Little Tavern
Felipe Armenta and Graham Elliot put a smashburger, birria tacos and their own Zuni Cafe salad into the old F1 Smokehouse room on University Drive. Jorge Avina runs the kitchen.
Why go
Armenta has run Fort Worth rooms since he opened Tavern in 2010, and this is the smaller sister to it, on University Drive in the Cultural District.31 CultureMap describes the menu Armenta and Elliot put together: a smashburger, fish tacos, birria tacos, enchiladas, fried chicken, and their reading of the Zuni Cafe salad, with chicken, spinach, pecans, walnuts, bacon and egg.2 The house says it hand-cuts the steaks and bakes its own bread daily.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Zuni salad. It is a working cook's borrow, and CultureMap names the build:
chicken, spinach, pecans, walnuts, bacon, and egg.
2 - Order: the grilled artichokes off the starter list, which CultureMap calls
gorgeous.
2 - Order: the birria tacos or the smashburger if you want the cheap end. Most of the menu sits under $20.2
- Avoid: planning a long table. The house asks parties to arrive complete and to keep to two hours.1
What locals & experts say
- CultureMap Fort Worth, Where to Eat roundup:
New concept from chefs Felipe Armenta and Graham Elliot is now open in the former F1 Smokehouse space, a smaller version of The Tavern, their longtime staple.
2 - The house, on itself:
We take the time to make our food from scratch: hand-picking fresh vegetables, hand-cutting premium steaks, and baking our own breads daily.
1
Good to know
- It trades seven days, with brunch on Saturday and Sunday and a happy hour on weekday afternoons.1
- Groups of ten or more go through the events coordinator, not the floor staff.1
- Bookings: the house takes them on Tock and asks that your party arrive complete.1
- The bar is a full one, with craft cocktails including a frozen margarita and a lavender martini.2
Verdict
listed — Jorge Avina cooks it, Felipe Armenta and Graham Elliot built the menu, and most plates run under $20 in a Cultural District room that takes bookings through Tock and asks larger parties to use them. Armenta has run Fort Worth kitchens since he opened Tavern in 2010, and that record is what stands behind this one. Nobody has published a verdict on the cooking.