Reata ready to grill up cowboy cuisine at new location
July 19,2024
See full Fort Worth Report article by Bob Francis here.
Those “Closed for Relocation” banners on the homepage of Reata Restaurant will disappear Monday evening as Mike Micallef and his 120-member staff get ready to slather the first ladle of cream gravy on the chicken-fried steaks at 530 Throckmorton St.
“Unlike a new restaurant, we’re basically just moving the same staff, the same menu,” Micallef said during a tour of the restaurant a few days prior to the opening.
The Reata team is used to figuring out how to make adjustments and make things work, he said.
“A lot of these guys are the same guys that run the restaurants out at the rodeo for us,” he said. “They’re used to basically building a temporary restaurant out there and running it for three weeks, then shutting it down. They do it all the time.”
Reata’s journey to its new space — actually in the same building the restaurant was in prior to the move to Sundance Square — began in March 2022.
That was when Micallef announced the iconic restaurant — a local favorite that has been a symbol of resurgent Texas cuisine — was seeking a new home. The restaurant had been unable to discuss its lease, which expired at the end of June, with landlord Sundance Square. In turn, Micallef began searching for a new home, with the help of many of the restaurant’s ardent fans.
Reata’s neighbor in the Sundance Square building, comedy troupe Four Day Weekend, has also left the location. It recently found a new home at Stage West, just south of downtown.
While Reata received suggestions that were typically near the homes of the restaurant’s largest fans, Micallef eventually decided the restaurant needed to remain in downtown Fort Worth. He settled on the former location of a restaurant, Cantina Laredo, that closed in 2020 during the pandemic.
“If I’m a restaurant near your neighborhood, I would be lucky to get your business once a week,” said Micallef. “Downtown there are 3,500 hotel rooms and they all need someplace to eat.”
If You Go
530 Throckmorton St.
817-336-1009
Parking: Valet parking is on Fourth Street for $10 per vehicle. Free parking with validation is available for 2.5 hours in The Tower garage, which has entrances on Fourth and Fifth streets.
Hours:
Lunch: Monday-Sunday 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Dinner: Sunday-Thursday 5 p.m-9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 p.m.-10 p.m.
Brunch: Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Bar: Monday-Sunday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
There are also plenty of residents downtown who are customers. Now located on the ground floor of The Tower, which has 298 condos, Reata is just below many loyal customers.
“They’re happy to see us move here,” he said.
It’s somewhat of a return home. Reata Restaurant’s Fort Worth location opened in 1996 on the top floor of what is now known as The Tower. The restaurant and the building were damaged by a tornado that hit the city on March 20, 2000. After the tornado closed down that location, Reata went on the road for several months until finally settling into the old Caravan of Dreams space in May 2002.
The interior of the new location will look familiar to regular patrons, with plenty of the iconic saddles, historical memorabilia and western paintings on display.
But it is more likely to be visible in the new location, Micallef said.
“There is more light in here, so some of the items you may not have noticed, you can actually see here,” he said.
Construction for the new space was done by Dennett Construction and Anna Harris Coker of Annah Interiors created the interior design.
Though a lot of the new location may have that familiar wood, leather feel and the look of a classic John Wayne film from previous Reata incarnations, there are some differences.
The bar is larger than at the previous location, now placed front and center. There is also some outdoor seating on the patio.
“So there are some things that are a little different for us,” Micallef said.
And some Reata traditions have been tweaked a bit. The restaurant, which has its roots in the original restaurant in Alpine and the world of Texas ranches, has always displayed ranch brands.
In March 2023, a family was celebrating the birthday of their 7-year-old daughter, Madelyn Williams. Madelyn noticed her family ranch’s brand was not displayed at Reata. As a proud, fifth-generation Texan, she felt the brand deserved a place on the restaurant’s wall. Her father, Wesley Williams, sent an email to Reata and shared the story.
The new location has the family’s brand. Shortly afterwards, the restaurant reached out via its newsletter to ask what other ranch brands should be displayed. That led to several new ranch brands being added to the restaurant’s walls.
It also led to a new interactive wall with magnets featuring letters and different brand graphics, so visitors can display their own brands or make up their own and then capture the moment in a photo.
As Reata preserves its roots, Micallef sees the restaurant moving into the digital age.
“We live in an Instagram world,” said Micallef.
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Location Mentioned: Reata Restaurant