Fort Worth’s Cowboy Chef Quietly Rolls Out New Private Social Club in Historic Stockyards

Chef Grady Spears has been quietly rolling out his new private club over the past few months. He calls it The Brand Room.

It’s an exclusive members only (cowboys only) venue, located in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. It is located at 212 Exchange Avenue, just across an alleyway from Spears’ chicken fried palace, Horseshoe Hill Cafe, which he opened there in the summer of 2015.

With wooden floors under your boots, The Brand Room is decorated with corrugated tin and exposed brick walls, with hundreds of rusty cattle brands dangling overhead. . . hence the name.

“It’s the world’s largest brand collection,” Spears tells PaperCity Fort Worth. “It’s an idea about a decade in the making. I’ve always wanted to have a private social club just for cowboys.”

Spears brings controversy — and some serious questions — to his new venture. The chef was arrested by the Fort Worth police on accusations of domestic violence in July and charged with assault with bodily injury of a family member in a case that’s still pending.

The Brand Room’s Cowboy Club Rules

Currently Spears’ new club has about 100 card carrying members from all over the country ― all cowboys. Some are working cowboys, world ranked bull fighters among them, and even musicians like Spears’ longtime friends, Moe Bandy and The Bellamy Brothers.

“Pat Green dropped by with his guitar last week, to hang out on the patio,” Spears says. “All the members are legendary cowboys in their own right.”

The private club, he opened with his business partner Dawn Stubbs (who is also his partner in Horseshoe Hill Cafe) has a store, a private dining area (which can accommodate event bookings), and a rustic and relaxed outdoor patio.

Non-members are invited to the club only on Tuesday nights when it’s open to the public. From 7 pm to 10 pm you can enjoy live music and a meal (chef’s choice ― whatever Grady Spears is in the mood to whip up), for $25 per person. Spoiler alert: there will likely be a wood-burning grill involved.

And, after a three year hiatus from teaching his popular cooking classes, Spears at it again, in advance of about three cookbooks which he’ll begin releasing soon. They will be hosted one Wednesday per month.

The second of six planned cooking classes is scheduled for February 12.

“You get three of us. . . myself, plus two guys who know their stuff, from the head to the hoof, and from the seasoning to the grill, these guys have it covered,” Spears says. He’ll be joined by Matt Pittman from Meat Church and Matt Hamilton from the Local Yocal in McKinney.