol’ Rudy Ray’s doing these days?” I asked.
“How’s about we find out?” Rainone challenged.
Some digging turned up an unpublished LA telephone number. Moore answered without so much as a secretary to run interference.
He wasn’t working much, he explained. Just some church-group comedy, pro bono. Moore said he had quit moviemaking after “Avenging Disco Godfather,” hinting at a backlash from mob-connected investors. He would visit Texas soon. Moore wondered whether any Texans might have an interest in his old-school Black-on-Black comedy.
“There’s got to be somebody out there besides y’all white boys that’ll remember,” Moore averred. If Moore
was coming to town for one narrow purpose, then we would assure him of an incidental payday.
Come-lately enthusiasts trace the resurgence to Moore’s early-1990s appearance on television’s “Arsenio Hall Show.” But the beginnings of a larger rediscovery, to Moore’s direct benefit, date from September of 1988 at Fort Worth’s HOP — first time the club had seen more than one or two Black customers in an evening. Moore strolled in, darted backstage, and reappeared in a dense Afro wig: Dolemite, the Human Tornado, reborn.
The culture is predisposed to amnesia, but the genuine enthusiasts never forget. Most of The HOP’s turnout on that occasion consisted of fashionably middle-class, middle-aged Black couples who remembered Moore’s appearances of the 1960s-1970s. He treated them to customized insults and preemptive counter-heckling. The crowd responded with surprised delight, as if remembering some secret language.
• • •
An upheaval of frankly frank frankness more than half a century ago in American comedy produced aftershocks that resonate yet — although what seemed underground-radical in the 1960s has become standard discourse, even in prime-time network television. Moore’s uninhibited delivery remains unique, despite the repetitive dilutions of rap and its commercialized derivatives.
Moore had tackled comedy as a refuge. The Black sector of funnyman recordings was dominated by Redd Foxx (1922-1991), whom Moore considered a cop-out, depending on double-meaning gags. “So, I thought, ‘Why not just come right out and say whatever rude language came to mind?’” said Moore. “No harm done, if done in an unthreatening manner.”
Moore recalled a neighborhood eccentric “who spoke in rhymes — about this Dolemite cat, the toughest badman… So I’d get him to tell me all about this Mr. Dolemite, and I’d give
him some money, and then I made a record. Pressed up 100 copies… Some customer heard the first line about ‘the baddest [expletive] you ever seen...,’ and said, ‘I’ll take that record!’ Once the word-of-mouth caught on, I had an order for 1,000 copies.” A corporate recording contract followed, and Moore expanded in 1975 into movies.
Moore traced his style to “this oldtime Black tradition called toasting —rhyming insults. That’s where my style comes from — good-natured cussing.”
“I put up ‘Dolemite’ with $175,000 of my own money,” he said. “I didn’t have any knowledge of filmmaking, but the people lined up to see it.
“I’ve got somewhat of a reputation, I guess, “but I am not all that famous, although Eddie Murphy once announced himself as a fan to me, back when he was first coming up.
“I believe I am an outstanding comedian, and at the rougher style of comedy, I am the best of ’em all...,” Moore concluded. “I can alter my show from what you might call X–rated down to G–rated, as suits the audience — yeah, I’ll throw the kitchen sink at ’em if they want me to!”
by John Henry
From Field to Fort
Former Longhorn quarterback Colt McCoy discovers life after football in Fort Worth.
Former Texas quarterback Colt McCoy was in Arlington at AT&T Stadium when his beloved Longhorns played Ohio State in a College Football Playoff national semifinal.
The fellas of Austin’s acclaimed 40 Acres, after all, were playing right in his own backyard.
McCoy and his family have put down roots in Fort Worth after a nomadic career in the National Football League that took him to five cities, coast to coast, in 14 years. The West
Texas boy, who grew up in Tuscola, has made his home where the West begins.
“These are all my people,” he reminds, to which I say, “Amen to that, Amen.”
McCoy has been tapped to launch the new office of HPI, the full-service real estate firm with roots in Austin and Dallas.
“We moved here before I had this opportunity,” McCoy says, “and I think that that really just shows me that I’m right where I’m supposed to be. The Lord led us here, and I couldn’t be more excited.”
Fort Worth, he says, was the first choice he’s ever made on where to live, at least as a non-football playing adult — he did, after all, make the decision to go to UT and become “legend Colt McCoy.”
HPI was founded in 1992 with four employees and 1 million square feet. Today HPI employs more than 200 people in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and now Fort Worth, serving 900 clients across almost 30 million square feet.
Fort Worth has always been on HPI’s map, according to Hunter Lee, HPI partner and senior managing director. Industrial will be the firm’s initial focus, but HPI has plans to build a full-service platform in Fort Worth, from third-party leasing and management to development and acquisition.
McCoy’s brother Case, another former Longhorn, is a partner with HPI’s Tenant Advisory platform.
“Everything we do starts with people, and Colt McCoy is the ideal leader,” says Lee. “I’ve never met anyone more ‘as advertised’ than Colt — as a person, as a father, and as a man of faith. He’s honest, community-minded, and wants to make an impact in planting the HPI flag in Fort Worth.”
McCoy rose to stardom at UT out of Jim Ned High School as a three-star prospect. (Who was Jim Ned, you ask? A Delaware Indian chief who served as a scout for the Texas militia in the Republic of Texas. “His services were used infrequently, possibly because of his ‘refractory’” — that is, obstinate — “nature.”)
McCoy’s first order of business on the way to the NFL was replacing the legendary quarterback Vince Young, who led the Longhorns to their first national championship in more than 35 years. But McCoy did it with a record-setting career, ultimately winning every significant award presented to college quarterbacks.
McCoy capped his college career by leading the Longhorns to a perfect 13-0 mark as a senior and a berth in the BCS National Championship Game against Alabama. A shoulder injury forced McCoy to the sidelines. He watched as Alabama beat Texas 37-21.
Naturally, he had opportunities to coach. That’s in the blood. His father, Brad McCoy, was a longtime football coach and teacher in Texas’ public schools. McCoy also had options to work in an NFL front office.
“Or did I really want to kind of get out of the game and go do something on my own?” McCoy says. “I really just felt the Lord leading me and helping me figure out my priorities and leaning on some of those places that I shadowed and interned to figure out what I really liked.”
McCoy says when he came into the league 14 years ago, he watched as older veterans struggled with retirement and life out of football. What they would be good at? Where did they want to live?
“All those things,” he says.
Those observations opened his eyes to his own future and the days when something, like, for example, his elbow, might not work anymore. There is a time for everything. Ten or so years ago he began using his off-seasons learning about other industries. He shadowed others at family offices learning about investing and constructing deals. As a West Texan, oil and gas was of interest, and he spent a lot of time learning that world.
“I want to build something extremely special in Fort Worth that I’ll be very proud of. I know this will get harder before it gets easier for me, likely, but there’s a big drive for me from that point to really go out and do something extremely special.”
Ask any Longhorns fan, anywhere in the world — drunk or sober, of sound mind or unable to make reasoned judgments — and they’ll tell you Texas would have won that game with McCoy playing all four quarters. It is an integral part of the UT legend of Colt McCoy.
McCoy went off to the NFL, first with Cleveland, spending most of his NFL career as a backup, passing for almost 8,000 yards and 34 touchdowns. He also played for San Francisco, Washington, the New York Giants, and, lastly, Arizona.
“Ultimately for me, I think I could still be playing,” McCoy says. “I was playing well, but I tore my elbow up and I had a surgery. When I came back, it was one of those sort of career enders where I couldn’t throw the ball the same. It didn’t feel right. It still hurt.
“You kind of knew that it was over at that point, which was hard. That was a hard one to go through. But ultimately, I couldn’t be mad for too long. I had to figure that out. The hardest part for me was figuring out what was next.”
Real estate was another.
“I really fell in love with real estate and specifically some things within real estate, but just really the broad idea of all the different sectors of multifamily, of development, of managing and leasing, of office, and industrial. There’re so many ways that are unique and different within the real estate world.”
“And having the opportunity to start my own company and run my own business alongside some great partners from Austin and Dallas, who’ve been doing it at a really high level for a long time, I just really felt like this was the path I wanted to go and in a place that I wanted to be, which is Fort Worth.”
The fastest-growing big city in America, he reminds me.
“I’ve always made it a point to be a part of the community, to be involved, and give back,” he says. “I don’t see this playing out any differently. It’s close to home [in Tuscola], where my parents still live. It’s close to my wife’s parents. It has just been fantastic.”
In short, these are his people. His move here and this opportunity were “the perfect storm.”
“I want to build something extremely special in Fort Worth that I’ll be very proud of. I know this will get harder before it gets easier for me, likely, but there’s a big drive for me from that point to really go out and do something extremely special. I couldn’t be prouder to do it with HPI.”
by Shilo Urban
Hico, Texas
Population: 1,460
Fine art, first-rate restaurants, and fashionable boutiques may not come to mind when you imagine a tiny Texas town — but Hico is flipping the script with a wellspring of upscale enticements that are well worth the drive from Fort Worth. Investors have been pouring money into this little hamlet on the northern edge of the Hill Country and the banks of the Bosque River. For drivers who want to avoid the traffic and semitrucks
on Interstate 35, it’s a smart midpoint stop between Fort Worth and Austin. But Hico is becoming a destination itself, with plenty of reasons to linger. It started life as a cattle-and-cotton market town in the late 1800s, and many of its limestone buildings date from this era. Their rock-hewn charm gives Hico’s diminutive downtown the quaint ambiance of yesteryear; many have been restored into trendy
eateries, shops, and hotels with local artwork on the walls. Stroll slowly along Pecan Street, the epicenter of activity, and check out the 1850s log cabin in Peppermint Square around the corner. New and vintage murals dot the main area, which stretches just half a mile from one side (Second Street) to the other (Hico City Park).
The park runs along the north bank of the Bosque River, a peaceful nature break cradled in the shade of giant pecan trees. You can walk or bike the mile-long path or snag one of the waterside tables for a picnic en plein air. There are several places to fill your basket with made-from-scratch goodies. Two Clay Birds Bakery & Garden Market offers fresh-baked breads and pastries, small-batch pickles, and sandwiches — all with an eye toward local, natural ingredients. Goin2Be sells tasty box lunches and Amishmade preserves. Grab wild popcorn flavors at Hico Popcorn Works (like sweet jalapeno and cinnamon toast) and go for the decadent dark truffles at Wiseman House Chocolates.
If you’re traveling on the weekend, be sure to browse the calendar at HiCo Hall for live music and special events. Hico’s historic cotton mill, built in 1899, sat unused for decades until a couple of enterprising locals transformed it into a rustic-chic venue with oodles of authentic character. Doors open every Sunday
Downtown Hico ReneGomezPhotography
Billy the Kid Museum
at 2 p.m. for a free afternoon of Texas music, and concerts take place on various Saturday nights. Musical performers also pop up around town at Eis, Goin2Be, and Buzzed Brumby — so keep an ear out. Prefer to choose your tunes? Drop a dime in the jukebox (err … enter your credit card) at Wild Saddle Saloon, Hico’s newest watering hole and a hotspot for billiards.
Whether you sing along, shop till you drop, or simply savor the bygone charm, this little country hideaway has big appeal.
Explore Hico
Savor: Foodies will find a home in Hico. The newest eatery is BarbaCelli’s Pizza Joint, where wood-fired, brick oven pies come with cheffy toppings like spicy honey, gorgonzola, pesto and roasted garlic. Crusts are chewy and charred. The owners also run Oma Leen’s, recently relocated from Walnut Springs to a refurbished 19th-century general store in Hico. The carved wooden bar from Dodge City, Kansas, circa 1880, is truly something special. So is the farm-to-table fare, with cuisine that ranges from Southern to Italian; pasta dishes are always on point. And try brilliantly crafted Texas eats at the Chop House, like a Sunday brunch with brisket cheddar biscuits and house-smoked, molasses-cured salmon. Then there’s Eis, an ice cream parlor and sandwich café with tons of Texas-made ingredients. Finally, if you want to go old-school, the pies at Koffee Kup Family Restaurant have the tallest meringues this side of the Mississippi.
Shop: You can indulge in some serious retail therapy in this small town, starting at Hico Mercantile. More than 40 artisans and vendors have turned the town’s 1895 opera house into a two-story treasure chest of clever finds, from chunky ceramic jugs to chatty tea towels and cute pajamas. Another one-of-a-kind stop is Blue Star Trading, part art gallery, part museum, and part gift shop. Browse rattlesnake skin boots and high-end leather jackets at Hide and Horne Western store, and head to Hill Country Dwellings for a fresh take on sophisticated farmhouse decor.
Enjoy: Billy the Kid is big news around here. Locals believe that the infamous outlaw lived out his life in peace and quiet in Hico under the name “Brushy Bill” until 1950. Decide for yourself at the Billy the Kid Museum and snap a selfie by the gunslinger’s statue by Eis. Feel like shooting at something yourself? From a tiny tank? Hop in the commander’s seat and shoot paintballs at your friends at Mini Tank Combat Battlefield Zone. Choose from three battlefields: Vietnam, Fury, and Battle of the Bulge. Now that your adrenaline is flowing, head to Siloville to climb the six-story grain silos (inside or outside) and channel your
inner gladiator on the Ninja Warrior Obstacle Course.
Snooze: Just like the restaurants and shops, Hico’s hotels heighten the small-town standard with surprisingly chic spaces — like the six romantic rooms at Upstairs Inn B&B. Exposed limestone walls, antique furniture, and top-shelf linens create a cozy mood. The Midland Hotel is slightly bigger, with 14 rooms (plus the Chophouse restaurant) in a brick building from the 1890s. Each room has unique touches, like historic maps of Texas and panes of beveled stained glass. For glamping, Off the Vine RV Park rents adorable vintage trailers with Texas city themes, including the “Fort Worth” Scout trailer with cowhide pillows and horns on the wall. Social Grace Guest House is fun and colorful for a trip with the girls, and Hico’s newest boutique hotel — The Henry — is a bold downtown addition of modern Western style.
How to Get There: It’s 80 miles to Hico, and the drive takes about 80 minutes. Head south from Fort Worth on the Chisholm Trail Parkway for 27 miles to Cleburne, then turn left onto US-67 S toward Glen Rose. In 37 miles, turn left onto TX-220 S, and Hico is 13 miles ahead. Take a right onto Second Street, and you’ll be in the heart of town.
Wiseman House Chocolates
Upstairs Inn B&B
Siloville Rock Climbing
Oma Leen’s
Off the Vine RV Park
by John Henry
In Defense of Kay Granger
Kay Granger retired from Congress on Jan. 3 as one of Texas’ most impactful statesmen, her reputation and legacy fully intact despite attempts by political adversaries — more like political hitmen — to tarnish it in her final days.
Granger was an equal among the towering figures of the Texas delegation through the years, including Garner, Rayburn, Patman, Mahon, Gonzalez, and, of course, our own in District 12, Jim Wright.
“Her impact on her district and her region and the state is equal to any other Congress person in the last 20 to 30 years,” says former U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, a longtime Republican colleague of Granger’s. “She was all Fort Worth, all 12th District, all the time.”
Granger is the Fort Worth Inc. Person of the Year. Fort Worth Inc. is a sister publication of Fort Worth Magazine. She is being honored for her years at City Hall and in the House of Representatives. Granger will be in attendance at an event in May to honor her.
“She was a tireless promoter of Fort Worth, someone who represented Fort Worth with dignity in the House of Representatives,” says Jim Riddlesperger, a professor of political science at TCU. “She obviously was a partisan Republican, but she had a reputation who, behind the scenes, was always trying to figure out a way forward, a way that she could work with people across the aisle to find solutions to problems. She’s kind of a throwback to a different generation of members of Congress. She was always a builder.”
That stance as a right-leaning moderate has caused Granger political pain over the years from the far right.
A story in December in the Dallas Express tried to make an issue of Granger’s absence in Washington since
July. It caught on like a wildfire, giving its author and the “news” platform their 15 minutes.
That the story was taken seriously is far more concerning than the issues it tried to raise, most notably that Granger’s absence left her constituents in District 12 without representation for five months, particularly during the debate on the Continuing Resolution at the end of the year.
Granger has acknowledged that health issues made travel to Washington challenging. She announced in October 2023 that she would not seek another term. She stepped down from her chairmanship in March.
The Dallas Express is a partisan activist-advocate publication that disguises itself as a legitimate news resource. It is about as legitimate as, say, the Courier Newsroom, a platform run by leftists who might as well be from Pluto. The story on Granger was riddled with holes, wild speculation, and falsehoods — including the implication that she is in memory care or that she was “missing.” It also demonstrated little understanding of congressional mechanisms or the Constitution — such as the fact that House replacements cannot simply be “appointed.” The Constitution doesn’t permit that.
These publications are a throwback of sorts to the 19th century’s partisan newspapers, which tended to sensationalize, or, as one historian noted, “color” or even manufacture facts. It was all about converting the reader, not necessarily informing.
In reality, if a member were to step down so late in the calendar, one insider explained, “the clerk of the House essentially administers the district and keeps the staff in place.”
In other words, even if Granger had stepped down, nothing would have turned out differently than it did.
Since Granger’s return to Fort Worth at the end of July, the House was in session only 33 days. Members took off all of August, as well as October to go back home to campaign for November’s elections. The House was adjourned for 15 weeks between August and the end of December.
Granger missed only one major vote: the Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded and running until March. It’s designed that way. No one in Congress wants to have to deal with a hot political potato with an election looming. And her vote would have had no impact on the outcome. Other than perhaps votes on the names of post offices, there was literally nothing going on.
“That doesn’t mean that she and/or her staff weren’t involved, especially on a budget vote,” says Barton, who was first elected in 1984 and left in 2018. “I’ll guarantee you that she and/ or her staff were helping set the positions and maybe even rounding up votes for or against it. You don’t have to be on the floor to be counted, to be effective, to be heard.”
One source also said that Granger’s office had an understanding with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson that if he needed a vote, she was at the ready.
Moreover, Granger’s district offices remained opened, working on constituent casework.
It’s difficult to see why the Express published such a poorly reported story, aside from an apparent attempt to harm and embarrass Granger.
It is worth noting something else that wasn’t in the story: The CEO of the Express, Chris Putnam, is a political rival of Granger’s who ran against her in the 2020 GOP primary. She beat him decisively.
As Sam Rayburn, longtime Speaker of the House, once counseled: Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a skilled carpenter to build one.
Follow Us Follow Us
Local manners say a Fort Worthian should never gloat, but there’s only one way to have the city at your fingertips.
Luxe neutrals and artisan elements elevate traditional Western style.
Jenny B. Davis / SWB Agency Model: Taryn Ellis / Kim Dawson Agency
Shot on location at the Circle Y Ranch in Millsap, a premier cutting horse breeding facility and home of NCHA Hall of Fame stallion Im Countin Checks.
FRINGE BENEFITS
Leather jacket: Desperado, $1,230. desperado.us
Pleated dress: $128. J.Crew
Boots: Ariat, $159. Cavender’s
Turquoise and silver chandelier earrings: Mud Lowery, $795. mudlowery.com
Kingman turquoise and gemstone ring: Mud Lowery, $595. mudlowery.com
Wool hat: Rockin’ C, $74.99. Cavender’s
RELAXED RANCH
Boots: Ariat, $159. Cavender’s
Hand-woven buckskin tie top: Rhiannon Griego, by special order. rhiannongriego.com
Wide-leg jean: L’Agence, $320. Neiman Marcus Fort Worth.
Multistone Kingman turquoise and silver ring: Mud Lowery, $500. mudlowery.com
Number 8 turquoise and silver ring: Mud Lowery, $295. mudlowery.com
Wool hat: Cavender’s Hat Collection, $79.99. Cavender’s Buckle and belt: Courtesy of Circle Y Ranch
Turquoise and silver cuff: Stylist’s own
GOLDEN HOUR
Midi dress: A.L.C., $495. alcltd.com
Handcrafted leather boots: Marciante and Company, $300. marcianteandco.com
Turquoise and gold vermeil concho earrings: Mud Lowery, $685. mudlowery.com Bag: Cult Gaia, $320. Neiman Marcus Fort Worth
STALLION STANCE
Blazer: Alice + Olivia, $465. Alice + Olivia Kingman turquoise and silver squash blossom necklace: Mud Lowery, $4,000. mudlowery.com
Madea’s Down Home Cookin’
Baked chicken, oxtails, and other soul food essentials at Madea’s Down Home Cookin’.
Soul Good for the
Fort Worth’s finest soul food restaurants offer cuisine that warms the body and feeds the soul
By Malcolm Mayhew
Photos by Thanin Viriyaki
Sarah and Elbert Penson, owners of Madea’s Down Home Cooking
Every cuisine has its own sights, sounds, and fragrances that let you know you’re in the right place to eat it — the smoky aroma of barbecue; the snap, crackle, pop of a burger hitting the griddle; the irresistible scent of freshly baked bread wafting from your favorite bakery.
At Madea’s Home Cookin’, a charming soul food restaurant found on a bumpy back road in the south Fort Worth suburb of Everman, you’ll marvel at similar sensory touchstones: the crunch of fried catfish filets which, when bitten into, emit plumes of steam like cigarette smoke; candied yams so irresistibly sweet and savory, you’ll debate whether to mow through them as a starter or save for dessert; smothered pork chops, whose brown, rich gravy, dotted with seasonings, is still bubbling hot when it hits your table.
Born from a fusion of American ingredients and deeply rooted African culinary traditions, soul food has long played an instrumental role in our country’s culinary landscape. Its origins can be traced to the Great Migration, when millions of African Americans migrated north and west, carrying with them dishes like fried chicken, collard greens, and black-eyed peas; these treasures were shared with communities across the nation. As James Beard award-winning food historian Adrian Miller has aptly observed, soul food embodies the essence of an immigrant cuisine and ultimately became a beloved and cherished part of American culinary history.
Or, as Madea’s owner Elbert Penson plainly puts it, soul food is, as the old saying goes, good for the soul.
“There’s so much truth in that,” says Penson, who opened Madea’s with his wife Sarah 21 years ago as a tribute to his mother. “There’s so much passion in soul food — namely because of its origins. This is food that is steeped in hardship — many of the recipes date back to the time of slavery when the people who were making this food had little to make food with. They had little access to food — that’s why so much
of soul food revolves around fish and vegetables, which weren’t always easy to find but were a lot easier to find than other types of food. They used their imaginations to stretch what little they had to come up with, dishes that have now become cultural icons.”
Madea’s stands among a small but vibrant group of Fort Worth restaurants dedicated to soul food, or at least its unique expressions of it. Many, like Madea’s, are cherished neighborhood joints, beloved by regulars and locals alike. For these diners, the flavors evoke cherished memories of meals shared at their grandmothers’ tables. For others, Madea’s, Drew’s Place, Nana’s Kitchen, and others are creating new culinary traditions and forging lasting memories for a new generation of diners. Here, then, in no particular order, are our picks from the city’s best soul food restaurants:
Drew’s Place
Try this: Fried chicken Easily the city’s most well-known soul food restaurant, Drew’s Place — named after owner and former Texas Tech football player Andrew Thomas — is quintessential Fort Worth dining, as important and relevant as Angelo’s Barbecue or Fred’s Texas Cafe or Paris Coffee Shop or any of our city’s other longtime dining establishments. Opened by Thomas and his wife Stephanie in 1987, the first incarnation of Drew’s appeared in the south Fort Worth suburb of Forest Hill, not far from where Thomas grew up. But a bigger and better space was to be had in the Como area of Fort Worth, where the couple found, loved, and moved into a 1960s dentist’s office, complete with a lattice roof, rock wall, and other elements of midcentury modern decor, most of which the couple has kept intact. Drew’s boasts a vast menu of soul food staples, from excellent chicken-fried steak to smothered pork chops, all freshly made. But it’s their fried chicken, its meat moist and tender beneath a crackly golden cloak speckled with spices, that has kept people coming back day after
day, year after year — it’s the dish that turns first-timers into regulars. For dessert, get a slice of the housemade sweet potato pie, perhaps the restaurant’s second-best dish.
Details: 5701 Curzon Ave., drewssoulfoodfwtx.site
Juicy’s Soul Food Cafe
Try this: Beef tips
Opened in 2021 by first-time restaurant owner Carla Hatton (the “Juicy” in Juicy’s), this relative newcomer takes over the space previously occupied by another soul food sensation, the sorely missed Lady & the Pit. Originally opened as a Pizza Inn — its 70s-era brick facade and slim, frosted windows are still intact — the restaurant is large and spacious, big enough for Hatton to put a game room in back. On each table in the dining area, you’ll find a deck of cards — get to shuffling because your food is going to take some time to cook. You are forewarned by a sign at the counter: “Please be patient with us. We don’t serve fast food. We serve fresh food as fast as we can.” Hatton and her friendly crew make everything by hand, down to the cornbread, dinner rolls, and banana pudding. The menu is written on the wall and divided into days, with about seven entrees, including fried pork chops, meatloaf, and turkey wings, available each day. Each entree comes with a choice of three sides — fried okra, green beans, candied yams, fried cabbage, and, among others, the Sunday-only cornbread dressing. We’ve been most impressed with the beef tips, tender chunks of beef served under a blanket of gravy full of warmth and spice, as comforting as your favorite sweater.
We’ve fawned over this east side mainstay for years now, going back to when
Drew’s Place
Andrew Thomas, top, converted
a former dentist office into one of the most popular soul food restaurants in the city.
Singing Chef Cafe
Singing Chef owner Sammy Fox and general manager Anna Harrison.
Fried eats from Singing Chef Cafe.
we named it one of the city’s best new restaurants of 2020. Since then, owner Toshia “Nana” Ramsey hasn’t skipped a beat — even though her home cooking spot, voted the best soul food restaurant in Texas by listeners of I Heart Radio, has faced a series of seemingly insurmountable challenges, the most recent of which was a fire that caused substantial damage to the restaurant’s storeroom. The Le Cordon Bleu-trained Ramsey will soon return with a vengeance, though, as she’s taken over a space next door that’ll allow her to expand the dining room and serve chicken and waffles, fried pork chops, and smothered turkey wings to bigger crowds. Her signature dish is meatloaf, which may sound a bit humdrum. But in Ramsey’s hands, it’s a beast — a serving big enough for two to three people, each piece wearing a crown of strikingly red tomato sauce, whose bright and zesty flavor could only be made by someone nicknamed “Nana.” Ramsey says her new and improved restaurant will be ready to roll mid-February; till then, she’s open for to-go orders only.
Details: 7403 John T. White Road, nanaskitchentexas.com
Stormie Monday’s Soul Food Grill
Try this: Chicken spaghetti
This long-running spot on East Berry sets the tone before you even step in. A mural painted on the outside of the building proclaims, “Nothing brings people together like good food.” That’s exactly what you can expect at Stoney Johnson’s charming spot: a family vibe and fantastic food. This place is all about family and friends: While Johnson has his hands tied in the kitchen cooking oxtails, chicken-fried chicken, and a gargantuan baked potato loaded with five proteins (shrimp, chicken, sausage, brisket, and bacon), his kids often pop up to help out front of house, taking orders, visiting with diners, sitting with their friends; everybody here knows everybody here. And everybody here knows you should get the chicken spa-
ghetti, whose creamy, addictively spicy sauce is a well-kept family secret.
Details: 3509 E. Berry St., stormiemonday.com
Madea’s Down Home Cookin’
Try this: Oxtails
Opened 21 years ago in the pindot town of Everman, Madea’s Down Home Cookin’ is the local soul food restaurant by which we judge all other local soul food restaurants. Husband-wife owners Elbert and Sarah Penson have set a skyscraper-high bar few others can match, with their flavorful renditions of chicken and dumplings, beef tips and rice, fried pork chops, pot roast, and many others. Most of the recipes came from Elbert’s mother, Addie, whose nickname was “Madea,” an abbreviated way of saying, “mother dear,” Elbert says. Addie either developed these recipes herself or inherited them from other family members; Elbert says many of them date back to the era of slavery. All are served in a warm atmosphere that feels like home, no matter where your home may be. Many of the restaurant’s dishes are served cafeteria-style, while others are made to order and may take a bit to cook. Such is the case with the restaurant’s signature item, oxtails. Meat derived from the tails of cattle is pounded until tender, slow-cooked, then marinated for a day or so (Elbert won’t reveal the exact details; it’s such an painstaking process, he says); the result is silk-tender meat, buried in a brown gravy, that easily slides onto your fork and melts in your mouth. Get it with a side of hot water cornbread — cornbread that’s fried rather than baked.
Details: 1019 E. Enon Ave., Everman, facebook.com/madeasdownhomecookin/
Singing Chef Cafe
Try this: Peach pork chops
Sammy Fox opened his Forest Hillsarea restaurant at what could possibly be the worst time ever: in the middle of the pandemic. But the perpetually
Fox with his two loves: an instrument and food. Above, his chicken-fried steak
optimistic chef — and, yes, singer — did it smartly, offering, at first, to-go only food, helping him find his footing — and audience — in this southeast Fort Worth neighborhood. Now, his restaurant is usually filled from open to close. It’s a one-of-a-kind dining experience. You sit among guitars, photos of musicians and celebrities with whom the singing chef has rubbed shoulders, and, if you’re lucky, Fox’ll hum or sing, happily, skillfully, while he’s cooking your meal. “I want this to be a unique dining experience,” says Fox, who sings and plays drums in clubs throughout the North Texas area. “You can go to any restaurant and have a good meal. But this is a place you’ll remember.” Memorable as the setting is, the food is even more so. Fox offers chef-inspired, often-playful renditions of soul food and Southern staples: a po’boy sandwich made with Cap’n Crunch-breaded chicken, a half-pound hamburger made with doughnuts instead of buns, housemade pork rinds. For every whimsical dish, though, there are others that pay homage to his family’s heritage, like his fantastic shrimp jambalaya, or others that push the soul food genre forward, like his must-get peach pork chops, a plate-engulfing pork chop topped with grilled, honey-glazed peaches. Although somewhat of a newcomer in North Texas, Fox has been cooking for more than a decade. He’s cooked in kitchens across the state and ran a food truck, also called Singing Chef, in Temple. After the food truck was severely damaged in a fire, he headed to Fort Worth, where he opened this glammy soul food spot in the fall of 2021. His restaurant keeps unusual hours — he usually closes around 5, and he’s not open weekends. Evenings and weekends are devoted to his other love: playing music.
Details: 8000 Wichita St., thesingingchefcafe.com
Chef’s Corner
Try this: Shrimp and grits
Mike Douresseaux’s tiny Cajun and soul food spot isn’t hard to find as long
as you follow these simple instructions: Walk in and hang a right at the Twinkies. Chef’s Corner, you see, is in a gas station. But don’t let the sights and smells of one thing ruin the sights and smells of another: Douresseaux is cooking some of the best Cajun-inspired soul food in the city. This isn’t our first story on the Beaumont native who has spent 40 of his 56 years working in restaurants, many of them high-end hotel restaurants. Last year, we profiled Douresseaux after his food went viral on TikTok. With just cause: Here’s a guy serving lamb shank with a side of mushroom risotto, salmon glazed with sweet and fiery Thai chile sauce, and herb-grilled steak — out of the back of a gas station. Other menu items include corn-roasted jalapeno cheese grits with sausage, crawfish, fried catfish filets and jumbo shrimp, a spectacular, showstopper of a gumbo spiked with crab two ways — blue crab and massive snow crab legs — and chicken and waffles drizzled in burnt butter caramel. The Chevron gas station that he works out of has provided Douresseaux a second chance at cooking for a living. He pretty much quit the food business after landing in legal trouble; this tiny gas station kitchen is his comeback. In addition to being a chef, Douresseaux also spent several years as a dietary consultant, having graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in dietary management; his menu includes a handful of veggie and vegan options. Later this year, he’s planning on opening a new restaurant in Dallas.
Details: 5728 E. Berry St.
Other restaurants in the Fort Worth area that serve soul food classics include:
Belzoni’s Catfish Cafe: Although known primarily for expertly fried catfish, this White Settlement spot serves daily lunch specials that often veer into soul food territory, such as fried pork chops and smothered chicken. 110 N. Jim Wright Freeway, belzoniscatfishcafe.com.
DJay’s Soul Food: This upbeat joint on the east side is hard to miss, its dinerstyle, bright red and white facade is so eye-catching. Inside you’ll find soul food essentials, done well and inexpensive. A meat and three side special is less than $20 — a steal once you see the portion sizes. It’s one of the few restaurants in Fort Worth that offers pig’s feet; sides such as lima beans with smoked ham hocks and green beans with smoked turkey are worth the trip. 6700 Brentwood Stair Road
Mama E’s Bar-B-Q and Homestyle Cooking: Run by Ernestine “Mama” Edmond, one of only a few female pitmasters in Fort Worth, this 20-year-old barbecue joint, located a block east of Interstate 35 in south Fort Worth in an old Kentucky Fried Chicken, offers rotating lunch and dinner specials, including meatloaf, pork chops, and some of the best fried chicken in this area.
Smoke-a-holics BBQ: “Soul Food Sundays” have become a huge deal at this south side barbecue joint, one of the best in the city. One Sunday a month, give or take, owner Derrick Walker opens on his usual day off to offer a pitmaster’s take on soul food classics, such as smoked meatloaf, garlic butter lamb chops, smoked oxtails, collard greens with smoked turkey, and desserts such as Coca Cola cake and sweet potato pie. Keep an eye on the restaurant’s social media for more info. 1417 Evans Ave., smoke-a-holicsbbq.com
Taste of Tasby: Tiny spot in the Meadowbrook area offers a huge menu of soul food classics and a wide assortment of desserts. 6541 Meadowbrook Drive
Chef’s Corner
Chef Mike Douresseaux at his gas station restaurant, Chef’s Corner
Pride, Perseverance & Preservation
BY BRIAN KENDALL
In 1993, Tim Buchanan became the head football coach for a 2-8 team that didn’t even have matching uniforms. Twelve state titles and a 125-game district winning streak later, and the Aledo Bearcats have become Texas’ most successful high school football program, ever. But in today’s changing football landscape, are the Bearcats the last great dynasty?
PHOTOS BY RICHARD RODRIGUEZ
Prologue: 1187 to Aledo
They basically reset Jermichael Finley’s brain. Those were Finley’s words in a Players’ Tribune column he wrote in May 2017, nearly four years after suffering a careerending spinal injury while playing tight end for the Green Bay Packers.
Finley and Tashaun Gipson, then safety for the Cleveland Browns, were, for all intents and purposes, hitting a fifth gear when their heads collided on Oct. 20, 2013. Running across the middle of a football field with the ball in your hands: It’s like barreling directly into oncoming traffic.
As someone who had gone from being a highly recruited high school standout to a star tight end at the University of Texas and a five-year pro at Green Bay — earning the starting position his rookie season — Finley could take a hit. He was conditioned to know what they felt like. But he never felt this. His eyes were wide open, he was conscious, but he couldn’t move a muscle.
“Is this God punishing me? Is this karma?” Finley wrote in separate column for Sports Illustrated in 2013. “This was my initial thought when I was down on the field. I felt as if everything that I had ever done wrong came crashing down at me at that one moment.”
Just three weeks earlier, an eerily foretelling article ran on ESPN in which Finley discussed his family’s reaction to a hit he sustained earlier in the year that resulted in a concussion. Following the concussion, his eldest son, Kaydon, said, “Daddy, I want you to stop playing football.”
The Gipson hit would seal this fate.
The hit left Finley with a two-centimeter bruise on his spinal cord. Two weeks later, Finley would have surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his neck. Despite making a full recovery and attempting a comeback, Finley announced his retirement in 2015, the collection on an insurance policy securing his family financially. But his primary reason for hanging it up: to be a better dad.
According to Finley, such a community had long been right under their noses, having routinely driven by it on their numerous trips to visit Courtney’s father, who lived in Weatherford. “We used to always come down I-20 to Weatherford, and I always passed this 1187 to Aledo sign,” Finley says. “And I’m, like, what’s down to the left over there on 1187? So, I used to see it over the years. And then when I retired, her dad was like, ‘Y’all should try out this little town called Aledo.’”
The small Parker County town off Exit 420 (yeah, it’s a one-exit town), which then had a population of 3,300 people, checked all the boxes: family-oriented, great academics, safe, etc. But it had another perk that Finley readily admits had him licking his chops: They had one hell of a football team.
And we’re not just talking a solid program that makes playoffs, wins the occasional title, and gets the attention of college scouts. Aledo’s reputation is beyond numbers.
At the time, Aledo High School, which had just made the jump to 5A, had six state titles in high school football. They were no longer on the upswing and had established themselves as one of the state’s, and even nation’s, best high school football teams.
“Coming from where I came from, and what I did in my career,” Finley says, “of course football factored into what we were looking for.”
Proof that football is inherent, the son who told Finley he didn’t want him playing football anymore was 7 when they moved, and Finley needed to find a place for him to reach his full potential.
Finley grew up in Diboll, a small East Texas town with a population that doesn’t crack 5,000. He attended Diboll High School, where he excelled in multiple sports and played almost every other position on the football team — seriously, even punting and kicking. So, it’s safe to say the former Longhorn and Green Bay Packer was accustomed to small-town Texas life. And following his injury, he and his wife, Courtney — with a couple little ones in tow — were on the lookout for a small, family-oriented community to call home.
Kaydon is now a junior, and he’s Aledo’s star wide receiver. And, to sum up numerous scouting reports, he’s damn good.
1. “It’s Kickoff Time in Titletown”
It’s a warm October Friday night, and the pregame rituals begin just as the sun melts into the horizon and the lights of Tim Buchanan Stadium reach peak brightness. Clad in orange and black, the home team’s faithful, which includes a sizable chunk of the town, sit on the north end of the stadium. They’re separated in three distinct sections: students to the right; parents, townspeople, and hifalutin season ticket holders in the middle; and the marching band and spillover from the student section to the left. As is customary, the home bleachers appear twice as large as those granted to the visiting team — that is, if one abides by the notion that one’s rooting interest dictates where one sits.
From the sidelines, the stands on the home side appear near capacity, and the student section to the right, where a young girl holds a sign that reads “GET LOUD OR GO SIT WITH YOUR MOM,” is getting rowdy. The visitor’s side appears a little more than half
full, even with a smaller capacity, but those who made the trek are animated, no less.
There’s a jumbotron on one end of the field showing impressive graphics, and on the other end is another patch of stands — this section made up of a hodgepodge of home team supporters. On each sideline are 12 orange silhouettes of the state of Texas, each one fashioned with a pair of numbers that represent the years the home team, the Aledo Bearcats, won the state championship. The numbers begin at 98 and end at 23.
“It’s kickoff time in Titletown,” a voice over the stadium’s loudspeaker exclaims.
Dozens of players in black uniforms with stylized A’s — designed to include a menacing bearcat — on their helmets storm through a handsomely crafted breakaway banner and run toward the opposite end zone, flexing, hollering, hyping, and, for some, generally hamming it up for cameras in their lines of sight. The players, which to some might be surprising, are not particularly big. They’re lean, strong, and well-built, but none have the football cliché bodies of regularly eating more cheeseburgers than their body can properly process.
Seconds after making it to the opposite end of the field, and in an almost jarring contrast to what the entire stadium just witnessed, the players take a knee near the 5-yard line, bow their heads, and pray. Whether requesting strength, touchdowns, unbroken limbs, or mercifully asking for opponent health, I can’t tell — it’s between
them and their God — but all seem like good guesses.
The home team, the Aledo Bearcats, the team I’ve been following on the sidelines all season, are playing their sixth game of the year, a game against Denton Ryan, a team that, to this point, is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the state. There’s chatter in the press box about the Ryan Raiders being good this year, that the game could “test the mettle of our boys.” While not explicitly stated, there’s a palpable anxiety over whether Aledo’s 122-game division win streak is in jeopardy. “Ryan’s been rolling over opponents, but they haven’t faced a team as good as Aledo,” someone says.
Though they haven’t dropped a district game, Aledo is not undefeated and is ranked No. 2 in the state. The Bearcats lost their first game of the year at Denton Guyer — a 6A school (Aledo is 5A, meaning they’re a little smaller, in terms of enrollment.) — where Aledo couldn’t get a Hail Mary off on the final play. But they’ve won their last four contests by an average of 50 points. To watch those contests from the sideline was akin to watching a Madden video game between someone with six fingers and someone with poor dexterity.
But there’s little doubt this game is considered a test and, like any Bearcat game, comes with high stakes. For Aledo, blemishes on its record are so few and far between that such losses get painfully etched into the memory of the entire town.
Tim Buchanan, Aledo’s previous coach and athletic director who’s credited with building the program into national prominence and whose name is now one with the Bearcats’ stadium,
Robby Jones
Gavin Beard and Ray Guillory
Ray Guillory
admits that the team’s success can be a bit of a double-edged sword when it comes to the pressure coaches and players put on themselves. The overwhelming feeling: It’s championship or bust.
“In ’21, we got beat by South Oak Cliff who went on to win the state championship,” Buchanan says. “Were we happy? No. Did I really brag on those kids that they were better than 98% of all football teams in the state of Texas that year? Yes.”
At some point in the last few years, perhaps circa 2019, when the Bearcats officially passed Southlake Carroll for most state titles, Aledo, as a program, entered a stratosphere that might very well be unmatched. They’re no longer simply a great program, or even a historic program. No, after a 10-year stretch that included “one of the greatest high school football players ever” in Johnathan Gray leading the team to three state titles, followed by another title two years later, followed by a new head coach Steve Wood capturing three titles in five years, followed by Buchanan returning and winning another title the very next year … the program became legendary.
This is also failing to mention the lawsuit against Buchanan for bullying following a 91-0 shellacking of their opponent (who will remain unnamed in this article), or that every freshman class since 2006 has at least one state championship, or that the team hasn’t lost in the first round of the playoffs since Buchanan took over as coach in 1993, or that the team once scored over 1,000 points in one year … legend.
recruited players in football; they have recruiting profiles on ESPN with scout grades, position rankings, and check marks by schools that have extended offers. And these checked-off schools include some of the most prominent programs in college sports: Texas, Auburn, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and, yes, TCU have all extended offers to both Ray and Finn. And, in the new college football world of NIL, transfer portals, and cutting seven-figure checks, it’s a lot for a 16-year-old to navigate. Ray said in August that a recent offer from Ohio State was “my spark for this season.”
And a spark is desperately needed in the first half of this game against the undefeated Ryan Raiders. Ryan just scored another touchdown toward the tail end of the half, and the Bearcats are down 27-8. The large home-team side of the stadium, while not yet completely deflated, has certainly lost some air. And the substantially smaller but now rowdy visitor’s side is providing every decibel that fills the stadium. Perhaps fears that this game would be a difficult test for Aledo was, in fact, wrong — the game is about to become a rude awakening.
And such legendary status can heighten expectations. This year’s squad, whether rightly or wrongly, is expected to lift the state championship trophy at Cowboys Stadium in December — just as the two previous Aledo squads did. This would mark the school’s third three-peat, a three three-peat, if you will, which would be unprecedented and thoroughly unbelievable.
But there are questions and concerns about this year’s team. While Aledo’s defense will always remain solid — thanks to an emphasis from Buchanan when he initially took over the program — the offense lost quarterback Hauss Hejny, who led the team to two straight titles and went 16-0 last year. And the junior sliding into his spot, Gavin Beard, while solid, remains unproven and had an injury early in the season.
But the offense does have two clear stars. Two guys whose athleticism is undeniable and, more importantly, have a moxie and swagger that breeds confidence among teammates. Raycine (Ray) Guillory at running back and Kaydon (Finn) Finley (yes, Jermichael Finley’s son) at wide receiver, both juniors, are the young men expected to shoulder responsibility and bring success to Aledo over the next two years. But, with talent — and these guys have talent in spades — comes distractions. They’re two of the most highly
Almost as soon as that thought entered my brain, senior cornerback Adrian Fuller returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown.
“The kickoff return right before halftime changed everything — that was a backbreaker,” Ryan coach Dave Henigan said after the game. “We had all the momentum, and then they captured the momentum going into halftime. All of a sudden all the momentum was on their side, and we never could recapture it.”
Ray would also put on a show in the second half, scoring three touchdowns and finishing with 198 total yards on offense. Finn would make his mark on the game, too, adding one touchdown and 100 yards receiving. And Gavin Beard put some worriers at ease with a pair of touchdown passes and 140 yards through the air. When I asked Gavin a couple weeks later how he dealt with the pressure, he told me he didn’t feel any.
“It just comes with the preparation that we put in week in and week out,” Gavin said. There’s a lot of outside noise, but you just got to block it out. I put my phone on silent for games, all that stuff. I just stay locked in on the task at hand.”
It was classic case of a tale of two halves. But I had a feeling Aledo would be seeing this team again.
Aledo 42, Ryan 27
2. Pride
Downtown Aledo — a tiny, albeit historic 80-or-so-yard stretch of shared-wall buildings — rests just to the north of the once-coined Texas & Pacific Railway line, and to the west of an old grain elevator slapped with the name Bryant, and to the south of a feed store that operates out of a large garage. The town center’s small
Owen Henderson raises the bi-district trophy.
parking lot is spotted almost exclusively with trucks — large ones, not those mid-size type — and a church, whose building size and parking lot is exponentially larger than the entirety of downtown Aledo, is only a stone’s throw away. Blindfold a man and drop them off on a corner, and they’d never suspect they were just a few miles from the 11th largest city in the U.S. But give an Aledo resident a map and ask him or her to shade in the areas that constitute the metroplex, and Aledo would undoubtedly remain unshaded.
True Aledoans are small-town people. They do their own landscaping and speak with a thick Texas accent that sounds more Permian Basin than anything one would find east of Fort Worth. Yet, the way the crow flies, downtown Fort Worth isn’t any further from Aledo than it is from AT&T Stadium. But when you head west on 30, those normal miles turn into, well, country miles. They have, in their own way, successfully ignored any eminent domain authority the metroplex might have on its immediate surroundings.
And, boy, do they love Bearcat football.
Tim Buchanan Stadium’s seating capacity is 9,155, and according to population estimates, Aledo’s population is around 6,200 people. Yet, home games are regularly sold out. That’s the entire town and a few distant cousins in attendance.
Whatever an Aledo native’s affiliation with the school — alum, kids attending, kids previously attended, or they regularly spot Tim
Buchanan Stadium in the distance — their truck or SUV is likely to have a sticker of an orange A on its bumper or rear window.
“Orange and black are everywhere in Aledo and east Parker County,” Aledo Mayor Nick Stanley says. “The community shows their pride, displays signs on the doors of businesses rooting on the Bearcats, and some businesses are even named after the Bearcats.”
I had a query concerning the Bearcats’ secret ingredient. What is the “thing” that makes them so damn good year in and year out? And this was a question I asked every person I interviewed for this story.
The universal response: the community.
“It has everything to do with our community and the parents,” current Aledo head football coach Robby Jones says. “Our community expects us to put out a good product and to be successful. Most of the people that live here are successful in whatever field they’ve gone into, and that has carried over with their kids. Our kids show up and they put in the work and they do what’s expected of them and then they have great rewards afterwards.”
And this is precisely why Jermichael Finley and his wife moved here in 2015. While, yes, football had a lot to do with it, a great community and successful football team are the furthest thing from mutually exclusive. Jermichael knows that, in Texas, a great community is what makes a great football team.
“People buy in,” Finley says. “People buy in to the community, people buy in to making their kids great men and women and suc-
Lincoln Tubbs, Kayden Calloway, Blake Burdine, Jamal Hollister, Kaydon Finley, Christian Mendoza Kaydon Finley
Robby Jones and Lancaster Head Coach Leon Paul III
cessful in academics or football or whatever it is. It’s a very, very competitive little town.”
While Finley and his wife moved here with two kids, they now have five. All Boys. And, yes, they’re all going to play football at Aledo.
“I got pretty much every position,” Finley says. “I got linebacker, quarterback, I got a Reggie Bush for you. I got anything you want.”
But Kaydon is the eldest and, according to Finley, the tone setter. He’s tall (6 feet, 1 inch according to his recruiting profile), well-built (195 pounds), has a head full of blonde curly hair, and a square jaw. To put it bluntly: He looks like a guy who hit all the right numbers in the genetic lottery — he was born to play football and to break a few hearts.
suspect this comes out in other ways. On the field, he’s perpetually on an even keel but prepared and fully equipped to make a jaw-dropping play at any moment. And his on-field demeanor suggests something even more intriguing: He looks like he knows something that no one else on the field knows, like he’s constantly pulling one over on everyone.
“I have a cheat code from my dad,” Kaydon says. “You’ve got to put everything to the side, and you just got to play football like you did when you were a little kid. You just got to have fun with it and have fun with your brothers while you can, before you get to the next level. Then it actually becomes a business, and you really have to leave it all out there.”
Finn moved to Aledo when he was 7 after his dad retired from the NFL, and in fourth grade he became friends with Gavin Beard, the team’s quarterback. And with Kaydon as a wide receiver, they’ve been playing football together ever since. This continuity is a major strength for the Bearcats — both guys knew they wanted to play football at Aledo when they were tossing the ball in the peewee leagues.
“When [Finn’s] on the field,” Gavin says, “I got all confidence in the world. He’s going to make a play when I put the ball in his hands.”
If Kaydon exudes quiet confidence, Ray exudes confidence turned to 10. They’re the yin and yang on the team. A perfect balance.
I can’t say when Ray started looking older than his actual years, but at 17, he sports an impressive mustache, earrings, tattoo sleeves, and a physique that looks like it took two decades to achieve. However, I can see how he started acting older than his age.
“I got five younger brothers and three younger sisters,” Ray says. “So, when it comes to responsibility, I’ve been there. I’ve been the man of the house. [My brother and sisters] call me all the time, just wanting to talk.”
Though he’s shorter than Finn (5 feet, 10 inches according to his recruiting profile), such height is desirable for his position at running back. Like Finn, these Aledo guys are striking pay dirt in that genetic lottery.
And, like most Aledo players with whom I spoke, he routinely addressed me as “sir” and answered questions, “Yes, sir” or “No, sir.” In the world of good manners, this means he was raised right. There is, however, something sharp and serious about his eyes — something that suggests little patience for tomfoolery. But I
And he’s not shy about smiling. In fact, I’d surmise he’s not shy about anything. He appears simultaneously the big man on campus and the class clown. He’s hyper aware of his surroundings and his status as a top talent and media darling — always ready and willing to strike a charming pose for the camera. And when he makes plays on the field, he makes them big and accomplishes this with seeming effortlessness. The guy doesn’t run, he flies.
Ray tells me that, growing up in Southside Fort Worth, all he knew was football. At the age of 3, his dad put one of those laced oblong balls in his hand, and he was a natural. “But at first I wanted to be a basketball player,” Ray says. But I was better at football, and
Gavin Beard
I knew I wasn’t going to be tall, so I just had to go to football.”
A wise decision. Ray started putting up gaudy numbers as soon as he arrived at Aledo as a sophomore, rushing for 1,236 yards and 17 touchdowns. But a knee injury kept him sidelined for the final two playoff games and forced him to have off-season knee surgery. Unsure of his future, and whether he’d bounce back to 100%, Ray committed to Texas.
“But after I start working out, I’m, like, man, matter of fact, I think I’m going to be good,” Ray says. With incredible Power 5 schools aggressively recruiting him, Ray decommitted from Texas to leave his options open.
Ray would have a banner game in an overtime win over Richland on Oct. 25, rushing for 245 yards and five touchdowns to keep Aledo’s district win-streak alive. Any school that hadn’t yet extended an offer were now working on their best pitch. And as Finn and Ray’s junior seasons continued to unfold, the Bearcats went undefeated in district play, winning their last three games by an average of 60 points, and would enter the playoffs for the program’s 29th straight year.
3. Perseverance
High school football coaches can only conduct phone interviews when driving. This is my experience, at least, as I have yet to hear a high school coach’s voice through a telephone without the distinct sound of road hum in the background — behind the wheel is the only time they’re able to chat. Tim Buchanan was on his way to dinner when he took my call. He was one of my final interviews.
a head football coach, and Rogers answered in the affirmative. In 1993, the job at Aledo became available. At that same time, Buchanan interviewed for another head coaching position at Coldspring High School outside of Huntsville. “It was a really really good job at the time,” Buchanan says. “They had gone 14-1 the year before and got beat at the 3A state level by Southlake Carroll.”
The two couldn’t have been further apart — Aledo had gone 2-8 the previous year, and the program had gone through five coaches in four years.
“You’re one of the few people I have yet to talk to, and you might be the most important person to speak to,” I said.
“I don’t know about that,” he quipped. “Who told you this?”
Despite his humble nature, few would argue Buchanan’s significance to the program. It’s not a stretch to say, as George Washington is to the U.S., Tim Buchanan is to Aledo Football. While he wouldn’t dare call himself the founder of the program — Aledo High School has been around since well before he could coach (1955) — he was the person who saved the program, brought it back to life — its defibrillator, so to speak. Put it this way: There are the pre-Tim Buchanan years and the post-Tim Buchanan years.
Before arriving at Aledo, Buchanan had hopped around as a coach. And when I say hopped around, I’m not just talking schools but sports, too. “Actually, the only sport I’ve never coached is soccer,” Buchanan says. He wound up in College Station working as an assistant coach at A&M Consolidated High School, where he worked under his mentor, Ross Rogers. Buchanan would ask Rogers bluntly if he ever thought he’d be
According to Buchanan, Aledo got left in the dust when the school started growing too fast, going from a 1A to a 3A school in a matter of a few years. Unable to play catch-up, the losing mentality and reputation simply endured. The program hadn’t won a playoff game since 1974, when they were 1A state title runner-up.
“They had 17 kids playing football in high school at that time, and they were in the district with Southlake Carroll, Decatur, Springtown, Bridgeport, Lake Dallas, Lake Worth, Castleberry — some top programs in the state.” Beyond that, half the stadium’s bleachers were condemned, there was no practice field, and because they had gone through so many coaches ordering new uniforms, the players didn’t have matching sets. The epitome of a mess.
But when he sought advice from Rogers, his mentor told him to take the Aledo job.
“He said, ‘You can go to Coldspring, and you might win a state championship. But you can go to Aledo and build a program.”
Initially, Buchanan’s goal was to make it three years as head coach. Three years, and he could make a difference. “And no coach had gone beyond a year since 1989,” Buchanan emphasizes.
What happened next was all about teamwork. Buchanan would implement a new offense that allowed more players to be involved. He was spreading the offense, throwing the ball more, making players happy to get touches. Concerning defense, Buchanan was confident. He was a defensive guy, after all. “I played linebacker on a scholarship at [Abilene Christian University], so we were going to play good defense, and that’s what we hung our hat on.”
But, most importantly, Buchanan was trying to teach the team how to win.
“What I had to teach them was that there are consequences,” Buchanan says. “There are consequences for winning and consequences for losing. The guys who won got to go take a shower, while the rest of them had to sweep the fieldhouse or run an extra lap. There was always a consequence for losing and, basi-
Kaydon Finley
cally, a reward for winning.”
In one of the quickest and most exaggerated turnarounds in the history of high school sports, the Aledo Bearcats would win the 3A state championship in 1998, the first in program history. And what followed has been 26 years of consistency — an always-in the-hunt for the title mentality that will never cease.
The Johnathan Gray Era, as most in Aledo call it, started in 2009, Gray’s sophomore year. The school had moved up to 4A in 2002 and was initially struggling — Aledo struggling, that is, which is losing in the semifinals — against larger schools. But after a few years, the school started growing, and thus the pool of potential football players began expanding. Add Johnathan Gray to the mix, and it was the perfect storm.
“Johnathan Gray might’ve been the best high school football player I’d ever seen,” Buchanan says. “And he didn’t have to work real hard to do it. He could have never showed up a day in the off season and still been the running back. But he did show up, and he worked harder than anybody else on the football team.”
The school would win three straight state titles in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Another would follow in 2013 before Buchanan decided to hand over the reins of coach to his assistant, Steve Wood, and become the full-time athletic director for the school. Buchanan had already been juggling both the AD position and the role head football coach. Deciding it was far too much on one person’s plate, Wood got promoted to head coach.
Even with a different man at the helm, the Bearcats continued their success with state titles in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
“Steve did a great job,” Buchanan says. “I mean, I knew he would. Steve took over and did it for five years, and now, Robby’s been doing it for two years, and I can go watch practice and nothing’s changed. Not one single thing.”
But, in a twist, Wood and Buchanan would switch roles the following season.
“Took me about three weeks [after becoming the AD] to realize
I’d made a big mistake,” Buchanan says. “I should have told Wood he’s going to go be the AD, and I was going to continue being head coach because I hated [being AD]. It was the worst five years of my life.”
After winning yet another state championship in 2023, Buchanan and Wood would jointly retire as head coach and AD, respectively. Longtime assistant Robby Jones would then get promoted to head coach, and, like Wood before him, claim a state title in his first year.
Such unparalleled success has, naturally, had some effects on this town that once saw itself as a cattle shipping community in the boonies. The population of the town and the surrounding areas continue to grow, and the football team can claim its fair share of responsibility. “Overall, the reputation of the school district and our championship football team have attracted countless number of families to move to Aledo,” Aledo Mayor Nick Stanley says.
With the growth comes two things. First, Aledo will level up to 6A in the next few years. Second, the town is no longer as multigenerational as it once was. There’s not as much great-grandpa’s-buried-in-the-back-type stuff that made the town unique, especially when considering its proximity to a major population bubble. But these changes don’t preclude the town’s multigenerational people from rooting for the orange and black, even if a chunk of players moved here from California.
“I understand the disappointment,” Coach Robby Jones says of a seasonending loss, “but our guys are going to be able to hold their heads high the rest of year because they’re champions.”
Kaydon Finley consoling Gavin Beard following regional championship loss
Consolation in losing to Denton Ryan came in knowing that much of this year’s young roster will be back next season — older, wiser, and as hungry to win as ever.
4. Preservation
The Bearcats made getting to the regional championship look easy. Wins over Chisholm Trail, Abilene, and Tascosa by an average of 52 points have set up what was an inevitable rematch with Denton Ryan. And when considering their prior second-half pounding of the Raiders and an unscathed record since their last matchup, the Bearcats have every right to enter the game with confidence.
But five days before the teams square off, big news hit Bearcat nation. Ray announced he was leaving school early, foregoing his senior year, and committing to the University of Utah for the 2025 season. Though Ray did not make his reasons clear, it’s not a stretch to assume incentives were thrown his way for leaving high school early.
I spoke with Jones, the coach, a couple of weeks after his announcement. “Selfishly, I would like for Ray to be a part of our team next year. I think it would’ve benefited him as far as development. But at the same time, the college game has changed, and that’s leading to a trickle-down effect into the high schools. And when those colleges say, hey, if you want to graduate early, we’re going to provide you with X amount of money and all these other things we can’t provide for them in high school, it’s going to entice elite guys like Ray to go.”
If this was Aledo’s first experience with the effects of new laws pertaining to name image and licensing and paying college
players, it was a particularly cruel introduction.
Jermichael Finley, whose son Kaydon (Finn) has no plans of leaving high school early, has his own perspective as a father and former high school and college standout. “It’s all about who you got in your corner,” Finley says. “It’s too many people in the background of all these kids who are coming into professional sports, and I’m calling it professional because it’s not amateur anymore, college is not amateur. So, all these kids coming into professional sports at 17, 18 years old, they don’t know how to deal with this. It is either mental, or they’re losing their mind. They don’t know how to navigate the taxes, the money, the financial advisers, and all of the responsibilities that come with such a big payday.”
Despite the announcement and the knowledge that Ray will not be suiting up for Aledo his senior year, he’s still playing in the regional championship game against Ryan.
Weather called for the day to be very cold and very wet, and it delivered on its promise — both elements on this Saturday afternoon in Crowley were unceasing. The large crowd was covered in ponchos, but few attempts were made at avoiding the harsh weather. Simply accepting one’s fate to be cold and wet gave at least a modicum of relief.
While Aledo had a 14-10 lead at halftime, something wasn’t quite right. Something was amiss, and it wasn’t the weather; this wasn’t the same team I had watched from the sideline all year. Even after Aledo scored a touchdown on a Gavin Beard pass early in the third quarter, an uneasy feeling remained. And as Ryan made its comeback, the feeling in one’s gut of an inevitable loss started to sink in. Ryan would score two touchdowns within five minutes of each other to take the lead.
Another touchdown from Ryan came in the final few minutes, as Aledo’s chances went from glimmers of hope to nonexistent. Aledo would lose the game 31-21, and the Ryan Raiders would be crowned regional champs.
The reaction on the sideline and in the stands from the Aledo faithful was unlike any I had ever seen. It wasn’t anger or frustration; it was genuine sadness. Not even the pouring rain could hide the tears being shed by players, cheerleaders, moms, dads, friends, and fans. It was clear in that moment, this feeling of loss remains a somewhat foreign emotion the program’s devotees; it’s unexpected and, thus, a tragedy. Since 2009, this is only fifth time the team has lost its final game. It isn’t supposed to end with a bad taste.
But most of Aledo’s players will be back next year. Remember, they were young and unproven. Next year, they will be neither. Friends Kaydon Finley and Gavin Beard will be back, and Coach Robby Jones will continue to implement the same stuff that’s worked for 26 years.
“Everybody on that team’s a champion,” Coach Jones said a few weeks after their last game. “I understand the disappointment, but our guys are going to be able to hold their heads high the rest of year because they’re champions.”
Special thanks to Mercedes Mayer for setting everything up and Richard Rodriguez for being a warrior and a pro.
‘I’M NO ENTERTAINER’
ONE OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY’S MOST INFLUENTIAL MEMBERS OF THE ‘OLD GUARD,’ T BONE BURNETT REMAINS FITTINGLY ELUSIVE BUT BUSY AS EVER.
BY MICHAEL H. PRICE
PHOTOS BY DARAH HUBBARD
The more prominent entertainers come and go with the tides of commercialized trend-worthiness — some, trend-shapers, and more of them, trend-chasers. The less one pictures oneself as an entertainer, then the likelier the staying power, and trends be damned. Not to drop any names, y’know: You get the picture.
Fort Worth’s T Bone Burnett has become a momentous eminénce grisé of the music industry by refusing to play the entertainer. He casts himself, rather, as a storyteller-in-song, the better to sustain a lifelong credential as a producer of the recordings of fellow artists. To know how to perform, to put a lyric across, is to know how to produce one’s affiliated artists for credibility and staying power. The music-making profession, an unlicensed trade, rewards those artists who deal in practical self-accreditation, rather than by pursuing the elusive commercial rewards.
“I’m no entertainer,” Burnett avers in a seeming paradox, even while winding down from a sold-out tour of listening rooms, coast-to-coast and points south, culminating with appearances in Dallas, Austin, and Houston. Audiences, ideally outnumbering a featured soloist, are a foregone conclusion with such performances. The engagements have traded as much upon Burnett’s solo album of 2024, The Other Side, as upon his genial, low-key presence, a whisper-soft melodic voice, and a natural ability to commune in song and story with an attuned crowd.
“I’ve never really known how to take applause in any regimented sense,” says Joseph Henry “T Bone” Burnett, 77. “I’m starting to understand that process by returning to the give-and-take approach of my old-time favorite way of making music — just sitting around on somebody’s floor with friends and instruments and listeners, everybody feeling the music and contributing spontaneous responses and handclapping. That clap-back effect gives a singer an immediate grasp of the connection — like getting an ‘Amen!’
A give-and-take situation.”
experience goes into these songs. I feel I’ve come into a clearing ... where the songs don’t need to be anything but beautiful. People can say one thing with their words and another thing with their tone... [W]e invented spoken language to be able to lie, because when you sing, the tone lets everyone know what you mean.”
The Other Side achieves a tone of playful serenity in such moments as a hymn-like, myth-calibre, and wondrously nonsanctimonious “He Came Down” and a meditative “I’m Gonna Get Over This Someday.” This selection rides upon a loping reflection of Johnny Cash’s middle-1950s Memphis recordings, with a hummingbird harmony from Cash’s daughter, Rosanne. A soothing stringed-instruments accompaniment overall recalls Burnett’s preferred period of rock ’n’ roll (foreshadowing his youthful emergence during that 1950s-into-1960s transition), which often used a mellower rhythmic touch to lighten or even avoid the percussive onslaught of drums.
“I’ve never really known how to take applause in any regimented sense. I’m starting to understand that process by returning to the giveand-take approach of my old-time favorite way of making music — just sitting around on somebody’s floor with friends and instruments and listeners.”
Burnett’s New Technology Reignites an Ancient Process Burnett’s docket of modern-day projects includes a composerproducer collaboration with Beatles alumnus Ringo Starr and a music-andhumor venture with Elvis Costello (in character as the Coward Bros., Henry and Howard). Unique among the newer activities is Burnett’s 2021 production of an analog recording by Bob Dylan of his careerdefining civil rights anthem, “Blowin’ in the Wind.” (The lyric dates from 1961.)
This version of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” as Artnet News’ Sarah Cascole has reported, features a full accompanying instrumentation. The record is not destined for reproduction. A one-of-a-kind art object, in other words, as opposed to a conventional phonograph record or a digital disk or file. It is the only such disk, by the creators’ fiat.
The approach, conversational and communal, has more to do with tone than with melodic notation or harmonies or rhythm, as Burnett explained last year to Geoffrey Himes of Pulse magazine: “We live on a hostile planet, and life has always been outrageous. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is the tone of my response to life ... Before, my tone was too strict, too hard, not loving enough, for what I care about now.” The either/ or choice between a lingering emotional tone of acceptance and one of confrontation depends upon the impression a singer cares to leave.
“I’ve had incredible experiences ...,” he adds, “... and all that
This unduplicable condition places the NeoFidelity Ionic Original acetate disc of “Blowin’ in the Wind” on a par comparable with, for example, an original canvas by some acknowledged master painter of whatever historic period one might mention. The clincher of the recording’s larger significance is that it sold in 2022 for $1.77 million at Christie’s London. Burnett expressed hope the new owner (anonymous, per the auction house) “will consider it ... as a painting or any other singular work of art.”
“Not only is an Ionic Original the equivalent of a painting, it is a painting,” Burnett maintains. “It is lacquer, painted onto an aluminum disc, with a spiral etched into it by music. This painting, however, has the additional quality of containing that music, which can be heard by putting a stylus into the spiral and spinning it.”
Burnett’s history with Dylan dates from the “Rolling Thunder Revue” of the middle 1970s. Burnett’s collaborative, scientifically
based development of the new analog-audio format, known as Ionic Originals via NeoFidelity, Inc., will persist in 2025 in a venture with Willie Nelson. Nelson’s involvement will advance the objective of capturing monumental voices at a prime of mature artistry.
“CDs are infinitely reproducible,” as Burnett explained to the show-business tradepaper Variety. “This [Ionic] is an actual one-of-one. [Dylan] hadn’t been on the road for a couple of years when we did these recordings, so his voice was clear and strong and beautiful.”
Burnett elaborated: “Analog sound has more depth, more harmonic complexity, more resonance, better imaging... Analog has more feel, more character, more touch. Digital sound is frozen. Analog sound is alive.”
The Ionic Originals process engraves the sound directly into an acetate record. (This is historically the first step in making a conventional test platter.) Conventional acetate, as used in times past, generates as pure a sound as can be captured, but the grooved surface deteriorates rapidly as the stylus, or needle, the warmth of friction, and environmental impurities (such as airborne dust) dig into the lacquer that has been painted onto an aluminum base.
The difference lies in Ionic Originals’ sapphire-and-quartz gradient coating — spaceexploration technology, developed as a shield against cosmic radiation — that protects the physical record and improves playback, as Artnet describes the process. Needle-to-groove friction is eliminated, and the surface provides a resonance and a sonic fidelity that Burnett says cannot be achieved in conventional audioplayback formats.
tion of the since-dominant music-streaming paradigm. The Ionic Originals method suggests the possibility of a more tangible, or achievable, revenue source for the artists responsible, assuming responsible accounting.
Ringo Starr Awaits Burnett often credits the Beatles, Great Britain’s upstart breakout band of the early 1960s, with “giving us Americans back our music” after a period of U.S. neglect and dilution in the field of pop music. Ringo Starr, at 84 a vigorous standard-bearer of the Beatles’ legacy, has marked the beginning of 2025 with a new album, called Look Up. Michael Gallucci of Ultimate Classic Rock, the web magazine, hails Look Up as “a country record consisting of 11 original songs, most of them co-written by the album’s producer, T Bone Burnett.”
Starr had begun hinting of the project during 2024. “In a way,” Gallucci writes, “it marks a return to the genre that started Starr’s solo career in 1970 when he released ... the country-leaning Beaucoup of Blues.” Not to mention that Starr had contributed C&W elements to the Beatles’ larger body of work — typified by his 1965 interpretation of the Johnny Russell composition “Act Naturally,” as introduced in 1963 by Buck Owens.
“To get to make this [new] music with [Ringo Starr] was something like the realization of a 60-year dream I’ve been living.”
Says Burnett: “I’m very grateful to have gotten to do [Look Up]. I’ve had the good fortune of working with quite a few heritage artists, connecting with well-seasoned artists at important moments in their lives.” He cites such examples as the Southern banjoist Ralph Stanley, bluesmaster B.B. King, and Texas-bred rock balladeer Roy Orbison, as example. (A line from the East Texas novelist Joe R. Lansdale springs to mind: “It ain’t braggin’ if it’s the truth.”)
The curatorial notes from Christie’s maintain that the hybrid technology “yields the ‘Holy Grail’ for recording artists and audiophiles — superior sound reproduction, foreign-particle resistance, durability, excellent signal-to-noise ratio, longevity, portability, and compatibility with existing playback equipment.”
A conventional turntable, or record player, in other words.
Fabrication is expensive, but Burnett suggests that limited-edition runs — not mass production — are an eventual possibility. Invoking the name of an influential communications theorist of the pre-digital 20th century, Burnett says, “Marshall McLuhan said a medium surrounds a previous medium and turns the previous medium into an art form, as film did with novels [and so forth] ... and as digital has done with analog... [Ionic Originals aims] to help develop a music space in the fine arts market.”
In a related session with the British Broadcasting Corp., Burnett added: “I don’t look at this as a replacement for anything ... just another arrow in the quiver for every musician in the world ... a whole new way of earning a living that we’ve never had before.”
The prior century’s hit-record industry — a matter of pennies paid per dollar earned, for even the top-selling singers — has long since been sacrificed to the fractions-of-a-cent compensa-
“And Ringo is as country as can be,” adds Burnett, who has been acquainted with Starr since the 1970s. He elaborated to Ultimate Classic Rock: “[While with the Beatles, Starr] changed the way every drummer after him played, with his inventive approach. And he has always sung killer rockabilly, as well as being a heartbreaking ballad singer.
“To get to make this [new] music with him was something like the realization of a 60-year dream I’ve been living.”
In announcing the completion of Look Up, Starr cited a recent turning-point encounter with Burnett: “When I asked T Bone to write me a song, I didn’t even think at the time that it would be a country song — but of course it was, and it was so beautiful.
“I had been making EPs at the time, and so I thought we would do a country EP,” added Starr. “But when [Burnett] brought me nine songs, I knew we had to make [a full-length] album.” Starr co-wrote one of the new songs in addition to playing drums and handling the vocals. Accompanists include Alison Krauss, Billy Strings, Larkin Poe, the harmonizing ensemble Lucius, and Molly Tuttle.
With Elvis Costello, alias the Coward Bros. All during his meandering concert tour of 2024, Burnett showed up at intervals on network television with the English rock-country preserva-
tionist Elvis Costello.
Their 40-year affiliation is newly commemorated in two albums of recordings featuring their alter-ego duo act, the Coward Bros. The Cowards’ musically charged humor is dominant — hardly outright comedy, but rather a droll and character-driven wittiness that amplifies the personalities while indulging their musical inclinations.
The Coward Bros.’ act seems more closely akin to England’s long-running BBC-TV franchise of the last century, “The Two Ronnies.” There, the actor-singers Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett would unite not so much as a team, as rather a recurring combination of solo artists who happened to work well together, as if by humorous alchemy.
original material and its interpretation. All roads point homeward.
“When you’re from Texas, y’know, you can’t ever really leave,” says Burnett, ties to Los Angeles and Nashville notwithstanding. “The place stays with you, within you. And the things I’d learned as a child in Fort Worth — well, they’re the things that have ... colored and affected all the work I’m doing.”
One broader such influence is evident in Burnett’s refusal to divide musical forms according to category.
“When I was a kid [during the 1950s-1960s], the great radio stations [in Fort Worth] — KFJZ, or maybe KXOL — would just play music,” as he has said. “There was no artificial separation according to whether a song was rock, or country, or blues — just music. Here’s the Beatles, then something by Peggy Lee. Then, a Hank Williams favorite, and then something from Little Tommy Tucker, four songs in a row, no categories.”
The newer Costello-Burnett projects include the 20-track The Coward Bros., and the dramatized, documentary-like “The True Story of the Coward Bros.,” directed by Christopher Guest from Costello’s script. Meanwhile, an expanded reissue of Costello’s King of America & Other Realms flashes back to projects involving Costello and Burnett over a 40-year span.
Music-as-Equalizer
Music is a powerful equalizer, especially in Fort Worth, which has spawned such diversified musical careers as those of Western swing’s Bob Wills, avant-garde jazz’s Ornette Coleman, blues-rockers Delbert McClinton and Ray Sharpe, and countrified gospel’s Chuck Wagon Gang. Not to mention T Bone Burnett.
“I’ve never really considered myself as having a career,” Burnett has maintained in conversations past. “I’ve taken whatever paths have seemed the most interesting at any given time, and I’ve always considered myself fortunate to have been able to find situations that have allowed me to indulge my interests.”
His rèsumé ranges as widely as the musical scoring for such celebrated motion pictures as the Coen Bros.’ “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and Anthony Minghella’s “Cold Mountain” — to the sonic production of artists as diversified as Los Lobos and Jimmie Dale Gilmore — to the present day’s renewed emphasis upon his
Burnett’s upbringing in Fort Worth found a lasting pivot in a school-days friendship with the stringed-instruments artist Stephen Bruton (1948-2009). Their alliance would span the distance from a 1973 live-in-person album — capturing Como-based blues singer Robert Ealey’s declamatory performances at the New Bluebird Nite Club — to the musical environment for Scott Cooper’s Oscaranointed “Crazy Heart” (2009).
Burnett’s groundbreaking recordings of the 1980s seem ever more pertinent in light of the present-day activities. Such introspective early albums as Truth Decay and Trap Door seem two generations ahead of their time, in any event, given the introspective depth of their songwriting. Somebody once likened Burnett’s music to Kurt Vonnegut’s novels, owing to a shared fascination with the human condition and an antic sense of mingled humor and indignation.
A line from a Burnett composition, “The Kill Switch,” proves relevant: “There are those who play for money, babe, and there are those who play for fame... Yet there are still some who only play for the love of the game.”
During the past year of artistic outpourings and a renewed fondness for the life of a wandering troubadour, Burnett has refined this view of the State of the Union — the state of society as a class — in terms of music:
“If you want to know what’s good about the United States, listen to our music,” Burnett says. “In Texas alone, those proverbial Six Flags symbolize not only the shifting historical forms of government, but especially the musical contributions that all the settlers from all over the world have made.
“In our music, all the promise of the United States is realized. Because people from all nationalities, all countries, all languages, all religions, all ethnicities, have all gotten together and listened to each other and created harmony. That’s the promise, the melting pot. The promise of the United States.”
A Selective Discography of Burnett Productions
By MICHAEL H. PRICE
No small task, to cherry-pick T Bone Burnett’s body of work, even when narrowing things down among the extensive producer credentials. Herewith, a representative sampling, including items of me/myself/I personal resonance:
Delbert McClinton & Glen Clark: Delbert & Glen (1972) — A breakthrough production from Burnett, Delbert & Glen catches Fort Worth soul-country vocalists McClinton and Clark — who achieve more tone-matching brilliance than conventionally regimented harmonizing. The album proves a near-perfect evocation of the fabled 1960s style of Memphis-based Stax Records. Here are the definitive renditions of such gems as the melancholy “Here Come the Blues Again” and the raunch-ridden erotic allegory “B-Movie Boxcar Blues,” amidst a powerful playbill.
Robert Ealey & the Five Careless Lovers (1973) — Originally issued as a local-origin LP, the live recording was produced by Stephen Bruton and T Bone Burnett in a spontaneous fieldrecording manner, at blues shouter Ealey’s signature venue, the New Bluebird Nite Club on Horne Street. A 2020 reissue, restored from the surviving master tapes, provided a début offering from Fort Worth’s Record Town label. The accompaniment features hometown blues royalty Mike Buck (drums), Jackie Newhouse (bass), Ralph Owens (keyboard), and Freddie Cisneros and Sumter Bruton (guitars).
T Bone Burnett: Trap Door (1982)
— Burnett’s first featured-artist release on the Warner Bros. label (with fellow producer Reggie Fisher) provided my formal introduction to the artist’s original music — a recordreview assignment for Texas Jazz
magazine. A rock ’n’ roll manifesto for thinking listeners, Trap Door contains such perennials as Burnett’s droll reinterpretation of the Jule Styne-Leo Robin standard “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” and the sardonic original “A Ridiculous Man.”
Los Lobos: How Will the Wolf Survive? (1984)
— Pure Existentialism-in-rock: The Burnett-Steve Berlin production catches the made-inMexico band Los Lobos in a struggle to achieve recognition in America without sacrificing the players’ cultural bearings. As drummer Louie Perez has said: “It was, like, our group, our story: What is this beast, this animal, that the record companies can’t figure out?” Burnett encouraged Los Lobos to settle into a natural groove.
Willie Dixon: Hidden Charms (1988) — Five years after fellow journalist
Larry D. Springer and I had conducted the definitive career interview with Dixon, the Mississippi-to-Chicago blues master delivered Hidden Charms as a Burnett production, Grammy-anointed. In his midcentury heyday, Dixon had produced the most emphatic recordings of Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, and Little Walter Jacobs, in addition to his own solo disks as a mainstay composer and sonic stylist of Chess Records. Dixon would reassert himself during the 1980s as a fighter for overdue blues-composer royalties, and as the bass-playing mentor of a new-generation ensemble called the S.O.B.s. That is short for Sons of the Blues, so relax.
Roy Orbison: A Black & White Night Live (1989)
— Burnett’s production of Orbison’s valedictory presentation (filmed in concert in 1987) restores a soulful “Blue Bayou”
as an integral element. (The piece had been trimmed from the HBO telecast to tighten the running time.) The lineup contains such contemporaries as Glen D. Hardin (pianist, associated with Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley) and Presley-band veterans including James Burton, drummer Ronnie Tutt, and bassist Jerry Scheff; and Orbison-attuned supporting talents including Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, JD Souther, Steven Soles, k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes, and Bonnie Raitt. (Successive commemorative editions have restored further cutting-room casualties from the HBO début.)
The Big Lebowski: Soundtrack (1998) — Burnett’s antic moodbuilding selections and suggestions for the Coen Brothers’ seriocomedy have proved pivotal to the his longterm collaborations with Joel and Ethan Coen. Burnett had proposed the Stanley Bros.’ historic “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” as a leitmotif for Lebowski, but that spirited lament wound up going instead into their next project, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” — an ideal fit, as things turned out, bolstering the film and fostering at length a concert-hall resurgence for original banjoist Ralph Stanley.
Tony Bennett & k.d. lang: A Wonderful World (2002) — Producers Burnett and Danny Bennett (the singer’s son-turned-manager) indulge the adventurous tastes and country-ballad interpretive leanings of Tony Bennett in an inspired pairing with k.d. lang, the roots-music innovator. Selections range from an inspired reading of the Edith Piaf signature melody “La Vie en Rose” to such Great American Songbook standards as “Exactly Like You” and “You Can Depend on Me.” (Bennett’s historic identification with country music dates from 1951 when
he reinterpreted Hank Williams’ “Cold, Cold Heart” for the lucrative pop market — an influential barrier-buster in its day.)
B.B. King: One Kind Favor (2008) — Burnett contacted Fort Worth guitarist Sumter Bruton and me early in the last century to invite suggestions for a pivotal opportunity: One Kind Favor would involve blues master King’s reinterpretations of standards and lesser-known selections associated with a sweeping range of legacy artists, from Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker to Howlin’ Wolf and Leroy Carr. Turned out to be a valedictory for the 83-year-old King. The music press greeted the album as more of a reassertion, at once elegiac and exploratory. Sumter and I had pitched a surfeit of ideas, in addition to possibilities that Burnett had compiled. The result contains Walker’s “I Get So Weary” and Carr’s “Blues before Sunrise,” both of which Sumter and I had worked into the repertoire of our piano/guitar ensemble, Bruton & Price Swingmasters Revue. The album derives its title, One Kind Favor, from King’s reading of Jefferson’s “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.”
John Mellencamp: Life, Death, Love, and Freedom (2008) — Burnett produced this one as the 20th album by singer-songwriter Mellencamp. The project wound up as a “Year’s Best” selection of Rolling Stone magazine. This one is the first to use the XOΔE (or CODE) process, Burnett’s collaborative invention of a high-definition audio technology.
2025 FACES FORT WORTH of
Pioneers in their fields, the following pages feature some of Fort Worth’s finest.
Those spotlighted in “Faces of Fort Worth” want to share their expertise in various industries from medicine and retail to professional accomplishments, personal pastimes, and so much more.
The Face of Custom Pools, Spas, and Outdoor Living
The Complete Backyard Inc.
The Complete Backyard creates meticulously designed pools, sustainable outdoor living spaces, kitchens, exotic fire features, decks, cabanas, and more. We are passionate about building complete backyards for families in the North Texas area. With over 20 years’ experience helping customers in North Texas, there’s no project we can’t tackle. We pride ourselves on supplying our clients with the perfect blend of aesthetics and quality. Whether you’re looking for a clean post-modern swimming pool or a Caribbean backyard oasis, we are your team. We believe that actions speak louder than words, and we apply the “golden rule” to every project we undertake, treating our clients as we would like to be treated. We take responsibility for our work and provide constant communication with our customers from the beginning of their project until the end. PICTURED: Ross and Laura Woerner.
201 E. Oak St. | Aledo 76008 | 817.441.6878 | thecompletebackyard.com consult@thecompletebackyard.com
A Face of Auto Accidents
Frenkel & Frenkel
At Frenkel & Frenkel, highly experienced and dedicated personal injury attorneys fight the unfair practices of insurance to get you the medical care you need and the compensation you deserve after suffering an injury from a wreck that was not your fault. The firm has helped thousands of individuals in their time of need and given their clients the ability to take on any adversary. Founding partners of Frenkel & Frenkel — Mark D. Frenkel, Scott B. Frenkel, and H. Gene Burkett have built a team of attorneys dedicated to pursuing justice for the injured, bereaved, and wronged. The firm is focused on handling cases involving commercial vehicles accidents and car wreck cases and motorcycle wrecks. The attorneys also handle cases involving dangerous products, such as automotive defects, premises liability, and dog bite cases. Among their many recognitions, the three partners have been named Super Lawyers in Texas Monthly, a Thomson Reuters publication, the past five years; Top Attorneys in Fort Worth Magazine, the past seven years; and Best Lawyers in D Magazine, 17 consecutive years. Scott and Mark Frenkel previously defended insurance companies, hospitals, and doctors; their experience on the defense side of the docket gives them insight into how the opposition works. With resources to take on any adversary, the firm can handle and fund any size case; employ advanced techniques learned over 30 years; and stay at the front of technology useful in presenting clients’ cases. Having been practicing in Texas for more than 30 years, insurance companies and defense lawyers know the attorneys at Frenkel & Frenkel fight vigorously to get their clients what they deserve. PICTURED: H. Gene Burkett (Partner), Scott B. Frenkel (Partner), and Mark D. Frenkel (Partner).
12700 Park Central Drive, Ste. 1900 | Dallas 75251 | 817.333.3333 | 214.333.3333 | truckwreck.com
2025 FACES of Fort Worth
A Face of Divorce Law
Goranson Bain Ausley
At Goranson Bain Ausley, it’s all about our clients. We measure success by what matters most to you and your family. Whether it’s preserving relationships, fostering effective co-parenting, protecting assets, or ensuring a family business thrives, our focus is always on helping you achieve your goals. For us, success goes beyond resolving a case — it’s about delivering exceptional service that safeguards your family and secures your future. What truly sets Goranson Bain Ausley apart isn’t just our legal knowledge and experience — it’s our client-centered approach. We’re committed to showing up with integrity, empathy, trust, and responsiveness. We’re here for Fort Worth families, ready to provide the guidance and care you need when it matters most. PICTURED: (left to right) Andrew Tisdale, Cindy Tisdale, Gary Nickelson, Cassidy Pearson, Clayton Bryant, and Chris Nickelson.
The Face of Iconic Real Estate
Icon Global
Founded by international power broker, Bernard Uechtritz, Icon Global is a globally connected full-service brokerage firm specializing in significant real estate opportunities, which include Ranch, Equestrian, Industrial, Commercial, Agribusiness, Hospitality, and other special unique assets in the USA and Europe. Icon has represented millions of acres and billions of dollars in land and legacy properties, often owned by high-profile, or reclusive identities, family offices and public companies such as Alcoa and Exxon.
His reputation for “go to” success in complex deal making began with his creative sale of the infamous Erik and Lyle Menendez family estate in Calabasas, California, in 1994. Uechtritz’s expertise and experience span luxury residential estates, developments, complex commercial and landmark industrial properties, in addition to ranches.
The Australian native has led the global marketing and record sales of incredible iconic ranches such as the 535,000-acre W.T. Waggoner listed at $725M, the sale of the $240M Sandow Lakes and the $100M Tomas Ranch in Texas along with hundreds of other properties at virtually every price point, located across a variety of geographical locations throughout Texas and internationally. Through the design and implementing of strategic, tactical, marketing and sales campaigns for unique, high-end properties and other one-of-a-kind real estate assets globally, Icon has built an impressive and irrefutable track record of past and present, fact-based sale results and current client representation. The firm’s marketing and sales success is unquestionably unparalleled … ICON GLOBAL IS the Face of Iconic Real Estate.
The Face of Plumbing Services
Pro Serve Plumbing
Pro Serve specializes in both residential and commercial new construction. Our current operations consist of custom and volume production in residential plumbing including multifamily and the latest niche — build to rent. Our commercial division focuses on industrial structures, accommodations, and sports facilities. We have experienced tremendous growth over the years and have forged many relationships that continue to contribute to our success, along with community involvement. We believe and operate under servant leadership. We believe in empowering our team to achieve all they seek personally and professionally. Our leadership team focuses on encouraging and empowering individuals to engage, explore, and initiate growth for themselves and the company. Continued education, skill improvement, integrity, and quality service are what set us apart from the rest.
The Face of Family Dentistry
Rodeo Dental & Orthodontics
Rodeo Dental was founded in 2008 with the mission to change the face of dentistry! Our offices create a wow experience ― from entering our exciting lobbies until the moment you see our seasoned doctors, you’ll experience our focus, dedication, and commitment to your comfort and service. You’ll see how we celebrate our patients, and the joy that delivers! We pride ourselves on personal care and attention to each patient and to addressing their individual needs. Every patient is different, and our team is sensitive to those differences and committed to exceptional care. Rodeo’s welcoming and warm atmosphere sets us apart. This unique approach has garnered us over 50,000 five-star reviews across Google and Facebook! Our dynamic and lively culture is the benchmark of Rodeo’s comprehensive, award-winning approach. PICTURED: Dr. Yahya Mansour, CDO| Suzanne Jackson, COO & President | Jeremiah Radandt, CFO | Dr. Saam Zarrabi, CEO 3204 N. Main St., Ste. 120 | Fort Worth 76106 | 817.380.5574 | rodeodental.com
A Face of Personal Injury
Varghese Summersett
Every day people have their lives shattered through no fault of their own. We know because we represent them — victims of car wrecks, trucking accidents, hazardous workplace conditions, and other catastrophic events that leave lasting physical, emotional, and financial scars. At Varghese Summersett, we are dedicated to securing compensation and justice for victims who have been injured or their loved ones killed, due to the negligent or wrongful acts of others. Our team fiercely advocates for our clients, working tirelessly to ensure that their rights are protected and voices are heard. We’re not afraid to take on the toughest cases or the biggest companies. We understand that behind every case is a person going through something profound in their life. We fight for them.
Vintage Floors is Fort Worth’s premier provider of interior surface solutions, delivering exceptional craftsmanship and a stunning selection of flooring options. From rich hardwood and sophisticated tile to Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP), laminate, and engineered wood, we offer high-quality products that bring beauty, durability, and style to every space. We blend time-honored craftsmanship with the latest trends in material innovation to create floors that stand the test of time. Our process sets us apart and has developed the most loyal customer base in Fort Worth for a simple reason, personalized service. This commitment to personalized service ensures every project reflects our clients’ unique vision. They are consistently amazed at how we bring their vision to life, transforming their spaces into timeless, elegant interiors that exceed expectations. Vintage Floors’ dedication to excellence and integrity is what turns first-time customers into lifelong partners. PICTURED: Grant McGregor, Managing Partner; Bryan Page, Partner. 5136 Camp Bowie Blvd. | Fort Worth 76107 | 817.877.1564 | vintagefloorstx.com | info@vintagefloorstx.com
The Face of Med Spa and Cosmetic Services
A Nurse’s Touch Skin Care & Med Spa
Meet Daisy Williams, registered nurse and owner of A Nurse’s Touch Skin Care & Med Spa. After a career in critical care and oncology, Daisy followed her passion to transform lives through skin care and be a health and beauty ambassador. Her awardwinning spa is the only one in the country, offering these exclusive combinations services. What sets us apart is our exceptional team of nurses and aestheticians who tailor services to each client’s unique needs. Our clients keep coming back because we customize treatments in permanent makeup, electrolysis, facials, and skin care to achieve those individual desires. As a master nurse injector, Daisy specializes in Botox, neurotoxins, and dermal fillers, delivering exceptions results for her patients. Our heart and soul go into our work, prioritizing our clients’ confidence and beauty. It’s a privilege to help them achieve transforming aesthetic results.
Accent On You
Cosmetic Surgery Center and Medi-Spa
The Face of Cosmetic Surgery
Accent On You
Y. Anthony Nakamura, M.D., F.A.C.S., P.A.
Sameer H. Halani, M.D.
Staying humble and enjoying the combination of the love of science with the artistry of cosmetic surgery make Accent On You unique. We take the time to explore with our patients their individual needs and concerns. With over 30 years of experience, we work hard to find a surgical plan that is both realistic in expectation while achieving beautiful aesthetic results. We understand that each patient comes to us by choice and consider this a privilege. We are continually self-evaluating and improving the pre-, intra-, and post-operative experience for our patients. Our biggest wow factors are the facility and our wonderful staff. They all love what they do, and it shows. They work closely with each surgeon to create a safe, inviting, and individualized plan of care for each of our patients. PICTURED: Sameer H. Halani, M.D., and Y. Anthony Nakamura, M.D.
3030 South Cooper St. | Arlington 76015 | 817.417.7200 | accentonyou.com
The Face of Remodeling
B Smart Builders
B Smart Builders is a full-service design and build company, including everything from creating your initial floor plans and selections, to construction and final interior design. We are your turnkey solution for all your building needs. We have several designers in-house that help guide you through the process. Whether it’s floor plan development and understanding your needs for your space, or the perfect overall design for your home, and bringing your final vision to life, we can help. A women-owned, second generation, Fort Worth-grown company, Cheryl Bean created B Smart Builders 16 years ago, and Heather Smitherman joined the company soon after. During the design/build process, we love getting to know our homeowners and making their dreams come true. From the entire team of B Smart Builders, we look forward to you becoming part of our family. PICTURED: Cheryl Bean and Heather Smitherman. 5148 Vickery Loop E | Fort Worth 76116 | 817.367.9063 | bsmartbuilders.com | info@bsmartbuilders.com
The Face of Salon and Spa Services
BIJOU
At BIJOU, we are committed to setting the standard for excellence in the beauty industry. Our team consists of highly educated women who are dedicated to delivering top-quality services that prioritize the health and well-being of our clients. These services include utilizing botanical and holistic products, as well as techniques that enhance our clients’ experience and results. BIJOU is committed to creating a luxurious, comprehensive, and memorable experience for its clients, focusing on whole body wellness where clients feel pampered and well-cared for. Our philosophy that beauty truly starts from within guides our clients on the process to wellness, which ensures optimal results every time. BIJOU means precious gem — and treating every client like a precious gem reflects our genuine commitment to excellence and care. PICTURED: Gaby Lacy, Brianna Brock, Crystal Colon, Kyla Brock. 308 W. Cannon St. | Fort Worth 76104 |
The Face of Protective Adventurewear
BlueQuail Clothing Co.
BlueQuail Clothing Co. is a protective kidswear concept. We are passionate about making clothing that not only protects but reflects the character and independence of the great outdoors, assuring that you can enjoy every outdoor adventure in style and with confidence. Stain-resistant, UPF50+ rated fabrics are used in all our designs, so you know your little one will be protected from harmful UV rays and stains. Although we started with kids’ clothing, we expanded to offer adult sizes, too, because we kept hearing requests from parents who wanted the same great material and prints in sun-protective clothing that not only looks great but also feels amazing. Our goal is to inspire outdoor adventures while giving you a piece that reflects your personal style and keeps you protected from the sun. PICTURED: Tanner Burnes, Lead Designer; Amanda Lundgren, Founder/Owner; Lindsey Souza, Customer Relations. 2107
The Face of Pilates
Bodybar Pilates
Bodybar Pilates is a Reformer-based Pilates studio that delivers an effective workout experience powered by Pilates to build a balanced, athletic, and real community. The franchise organization is led by Kamille McCollum and her husband, Matt, who were once franchisees and still own three locations. At Bodybar Franchising, they work to support owners who want to open a Bodybar Pilates, offering marketing, operations, and instructor education support. The mission at Bodybar Pilates is to share the amazing workout experience rooted in the fundamentals of Reformer Pilates. The aim is to build diverse communities where love, respect, and positive energy help achieve the best version of one’s physical and spiritual self. Through her company Speak Light, Kamille operates Bodybar franchises in Fort Worth and Plano. As the owner, she has been actively involved in running all aspects of a Bodybar Pilates studio, ensuring its success and growth.
3236 W. Seventh | Fort Worth 76107 | 817.862.9550 | bodybarpilates.com
The Face of Commercial Banking
Cadence Bank
The Cadence Bank Corporate Banking Team in Fort Worth serves as a trusted financial partner to the middle market business community. With a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities faced by companies, our team delivers tailored financial solutions to support growth and success. We specialize in working capital, equipment, and real estate financing for businesses with annual revenues exceeding $50 million. By fostering strong relationships and leveraging local market expertise, we help clients achieve their goals while navigating today’s competitive landscape. At Cadence Bank, we pride ourselves on our commitment to personalized service, innovative solutions, and long-term partnership. Our Fort Worth team combines the resources of a leading financial institution with the agility and attentiveness of a community-focused bank. Together, we empower businesses to thrive and drive the local economy forward. PICTURED: Mark Nurdin, Courtney Lewis, Stacy Mitchell, Jake Schmidt, Troy Martinez.
The Face of Authentic Italian Cuisine
Café Bella
Eli Golemi honed her cooking skills with her mother and aunts. These culinary virtuosos were the driving force behind Eli’s passion for crafting innovative dishes. Eli’s expertise in food and service has been the cornerstone of Café Bella’s success, and many of those early customers have become loyal patrons. As Café Bella celebrates its 25th anniversary and a stunning remodel, these stand as testaments to Eli’s dedication and charm of its cozy yet elevated dining experience. While quality and service remain paramount, Eli’s true passion lies in providing a personalized touch and connection with her customers. What sets Café Bella apart is not only its authentic Italian cuisine but also its unique offering of bringing your own wine. Come and indulge in an unparalleled Italian dining experience at Café Bella. PICTURED: Eli Golemi and her son, Arti Golemi. Westcliff Shopping Center | 3548 S. Hills Ave. | Fort Worth 76109 817.922.9500 | cafebellaftw.com
With more than 29 years of experience helping patients with hearing needs, Dr. Diane Blaising, owner and founder of Cityview Audiology & Hearing Aids, Inc., is the Face of Audiology and Hearing Aids in Fort Worth. Dr. Blaising and the staff are known for taking time and great care listening to a person’s concerns, whether about hearing, tinnitus or cognition. The research is out that shows hearing loss is a major contributing factor for cognitive decline. This risk can be addressed by treating hearing loss with hearing aids. Cityview not only specializes in precise hearing aid fittings, but also in tinnitus treatment. CItyview offers the FDA-approved Lenire Tinnitus Treatment Device. This device has helped over 90% of those who used it in the clinical trials. “For me, the best part is making a difference in the lives of my patients.” Dr. Blaising is board-certified in audiology. 5701 Bryant Irvin Road, Ste. 202 | Fort Worth 76132 | 817.263.1800
The Face of Cast-Iron Pipe Service Experts
ClearWater Plumbers
CWP just celebrated its 22nd anniversary as a family-owned and -operated plumbing company. With eight years in this specialty, we were on the forefront of cast-iron remediation and continue to invest in training with new technologies to ensure we can provide the best options for those with cast-iron pipes in their homes. Encouraged by our core values and culture, our team prioritizes the education of our customers so that they are aware of the lifetime value of our services and can make informed decisions based on our plumbers’ expertise. We always focus on our customers’ health and safety and approach every opportunity with a servant’s attitude, empathy, and innovation. Maintaining high standards and fostering genuine relationships have led to customer satisfaction and loyalty. PICTURED: (back, left to right) Tim Geron, Alicia Darbishire, Piotr Kostrzewa; (front) Amy Longspaugh, owner; JR Leslie.
6954 Boat Club Road | Fort Worth 76179 | 817.296.0670 | clearwaterplumber.com | service@clearwaterplumber.com
The Face of Fine Jewelry
Collections Fine Jewelry
At Collections Fine Jewelry, we are proud to be a family-owned business serving our customers for over 40 years. We are passionate about providing high-quality jewelry and personalized service at reasonable prices, making every visit feel special. From custom designs to jewelry repairs, no project is too big or too small. Whether you’re shopping for a special occasion, repairing a cherished piece, or simply stopping by to browse and say hello, we are here to make you feel like part of our family. We warmly invite you to bring your next jewelry adventure to our store and look forward to being a part of your cherished memories and special moments!
PICTURED: (left to right) Stephen Bost, Shawn Evans Magee, Sharon Evans Bost, Kim Evans Sissen, and Jim Sissen. 708 S. Saginaw Blvd. | Fort Worth 76179 | 817.232.9251 | collectionsfinejewelry.com
The Face of Sunless Tanning
Whitney Lombardy, Cowtown Tanning LLC
At Cowtown Tanning, we take pride in being the premier spray tan destination in Fort Worth, setting ourselves apart through our commitment to delivering a flawless, natural glow for every client. What makes us the face of sunless tanning in the area is our dedication to quality, inclusivity, and innovation. We specialize in offering customized spray-tan solutions that cater to all skin tones and body types, including advanced contouring services for a more sculpted look. Our clients know they can count on us not only for top-notch tans but also for personalized service that makes them feel confident and cared for. With locations in Fort Worth and our newest space in Hudson Oaks, we’re expanding our reach while maintaining the boutique, client-centered approach that sets us apart from the competition.
Cowtown Tanning | 3501 Bluebonnet Circle | Fort Worth 76109 | 682.708.9606
The Face of The Second Amendment Defender Outdoors
As steadfast supporters of the Second Amendment, we believe the right to keep and bear arms is not only a cornerstone of American freedom but also a vital part of personal security and responsible citizenship. Join with many other like-minded shooters at Defender Outdoors where you can shoot the way you enjoy the most at a cutting-edge indoor shooting facility and a rustic outdoor gun range. Our 43,000-square-foot gun store offers an extensive selection of quality products from the best brands in the industry. Experienced team members strive to create a warm and inviting atmosphere that encourages shooters of all walks of life to share in our passion for the shooting sports. From the moment a guest walks through our doors, our team goes above and beyond to make their experience extraordinary. PICTURED: (back) Matt Irwin, Jack Wilson III, Will James, Sadona Sanchez; (front) Taylor Lowery, Holly Duffin, Clinton Riggins. 2900 Shotts St. | Fort Worth 76107 | 817.935.8377 | defenderoutdoors.com | info@defenderoutdoors.com
The Face of Fort Worth Steaks
DRG Concepts
The DRG Concepts and Wicked Butcher team and Manuel de Martino have designed a dining experience in downtown Fort Worth that has been thriving as a destination for five years, representing Fort Worth and Texas’ warmth to guests from Fort Worth and around the globe. Guests are welcomed into a stylish experience that is a fresh and modern approach to the Texas traditions that everyone loves. Our concept has been honored as one of Yelp’s 2024 top 25 restaurant arrivals in the U.S. based on guest reviews, and we work each day to earn the confidence and accolades of guests. Centered around our modern steakhouse excellence, our food is truly, authentically delicious, and our hospitality and care of guests are authentically caring and excellent. PICTURED: Manuel de Martino, Vice President, DRG Concepts and Wicked Butcher at The Sinclair. 512 Main St. | Fort Worth 76102 | 817.601.4621 | mmartino@drgconcepts.com | wickedbutcher.com
The Face of Steel Doors and Windows
Durango Doors of DFW
Durango Doors, a family owned and operated company, specializing in custom decorative iron doors and thin-profile steel doors and windows, proudly performs every service in-house, from manufacturing to design and installation. A team of specialists create custom products and manage clients’ projects from start to finish. Great care is taken by product specialists, architects, and project managers to deliver the client’s vision. Tremendous customer service and quality craftsmanship set Durango Doors apart, earning it an outstanding reputation among industry professionals and clients. For over a decade, Durango Doors has made it a priority to enhance the design build community by engineering thermally efficient products with cutting-edge technology. They are passionate about their craft and enjoy delivering clients beautiful steel doors and windows. 4015 W. Vickery Blvd. | Fort Worth 76107 |
The Face of Enchiladas
Enchiladas Ole
What makes Enchiladas Ole the Face of Enchiladas is that our popular restaurant is based solely on enchiladas. Our enchilada sauces are all unique and bold in their individual flavors. Even during the worst time in our industry’s history, we opened two locations and plan on opening more. Enchiladas Ole has brought back the enchilada! All of our food is made to order, rice is cooked every 45 minutes, beans cook all day long, and enchiladas are made to order. So that the stoves are never off, I work with every one of our cooks to ensure consistent and excellent flavors. Our wow factor is freshness, made to order. Yes, our food takes longer to prepare, but that’s what keeps our customers coming back! PICTURED: Mary Perez. 2418 Forest Park Blvd. | Fort Worth 76110 6473 Camp Bowie Blvd. | Fort Worth 76116
The Face of Compassion: Volunteers Caring For and Protecting Animals Fort Worth Animal Care & Control
FWACC has proudly positioned itself as the city’s leading advocate for animal welfare, driven by an unwavering commitment to improving animals’ lives. Our dedicated volunteers’ network donated over 9,453 hours of time in 2024. These unsung heroes work hand-in-hand with FWACC staff to provide shelter animals with the highest level of care, helping them develop the confidence and skills needed to thrive in new homes—whether adopted, fostered, or transferred to a rescue. Shelter volunteers help connect adoptable and foster animals with loving families by sharing their stories and personalities. FWACC is incredibly grateful for their selfless contributions. When you adopt from our shelters, you can trust that your new companion will be vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and microchipped, giving them the best start in their new life.
North Animal Campus | 351 Hillshire Drive | Fort Worth 76052
Chuck and Brenda Silcox Animal Campus | 4900 Martin St. | Fort Worth 76119 fortworthtexas.gov/animals | 817.392.1234
The Face of Snoring and Sleep Apnea Disorders
Fort Worth Snoring and Sleep Center
Dr. Mitch Conditt practiced cosmetic dentistry for 25-plus years in Fort Worth. Over the last 10 years, he focused on saving lives and marriages by treating snoring and sleep apnea. As a board-certified sleep dentist, he is one of the few dentists in Texas that has limited his practice to this type of treatment. Fort Worth Snoring and Sleep Center focuses on treating those who are intolerant of the CPAP or prefer something more current and comfortable. What continues to wow us and our patients is what a huge difference these appliances can make in someone’s life. Let us help you get your life back together by reducing your snoring, improving the quality of your sleep, and decreasing your daytime fatigue. PICTURED: (left to right) Candra Lawrence, Katie Blood, Hope Vanderwerff, Dr. Mitch Conditt, Brandi Cloud, Yvette Akins. 451 University Drive, Ste. 102 | Fort Worth 76107 | fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com | office@fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com
DR. MITCH CONDITT
The Face of Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, Jeep
SouthWest Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram; Pegasus Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram; Platinum Chrysler Dodge Ram Jeep; Spur Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Gilchrist Automotive
At SouthWest, Platinum, and Pegasus Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, Jeep, personalized service is paramount in every customer interaction. Our teams know that the customer relationship does not end with the sale, and we will always do what is right to earn our customers’ business and their trust. When you work with our dealerships, your experience will be exceptional. Our team’s high quality of service and attention to detail are a few reasons why we are some of the fastest growing Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealerships in the region. We invite you to come Drive the Difference. PICTURED: SouthWest CDJR: Mike Brown, Platform Director; Reese Gilchrist, GM (not pictured). Pegasus CDRJ: Mike Brown, Platform Director; Tyler Randolph, GM (not pictured). Platinum CDRJ: Scott Millsap, GM. Spur CDJR: Stephen Jimenez, GM.
Platinum Chrysler Dodge Ram Jeep/platinumcdrjtexas.com/smillsap@gilchristautomotive.com/469.430.9980
SouthWest Chrysler Dodge Ram Jeep/southwestcdjrtexas.com/mbrown@gilchristautomotive.com/817.402.1357
Pegasus Chrysler Dodge Ram Jeep/pegasuscdjr.com/trandolph@gilchristautomotive.com/469.988.5635
Spur Chrysler Dodge Ram Jeep/spurcdrj.com/sjimenez@gilchristautomotive.com/254.223.6252
The Face of Chevrolet
Platinum Chevrolet; Pegusus Chevrolet; Spur Chevrolet GMC; Gilchrist Automotive
As part of Gilchrist Automotive, we strive to continuously deliver excellent service and treat our customers as if they were family. The ease of doing business with us sets us apart from the competition; we make the buying experience quick, easy, and transparent. So much so that we have received the Mark of Excellence Award at our stores for outstanding customer service. You can purchase your vehicle completely online, and it will be delivered to your doorstep at no extra charge. Whether you are looking for a new vehicle purchase or service for your existing vehicle, our “everyone is family” culture keeps our customers coming back for all of their automotive needs. We invite you to come Drive the Difference. PICTURED: Justin Rudd, GM Platinum Chevrolet; Mike Brown, Platform Director; Derrick Butts, GM (not pictured) Pegasus Chevrolet; Stephen Gilchrist, Dealer Operator, Gilchrist Automotive; Stephen Jimenez, GM, Spur Chevrolet.
Pegasus Chevrolet | dbutts@gilchristautomotive.com | pegasuschevytexas.com | 469.988.5637
Platinum Chevrolet | jrudd@gilchristautomotive.com | platinumchevytexas.com | 469.652.7379
Spur Chevrolet GMC | sjimenez@gilchristautomotive.com | spurchevygmc.com | 254.944.9598
The Face of Ford
SouthWest Ford; Platinum Ford; Triple Crown Ford; Platinum Ford North Gilchrist Automotive
Not only will you find quality new and used Ford models at SouthWest Ford, Platinum Ford, Triple Crown Ford, and Platinum Ford North, who are among the Top 100 Dealers in the Nation — you’ll also find friendly and accommodating staff eager to assist you. You can purchase your vehicle completely online and have your vehicle delivered to your doorstep at no extra charge. Our dealerships strive to go above and beyond customers’ service expectations to create a premier car buying and service experience. We invite you to come Drive the Difference. PICTURED: Adam Vincze, GM, Platinum Ford; Stephen Gilchrist, Dealer Operator, Gilchrist Automotive; Chris Bonnett, GM, SouthWest Ford, Weatherford; Dustin Rodgers, GM, Triple Crown Ford and Lincoln, Stephenville; and Jonathan Franco, GM, Platinum Ford North.
Platinum Ford | avincze@gilchristautomotive.com | platinumford.com | 469.595.0099
SouthWest Ford | cbonnett@gilchristautomotive.com | southwestford.com | 817.596.5700
Triple Crown Ford | drodgers@gilchristautomotive.com | triplecrownford.com | 254.968.7000
Platinum Ford North | platinumfordnorth.com | 940.286.7468
Spur Chevrolet GMC, SouthWest Buick GMC
At Spur Chevrolet GMC and SouthWest Buick GMC, we strive to deliver exceptional service and treat our customers as if they are family. With transparent pricing and no hidden fees or agendas, the buying experience is enjoyable and on the customer’s terms. To make the buying experience even easier, we can even do the entire deal online and deliver the vehicle. It is rare to find dealerships with no dealer add-ons, where the price you see is the price you pay. With our attention to detail and our insistence on abiding by our core values, we deliver a buying experience that is far superior to any other dealership. We invite you to come Drive the Difference. PICTURED: Stephen Jimenez, GM, Spur Chevrolet GMC; Darrin Swenson, GM, SouthWest Buick GMC; and Stephen Gilchrist, Dealer Operator, Gilchrist Automotive Spur Chevrolet GMC | 210 S. Highway 36 N. | Gatesville 76528 | 254.944.9598 | spurchevygmc.com SouthWest Buick GMC | 5002 NW Cache Road | Lawton, Oklahoma 73505 | 580.360.6488 | southwestbuickgmc.com
The Face of Honda
SouthWest Honda, Platinum Honda
Personalized service is foremost at SouthWest Honda and Platinum Honda, where the customer relationship does not end with the sale. We value our customer relationships and strive to provide the best service to every customer. Our experienced team and their high level of service make us unique among our competitors. With attention to detail and our insistence on abiding by our core values, we deliver a buying experience that is far superior to any other dealership. You can even purchase your vehicle completely online, never set foot in the store, and we will deliver your vehicle to your doorstep at no extra charge. We invite you to come Drive the Difference. Pictured: David Elattrache, GM, Platinum Honda, Darrin Swenson, GM, SouthWest Honda, Stephen Gilchrist, Dealer Operator, Gilchrist Automotive. Platinum Honda | 2020 N. Highway 75 | Denison 75020 | 430.204.1186 | platinumhondatx.com SouthWest Honda | 5010 NW Cache Road | Lawton, Oklahoma 73505 | 580.360.6487 | southwesthonda.com
The Face of Lincoln
Triple Crown Lincoln
Gilchrist Automotive
As a part of Gilchrist Automotive, we strive to continuously deliver excellent service and treat our customers as if they were family. We provide a vast selection of new and used vehicles, exceptional car care, and customer service with a smile. At Triple Crown Lincoln, it is our mission to be by your side whenever you need any car service or repair work done. We are proud that our customers are loyal, and the biggest testament is that they refer their friends and family. Our red-carpet treatment and willingness to always go the extra mile for our customers set us apart from our competition. Triple Crown Lincoln delivers and offers valet pickup and delivery service, a personalized experience that gives back your most important asset – time. We invite you to come Drive the Difference Pictured: Dustin Rodgers, GM, Triple Crown Lincoln, Stephen Gilchrist, Dealer Operator, Gilchrist Automotive.
2975 W. Washington St. | Stephenville 76401 | 254.968.7000 | triplecrownlincoln.com
The Face of Nissan
SouthWest Nissan
Platinum Nissan
Gilchrist Automotive
Experience VIP treatment while selecting from an incredible lineup of vehicles at either SouthWest Nissan or Platinum Nissan. Our teams provide you with great customer service, and our family-friendly atmosphere shows we are committed to really “Drive the Difference” in our community. Nissan has such an exciting lineup of inventory right now that is not only extremely stylish with tons of technology, but we also have the largest selection of new vehicles under $30,000. We take care of our customers before, during, and after the sale with our transparent pricing and our dedication to providing each customer with an exceptional buying experience. It is important to us that we create customers for life. We invite you to come Drive the Difference. PICTURED: Allen Glover, GM, SouthWest Nissan, Stephen Gilchrist, Dealer Operator, Gilchrist Automotive.
At Platinum Toyota and SouthWest Toyota, personalized service is paramount in every customer interaction. Our teams know that the customer relationship does not end with the sale. We care about our customers and will always do what is right to earn their business and, more importantly, their trust. When you work with our dealerships, your experience will be tailored to you. Our experienced and welcoming team are ready to listen to your needs and provide you the best service in the industry. We invite you to come Drive the Difference. Pictured: David Elattrache, GM, Platinum Toyota, Justin Rogers, GM, SouthWest Toyota of Lawton Oklahoma, Stephen Gilchrist, Dealer Operator, Gilchrist Automotive. Platinum Toyota | platinumtoyota.com | delattrache@gilchristautomotive.com | 430.210.2156
SouthWest Toyota of Lawton | 7110 NW Quanah Parker
The Face of Volkswagen
SouthWest Volkswagen
Gilchrist Automotive
Buyers choose SouthWest Volkswagen because of the hassle-free buying experience. We make it an enjoyable experience that allows you to get the car you want at a fair price with no hidden fees, and we never price over MSRP. Our genuine care and appreciation for our customers keeps them coming back for their service and new car needs. We treat you like you are part of the family ... because you are! Whether it’s sales, service, or parts, we are all under one rooftop and ready to fulfill all your automotive needs. We invite you to come Drive the Difference. Pictured: Stephen Gilchrist, Dealer Operator, Gilchrist Automotive, Chris Bonnett, GM, SouthWest Volkswagen. SouthWest Volkswagen | southwestvolkswagen.com | cbonnett@gilchristautomotive.com | 817.458.5400
The Face of Future Entrepreneurs
Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains
Half of all businesses in the U.S. are founded by women. The Girl Scouts organization is a platform that empowers young girls by providing them with valuable skills, experiences, and opportunities for what could be their future career path. Entrepreneurship through the Girl Scout Cookie Program is unique in that Girl Scouts as young as 5 get to run their own businesses. During cookie season, Girl Scouts learn important skills including money management and people skills, along with more modern skills like digital marketing. Cookie proceeds help fund summer camp, service projects, and special troop trips. Helping a Girl Scout reach her goal is what keeps cookie customers coming back year after year. PICTURED: Shabina Valliani, Girl Scout volunteer and parent; Ariana Valliani, Girl Scout senior (ninth grade); Realynn Mears, Girl Scout alum, Gold Award Girl Scout, Girl Scout parent; Lakynn Mears, Girl Scout junior (fourth grade).
The Face of Roofing
Joe Hall Roofing & Contracting
Brett and Tina Hall have been serving the Fort Worth community as its roofer for over 35 years in a state that has no required licensing or registration, advocating for contractor alignment to high industry standards. Led by core values of integrity, family, knowledge, innovation, and health, they strive to create a one-of-a-kind customer experience emphasizing client education. They recognize that anyone can sell and install roofs, but few can craft a rich company culture that promotes growth within their business by focusing on the lives and well-being of their team (both professionally and personally), which in turn ripples in how the staff interacts with customers and industry partners. Joe Hall’s team specializes in the personal touch with the motto “Big enough to serve, small enough to care.” As a result, over 85% of their annual revenue comes from repeat clients. PICTURED: Brett Hall and Tina Hall, Co-owners. 1925 W. Pioneer Parkway | Arlington 76013 | 817.274.6777 | joehallroofing.com | info@joehallroofing.com
A Face of Matrimonial Law
Dawn King Law Group
Dawn King
Helping others isn’t just her job; it’s her calling. Dawn King is committed to helping families through life’s most challenging transitions. She leads clients through stressful times with honesty, empathy, and a results-driven approach to ensure clients have confidence and clarity no matter how difficult the situation. Dawn’s wit, direct advice, and her tough but approachable personality are what set her apart from other attorneys. She prides herself in her ability to make clients feel at ease even in the most stressful situations. Our wow factor lies in building genuine and lasting relationships with our clients who can rely on Dawn not only for legal guidance but as part of their support system.
The Face of Kitchens and Baths
The Kitchen Source
The Kitchen Source is a full turnkey and remodel firm dedicated to providing the best client experience. Our award-winning designers collaborate directly with you to bring your kitchen and bath vision to life. We have built a reputation for professionalism and quality work. We provide exceptional design services that are unmatchable and use only the finest materials and topof-the-line appliances. Customers keep coming back because we have been a family-owned, third-generation business serving clients for over 30 years. Serving clients on projects from New York to Hawaii to the Cayman Islands, our goal is to give our clients an exceptional experience throughout their remodeling or building project. PICTURED: Corinne Danicki, Jennifer Johns, Christine Martin, Natalie Jacinto, Elizabeth Tranberg, and Amber Paulk. 3116 W. Sixth St., Ste. 101 | Fort Worth 76107 | 817.731.4299 | thekitchensource.com
The Face of DFW Real Estate
Lonestar Luxury Realty
René Jensen, Brokerage Owner
As the Face of DFW in real estate, René Jensen, the owner of Lonestar Luxury Realty, embodies our city’s legendary Southern hospitality in every client interaction. Her approach goes beyond the traditional realtor experience, taking pride in helping both locals and newcomers navigate our vibrant real estate market with genuine care and attention. Whether guiding out-of-state families as they discover their perfect DFW home or helping longtime residents transition to their next chapter, she brings a level of dedicated service that reflects our community’s warm, welcoming spirit. At Lonestar Luxury Realty, clients know they’ll get straight answers, consistent communication, and someone who treats them like family rather than just another transaction. This personal touch stands out and creates lasting relationships that extend well beyond closing day. PICTURED: René Jensen and Stevie (Nicks), the chocolate longhaired dachshund. 2600 E. Southlake Blvd., Ste. 120-423 | Southlake 76092 | 214.532.6823 lonestarluxuryrealty.com | rene@lonestarluxuryrealty.com
The Face of Farm & Ranch
Talia Lydick
Williams Trew
Longtime Fort Worth native Talia Lydick has sold some of the most prominent residential and farm and ranch properties in Fort Worth and the surrounding areas. Her knowledge of real estate ranges from being a seller’s agent, giving her clients confidence in their representation, to being the buyer’s agent, finding the perfect home or property. One of Talia’s interests is the equine industry, having owned and shown many horses over the years. Her experience in the equine industry has broadened her network to the farm and ranch community. Talia’s energetic personality and love for working with people enhance her capabilities in communications, sales, negotiations, and ability to maintain satisfied clients. All indications show that 2024 is going to be an active year for farm and ranch properties. If you have any questions about the market or your property, give Talia a call. 3707 Camp Bowie Blvd.,
The Face of Custom Bedding
Manufacturers
The Original Mattress Factory
A 129-year-old, Fort Worth family business, the Original Mattress Factory manufactures quality bedding and sells directly to the public nationwide. We are focused on innovating the best way to give our customers a great night’s sleep at a low price. Not settling for anything less, we believe that we need to own and control the production process to make sure quality is second to none. A Texas original since 1896, our family takes pride in continuing the tradition of excellence, quality, and value in our products that the generations before us established. Our employees, customers, and vendors are our lifeline for our success. We are proactive in our approach to making sure everything from ordering the raw materials, to production, to delivery is done in a timely manner and with top quality and integrity.
900 East Vickery | Fort Worth 76104 | 817.334.0361 | originalmattress@gmail.com | themattressfactory.com
The Face of First-Class Dog Day Care and Grooming
Metro Animals & Happy K9
TCU alums Charlsye Lewis and Marcus Brunt started Metro Animals for Fort Worth’s furry friends 20 years ago. Happy K9 has been a Fort Worth grooming favorite for the past 12 years. With six locations, they’ve earned reputations as trusted names for dog day care, boarding, training, and grooming – including Best Of 2024 by Fort Worth Magazine. All-day play, highly trained staff, and low dog-to-team member ratio set Metro Animals apart from others in its field. As pet professionals, they advise pet owners to socialize their dogs with people and other dogs as early as possible, maintain a healthy diet, stay well groomed, and provide lots of exercise like dog day care!
Animals
metroanimals.com
The Face of Breakfast
Ol’ South Pancake House
Founded in 1962 and celebrating over 60 years in business. Voted Best Breakfast in Fort Worth many times, Ol’ South Pancake House has become known as THE spot to go to for breakfast in Fort Worth. And, except for Christmas Eve, we don’t close. Ever! Owner Rex Benson continues to carry on the same tradition of serving homestyle cooking that his father, late co-founder David Benson, started over 60 years ago. And Rex has started some of his own traditions, such as the Mega Pancake Challenge and a beautiful, fully equipped catering trailer for events. Now, we have added a brand-new location that’s open in Burleson to that list! We always welcome families and children, hungry TCU students craving some homestyle cooking, tourists looking to grab a bite from a true local joint, and everyone in between. So, try us out — see how sweet life can be, the Ol’ South way!
1509 South University Drive | Fort Worth 76107 | 817.336.0311 | olsouthpancakehouse.com
The Face of Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Michael H. Boothby, MD
The Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Institute
Dr. Michael Boothby continues to provide excellent minimally invasive knee and shoulder orthopedic surgeries for his patients and is working to expand the geographic access and number of orthopedic surgeons who comprise The Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Institute. Originating in Fort Worth in 2011, a second physical therapy location also opened in Aledo. OSMI established its Decatur office in 2018. The new building for the Mansfield clinic opened in October 2024. It serves several different patients’ needs, including a second location of Orthopedics Today Walk-in Clinic like the Fort Worth location and a state-of-the-art physical therapy facility. What distinguishes OSMI is the pursuit to deliver orthopedic and sports medicine care with faster access and unparalleled service experiences on the path to creating the best results for clients’ health and their functional abilities. This includes children, adults, and athletes.
2901 Acme Brick Plaza | Fort Worth 76109 | 817.529.1900 | osmifw.com
The Face of Cataract Surgery
Martin Reinke, M.D.
Dr. Reinke has been performing cataract removal with lens implantation for over 20 years. A fellowshiptrained retina subspecialist (Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School), Dr. Reinke has experience using the latest technology and intraocular lenses available for cataract surgery, including laser-assisted cataract removal. Dr. Reinke personally sees every patient at every appointment and spends time with patients in order to determine the best lens implant option for their lifestyle. Patients receive a comprehensive retina evaluation prior to and after cataract surgery. Cataract patients often have co-existing problems, such as diabetes or age-related macular degeneration, and Dr. Reinke is able to manage these issues without additional referrals elsewhere. With personalized attention by highly empathetic and skilled staff, Dr. Reinke is able to provide excellent care for patients as part of the cataract removal experience.
1310 N. White Chapel Blvd. | Southlake 76092 | 817.310.6080 | dfwlasercataract.com martin_reinke@yahoo.com
The Face of Custom Cabinetry
Renova Custom Woodworks
Renova Custom Woodworks is dedicated to designing, building, and installing the highest quality cabinetry, focusing on the smallest of details. Functionality and appearance are equally important, and our customers get the best of both. We can design and fabricate custom pieces that come from pictures or simply the imagination of our customers. What sets us apart from others is our belief that building cabinetry is an opportunity to serve others, from the homeowner receiving their cabinetry, to the builder receiving their cabinets on time and the next trade that works in or around our cabinets. We are focused on constant improvement, including our product, our processes, and our service. Our ability and excitement to fulfill our customer’s vision for their space are where we shine, but serving our customers with unique and distinguished cabinetry is our ultimate purpose.
The Face of Fort Worth’s Favorite Workout Gym REVFIT TEXAS
Developed in Fort Worth, REVFIT’s high-intensity, music-driven fitness experience awakens the body, engages the mind, and revives the spirit. We are proud of our mission and the community we have built, bringing the best in health and fitness to our city. At all three locations (Central Fort Worth on Hulen Street, North Fort Worth in Alliance, and South Fort Worth on Altamesa Boulevard), our focus is on members’ physical and mental health. Our award-winning proprietary group fitness sessions combine strength, cardio, and endurance training to help members push their limits and deliver real results. Every workout is tailored to individual fitness levels and led by expert trainers who ensure you get individualized attention in a motivating group environment. 2023 Winner of DFW Favorites, Fort Worth Star-Telegram; 2022-2024 Winner of Best of Fort Worth, 76107 Magazine. PICTURED: Kevin Forbes, Amy Aliz Simpson, Reid Warner. 3322 Hulen St. | Fort Worth 76107 | 817.984.9010 | revfittexas.com | fw-info@revfittexas.com
The Face of Custom Home Building
Sean Knight Custom Homes
Sean Knight Custom Homes has been regarded as one of North Texas’ top homebuilders for over 35 years. Sean Knight, a certified master builder and remodeler, is renowned for his commitment to luxury, quality, and sophistication. Our focus is on fostering relationships grounded in trust and respect. At Sean Knight Custom Homes, we consistently strive to exceed expectations. Our extensive industry experience, coupled with a reputation for exceptional quality, meticulous attention to detail, honesty, and effective communication, distinguishes us in the market. At Sean Knight Custom Homes, we do more than construct outstanding homes; we cultivate enduring client-contractor relationships centered on service, precision, and trust.
109 S. Ranch House Road, Ste. 107 | Aledo 76008 | 817.560.0828 | sknight@flash.net | seanknightcustomhomes.com
A Face of Family Law
Seltzer Family Law, PLLC
Sarah C. Seltzer is Board Certified in Child Welfare Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, AV Pre-eminent Peer Rated through Martindale-Hubbell, Super Lawyers’ Texas Rising Star since 2019, and Top Attorney in Family Law by Fort Worth Magazine, 2015-2023. For more than 10 years, Sarah has utilized her expertise and leadership to equip her team to deliver an unparalleled level of strategic representation — excellent, efficient, and effective — throughout the legal process. At Seltzer Family Law, we take time to understand each client’s unique situation and explain the law so the client can make informed decisions during a demanding and vulnerable time. We understand that sometimes family law matters can be amicably resolved, while others require an aggressive approach to deliver results. We take intentional and specific action individualized to protect each client’s rights. PICTURED: Laura N. Zachariah and Sarah C. Seltzer.
The Face of Interior Design
Semmelmann Interiors
At Semmelmann Interiors, our mission is rooted in servanthood, gratitude, and delivering a client-centric experience. We believe that exceptional interior design is about more than just aesthetics — it’s about serving our clients with a concierge-level approach that ensures every detail reflects their unique vision and needs. This dedication, paired with our award-winning designs and innovative craftsmanship, has solidified our position as leaders in Fort Worth’s design community. Our ability to transform houses into homes that tell our clients’ stories is our wow factor. From our signature design style to our attention to detail and unparalleled craftsmanship, we create spaces perfect for entertaining, hosting, and making memories. The emotional connection we foster through our designs and our dedication to exceeding expectations keep clients coming back and referring us to others. PICTURED: Susan Semmelmann.
4374 West Vickery Blvd. | Fort Worth 76107 | 817.774.4045 | semmelmanninteriors.com info@semmelmanninteriors.com
The Face of Shooting Sports Shoot Smart
As the oldest modern range in the area, Shoot Smart reset the bar on excellent facilities, safety protocols, training, and customer service in recreational shooting during the past 12 years. What sets us apart are our private lanes, where beginner and experienced shooters alike enjoy privacy and exclusivity, and a prescribed Path to Proficiency in training. People come to Shoot Smart for an entertainment experience. Everyone is welcome; we pride ourselves on embracing diversity among customers and staff and in giving each visitor, from new shooter to urban guerilla, an unforgettable day. PICTURED: Sidney Delgado, Kaila Fountain, Brendan Summers, Joe Loza, Taylor House, and Cody Luna. 10305 North Freeway | Fort Worth 76177 | 817.984.8020 | info@shootsmarttx.com | shootsmart.com
The Face of Community Banking
Simmons Bank
Simmons Bank offers comprehensive financial solutions delivered with a client-centric approach with over 200 branches in Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas. As a community bank, Simmons Bank realizes helping the community pays countless dividends at all levels. Investing in our communities is a core component of Simmons Bank’s business and culture. This is evidenced prominently in Fort Worth through its commitment to the realization of Dickies Arena with Simmons Bank Plaza and its support of TCU and TCU women’s athletics. For over 120 years, we’ve worked hard to make our customers’ financial goals become reality, whether those goals are buying a home, starting a business, sending a child to college – or simply having greater confidence when it comes to managing money. PICTURED: (l to r) Amanda Johnson, Drew Eisele, Lori Baldock, and Kenan Kunalic.
2200 W. Seventh St. | Fort Worth 76107 | 817.298.5580 | simmonsbank.com Member FDIC | All Accounts Subject to Approval
Face of Fort Worth State and Federal Criminal
J. Warren St. John
The Law Office of J. Warren St. John
The St. John family started practicing law in Texas in 1896 and has a rich history with various family members practicing different types of law, one of which includes his great-grandfather who was the first United States District Judge assigned to Fort Worth in 1919. St. John has tried hundreds of complex felony trials in both federal and state courts throughout Texas and practice in federal court in Washington, D.C. What sets St. John apart is his integrity and honesty to all his clients no matter what they are charged with. He represents them zealously within the bounds of the law to get the very best result he can for them based on whatever criminal offense they are charged with in federal or state court.
The Face of Cosmetic and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery
Matthew H. Steele, M.D.
Many patients in the DFW area seek out Dr. Matthew H. Steele because of his calming bedside manner, his eye for aesthetic detail, and his excellent results. A double board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Steele insists on an individualized, “patient first” philosophy that ensures your privacy, comfort, safety, and complete satisfaction. Dr. Steele uses the latest pioneering techniques to create effortless, natural results. His team prides itself on providing an individualized, first-class experience, taking the time to build a trusting, collaborative relationship with each patient. Plus, the modern clinic is designed to make patients feel safe and comfortable while undergoing their transformation. PICTURED: Dr. Matthew Steele, Keri Steele, Jessica Garcia, Sheniqua Lawson, Jennifer Geyer, and Victoria Puff.
As the premier full-service financial services firm headquartered in the state, Texas Capital exists to deliver Texassized solutions with unrivaled expertise. Using a personalized approach built on deep knowledge and experience, we are well equipped to provide financial solutions you need — from commercial and corporate banking to personal banking, private banking and treasury solutions. Our commitment to delivering exceptional value for our clients enables us to help you identify opportunities, make informed decisions, and achieve long-term financial and business goals. PICTURED: Fort Worth team — Anna Alvarado, Rusty Anderson, Jennifer Baggs, Amin Eslami and Eric Hyden.
The Face of Hot Tubs & Saunas
Texas Hot Tub Company
For over 60 years, Texas Hot Tub Company has been Fort Worth’s go-to destination for home health, relaxation, and fun! We sell and service the world’s No. 1 selling brands of hot tubs, swim spas, and saunas. Whether you are shopping for a HotSpring® Spa to take at-home relaxation to a new level, an Endless Pool® to enhance your fitness routine, or a Tylo® Infrared or traditional sauna to improve your overall health, our team of industry experts is here to find the perfect wellness product to match your needs and budget. We have award-winning showrooms conveniently located in Fort Worth, Dallas, McKinney, Lewisville, and Austin. PICTURED: Jim Ritzus, Craig Engelhardt, James Bryant. 4820 SE Loop 820 | Fort Worth 76140 | 817.572.0004 | info@texashottubco.com | texashottubco.com
The Face of Executive Terminal and Private Aircraft
Texas Jet
Private jet pilots have ranked Texas Jet at Meacham Airport a Top Five Independent FBO (private aircraft terminal) for 18 years straight! Not too bad, considering there are 3,500 FBOs in the U.S. Credit for this accomplishment goes to our 40 team members who deliver exceptional service to our customers every day and have a great time doing it! They live our “Culture of Excellence” and earn smiles and kudos from pilots and passengers alike. Pictured are six of our awesome team members who are ready to continue the tradition of “WOW-ing” our customers. Experience Texas Jet’s superb service and see why our customers are considered friends! 200 Texas Way | Fort Worth 76106 | 817.624.8438 | customerservice@texasjet.com
The Face of Funeral and Cremation Services
Thompson’s Harveson & Cole and Thompson & Son
Thompson’s Harveson & Cole and Thompson & Son have proudly served Fort Worth families since 1911, making us the Face of Funeral Service and Cremations in the area. As one of the last remaining family-owned and operated funeral homes, our deep roots and longstanding reputation reflect over a century of compassionate care during life’s most challenging moments. What sets us apart is our genuine, personal approach — when families come to us, they truly become part of our family, just like our employees. Having been immersed in this work for generations, we bring a unique understanding to every service, ensuring that families are treated with the same respect and care we would show our own. Our dedication to excellence and heartfelt service continues to bring families back, generation after generation. PICTURED: The Thompson Family. 4350 River Oaks Blvd. | Fort Worth 76114 | 817.336.0345 | ThompsonFunerals.com | Info@ThompsonFunerals.com 6009 Wedgwood Dr. | Fort Worth 76133 | 817.292.2250 | ThompsonFuneral.com | Info@ThompsonFuneral.com
The Face of Higher Education
Institute of Urban Studies/UTA Fort Worth Center
Since 1967, the Institute of Urban Studies (IUS) at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) has successfully supported the region’s advancement, resilience, and education needs through the development of strategic partnerships with public agencies, nonprofits, and businesses. With UTA students and faculty members involved in every partnership and project, the IUS brings specialized knowledge and skillsets straight to our local communities — ensuring that the state’s investment in higher education is felt in every corner of the metroplex, and beyond. Last year, the IUS moved its headquarters to the UTA Fort Worth Center. The move was more than a relocation, it was an expression of our shared dedication to the values that shape the City of Fort Worth. PICTURED: (left to right) Kena Nicol, UT Arlington Master of City and Regional Planning student and IUS Graduate Research Assistant; Dr. Hannah Lebovits, IUS Assistant Director. 1401 Jones St. | Fort Worth 76102 | urbanstudiesinstitute.uta.edu | ius@uta.edu
The Face of Award-Winning Waxing Boutique
Vanity Room Waxing Boutique
Established in 2008, Vanity Room Waxing Boutique has consistently won awards and accolades year after year, exceeding the standard for waxing in Fort Worth. These awards not only provide lasting, positive impressions on our clients, but also reinforce their confidence in Vanity Room. The genuine relationships we build with our clients set us apart from our competition. They trust us to receive the highest quality of service no matter which esthetician they see. Each esthetician offers a tailored and customized experience based on the clients’ needs and preferences. We have the strongest staff retention in the industry, all while providing personalized attention, extraordinary service, and going above and beyond client expectations. Clients love seeing the same familiar faces as much as we love seeing them for each visit. PICTURED: Shelby, Nikki, Rachel, Kymra, Austyn, and Sabrina.
5013 Byers Ave. | Fort Worth 76107 | 817.348.8400 |
The Face of Architecture
VLK
Since 1984, VLK has made its mark on Fort Worth, from designing extraordinary spaces with our clients, to being recognized year after year as a top place to work. Fort Worth’s Southside neighborhood is home to our headquarters, and from here we provide our clients uncompromising excellence every day. We work here, live here, and serve the community on many levels. VLK has six offices to serve clients, but Fort Worth is always our home. At VLK, we are driven to build strong relationships. That means we are passionate advocates for our clients, putting their needs before our own. We’re collaborative, responsive, and receptive to their input. Over time, that kind of devotion results in trust and respect — in short, an authentic partnership — which in turn often results in a repeat client. There is no higher honor. PICTURED: Sloan Harris, CEO and Partner. 1320 Hemphill St., Ste. 400 | Fort Worth 76104 | 817.633.1600 | vlkarchitects.com
The Face of Menopause
Midlife Women’s Care and Menopause Program at MYTexasHealthCareOBGYN
“A million and a half U.S. women will reach menopause this year. Menopause is natural and universal. I am a woman in menopause.”
The public conversation is opening women’s eyes to the impact of menopause, and the many ways women can protect and improve their health. Dr. Wagner sees the possibilities. Her medical practice is unique in Fort Worth as a home to midlife women’s health. Dr. Wagner has studied women’s health and menopause for years and has decades of practice experience. She advocates for women’s care locally and in Austin. She is dual certified as an OB-GYN and a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner. Dr. Wagner credits her patients with her success. “We work together. My patient’s success leads to mine. My greatest reward is when a patient refers a friend.” PICTURED: Dr. Elisabeth Wagner, DO, FACOG, MSCP. mytexashealthcareobgyn.com/physicians/ elisabeth-wagner-do | 817.847.4600
The Face of Mohs Surgery
Molly M. Warthan, M.D.
Dr. Molly M. Warthan has performed over 8000 skin cancer surgeries in her career. Specializing in Mohs Micrographic skin cancer surgery, she excises skin cancers from the face and neck mostly and does frozen tissue sections on the skin cancer to ensure that the skin cancer is completely removed before suturing the area. A board-certified dermatologist, Dr. Warthan had the unique opportunity to do her fellowship for Mohs skin cancer surgery with a Mohs surgeon and a plastic surgeon who did all the skin cancer surgery repairs. She is able to ensure skin cancers are removed prior to patients leaving the office. The Warthan Dermatology Mohs Skin Cancer Surgery Center wants its patients to feel comfortable with the staff and the physician and offers its patients a warm, friendly environment while they are having surgery.
Warthan Dermatology Mohs Skin Cancer Surgery Center 5751 Edwards Ranch Road, Ste. 101 | Fort Worth 76109 817.923.8220 | mohsdermatology.com | info@mohsdermatology.com
The Face of Residential Real Estate
The Martha Williams Group
At The Martha Williams Group, we understand that buying a home is more than just a transaction — it’s about finding a place where you can truly make your own. Whether you’re new to Fort Worth or looking for a change, our team of local experts is here to guide you every step of the way. With an intimate knowledge of Fort Worth’s diverse neighborhoods — from the historic Stockyards to the vibrant Cultural District — we help you find exactly what you’re looking for. Our unparalleled experience gives you access to exclusive listings and unique opportunities. Experience the difference with The Martha Williams Group.
With over 20 years in the real estate industry, Ashley Moss takes an innovative approach to real estate. By effectively combining proven principles and practices with the latest in techniques and technology, she is providing industry-leading service to her clients and delivering quality results. She has refined the process of buying and selling homes to make it an enjoyable and rewarding experience by providing creative solutions for clients and ensuring that she is always one step ahead of the competition. Today’s market requires proactive, aggressive marketing with an excellent understanding of the overall market. Ashley is diligent in keeping her clients apprised of changing market conditions. She attributes her sales success to four factors: pricing homes properly, marketing effectively, negotiating aggressively, and building long-term relationships. She is a multi-award-winning agent who prides herself in providing high-quality service and delivering quality results.
3707 Camp Bowie Blvd., Ste. 300 Fort Worth 76107
The Face of Luxury Real Estate
John Zimmerman
Compass Real Estate Fort Worth
What makes John Zimmerman the No. 1 agent in Fort Worth? A relentless pursuit of excellence and dedication to providing the best results for his clients across every price point. Innovation and hard work are not just taglines but an obsessive pursuit that inspires fierce client loyalty. As the founding agent for Compass Real Estate’s Fort Worth office, Zimmerman combines over 30 years of residential real estate experience with Compass’ best-in-class data and technology to optimize the client experience. 817.247.6464 | john.zimmerman@compass.com | jzfortworth.com
Fort Redemption
LOCAL EATS AND RESTAURANT NEWS
WHAT WE’RE CHEWING OVER THIS MONTH:
By Malcolm Mayhew
On page 138 Check out one of the most unique restaurants in Fort Worth, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. On page 140 The famed ‘cue joint finally arrives in the West 7th area. What makes it so different than our BBQ hometown heroes?
Tony Chaudhry is behind the newly opened Fort Redemption, a steakforward restaurant that recently opened on Locke Avenune in west Fort Worth.
by Malcolm Mayhew
Photos by Thanin Viriyaki
Oh, What a ‘Night’
Asiannights, a Thai and Lao restaurant on the city’s east side, has made an unforgettable — and delicious — mark on Fort Worth’s culinary scene.
The age-old phrase “dinner and a show” has nothing on Asiannights.
On any given night, at any given time, you could walk in on an EDM set by a DJ well known in Asian music circles, like DJ Taiypp, who has a show coming up there in April. Not exactly an everyday occurrence here in Fort Worth.
Another night, you could stumble
upon, as we did recently, a rowdy college graduation party. Over their plates of pad krapow and bowls of tom yum soup, diners sat and watched the amusing revelry unfold; some even joined in, sharing drinks with the celebratory partyers.
And if you’re lucky, you’ll be there the night one of the restaurant’s owners, Niya Nakasane, performs a
set of Thai pop numbers, shimmying and shaking in glittery sequins, while the crowd sings along. It’s quite a sight watching her perform one minute and deliver your crab fried rice the next.
Asiannights is one of the most unique restaurants in Fort Worth — and it’s also one of the city’s bestand worst-kept dining secrets. Local chefs and foodie types have known about it for years and tried to keep it for themselves. Social media has a way of spoiling secrets, though, and with some of Asiannights’ live performances going viral on TikTok and Instagram, the rest of the world was bound to, sooner or later, catch on.
Obviously, there are plenty of restaurants and bars in Fort Worth that serve food against a celebratory backdrop, but most of the time, the food takes a backseat to the entertainment. Here, at this modestly decorated spot that straddles the border of Fort Worth and Haltom City, the food is outstanding; you come for the pho and fried pork belly, and as a side, you may get to witness, or partake in, some entertaining razzmatazz, be it Laotian karaoke or a private party that spills into the rest of the restaurant.
“We don’t run this like a business-business,” says Xayen Chant, an Army veteran who owns the restaurant with Nakasane, his wife of about 10 years. “It’s very much a family here. Everybody knows everybody. They come in, sit at their favorite table, and we already know what they’re going to order. I think it’s that level of comfort that makes people want to have their parties here or come see a show here or just come for the food.
“But there’s usually something fun happening here, so it ends up being food with a show,” he laughs.
The laid-back vibes of Asiannights hark back to when the business opened 25 years ago. “Originally, it was just a bar,” Chant says. “A lot of the people who were coming here back then are still coming now.”
Asiannights owner Niya Nakasane
Through the years, Asiannights became one of the few venues in North Texas to host touring Lao and Thai singers, musicians, and DJs, which the restaurant still hosts today. “It’s a small circle of places that book these acts,” Chant says. “We’re one of only a few in Texas.”
A cousin of Chant’s opened the restaurant and ran it for several years, primarily as a bar but sometimes food would be served. Six years ago, Chant and Nakasane, both of whom hail from Laos, took it over after Chant’s cousin decided to let it go. Nakasane had already made a name for herself at Asiannights as a frequent performer — so, Chant says, it made perfect sense for her to take over as an owner.
“We really felt like we could do something special with it,” he says. “We wanted to showcase Thai and Lao cuisine — the food we grew up on, but keep the live entertainment because that’s what we were known for at that point.”
To develop and execute their large menu of Thai and Lao staples, the couple turned to the people they felt could best handle that challenge: their family.
“We hired my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my sister-in-law,” Chant says. They were all working at other Fort Worth Thai and Lao restaurants, including Thailicious and the nearby Sikhay. “I thought, why should they be working for someone else when we had the opportunity to do something ourselves? We convinced them all to quit their jobs to work here,” he says. Both Chant and Nakasane’s sons from their previous marriages work there, too, off and on.
Asiannights’ sprawling menu encompasses both known and somewhat obscure Lao and Thai dishes. They’re best known for their lightly crispy pork belly, lemongrass-studded Laotian sausage, and wide selection of curries.
Those who take a deeper dive into the menu will find so much more to admire, from the kuay teow kua gai,
a mountainous serving of flat rice noodles stir-fried with chicken and eggs, to goong ob woonsen, a hot pot brimming with shrimp, crab meat, glass noodles and assorted veggies, to the pla rad prik, a dish of deep-fried tilapia topped with chiles and garlic.
The menu also includes a halfdozen pho options, several variations of papaya salads, dozens of other rice and noodle dishes, specialty drinks (both boozy and not), and desserts such as a beautifully presented mango sticky rice, the rice for which is usually arranged in the shape of a heart.
“These are my wife’s recipes and her family recipes,” Chant says. “It’s what we do here, our vibe here — family, one big family.”
Terry Black’s multimillion-dollar barbecue joint arrives in a city already filled with quality ’cue joints. What makes this Austin-based chain so different?
On my way out of Terry Black’s Barbecue, I ran into a guy on his way in; he stopped me in the parking lot to ask a few questions.
“How was it?” he asked.
“Good,” I replied.
“How are the prices?”
“Kind of high, but I knew they would be.”
“How does it compare to Panther City BBQ?”
That’s the $6 million question: How does this family-owned chain out of Central Texas, which recently opened
a Fort Worth location on West 7th to the tune of $6 mil, compare to Panther City, Goldee’s, Brix, Dayne’s, and the other independent ’cue joints that have helped turn our city into a barbecue destination?
Of course, that’s not the only question barbecue fans casual and dedicated have for Terry Black’s foray into Fort Worth. Also on our minds: How will it fit into a scene that’s already thriving? How will it set itself apart?
General manager Nathan Werner says he’s been tackling these questions since before the restaurant even opened.
“We know there’s a great barbecue scene here,” he says. “But what we’re doing here is a little different. We’re not just about putting out a perfect product. We’re about perfect hospitality, too. Let’s say you’re Franklin’s — eventually, you’re going to run out of food that day, and that’s disappointing to people who waited. Here, we have food from the time we open to the time we close. We’re not going to run out of brisket or anything else for that matter.”
That’s because Terry Black’s, which opened its first store in Austin 14 years ago after the namesake owner broke away from the famed Black’s Barbecue family of Central Texas, is a mammoth operation — a 6,400-square-foot behemoth whose pit room is packed with six 1,000-gallon Moberg smokers, made in Dripping Springs, and one rotisserie smoker for turkey and their housemade sausage; all the other meats, including brisket and beef and pork ribs, are smoked in the Mobergs 12-14 hours.
To tend the meats, pitmasters work round-the-clock. “We run three shifts a day, including an overnight shift,” Werner says. “I have 19 pit cooks. There’s always someone here working the pits.”
For the uninitiated, service is similar to other ’cue joints in that diners make their way through a line. First, you choose your sides, which include mac and cheese, pinto beans and
Photo
The pit room at Terry Black’s BBQ holds a half-dozen smokers.
creamed corn, along with complimentary pickles and bread. You’re then directed to one of several lines where you’ll choose your meats, which are sliced in front of you by a skilled cutter. You can choose as much or as little as you want, down to a single rib or slice of brisket. Unlike most barbecue restaurants, there are no meat/veggie combo plates — sides are served a la carte, and meats are priced by their weight. You have to be careful how you order your meats or else you’ll rack up a sky-high bill — sage advice for any barbecue joint; there are also sandwiches.
Even when the line to order is long, it moves quickly, thanks to the numerous cutters. We stood in line 10 minutes our first visit, 15-20 minutes on our next visit when the restaurant was considerably more crowded.
The spacious dining room includes booth seating, which you don’t normally see at ’cue joints, rustic tables and chairs, and a nice patio that overlooks West 7th.
“You won’t have to wait for a table here,” Werner says. “People get their food, they eat, and they’re out. There’s an understanding that other people need to sit down and eat, too, so people are usually done eating in about 10 or 15 minutes. When you’re turning tables that quickly, there will always be a place to sit.”
From a food quality standpoint, Terry Black’s reputation as a well-oiled machine was plainly evident during our two visits. Ribs were thick, nicely cooked and juicy. Moist brisket was outlined in ribbons of fat and crust. During both my visits, it was spot-on. The casing on the housemade jalapeno sausage, during my first visit, was loose and came unfurled; personally, I like a tighter, snappier casing. But what it lacked in texture, it more than compensated for in flavor. During my second visit, the casing was appropriately tight, emitting small sprays of juice when I bit into it.
I’ve been to Terry Black’s in Austin once, the Deep Ellum location twice and now, Fort Worth twice — and the
food has been the same at all locations: solid, of good quality, seasoned and smoked well.
“That’s exactly what we do — we provide consistency,” Werner says. “The locations are all a little different from one another. The look and feel of the Dallas store are a lot different than Austin’s. But the food will be of the same high quality.”
But just because the food is good doesn’t mean we’re going to stop supporting our hometown teams. Goldee’s, Dayne’s, Brix should have no fear. Fort Worth loves to support its own. Besides, Fort Worth’s barbecue spots offer something Terry Black’s does not: stuff other than barbecue.
Last time I went to Brix, I had their dynamite burnt end pancakes. My last meal at Dayne’s: one of their spectacular burgers. A few weeks ago at Panther City, I got their brisket tacos. Fort Worth’s barbecue scene, as I and others have pointed out before, is moving forward at a breakneck pace, driven not only by fierce — but friendly — competition but also a creativity born out of the culinary restlessness of their owners and pitmasters. These aren’t people who just wanna do great brisket and call it a day.
But that’s the formula that works at Terry Black’s. They do barbecue essentials well; I’d be shocked if you told me you had a bad meal there.
There’s no helping the vehement naysayers who’ve scoffed at TB’s arrival — more power to ‘em. There was a time when I wouldn’t listen to a punk record if it was on a major label. I get it. But those with even the slightest curiosity should at least try Terry Black’s and judge for themselves.
“It was good,” I told that dude in the parking lot. “But nah, it’s not Panther City.”
Big Kat Burgers, whose creative burgers have been proclaimed — by us, by you — as some of the best in the city, is the latest Fort Worth food truck to graduate to a brick-and-mortar. Run by lifelong friends Mike Sugg and Bryce Blackburn, Big Kat has found a permanent home at Crystal Springs Hideaway, a new beer and wine garden opened by J.D. and Shanna Granger, the power couple who’ve helmed or managed several of the city’s big-picture projects. Former Tarrant County prosecutor J.D. oversaw the development of the Trinity River Vision while Shanna oversaw marketing and programming for Panther Island Pavillion and its numerous events. Located in the burgeoning River District in a century-old bungalow that the Grangers refurbished, Crystal Springs is sort of an all-in-one wine and beer garden, cool hangout, and indoor/outdoor restaurant. In addition to Big Kat, there’s an on-site cheese and wine shop, whose menu of specialty wines and charcuterie boards was curated by Nonna Tata’s chef de cuisine Kelly Burton; I’m dying to try her bagel and lox board — a fantastic idea. I don’t know why I can’t think of these things and open my own restaurant. 113Roberts CutOffRoad,crystalspringshideaway.com
Among the dozens of Valentine’s Day menus I get sent every year this time of year, the prix fixe menu from Wicked Butcher always manages to stand out. If I still blew a couple hundred bucks on my wife for V-Day (now she’s lucky if we go to Pulido’s), it’d be my go-to. This year’s menu sounds especially appetizing. Oysters with cucumber and black tobiko for a small starter. A choice of lobster bisque, beef carpaccio, a white truffle Caesar salad, hamachi crudo or a well-dressed burrata for an app. For main courses, your pick of filet mignon and lobster tail, ginger miso Chilean sea bass, duck breast with parsnip puree, rack of lamb, 12-ounce dry-aged rib-eye, or seared salmon with a housemade green curry. Desserts will feature dark chocolate tart with peanut butter mousse, mango lavender creme brulee, and banana pudding with housemade whipped cream and strawberry compote. $150 per person sounds like a good deal to me. For $75 more, you can pair wines with each course; caviar service can be added on for $210 per couple, as well. The menu will be available prix fixe on Feb. 14 and a la carte Feb. 15-16. 512 MainSt.,wickedbutcher.com
Fort Worth-born Heim Barbecue is expanding again, this time to Weatherford, where it’ll open in the spacious building, at 1910 S. Main St., where the Montana restaurant stood for more than two decades. Montana closed in December; the original location in Stephenville is still going strong. This Weatherford location of Heim will mark the restaurant’s fourth — there are two Heims in Fort Worth and one in Dallas; a location in Burleson closed late last year. heimbbq.com
Fort Worth’s most excellent Brix Barbecue has started hosting cooking classes; the first one was held Jan. 26. Head to their Facebook page for info on upcoming classes. facebook.com/BrixBarbecue
by
Sinner’s Delight
Newly opened Fort Redemption offers wickedly delicious steaks, burgers, and brunch fare in an unexpectedly chic environment
Anyone who frequented the west Fort Worth location of Mariachi’s Dine In, or Mariposa’s Latin Kitchen before it, will most likely do a double take when they first set foot into the restaurant that now occupies that Locke Avenue space.
Fort Redemption, a new American restaurant that now resides in this west Fort Worth spot near Camp Bowie Boulevard, looks and feels nothing like its predecessors. With its purple and gold color scheme, snug, well-appointed booths, attractive floral arrangements, and
midcentury-style high-top tables and chairs, the room exudes a classy vibe — a definite change of scenery from the restaurants that came before.
The menu, too, is a major departure for this pocket of Camp Bowie. Owner and chef Tony Chaudhry specializes in upscale American fare, with a small menu that includes a handful of steaks, such as a 16-ounce rib-eye, artfully presented rack of lamb, their bones jettisoned into the air, crisscrossing like lovers, and an ahi tuna salad drizzled in honey
lemon vinaigrette.
His steaks are worth getting just for an irresistible sauce — a “bastardization,” he calls it, of steak au poivre and pan sauce made with bourbon instead of cognac and infused with juices culled from smoked brisket, one of his culinary calling cards.
For those in the know, Fort Redemption isn’t entirely new. A native of the southern Russia city of Astrakhan, Russia, Chaudhry grew up on the west side of Fort Worth, the son of renowned Western wear designer Vera Vasiley.
After spending 25 years working in some of the city’s most well-known steakhouses and high-end restaurants, he struck out on his own five years ago with a food truck, also called Fort Redemption, and began to develop a following for forward-thinking takes on burgers and barbecue. His brisket mac and cheese quickly became a signature item, alongside towering burgers and sandwiches filled with keenly smoked meats.
While he’s certainly turned a page from his food truck days, he hasn’t abandoned the dishes for which he was known. Smoked meats continue to play a prominent role on his menu, turning up in the form of sandwiches or toppings on other dishes, and his terrific cheeseburger is available at lunch and dinner.
But he’s certainly branched out. On his weekend brunch menu, for instance, you’ll find items such as a salmon Benedict and tenderloin and eggs — dishes he couldn’t exactly serve from a food truck.
There’s also a full bar with a small wine list, beer, and cocktails.
“In a way, it’s been liberating, going from a food truck to a restaurant,” he says. “There were a lot of things I wanted to do in the food truck but couldn’t, just because it’s a food truck and you’re limited. I have a lot more freedom in what I can do, but I still want to keep the menu small and focus on what I do best.”
Fort Redemption, 5724 Locke Ave., instagram.com/fortredemption
Malcolm Mayhew
Photo by Thanin Viriyaki
A big, beautiful steak at Fort Redemption
16oz. Bone-in Cowboy Ribeye with Cajun Grilled Shrimp, choice of appetizer, Caesar salad and shared dessert that serves
COWBOY DINNER*
by Brian Kendall
The Development: Montrachet
Take a dip into the hill country at this West Fort Worth gated community, which includes impressive amenities.
Ahome is only as good as its location. One can have a 6,500-square-foot palace, but if it’s next to something unsightly, foul, or simply uninteresting, then its value and purpose as a living space become far less. But, if it’s on a hillside overlooking a particular downtown of a particular city, then the property itself becomes a showpiece.
This year’s Dream Home, which partners some of the most talented people in the local homebuilding industry, including builders, architects, interior designers, and numerous subcontractors, is set to take place inside one of Fort Worth’s premier developments, Montrachet. This marks the second time the magazine has partnered with Montrachet on a Dream project.
This year’s builder team of Scott Sengali and Brad Davidson of The Morrison Group is partnering with interior designer Susan Semmelmann of Susan Semmelmann Interiors to deliver a 4-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot home that promises to be unlike anything we’ve ever done before.
Located in West Fort Worth next to sister development Montserrat, Montra-
chet began building magnificent, multimillion-dollar homes on its gorgeous lots in 2021. The following year, Fort Worth Magazine hosted its three-home Dream Street within the high-end community.
Distinguishing itself from other residential developments in Fort Worth, Montrachet gives Cowtown’s prairies a little taste of the hill country. The property’s live oaks and cedars dot large rolling hills, and even a pecan orchard exists on the north side of the property.
Feeling fortunate to build on the lot selected, the 2025 Dream Home will include breathtaking views of downtown Fort Worth with steep hills in the foreground.
With 169 lots on 254 acres, lot sizes range from .25 acres to 7 acres. Security features include a 24-hour manned guardhouse. The property also includes a resort-style amenity center, which features a pool, outdoor cabana, cooking area,
Donnie and Colby Siratt
firepit, putting green, and pickleball and bocce courts, all with dramatic views. And for those who simply enjoy spending time in nature, Montrachet contains over 50 acres of parks and green spaces, which include miles of hiking and biking trails, and a 75-year-old pecan orchard.
The property’s developers, brothers Colby and Donnie Siratt of Siratt Partners, got into the development business in 1999 with Covered Bridge Canyon in Parker County. Their second project became Montserrat after their father initially purchased the property as a family ranch.
Touring for this year’s Dream Home will begin in May, and proceeds from ticket sales will benefit a Wish with Wings, a Fort Worthbased nonprofit that grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions. The Jarrell Company
WinterGreen Synthetic Grass LLC
Green Valley Beam & Truss Co.
Dream Home Partners
APPLIANCES
ARTIFICIAL GRASS
BEAMS
BRICK
BUILDER
CABINETRY (KITCHEN)
CABINETRY (MASTER)
CABINETRY (OTHER)
COUNTERTOP (FABRICATION)
COUNTERTOP (MATERIALS)
DOOR - FRONT
ELECTRICIAN
FENCING
FIREPLACES
FIREPLACE AND VENT HOOD TILE
FLOORING LABOR
FLOORING MATERIAL (WOOD AND CARPET)
FLOORING MATERIAL (TILE)
GARAGE DOORS AND OPENERS
GLASS
GUTTERS
HARDWARE
HVAC
INTERIOR DESIGN
LANDSCAPE AND IRRIGATION
LIGHTING FIXTURES
LOW VOLTAGE, AV, AND SECURITY
OUTDOOR FURNITURE
PAINT (LABOR)
PAINT (MATERIALS)
PLUMBING (FIXTURES)
PLUMBING (LABOR AND SUPPLIES)
POOL
REALTOR
ROOFING
WASTE REMOVAL
The Jarrell Company
WinterGreen Synthetic Grass LLC
Green Valley Beam & Truss Co.
Metro Brick & Stone Co.
The Morrison Group
The Kitchen Source
The Closet Factory
Renova Custom Woodworks
Absolute Stone
Daltile
Durango Doors
Fox Electric
Buzz Custom Fence
Metro Brick & Stone Co.
Cosentino
Vintage Floors
Vintage Floors
Daltile
Open Up Garage Doors
Fashion Glass
Loveless Gutters
Rick's Hardware & Decorative Plumbing
Moss Heating & Cooling
Susan Semmelmann Interiors
Guardado Landscaping
Passion Lighting
H Customs
Yard Art Outdoor Living
Gutierrez Painting
Benjamin Moore
The Jarrell Company
Pro Serve Plumbing
Purselley Pools
John Zimmerman Group
Tarrant Roofing
Waste Advantage
PLATINUM SPONSORS: SEWELL & FIBER-SEAL
Armed Forces Bowl
Honoring the U.S. Armed Forces members
The 22nd annual Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl was played before a record 50,754 people honoring our past and present service members while watching a great matchup between Oklahoma and Navy. The Midshipmen would go on to win 21-20 by stopping OU’s 2-point conversion with 6 seconds left in the game. The Bowl for the Brave never disappoints as ESPN viewership peaked at more than 4.3 million.
Samantha Sullivan, a U.S. Army Staff Captain and member of the bronze-medal winning U.S. Rugby Sevens team at the 2024 Olympic Games, was the keynote speaker at the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl Kickoff Luncheon.
MVP Blake Horvath Scores Winning TD.
From left, Brent Self, Colin Ramos, Daba Fofana, and Amin Hassan celebrate their team’s Armed Forces Bowl victory with the treasured trophy in tow.
Midshipmen going crazy in win.
The Navy’s tradition of “Sing Second” following its victory in the Armed Forces Bowl.
photos by Jeremy Lock Chris Hanoch Piper Cassetto
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro did the pregame honors of flipping the ceremonial coin toss.
Pilots of four F-35s from the 301st Fighter Wing at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth gave the record crowd a buzz during pregame ceremonies.
Old Glory was in full bloom for the national anthem.
The bowl attracted the largest crowd in the game’s history — 50,754.
Samantha Sullivan
GIVE BACK
FEBRUARY
Feb. 5-7
Pink Tie Guys 48-hour fundraising challenge TBD
Susan G. Komen
Feb. 8
Let’s Play Bingo Ladies Luncheon
Live by Loew’s Arlington Alliance For Children
Feb. 8
7th Annual Fashion Show
The Bowden - Keller
Christ’s Haven for Children
Feb. 12
Galentine’s Day Mahjong
The Women’s Center
The Women’s Center
Feb. 22
Annual Dining Event
40+ Restaurants
Foodie Philanthropy
Feb. 28
Go Red for Women Luncheon
The Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth Hotel
American Heart Association
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Dickies Arena
10 a . m . Champagne Reception | 11 : 30 a . m . Fashion Show and Luncheon
Proceeds benefit the Texas Health Wellness for Life ® Mobile Health program that brings no-cost mammograms and other health screenings to underserved neighbors in Fort Worth and surrounding communities.
EVENT CHAIRS
Kristen Perello & Savannah Petronis
For more information, call 682-236-5200 or visit TexasHealth.org/POP
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If one strolls through the famed alley that leads to Scat Jazz Lounge off Fourth Street, it’s not just the establishment’s boisterous neon sign that’ll grab one’s attention. Along the 20-or-so yards of brick wall that lead to the lounge’s entrance are two unexpected murals, each sitting beneath a caged streetlamp. Warmly lit, the pair of otherworldly, three-eyed figures (perhaps of the same species but certainly not of the same breed) frequently stop passersby in their tracks and elicit comments.
The paintings are the work of Fort Worth-based artist Red Milk Crone, whose oeuvre includes eight murals throughout the city. Her distinct work normally showcases creatures with detailed eyes coupled with rudimentary yet nightmarish physical features, invoking a sense of nostalgia.
Prints of this image are available for purchase on the Fort Worth Magazine website. Check out the QR code for the link.
@crystalwisephoto
PHOTO BY CRYSTAL WISE
TOUR THE 2025 DREAM HOME
The Napa Valley-inspired Dream Home will take place in Fort Worth’s prestigious Montrachet development.
MAY 3 - 25, 2025
THURSDAY - SUNDAY | 11 A.M. - 5 P.M.
Tickets: $20 | Includes a 1-year subscription to FortWorthMagazine
