On the recommendation of a friend, I finally stopped into Simply Fondue in downtown last night. After a quiet opening a month or two ago, the place has been refining and tweaking things, and last night marked the official opening.

Simply Fondue is located in the basement of the Woolworth Building at 4th & Houston. The Woolworth Building is also home to the Scat Jazz Lounge, the downtown Jos. A. Bank, and the Milan Gallery. Enter the doors on 4th Street and take the stairs down to the restaurant, following the handy signage along the way. [Read more]

Saturday is the day that my family goes out for breakfast. This occurs in spite of the fact that I usually buy good breakfast fixin’s with the intention of cooking them on weekend mornings. We always manage to crave waffles or pancakes or whatever, and then have to make our way out to one of the usual haunts to satisfy that need.

Last week our usual haunt (Old Neighborhood Grill) was closed for Labor Day weekend, so we had to scramble to find someplace new. My companion wanted waffles, so the hunt was on!
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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?

Welcome to Gastrognome, our recurring dining feature that aims to highlight the unique and varied dining landscape in Fort Worth. We’ve all got our own weird dietary quirks, so this will make for some good reading in the coming posts.

We’ll start this feature with a review of a seafood restaurant in Sundance Square, but just because our first restaurant has a couple $$ in the summary doesn’t mean we’ll always be dining with rich folks, drinking coffee and smoking big cigars. You get to read about the places we like. We aren’t food critics; we are folks that don’t mind spending our hard earned scratch on some good food.

So what’s with the name, Gastrognome? I don’t know, man…We have a weird sense of humour and as soon as I can cook up the graphic, it will make a lot more sense.

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Daddy Jack’s New England Lobster and Chowder House
American Seafood/817-332-2477/353 Throckmorton @ 3rd/$$$/ Reservations seem like a good idea
http://www.daddyjacks.org/

I dunno…I guess it was the understated exterior or the juxtaposition of red gingham tablecloth and fine tableware, but I wasn’t sure what to expect from Daddy Jack’s, a New England-ey seafood restaurant near Sundance Square in Downtown Fort Worth.

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