The Fort Worth Business Press is reporting that Grace, the new restaurant under construction in the ground floor of Carter + Burgess Plaza on Main downtown, will feature chef Blaine Staniford as its executive chef.

In addition to appearances on Good Morning America and The Rachael Ray Show, Staniford is perhaps best known as the head chef at Fuse, a Tex-Asian fusion restaurant in Dallas. Grace, which is being developed by former Del Frisco’s manager Adam Jones, will serve modern American food.

Grace’s design is by local architectural/design company Firm 817, run by Joe and Tracy Self, hosts of Design Talk Radio on TCU Radio.

By now, you may have heard the news that Metromedia Restaurant Group of Plano has gone into bankruptcy (here’s the news from Unfair Park and the Startlegram), and they’ve taken the downtown Bennigan’s and the 29 Degree Tavern at Chapel Hill with them. As of this morning, both the eateries are closed.

I’m not a big chain person. I’ve had decently passable experiences at Bennigan’s downtown before, and have been to 29 Degree a couple of times (though as Pete Wann will tell you, 29 degrees was too cold for quality beer), but I’m not particularly shaken up. I do wonder what will take the downtown Bennigan’s place - will it return, or will something new take its place?

So, what are your thoughts on the closure of these places?

Don’t forget - tonight is Modern ‘Til Midnight, from 6:00 PM to, well, midnight (hence the name). Music will be many and varied - Yellow Fever, The Theater Fire, Trimble Tech High School Marching Band (directed by Earnest Colvin playing a composition by Patrick Grant), PPT, and Strange Fruit Project. Food and drinks. Admission is $15, or FREE for Modern members.

I’ll be there from about 7:30 or so onwards. Look for the guy in the hat, as usual. Say hi!

You know that bar and grill in every college movie? The place with the nice long bar, cheap beer, bar food, and close enough to campus that you could stumble back to the dorms after closing it down for the night?

That’s what Buffalo Brothers is like.

The difference here is that it’s not in a movie, it’s in Fort Worth, just down the street (easy stumbling distance) from TCU.

Buffalo Brothers is the result of a collaboration between John Bonnell (of, obviously, Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine), and Ed McOwen, chef de cuisine at Bonnell’s. It joins Grady Spears’ Dutch’s Burgers next door as the latest in the trend of local chef-celebs opening lower priced “everyday food” joints on University just north of Berry. (Yes, I’m aware that both have been open for a while, but I like to get to know a place before I write about it.)
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