When Fizzi closed down a couple of years ago, there was a vicious rumor circling that T.G.I. Friday’s was interested in the space, at 4th and Commerce streets. Chow, Baby couldn’t get the Thurston Howell III-voiced scenario out of its head: “Lovey, do let’s attend the Fort Worth Opera Festival at the Hall. Après, let us partake of fried mac & cheese and loaded potato skins.” This, for Chow, Baby, would have been the trifecta horribile in a downtown that already included a Chili’s and a Bennigan’s. Sundance Square was starting to look like a food court.
Well, T.G.I. Friday’s never did move in, and even better news, the other two chain-thorns in Chow, Baby’s side are now downtown-dead, with local-enough mini-chains filling the voids. Dixie House Café (515 Houston St.) has redecorated the former Bennigan’s into a cozy yet citified space; it now prepares breakfast from 6:30 to 11 a.m. and until 2 p.m. on Saturdays – a decent start on Chow, Baby’s long-held desire for a 24-hour breakfast place downtown, though it’s still hoping for Ol’ South II. The other hours of the day, until 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, Dixie House offers its usual menu of great chicken-fried steak and other meat-and-two specials ($7.95) – get the chunky mashed potatoes and the crunchy fried okra, if you like okra; if you don’t, I don’t know, maybe try the corn – along with grilled sandwiches, burgers, salads, and lots and lots of pie ($2.75). Even the sugar-free pies are good.
A block over, the ex-Chili’s has yielded to a Jakes (515 Main St.). This Dallas-based joint has won awards for its burgers from D magazine and the Dallas Observer, though Chow, Baby was more impressed by every other part of its visit. Not that its “Jakes Special” ($5.99) was bad, not at all: the double patties, though thin, were tasty-juicy, with fresh fixings and a nice poppy-seed bun with very loose seeds (don’t brush your teeth after eating; that ruins everyone else’s fun). But nothing omigod about it. The wow-raisers: an appetizer of tart, greasy, fabulous fried pickle chips ($3.95); the sweet potato fries ($3.95), especially when dipped into marshmallow sauce; and Lauren‘s super-snappy service in a very crowded section. Apparently we’re supposed to call the servers “Jakettes”; sorry, no.
You kids don’t know how good you have it. Back when Chow, Baby had a cool loft apartment in, what do they call it now, SoDo, we had to drive miles to buy toilet paper (this was before the Montgomery Plaza SuperTarget, even). Now, you can stroll around the block to Market on the 8 (901 Throckmorton St.), a combo deli, convenience store, and coffeeshop that does a fine job at all three. The deli part is a sandwich counter in the back (breakfast muffins, burritos, and croissants $2.50-$3.75; lunch sandwiches $4.25-$6.75), with basic cuts on nice breads like ciabatta and soft marble rye (no seeds). The convenience-store part is the grocery shelves you pass to get to the back, holding basic urban emergency items like cat food and sewing kits. The front coffee-lounge part offers comfy upholstered chairs and window seats, Wi-Fi, and interesting conversation with co-owner Driss Siyas, if he’s not too busy. Dangit. Why do things (neighborhoods, restaurants, exes) always get better after Chow, Baby leaves? Maybe Chow, Baby should do the East Side a big favor and move to Hurst.
Contact Chow, Baby at chowbaby@fwweekly.com.
