Ahead of Her New Restaurants Opening at Fort Worth’s Historic Public Market, Chef Jenna Kinard Talks Food, Faith, and Renewal

Some building features require decades to come into their own, whether it’s brick walls that weather into character or art deco details that only later generations learn to appreciate. Fort Worth Public Market, with its Spanish Revivalist architecture and red clay tile roof, has waited nearly a century to welcome back guests after the Great Depression abruptly shut down its 145 vendor stalls and retail shops some 95 years ago.

The past year has seen steady renovations at the historic site, following the property’s purchase by Wilks Development. The Public Market Café & Goods is slated to open in the spring of 2026 with a cocktail lounge, Bar Willow, and an upscale Southern cuisine restaurant, Madrone, following soon after. Heading those projects is Chef Jenna Kinard, who brings her own unique history and vision to the expansive project that aims to revive the market to its former glory. In anticipation of the three new openings, we caught up with Jenna Kinard on her journey to the Public Market.

Given the building’s history, Jenna — who will work alongside her husband, Micah, the market’s operations director — says it was important to her and her team that each space “tells a story.”

The building is already home to The Hardin at Public Market, an apartment community for seniors, and, along with the cafe, cocktail lounge, and restaurant, there are plans to grow hydroponic herbs and produce and host retailers and artisans. For the Kinards, the project represents the culmination of their professional and spiritual growth.

“We’re doing this because we’re called to, and we’re going to do it with excellence,” she says. “Micah and I both are just so ready. We cannot wait to open those doors.”

Jenna Kinard’s Path to the Public Market

Jenna cannot help but laugh when asked about her path to becoming the executive chef at Madrone. Her ambitions as a teenager growing up in Hockley, Texas, were focused on beauty pageants, modeling, and acting. After early success as a teen beauty pageant winner, Jenna says she fell into the darker side of the modeling world by starving herself and over-exercising to the point where a doctor told her she may only have months more to live.

“I was exhausted of it all,” she says. “It never felt like me anyway. I decided to fully immerse myself in food to overcome this thing. So that’s what I did. I was living with my parents and became their private chef for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As they were losing weight, I was gaining weight.”

Determined to work her way up in the food service industry, she found her first job washing dishes at a small diner in Magnolia, Texas, before working her way up to a pastry position. After gaining confidence in her skills, she took a job at Monty’s Corner, which is now shuttered and once located at Montgomery Plaza. There, Chef Corey Smith gave her the foundational skills she says she has relied on ever since.

“He was incredible and believed in me, but pushed me hard,” she says. “I was going to enter culinary school. He told me, ‘I promise you, five years from now, you will not need a culinary degree to be an executive chef. If you stick with me, I will coach you.’ ”

In 2017, Kinard became executive chef at Max’s Wine Dive at age 25. She then headed the culinary team that was preparing to open 97 West Kitchen & Bar at Hotel Drover, only to lose the most prominent role she had to date due to the pandemic. During that period, Jenna says she lost sight of her marriage to Micah.

“During that time, I prayed the most honest prayer I ever had,” she says. “I said, ‘God, if you can do the impossible, I’m going to need you to fix this because I literally can’t.’ The best way I can describe it is that I encountered the supernatural presence of God. That was three years ago, and I’ve never looked back.”

A Closer Took Inside the Public Market Café, Bar Willow, and Madrone

The Public Market Café & Goods is slated to open this April, with a focus on “awesome coffee and amazing pastries,” Jenna says. Around that time, hydroponically grown produce will begin being sold. Soon after, Bar Willow will open, offering a luxury cocktail bar experience, followed by Madrone in June.

“We’ll also have a spirit-free menu that we’re really excited about because we’re not going to be the bar that you come and go crazy at,” she says. “It’s going to be a very one-of-a-kind experience and a great place to go and have a cocktail whenever you wrap up at Madrone. The Madrone tree is a Texas evergreen, and to me, it symbolizes being in season at all times. That is a story that I want to tell. We will be printing our menus in-house because they could be changing every six weeks. It is so important that we’re telling the story of what our farmers and ranchers are doing in real time.”

While the menu will be sourced from local proteins and produce, Jenna says her long-term love of Asian, and particularly Vietnamese, cuisine will find influences on dishes that include Texas wagyu tartare, deviled eggs, hamachi with mesquite bean miso, Gulf oysters, rabbit and buttermilk dumplings, braised oxtail and ramen, and venison curry, among other offerings.

“It’s going to be like a chef’s playground,” she continues, adding that she wants it to be a place where chefs like to eat. “I’m going to encourage my staff in the kitchen by asking, ‘What are we going to dream up today?’ ”