Inside Chef Michael Arlt’s ‘No Limits’ Vision for Fort Worth’s Hottest New Restaurant
The Mont Sets a High Culinary Bar in Cowtown
BY Edward Brown //
Michael Arlt: "We purposely want to make sure there is no cap on what we do at The Mont." (Photo by Samantha Marie Photography)
After years in acclaimed kitchens across North Carolina, Chicago, Houston, and most recently North Texas, Chef Michael Arlt brings a depth of experience to his role as Culinary Director of Around the Fire Hospitality. With The Mont as his first opening for the new restaurant group, Arlt has set a Fort Worth culinary standard he describes as having “no limits.”
“We purposely want to make sure there is no cap on what we do at The Mont,” Arlt tells PaperCity Fort Worth. “If we become the best restaurant in Fort Worth, that’s great. If we become the best restaurant in North Texas, even better. We just want to be as best as humanly possible.”
To oversee the new Westside restaurant, Arlt brought on Executive Chef Michael Duff, formerly of Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, to lead a chef-driven menu built on top-tier seasonal ingredients and reimagining familiar dishes while introducing inventive plates designed to impress. The current menu features lobster hush puppies, wagyu beef tartare with pickled shallot and truffle horseradish sabayon, and roasted monkfish tail with streaky bacon and red wine sauce, among many other offerings.
Interior designer Kellye Raughton, the creative force behind many of Fort Worth’s most lavish home interiors, hand-picked the design elements that give The Mont its lavishly refined aesthetic. Kyle Bunting pieces adorn the wall while chandeliers by Stage Works set the mood for an elevated night out.
With the restaurant now officially open, we sat down with Arlt to learn how his friendship with The Mont’s co-owners, Jeff Payne and Jason Cross, sparked the creation of the hospitality group behind The Mont and its forthcoming second concept, Beverly’s Downtown.
How a Shared Love of Dining Built a Culinary Partnership
Arlt calls his year as executive chef at Beast & Company both a high and low point in his career. The Fort Worth restaurant, which had been open for just one year, featured a globe-spanning menu that he had designed from the ground up. The brief but defining experience set a personal benchmark for Arlt’s approach to elevated dining.
During that period, Cross dined at Beast & Company. The experience stayed the VP of operations at Cousin’s BBQ, who contacted Arlt in the fall of 2023 to discuss some new concepts he and Payne were working on. Over barbecue and “lots of tea,” the three tossed around the idea of opening an elevated restaurant with a casual feel. After his experience with fine dining at Beast & Company, Arlt wasn’t ready to dive into a project for the masses.
“I wished them the best of luck and offered to help with consulting,” Arlt recalls. “I knew what I needed as an executive chef. They brought me on to consult.”
After traveling with Arlt to Chicago, Houston, and New Orleans to try the best American restaurants, Cross and Payne opened to the idea of a more refined dining concept. That sparked the vision for The Mont and the formation of its parent group, Around the Fire Hospitality, which honors the co-owners’ barbecue legacy while emphasizing the communal nature of cooking. The shorthand of “ATF” sealed the deal, Arlt said with a laugh.
Future concepts, including Beverly’s Downtown, will feature smoked elements in keeping with the hospitality group’s theme.
An Inside Look at the Vision Behind The Mont
The Mont’s menu, Arlt says, is designed to be creative yet approachable.
“Everyone is familiar with a tomato, but we’ll turn that into a gel, foam, or smoked jam,” he says. “We’re going to show them different ways to experience a tomato. We will have the best steaks. We are not a steakhouse, but we did dig to find the best beef that we could stand by. We visited Creekstone Farms. It was wonderful seeing the care these guys put into the cattle raising and the lengths they go to treat their animals humanely.”
Nothing on the menu is a throwaway item that we put on there because we believe we have to, he continues.
“If we make pasta, it’s with the best ingredients we can find. Michael Duff has a lot of connections with vendors. Everything in our kitchen is top-of-the-line. We are spending a lot of money on our equipment because we know the product it leads to.”
Over the past two years, Arlt says he’s spent considerable time exploring Fort Worth’s food scene.
“We are in that beginning stage where things will boom in Fort Worth,” he says. “At The Mont, we get to set the tone and pace without forgetting what already exists that has been here for decades. Fort Worth will be one of the most exciting food cities in the country in five to 10 years. You have restaurants that are great at what they do. I don’t think there needs to be another Grace or Bonnell’s. They’ve mastered that lane. It’s great to be inspired by them.”
As Duff’s team settles into running operations at The Mont, Arlt says that Around the Fire Hospitality can shift its focus to opening Beverly’s Downtown before the end of the year.
After considerable time planning and preparing for The Mont’s opening, Arlt’s message to Fort Worth is simple: Come enjoy yourself.
“This is the place where you want to come celebrate,” Arlt says, summing up The Mont’s spirit.
