I wanted to do this think-piece on going out in the Stockyards on the metaphorical eve of its transition into whatever it’s going to transition to. But unfortunately, after a stop at the Whiskey Girl Saloon, I didn’t have it in me to finish a single beer, let alone reflect on the waning if still alive-and-kicking days of Fort Worth’s best-known neighborhood in any significant way, other than that anyone owning stock in a bedazzled jeans company should be pleased to know that the market for women’s and men’s jeans covered in sparkling gems and rivets is still thriving. I don’t know what it’s like elsewhere in America, but here in Fort Worth, the Bedazzle Boom is still making it rain.
What stopped me from barhopping between the dancehalls and saloons that line Exchange Avenue and North Main Street wasn’t anything I witnessed at the Whiskey Girl. My lack of inspiration was merely a case of eating way too much at Joe T’s. Well, that and a couple margaritas. I’d also been drinking beer at a measured pace for most of the afternoon and evening. So, really, powering through ’til 2 a.m. after a late dinner wasn’t in the cards. But I tried, electing to go to Whiskey Girl because it was the closest bar to where we’d finally parked, in front of someone’s house a couple blocks west on Clinton Avenue. Some Texas Country act called the Judson Cole Band played to a dancefloor about half-full, though outside the dancefloor’s plywood perimeter fence, it was elbow-to-elbow. I’d been to the Whiskey Girl before, but I’d never seen it so packed.
Whatever happens next to the Stockyards, I hope those crowds keep coming.
Have Party? Will Travel
I had a friend who lived in New York City for a long time, and one thing he always bragged about was how you could get practically any food item delivered 24 hours a day.
“It might cost you $25, but if you want a hoagie at 3 a.m., you can get a hoagie at 3 a.m.,” adding that round-the-clock food delivery made him feel like he lived in a real city. As far as I know, no service in Fort Worth offers such an expansive food delivery service, but as of Tuesday, you can at least get liquor delivered to your doorstep, which seems like a pretty cosmopolitan thing to me.
Minibar, as the service is known, allows you to order beer, wine, liquor, and mixers from a computer or a phone app for delivery to your home, work, or parent-teacher conference. The service endeavors to get your booze to you in less than an hour. When I used it, my order arrived dutifully within 40 minutes.
Of course, you have to be 21, and you are required to present your ID to the liquor guy at the door. If you are absent or don’t have an ID, the dude takes the hooch back to the store and charges you a $20 restock fee. There’s a $5 delivery fee, and tipping is encouraged. I don’t remember marking a box on the app to tip, but my receipt had a $3 gratuity on it –– using Minibar isn’t necessarily that much cheaper than driving your own ass to the liquor store, but it is decidedly more convenient.
The service partners with a local liquor store chain (AXO in Fort Worth). Minibar itself does not deliver alcohol. It merely arranges for area retailers to deliver –– so the selection varies. Beerwise, the domestic selection included the main macrobrews, plus the bigger indies like Sierra Nevada and Shiner, and even Rahr and Saint Arnold. The import beer menu offered the kind of beers you’d find at a chain restaurant: Mexican beers like Dos Equis, Corona, and Tecate; various Spatens, Guinness, and mass-marketed UK brews.
The liquor selection was about as robust, and the mixers menu has a couple brands of soda water, tonic water, and Coca-Cola products, as well as limes. I ordered two of those, though one was actually a lemon. There’s plenty of wine, too, though if you’re prone to wrinkling your nose at Sutter Home or Yellowtail, you’ll find the selection pretty pedestrian.
Still, beer and booze brought to your door on demand is a great innovation. Regular TABC hours apply, so you have to get your orders in before 8:59 p.m. But when your barbecue starts to get boring and everyone is too drunk to make it to Kings, Minibar is a great boon. —Steve Steward
[box_info]Whiskey Girl Saloon
2413 Ellis Ave.
Fort Worth, TX 76164
817-945-2055[/box_info]
