The Tower in Fort Worth lands flashy Mexico City-style bar and club, Italian restaurant
Bocado, a three-story restaurant and club owned by a Dallas music executive, will open alongside a new Italian pasta house from New York, bringing two new restaurant anchors to The Tower skyscraper in downtown Fort Worth, a broker for the building said Wednesday.
Bocado, founded two years ago in Dallas by partners including Humberto Novoa of Azteca Records, will replace a bank in the two lower floors and basement at 570 Throckmorton St., according to broker Derek Anthony of Partners Real Estate.
Belle Gente, featuring ingredients flown from Italy, will open at 575 Taylor St., Anthony said.
The restaurants will anchor the West Fifth Street side of The Tower, a 35-story residential building on the outskirts of the Sundance Square development.
The north corners of The Tower are anchored by Mercury Chophouse, a prime steakhouse at 525 Taylor St., and Reata, a 28-year Southwestern restaurant moving into temporary quarters within weeks at 500 Throckmorton St.
The announcement marks a resurgence for central downtown, featuring Bocado, a 4,000-square-foot dining room plus a lounge, all described on its website as a “Vegas-style restaurant.”
“The way the last 12-18 months have gone in the DFW market — the announcements in Fort Worth like the new Texas A&M campus, the convention center upgrades and the Stockyards — there’s a lot of positivity in Fort Worth right now,” Anthony said.
He called the Bocado announcement a “home run” for Fort Worth, The Tower and managing partner Saad Sindhu.
“This will be higher-end than the Tex-Mex restaurant — it’ll have a very lounge-y feel,” Anthony said.
The Bocado in Dallas, 3300 Ross Ave., is rated highly on social media for dishes such as sea bass, hamachi and brunch chilaquiles verdes and tortita ahogada. It serves dinner Wednesday through Sunday nights and kept the weekend brunch from a previous tenant, Dahlia’s.
According to The Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate, it was started by Novoa and Jesus Almanzan in hopes of opening a restaurant to combine interior Mexico food, music and art.
Almanzan was quoted as saying, “I want [you] to feel like you’re in one of those cool restaurants and bars in Mexico City. ... I want it to feel like [they’re] somewhere else, that’s my vision.”
The Tower will offer valet parking stands for the restaurants, Anthony said.
A sports-themed restaurant is a possibility for another floor, he said.
