How Heim Barbecue Founders Discovered Their Next Chapter With One Trick Pony Pizza Tavern in Fort Worth

Success in the restaurant industry can take many forms, from national acclaim to long lines out the door. But after spending more than a decade helping build Heim Barbecue from a food trailer into a multi-location restaurant chain, Travis Heim is enjoying the more manageable pace of running One Trick Pony, the neighborhood pizzeria on Fort Worth’s South Main Street that he co-owns with his wife, Emma.

“A big part of this for us was finding the next chapter,” he tells PaperCity Fort Worth. “We are having a lot of fun.”

Throughout the polished yet unpretentious space are family photographs, books collected over years of studying the craft of pizza-making, and other personal mementos that reflect the couple’s journey. There are also references to sports throughout, but this isn’t a sports bar.

“We have the aesthetic of a sports bar,” but without all the screens, he says. “The other night we had 80 covers, and half of them I’d say were on dates. We’ve had birthdays and anniversaries celebrated here.”

Travis credits South Main Street’s momentum, his team, and growing interest in Chicago tavern-style pizza for One Trick Pony’s immediate popularity. The restaurant joins an increasingly impressive collection of nearby pizza-makers, including Southside Cellar, Felina, and Brooklyn’s — all within roughly a block of one another. If Fort Worth is in the midst of a pizza renaissance, the Heims and the Near Southside are helping shape it.

Bringing Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza to Fort Worth

Travis said he began experimenting with pizzas while running Heim Barbecue, but it wasn’t until he took a two-year break from running multiple restaurants that he and Emma began traveling to the top-rated pizzerias in the country while entertaining the possibility of bringing some of their findings back to Fort Worth.

The Heims announced they had parted ways with their barbecue restaurants two years ago.

“Over the past few years, I’ve learned a lot,” he says. “We were able to travel a little bit, and we would take trips to New York and Chicago. The whole point was to try different pizza spots and see things we liked. That’s when we thought, ‘We could make this happen.’ ”

Their pizza pilgrimage took them from Los Angeles to New York and Chicago, where they visited acclaimed pizzerias such as Folks Pizzeria in California, Lucali and L’Industrie in New York City, and Zarella in Chicago, studying everything from dough and fermentation to service and atmosphere.

The Heims eventually settled on New England and Chicago tavern-style pizzas.

“Tavern style is pretty old school, and started in the 40s and 50s,” he says. “It has a very thin crust that is super crispy, which you cut into squares. The original idea was to have something to snack on that everyone at the bar could kind of share. When we tried it for the first time, we were blown away.”

“New England style,” he adds, is more of an amalgam of foldable pizzas from that region than a strict New York-style pie.

The restaurant touts itself as a pizza and martini bar, with both receiving equal billing. Mixologist Tia Downey — whom you can usually find behind the bar at Bowie House — crafted the cocktail menu, and we are still thinking about the Pepperoncini Tini we enjoyed a few weeks ago. The combination of rum, pepperoncino, and apple lends a bright, gentle acidity that is atypical of most martinis.

Delivering an Unexpected Experience

Transitioning from the art of barbecue to the science of baking has been a challenge, Travis Heim admits. He’s taking copious notes about the minutiae of how temperature, fermentation time, flour, humidity, and countless other variables shape the texture and flavor of each day’s dough. While he’s still refining that part of the business, he believes a memorable restaurant experience extends well beyond the pizza itself.

“We talk to our staff a lot about providing the unexpected for our customers,” he says. “They may know they are coming for pizza, but we are going to deliver great martinis. We’re doing homemade pasta, desserts — everything. We are also focused on good execution of the food and great service. Emma is the glue and the brains behind this all.”

Although Travis is still frequently and unsurprisingly asked when he’s going to top a pizza with Texas barbecue, he’s focused on managing One Trick Pony and furthering his knowledge of bread fermentation and East Coast and Chicago-style pies.

“I’m proud of what we accomplished with barbecue,” he says. “We started the food truck when I was around 25, but this is the next chapter.”

To be clear, he didn’t explicitly rule out the possibility of bacon burnt ends pizza toppings.