Fort Worth’s Most Famous Chef is Opening Two Brand New Restaurants in Mule Alley — Tim Love is All In

A prolific restauranteur is headed to Mule Alley. And he is no stranger to the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. Fort Worth-based celebrity chef Tim Love is bringing not one but two new restaurants to Mule Alley.

One is expected to open by the end of this year, while the second will debut in early 2022.

“As you know I have been a believer in the Stockyards for a very long time,” Tim Love tells PaperCity Fort Worth. “I am equally a believer in the Mule Alley development.”

The jet setting chef, a Top Chef alum, is a popular guest on television and at food festivals across the country. Love is known as much for his laid-back, no-nonsense approach and big personality as for popularizing urban western cuisine at this point. But no matter where he roams, Love always returns home to Fort Worth.

“Capping off our program with two exclusive restaurant concepts by Tim Love makes Mule Alley and the Fort Worth Stockyards one of the top food and beverage leisure destinations in the state of Texas, and we could not be more excited,” Craig Cavileer, executive vice president of Majestic Realty Co and managing partner of Stockyards Heritage, says in a statement.

The serial restauranteur’s career began with the opening of his Lonesome Dove Western Bistro (which just celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2020). He since planted one in Austin and another in Knoxville, Tennessee. But that’s the start of the Love empire.

Love’s new take on barbecue is showcased at Woodshed Smokehouse, which now has restaurants in Fort Worth and at Houston’s Levy Park.

While Love’s Queenie’s Steakhouse is located in Denton and his Gemelle Italian is on White Settlement Road, the chef’s passion for The Fort Worth Stockyards is unrivaled.

Along with the flagship Lonesome Dove in the Stockyards, you’ll find his casual LoveShack Burger and his legendary White Elephant Saloon all within a matter of blocks of each other near the corner of Exchange Avenue and Main Street. Plus, Tim Love’s new Spanish inspired rooftop bar Atico opened just over a year ago, atop the new Springhill Suites hotel in The Stockyards.

In a pandemic pivot, Love even launched a ghost kitchen (delivery only model) called Burritos, Fajitas and ‘Ritas. You talk about keeping all the plates spinning.

Mule Alley’s Pull

Mule Alley has shaped up to be a true tourist magnet, with plenty of top shopping and western brands in the mix. It’s also the anchor of the Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel Drover. Hotel Drover and its own restaurant 97 West Kitchen & Bar are both set to open next week.

The first restaurant to open in Mule Alley was Fort Worth’s first Shake Shack, followed by Marcus Paslay’s quaint Provender Hall. The Biscuit Bar has also taken up residence, and Jason Boso’s Second Rodeo Brewing Co. will arrive soon alongside Sarah Castillo’s long-awaited Sidesaddle Saloon, as well as Avoca Coffee.

In other words, Mule Alley is where the cool kids are.

“I have said for a few years, when all of this started, that the Stockyards development will be the most prolific development Fort Worth has seen in a while, so naturally I feel that we should be a part of it,” Love tells PaperCity.

Love tells us he is still solidifying his plans for both new Mule Alley restaurants and is not ready to divulge those details just yet, so we’ll have to wait to see what direction he’ll go in. “We are so excited about what we are doing in Mule Alley and can’t wait to tell everyone just as soon as we are ready,” Love says.

But one thing’s for certain. With the addition of Love’s two exclusive new restaurants, Mule Alley along with the Fort Worth Zoo might have officially leap-frogged Sundance Square as Fort Worth’s most notable tourist mecca.