How to Spend a 24-Hour Staycation in Fort Worth (2024)

When someone suggests eating in Fort Worth, the stereotypical idea of what that means includes lots of barbecue, steaks, and cowboy stuff — basically all things Stockyards. However, there is so much more to eating great in Fort Worth and experiencing the city.

This staycation guide offers an alternative guide to Fort Worth, with vegan doughnuts, seafood and martinis, an incredible art collection paired with an awesome coffee cart, and some incredible and experimental Italian food.

Have breakfast and caffeinate

Start with a sweet shot from Dreamboat Donuts. The folks behind Maiden and Spiral Diner serve vegan doughnuts here topped with house-made chocolate, strawberry, maple, plain glaze, and cake doughnuts and fritters. If a savory morning is more the vibe, it also serves “cozy dawgs,” a vegan take on pigs in a blanket. Or, if you’d rather go all-in on sweets, it has vegan ice cream that can be added to any doughnut. They are all stunningly good, and you will leave trying to puzzle out how these pastries were made without butter or milk.

Dreamboat Donuts

With that bite procured and hopefully scarfed down, pop around the corner to Cherry Coffee Shop on Magnolia Ave. There are picnic tables out front to watch the traffic on this cozy street roll by or sit inside on the velvet couches, bright yellow chairs, or at the long shared table. The lights are dim, so it stays moody and quiet, and the selection of coffees is house-roasted. This shop carries a message of inclusivity (it’s a real y’all means all kind of place) and is helmed by women roasters who use coffee from women-owned spots.

The up-and-coming Magnolia District is home to a lot of great restaurants in Fort Worth, so take time to walk up and down the street to see what’s there and pop your head into any interesting shops.

Linger over a seafood lunch

Also on Magnolia Ave. is a spot with excellent seafood, a robust raw bar, and some of the best people-watching in town. Walloon’s advertises itself as “Southern comfort with a coastal spirit” and lands as a New Orleans-reminiscent seafood house where sitting at the u-shaped bar is the best seat in the house. It can go high- or low-key, depending on the time of day and what vibe you bring with you. The waiters all wear uniforms, but the food is truly focused on comfort, and the presence of Gulf seafood is strong.

It’s easy to go as light or heavy as you want here, both in food and drinks. The cold water oysters and crudo are top-notch, and a splurge on the beer-battered redfish beignets is always a smart move. From there, make it a lobster roll, salad, or mussels kind of lunch. Or, if you badly need comfort, there is always the decadent seafood mac and cheese with lobster, shrimp, and three cheeses. Walloon’s also advertises the coldest martinis in town, served in numerous iterations.

Courtney E. Smith

Enjoy some art in the afternoon with co*cktails or coffee

The Bowie House hotel on the bricks is just up the street from the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. After stopping at the latter, which offers free admission, to stroll around and enjoy some incredible pieces of art, pop up the street to Bowie House and look at an extensive collection of privately owned and curated art. The hotel is owned by a businesswoman and Hall of Fame horse rider Jo Ellard, who decorated it with pieces from her collection. Walk around the entire first floor, where massive canvases and sculptures dot every corner. Grab a coffee or a co*cktail at the hotel’s bar, and tuck into the Mulberry Room, a cozy library decorated in maroon that is one of its star rooms.

Bowie House is on a mission to welcome the community, and you are welcome to hang about to enjoy its charms. In addition to the library, there is a billet room, a garden dining area, and its in-house restaurant, Bricks and Horses, if you’re hungry for more than a snack.

Bowie House

Stephen Karlisch

Taste what Fort Worth is cooking up for dinner

Head Downtown for a Fort Worth dinner showing what this city does best: experimenting. 61 Osteria is in the First on 7th Building, and while it serves Italian food, the menu is anything but classic. Helmed by the owners of Grace and Little Red Wasp, two other critically acclaimed Fort Worth restaurants, this spot uses the sweeping floor-to-ceiling windows of its space to create a unique view into Downtown. Take your time here — order a co*cktail and take in the atmosphere.

Courtney E. Smith

The menu is typical Italian, with antipasti, primi, secondi, and mains. Savvy diners will order something from each to share. What makes this menu so exciting is that it is highly experimental. It’s the food equivalent of a conductor who is barely holding the orchestra together as it plays an explosive piece — sometimes a note is missed, sometimes it is hit so hard as to be jolting. When everything goes right, it goes gloriously right. There is a mixture of playfulness and seriousness to the dishes here that feels distinctly Fort Worthian.

Courtney E. Smith

Correction: Wednesday, July 31, 2024, 11:37 a.m.: The location of 61 Osteria has been corrected.