Carlos from Salsa Fuego

The Fort Worth Business Press has a great article about Carlos and his path to Salsa Fuego from last Friday. The last sentence is very promising:

"We’re thinking of expanding or looking for a second location,” Rodriguez said. “We’re definitely busting out at the seams."

Lets hope that comes to fruition.

This, we hope, bears less fruit:

"He has applied for a liquor license."

Carlos, unless you plan on making a menu of unique drinks please just charge a little more and let us continue to bring our own peach schnapps and zimas.

But either way, its good to see Salsa Fuego getting some more love.

YES! Taco Party

In case you missed it, Friday's event at 809 Vickery to ring in the new YES! Taco truck seemed to be a success.  809 Vickery is a renovated old building on Vickery with a great patio and a very nicely finished out interior.  Seems like a good location to have an event with a quasi-view of downtown Fort Worth and especially appropriate if you need an air conditioned area and a shaded patio.  Homeless urinators are optional.

What about the food you say?  Great.  I had the carolina pulled pork, bean, and carne asado tacos.  The pulled pork was very juicy and the slaw on top added a nice sharpness to balance out the sweetness of the carolina pulled pork.  The beans were a bit bland but the two sauces they provided both added a great punch.  The beef tacos were the overall favorites (of the official FWHITW Reporting Crew) and also included the same sauces available with the beans.   Those sauces can most accurately be described as red and green

Ok, I can do better than that - because I stole a menu.  The green is a tomatillo sauce with a spicy, tangy taste.  The red is a smokey salsa.  It's pureed roasted tomatoes, peppers and spices.  I think the red was the most flavorful but both were good.

Also, thanks to Cap and Hare, the Home Brew Club of Brewmaster Extraordinaries, who provided their home brew for free.  Specifically, the cascadian dark ale (my favorite) and the hefeweizen with coriander and salt were terrific.  We need to figure out to get these guys out to more events for free beer.  Or get the guy that sells the El Taco Negro some financing so he can start selling that stuff.  Because it's going to be awkward when I take a free tour of his house while he's gone one day.

Now for some alarming news.  We're all going to have to buy some shoes from Tom's and wear funky hats if we want to survive in the Fort Worth of the future.  At least its better than wearing affliction tees and looking like we live in dallas.

Here's a poor quality shot from the entrance.  I'm sure Kevin at FortWorthology will have better pics up soon.



The Cup

BREAKING NEWS!!!  The Cup, the coffee shop planned for a portion of the old Bluebonnet Bakery on Camp Bowie, will not be opening in Mid-May as planned.  Thanks to an astute reporter, this news is breaking here, first.  An expected opening date is not known yet, but this is a current photo illustrating the closed nature of the shop.

Neighbors are reportedly hoping that it opens in early June.  FWHITW has reason to believe an early June opening is unlikely.  The Italian inspired coffee shop and bar, which will have a limited menu of food is also expected to have a patio. 

To the The Cup's owners - please open so I have something interesting to write about instead of this sort of drivel.

The Cup, is will be located at 3909 Camp Bowie.

Junsuree Thai - New Ownership?

A very well trusted hole in the wall aficionado has reported that Junsuree Thai will come under new ownership next week.  The new owner served in the Air Force and is originally from Fort Worth.  Apparently he would like to return to his old non-bomb stomping grounds.  Welcome back!  Good news for us - Junsuree will remain open and the menu is supposed to stay the same.  So give Junsuree a visit and support the new owner. 

If you don't, you hate America.

 

Updates

If you haven't been to Lili's recently (click here or here for previous reviews), go check out their new wine and piano bar.  Following the historic yet clean look of the original section of the restaurant, they have taken over and remodeled the old Panther City Bicycle space to make room for a bar.  There are a few additional tables but from my experiences, the fans of Lili's fill up whatever space is provided quickly.  So check them out and don't forget to post your feedback somewhere here.

Since its summer time and people are travelling, don't forget to check up on two priceless resources provided by the staff here at FortWorthHoleInTheWall.  First, the Texas Road Trip Review, which is sporadically continuously updated, can be your road map to good dining if you and the family take a trip across the state this summer.  Second, check out my Holiday Weekend Planner if you're looking for something to do when the family or friends are in town. 

Blogger has set me up with a sweet reward for being such a loyal user....    Go to FortWorthHoleInTheWall on your smartphone, iphone, android, etc and the page is now viewable in a smartphone friendly manner.  Pretty sweet if you ask me.

I've also added a few new blogs to the right in recent weeks.   I believe Kevin's posse from FortWorthology set up VegFortWorth which provides vegan friendly restaurant reviews and recipes for all sorts of things you just thought needed cabrito.  Check out Fort Worth Beer if you like to read about and/or drink beer.  And don't forget to stop by Food, Travel and Fort Worth to find out about things going on in the city, restaurant reviews, and other things that generally interest people who stalk people online.

-FWHITW

YES! Taco

Looks like a Taco, Tastes like Awesome

Everybody say hello to our new taco truck in the Fort.  The restruck/truckaurant is called YES! Taco and they will be giving out free tacos at 809 West Vickery on Friday evening from 7-9 pm.  The Star-Telegram (where I stole this news from) says that the tacos will be served along with complimentary beer and music.

This Friday, YES! Taco will be launched with a free event at 809 at Vickery, an event venue located at, no surprise, 809 W. Vickery Blvd. in Fort Worth. Free vittles will be served from 7 to 9 p.m., then Fish Fry Bingo, Waiting for One, Tim Miller and Zuriel Bertch will provide music till 11 p.m.Cap and Hare, an area amateur home-brew society, will be supplying the beer inside while a Kentucky bourbon brand is offering straight and mixed drinks.

This all sounds like good news for Fort Worth.  And for those of you on the uncarnivorous end of the food chain, there will be vegan friendly food. 

After their grand opening, the YES! Taco truck will be at 1013 West Magnolia. 

Check them out this Friday if you like free food, drinks, and music.  If you don't, please leave.

Los Mier

Have we been to a small Mexican joint together recently?  I don't think so.  Well, its time for another trip and this time, to the East of 35.  Will this be a test of intestinal fortitude or a delight for the senses?  Read below to find out.

Los Mier came into my life based on the recommendation of my dad (that reference is your father's day gift, dad - enjoy!).  Los Mier is in a small strip center on Sylvania, next to a Mercado and other assorted Spanish only type stores.  From the outside, it looks like a place where you might need a handful of Spanish phrases to get around and you might consider the possibility that you can't get a chimichanga.

Fortunately, both are true.  The menu is full of tampiqueno steaks, carne guisada and other delicious Mexican favorites.  You also get chips with a fresh salsa that has a nice spicy burn to it.  The inside is small and narrow, with vinyl booths along one wall and tables on the other.  This is the type of place you can take your coworkers to scare them a little - but they'll love you afterwards.

The lunch special of the day was carne guisada.  Normally, carne guisada comes in a sort of gravy type sauce and consists of very tender, soft beef.  This was more like a stewed, chopped tamiqupeno, with peppers and tomatoes.  It was delicious, tender, and very vibrant.  But it didn't really seem like carne guisada.  Since it wasn't.  But it was good enough that I will order it again.  The lunch dish came with 1/3 of a plate of decent rice and a 1/3 of a plate of runny, flavorful refried beans.  The plate also came with shredded lettuce, a whole slice of tomato and slices of fresh avocado.  This alone is enough to fill even the most obese of us.  But you also get fresh tortillas on the side.

Each day the lunch special is different.  A fun challenge that your wife and pants will hate, would be to try each lunch special in a week.  Let me know how that goes.

As mentioned before, this place was recommended by my father.  He ordered the tampiqueno with shrimp and he loved it.  The steak was very tender and flavorful.  A tampiqueno steak is a very thin cut which is grilled.  If you overcook the meat, its dry and tough.  From numerous trips down south of the border, our family has a fine appreciation of great tampiqueno.  It was also reported that the steak actually took up the entire plate, and rice and beans were actually sitting on top of the massive steak plate.  I love steak plates.  I just wish more of our dishes were made of steak

Los Mier also has horchata and your favorite bottled Mexican drinks (not tequila).  If you haven't tried horchata, its a rice milk drink with a cinnamon and vanilla essence.  It's very good, but sweet.  Only get it if you don't mind filling up partially from your drink.

They take credit cards and appear to be open for lunch and dinner.  The restaurant is located at 730 N. Sylvania Ave, just north of Race Street, on the east side of the road.

Let me know if you've been or if you go, let me know what you get.