Hot and new in Cowtown: One of Fort Worth’s favorite Middle Eastern restaurants is back
The Flying Carpet has landed again.
The return of the beloved Turkish cafe on the Near Southside is the big headline in a fall of splashy Fort Worth-area restaurant openings and moves.
Chef Can Karatas of the high-rated Istanbul Cuisine restaurants in Southlake and Flower Mound is now in the kitchen at the Carpet, open again after repairs to its early-20th-century cottage, 1223 Washington Ave.
That’s one of four big local openings. Also headline news:
▪ Bocca Osteria Romano, 411 S. Main St., owned by Alessandro and Alfonso Salvatore, two Italian-American Texans who grew up visiting family members in Rome.
▪ Fort Redemption, 5724 Locke Ave., a lunch-by-day, dinner-by-night restaurant from food truck chef Tony Chaudhry, known for ¾-pound cheeseburgers and brisket with bourbon-cream sauce.
▪ and La Cabrona, 2933 Crockett St., a flashy interior Mexican restaurant with a lively bar and patio and a Sunday brunch buffet.
No carpets, but still flying
The Flying Carpet is now serving lunch and dinner but no longer sells carpets, lost to damage from a 2023 kitchen fire.
Karatas and new managers brought a new menu, including the same lamb shank, red lentil soup, kebabs and baba ghanoush from their other 5-star-rated restaurants.
On a weekend visit, a grilled salmon was notably spiced and served with a subtle mustard sauce (or ask for tzatziki) and precisely cut and spiced fresh vegetables.
The Flying Carpet offers a huge menu with the Turkish nicknames such as “Sultan’s Delight.” But plenty of customers stick to chicken, beef, lamb or salmon kabobs and the spinach pie or borek (“feta cigars”).
The menu is also filled with eggplant dishes and an eggplant-zucchini moussaka.
Weekday lunch specials go for about $14.95, including a Mediterranean eggplant stuffed with chicken.
Desserts include chocolate baklava, but try the kunefe cheese dessert with pistachio.
The Flying Carpet is open for lunch and dinner daily; 682-200-9300.
Restaurants opening soon
Coming within weeks:
▪ The Chumley House, 3230 Camp Bowie Blvd., new from the chefs behind Mister Charles in Dallas;
▪ Holy Cue, 4307 Camp Bowie Blvd., moving into its own location and out of its pop-up home inside Enchiladas Olé.
▪ Los Vaqueros, 2629 N. Main St., continues until its new location opens later this fall at 2513 Rodeo Plaza. The current location will eventually become an Urban Stillhouse distillery and restaurant.
▪ Pulido’s, 1224 Precinct Line Road, Hurst, is near opening. It’s the second location in the revived Tex-Mex chain, following the flagship at 2900 Pulido St., Fort Worth.
▪ The Seeker, 809 East Road, Stephenville, a new restaurant by groundbreaking Southwestern chef Stephan Pyles.
▪ Terra Mediterranean Grill, a Middle Eastern restaurant and lunch buffet reopening at 2932 Crockett St.
▪ Vickery Cafe, an old-time breakfast and plate lunch diner known for burgers and chicken-fried steak, will add a bar when it opens in the next few days at its new location, 2421 W. Seventh St. behind Chuy’s.
