Fort Worth Restaurant Group to Add Four New Concepts — Trident Overcomes the Coronavirus Odds With New Ice Houses, Speakeasies

The trio of Stefon Rishel, who serves as executive chef, and his two business partners, Kyle Bryson and Wallace Owens, formed Trident Restaurant Group in 2017. Their first endeavor produced Wishbone & Flynt and its side-door speakeasy The Amber Room, which both debuted in January on Bryan Avenue in Fort Worth.

But they’re just getting started. Trident has no less than four new concepts in the works.

For restaurant and bar owners to not only be surviving but thriving during this unprecedented coronavirus pandemic is fun to report.

“It’s a real testament to the community and people of Fort Worth that have a vested interest in supporting and sustaining all of our locally owned businesses during this difficult time,” Rishel tells PaperCity Fort Worth.

Next up for the Trident team, they will be the opening Berry St. Ice House in the same location that housed a very short-lived reboot, near the TCU campus.

The Moon Bar briefly launched, around December 2019, in the former Americado space at 2000 W. Berry before it crashed and burned upon reentry.

A reboot of the longtime TCU hangout of the same name, The Moon seemed a sure bet, for owner Chris Maunder and building owner Trey Neville ― with adequate name recognition and plenty of TCU grads still nursing fond memories of their former hangout. But the coronavirus sent all the students unexpectedly packing for months and effectively took out The Moon’s resident eatery Birdie Bop, the Korean fried chicken joint from Josh Harmon. The bar, music venue and restaurant never even attained orbit.

Moon Bar owner Chris Maunder has chosen not to comment further, but he confirms his exit from the building and even hints that The Moon might rise again someday in another location.

Now a rebrand is in the works for this space again. When the building reopens in August, it will be the Trident Group’s Berry St. Ice House. Expect it be a bar and grill with an Airstream dessert trailer, and plenty of yard games. The family friendly venue will host sports and live music, with its sound system installed and its newly fenced back yard.

“The emphasis really is on family friendly,” Trident principal Kyle Bryson tells PaperCity. The inside of Berry St. Ice House can accommodate up to 80 people and the expansive back lawn can easily welcome 200 or more.

“The desserts will feature ice cream specialties like banana splits, as well as kid-friendly milkshakes and sno-cones that can be prepared in boozy versions for the adults,” Bryson says.

“We’ve just hired a general manager for Berry St. Ice House ― Carlos Cueva, who may actually know more people in town than I do…and that’s saying a lot,” Rishel says. The chef is now sporting a TCU Purple mohawk in honor of the new ice house.

He’ll be doing a menu of “upscale bar food” for their newest venture. A few of the items from the new menu include Mama G’s nachos made with Doritos, elotes hushpuppies, and a smoked and fried bologna sandwich.

Berry St. will host Sunday brunch from 10 am to 3 pm with everything from chilaquiles, and egg and bacon plates, to pancakes and waffles ― similar to Wishbone & Flynt’s brunch spread.

Trident plans to put in a stage in the “backyard” space, and hopes to host Ranch FM’s Thursday Night Music Series from the lawn. Berry St. Icehouse will open in August, with the official grand opening celebration taking place possibly by late September.

Trident’s Seafood Power

PaperCity Fort Worth was first to report that Trident also will be opening a new destination seafood restaurant called Cast & Hook that will bring its own speakeasy, the contemporary Sugarman’s, at the base of the new Hotel Revel, which just opened on 8th Avenue.

Both the restaurant and speakeasy will have the added luxury of soaring 30-foot-high ceilings, and the scope of Cast & Hook will include a mezzanine raw bar that is being installed as well. Ibanez Shaw Architecture is handling the design.

“These will be high end. Cast & Hook will have a 30 foot wine wall and a private dining room upstairs as well, and yet we want them to be very approachable and not stuffy spaces,” Bryson. says “Everything we do is approachable.”

Rishel shares that Trident is hoping to have both Cast & Hook and the speakeasy open in time for New Year’s Eve.

A Parker County Push

As if that weren’t enough to keep the Trident team busy, Parker Co. Ice House is also in the works. It will be located near Willow Park in Aledo at 260 Willow Bend Drive.

Trident is building this one from the ground up. Fingers are crossed for a spring 2021 opening. This new ice house will also feature “live music, local produce and a prominently local beer selection as well as elevated bar food,” Rishel promises.

The menu at Parker Co. Ice House will include many of the same bar snacks and hand-helds as Berry St Ice House., but will add a hearty selection of entrees as well, including chicken fried steaks.

“It will have the same feel of Berry St. as well, but with a much larger footprint,” Bryson notes. “When complete, it will have 4,500 square feet indoors and over 15,000 square feet outdoors (around 20,000 overall) ― with plenty of room for a concert stage and greenroom. Under foot will be crushed granite.

“If you’re in Weatherford or Aledo, you have to go all the way to Billy Bobs to hear top musical acts. But we’ll attract those big names to Parker Co. Ice House, and plan to host up and coming local artists as well.”

When all is said and done, Trident will have space to sell. The restaurant group just hired Misty Vento as its director of sales to do just that. With intimate spaces (both speakeasies) and larger outdoor venues (both ice houses), Trident hopes to build a private events hosting business as well.

With this restaurant group, this really does feel like just the beginning.