New Restaurants Begin Serving in Arlington

(excerpt from O.K. Carter, Fort Worth Business Press, February 18, 2019)  In a quest exploring frontiers of new Arlington cuisine – at considerable caloric and cholesterol risk – just in the last two months I’ve come upon two sad examples of what happens to most new restaurants: padlocks and chains coiled about their doors (landlords become so surly when rent goes unpaid), the lights inside gone dark. No lunch specials today.

Restaurants are high-risk enterprises.

This column, then, celebrates some gastronomically delightful newcomer survivors on the Arlington restaurant scene – a subjective (feel free to debate the selection) list of relatively new entrants that have hung around and prospered. So far...

New downtown: Be sure to drop by Tipsy Oak, an icehouse-style restaurant and bar with a surprisingly eclectic menu (Korean barbecue burger with bacon, chicken ciabatta, blackened salmon BLT), plus a covered wrap-around porch on three sides and an oversize back patio. The bar – lots of craft beers — closes at midnight. The location: 301 W. Front St.

Or journey another two blocks to 506 E. Front St. for the recently opened Cartel Taco Bar right next to Legal Draft for some truly exotic gourmet tacos – smoked salmon, mahi or pulled pork to name just three – and a bar offering the most expansive collection of tequilas anywhere...

Read the rest of the story by O.K. Carter, which was originally published in the Fort Worth Business Press on February 18, 2019. Photo from The Tipsy Oak's Facebook page.