A fashionable weekend in Fort Worth
For a Balenciaga weekend, Fort Worth’s famously fun cowpoke experience just wouldn’t do. So we behaved like thoroughbreds in the hip and sophisticated Cultural District.
EAT
We powered up (twice) for museum-going with virtuous morning meals that don’t feel like a sacrifice at Righteous Foods ,a friendly, casual eatery just a few blocks from the Kimbell. The opened-up cottage has a 21stcentury green vibe, with a xeriscape garden and patio walls of hanging planters. And there’s a hint of the Kimbell’s designer noir show in the matte black ceramic serving dishes. Niman Ranch meats, free-range poultry and organic eggs and produce figure into an ample assortment of tasty grabs (small plates), soups, grains, greens and grinders (burgers and tacos). Be as bold as Balenciaga with the enticing list of inventive “detox” (nonalcoholic) and “retox” cocktails. Try it for an early breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. 3405 W. 7th; 817-8509996, eatrighteously.com Go French for dinner at Paris 7th, a formal spinoff of local favorite St. Emilion, which is closed for renovations. Paris 7th is just across the street from Righteous but a world unto itself, with super service and a classical prix-fixe menu. We could have been satisfied with just our first course: melt-in-your-mouth grilled diver scallops for one; a beautiful seasonal salad of mushrooms, kale chips and spaghetti squash for the other. Then the rich but delicate layers of flounder en croute, a special of the evening, made us swoon. The apple tart à la mode was less spectacular, but a simple platter of cheese, dried fruit and nuts provided a perfect ending. 3324 W. 7th; 817-4895300, saint-emilionrestaurant.com If you don’t want to leave the museums, break for a snack or a meal where fine architecture is also on the menu. The Buffet Restaurant at the Kimbell occupies a corner and courtyard of Louis Kahn’s legendary original Kimbell building. Across the street, Café Modern inside the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth offers excellent farm-fresh fare and a dazzling floor-to-ceiling view of Tadao Ando’s magnificent glassand-steel building across its serene, surrounding pools.
PLAY
The days may belong to art, but streets between the Cultural District and downtown liven up with a bar scene at night. For starters, check out the street life in and around Crocket Row at West 7th, one of several developing lifestyle centers boasting a millennial-magnet mix of restaurants, shops and entertainment venues below midrise apartment complexes.
SLEEP
The genteel Ashton, Fort Worth’s only historical boutique hotel, is an easy five-minute drive from the museums and just two blocks from the popular Sundance Square. It fills the former Fort Worth Club Building, one of numerous architectural gems downtown that date from the 19th century. The hotel’s 39 well-appointed rooms and suites are plush and contemporary, with down bedding and Molton Brown toiletries. The quiet breakfast restaurant, Six 10 Grille, offers high tea on Saturday afternoons ($45 per person; reservations required). Rates from $199; 610 Main; 817-332-0100, theashtonhotel.com