Fort Worth Restaurant Buzz — Prominent Coffee Shop Shutters to Reboot, Mexican Favorite Expands and More Nashville Hot Chicken Arrives

Some of Fort Worth’s favorite restaurants are making big changes, some are only updating their air conditioning. (Though, that’s no small news in this stifling Texas summer heat.) Other Fort Worth restaurants are closing — with more in store.

This is all the Fort Worth restaurant news you need to know:

Arcadia Coffee Closes For a Big Switch

Arcadia Coffee closed for good on Bryan Avenue on July 10. But all is not lost. It is planning for a full reboot soon.

Owner Carrie Collins grew Arcadia from its Airstream days at South Main Village Micro Park to its first, groovy brick and mortar coffee shop close by, which she opened in 2019. Arcadia Coffee even briefly expanded to a nearly hidden location in Sundance Square at 120 West 3rd Street, Suite 111. That only lasted three months.

Now Arcadia plans to rebrand and launch as Wildcraft Coffee soon. Collins is currently looking to relocate her coffee shop to somewhere in the same coffee-soaked South Main Village neighborhood. Stay tuned for Wildcraft Coffee pop-ups, mobile events and new reveals about future brick-and-mortar shops.

Paco’s Expands to Sundance

Francisco “Paco” Islas first came on the Fort Worth food scene with his Paco & John in the same spot than now houses Derek Allen’s BBQ, the same spot that will be the future home of Hurtado Barbeque along 8th Avenue at Rosedale. Islas opened his own restaurant dubbed Paco’s Mexican nearby on Magnolia in 2016, bringing back its traditional dishes and ingredients from Pachuca in Hidalgo Mexico. With Paco’s updated interior, colorful bar and patio addition, Islas and his father were even able to open Islas Tropicales, serving traditional fruit-based snacks and sweets, next door.

Now, after a trial pop-up in the month of May, Islas just opened a second Paco’s restaurant. It is taking over the short-lived Revolver Taco’s former space in Sundance Square, located at 156 West 4th Street. The ribbon cutting already occurred earlier this month.

Nashville Hot Hits Southside

Burnin’ Mouth Nashville Hot Chicken just opened in the same Fort Worth building that now houses Ober Here, Share Tea and Wabi House at the corner of 8th Avenue and Magnolia. The first Burnin’ Mouth restaurant opened in 2021 in Oxnard, California, and this fast-casual chain is true to its name ― offering five heat levels building up to the hottest chicken on its menu — and topping things off at Insane hot.

With four restaurants right now — including this new one in Fort Worth at 1229 8th Avenue, suite 127 — Burnin’ Mouth is expanding rapidly, with three more new restaurants set to open from Illinois to Idaho this month alone, and six more in the works already.

This Nashville hot chicken joint’s scant menu includes two sandwiches, wings or strips. Try the Coo Coo sandwich, served with fries on a brioche bun, topped with coleslaw, crispy onion, pickles and comeback sauce. There is also the signature sandwich ― a riff on the Korean-style chicken craze, sauced in your choice of garlic soy sauce (mild) or sweet chili sauce (spicy).

Kintaro Ramen Remodel

Foodies might have been concerned to see construction going on at the Kintaro Ramen restaurant on Crockett Row. You know, that’s how rumors get started. Not to worry, Chef Jesus Garcia tells PaperCity Fort Worth, it’s only air conditioning work.

“The first day it hit 102, we cranked up the AC, and found a puddle of water on the floor the next morning,” Garcia says. “Turns out five of our six AC units were broken and that’s what we’ve been working on ever since. We’ve never closed.

“We’re still serving today, just working around the construction. But we should be fully up and running by the end of the week.”

Kintaro Ramen took over the 7th Avenue facing space in January of 2021, when Oni Ramen retreated back to Deep Ellum in Dallas. At the time, Garcia told PaperCity Fort Worth that he and his partner still retained the lease on the Crockett Row space for another four years. Garcia says the Arlington Kintaro Ramen location has been super busy with an anime convention in Arlington.

Here’s an added bonus for North Texas ramen lovers. Kintaro Ramen is opening a new ghost kitchen (delivery-only restaurant) in Farmers Branch by early August.