Fort Worth

Stories about Fort Worth

The Drop Everything List

The Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas triathlon, Trenton Doyle Hancock, and the Avocado Takedown . . .

Woodshed Smokehouse

Fort Worth

The Drop Everything List

The Texas Music Roadtrip Exhibition in Austin, Ryan Bingham, Jeb Bush, and St. Patrick's Day Celebrations in Shamrock . . .

9 Texas Bands That Could Make an Impact at SXSW

Though South by Southwest is bringing big names like Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z this year, here are picks from showcasing Texans, from the obvious to the relatively obscure.

The Drop Everything List

South by Southwest in Austin, Mythbusters, the Dolly Johnson Antique and Art Show, and Judoka at the Houston International Performance Art Biennial . . .

Get Cooking

Recipes from the ten top restaurants in Texas.

Notable Openings and Closings

What you need to know about dining in Texas this week.

Five Ranch Getaways

From riding on the range and stargazing to big game huntin, here are five guest ranches where you can explore your inner cowboy. 

Meltdown

Where to Eat Now 2012

White tablecloths. Street food. Small portions. Lots and lots of innards. The only thing the ten best new Texas restaurants have in common is a willingness to prove that there is no such thing as a “Texas restaurant.” But when the escargots with fennel purée are this good, who cares?

Sweet Symphony

How two rare Stradivarius violins at the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra brought Michael Shih and Swang Lin, who both grew up in Taiwan, together. 

The Drop Everything List

Mardi Gras in Port Arthur, the watercolors of Charles Russell, the Winedale Quilt Show, and the couture of Jean Paul Gaultier in Dallas . . .

Notable Openings and Closings

What you need to know about dining in Texas this week.

A Cook’s Tour

A slide show of scenes from the ten restaurants you should be eating at right now.

The Drop Everything List

LeAnn Rimes in Fort Worth, the Animal Architecture Awards, the first big Andy Warhol exhibition in Texas, and Johnny Winter in Dallas . . .

West Seventh Street District, Fort Worth

This once sleepy Cowtown neighborhood has morphed into a shopping and nightlife hot spot.

Six Must-See Museums and Collections

Six members from Women for the Arts share which museums, collections, and venues travelers should not miss.

Courtroom Drama

Some of the biggest murder trials have happened in Texas, from proceedings against serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Charles Harrelson to housewives Darlie Routier and Candy Montgomery. Find out what TEXAS MONTHLY had to say about some of the most infamous Texans who were tried for murder.

Fed Up!

Sure, Texas’s criminal justice system is tough. But as Fort Worth inmate Richard LaFuente could tell you, the federal criminal system is even tougher.

Sketchy Characters

Before cameras were allowed in courtrooms, artist Gary Myrick and his assortment of colored pencils provided Texas television audiences with a vivid look at the state’s high-profile legal proceedings against figures like T. Cullen Davis, Henry Lee Lucas, and Charles Harrelson.

Sketch Artist

Gary Myrick’s impressions of the courtroom. Images and captions by Gary Myrick

A Father’s Day

Since 1986, Richard LaFuente has been in federal prison for a murder he didn’t commit. In June he was denied parole—again. The only bright spot in his life has been reconnecting with his daughters and their families.

The Drop Everything List

Kinky Friedman's Hanukkah Tour, Mariachi Mass, Renegade Craft Fair, and Jamie Foxx . . .

The Drop Everything List

Jimmie Vaughan returns to Oak Cliff, UFOs in Laredo, the Cinema Arts Festival, and Stephen King on the JFK Assassination . . .

The Drop Everything List

Fire Relief benefit concert, Poncho Sanchez, Lone Star Gourd Festival, and a screening of Some Girls Live in Texas 78 . . .

The Drop Everything List

The World Series, ZZ Top, Costume Art Ball, and the Texas Mushroom Festival . . .

The Drop Everything List

The Gourds, the Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover, Okkervil River, and Fantastic Fest

Opening Days

A round-up of impressive art exhibitions.

Rancho Alto

A Q&A With Jordan Breal

The associate editor on covering the arts scene in Texas.

The Art Lover’s Companion

More than sixty art insiders gave us their list of favorite works of art to see in Texas. So grab your notepad, sketchbook, or iPad and take the ultimate tour of must-see art in Texas.

Texas Treasures

My journey in early Texas art began while I was a student at Southern Methodist University, where I studied Frank Reaugh pastels and met Jerry Bywaters. After 24 years at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, curating exhibitions and traveling the state, I’ve come up with a list of greatest hits.

Straight From the Art

From the Menil in Houston to the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas museums are home to some of the greatest paintings and sculptures in the world. But what are the best within our borders? Come along on a guided tour of the ten works of art you must see before you die.

The Drop Everything List

The Buck Owens Memorial Birthday Bash, Texas Sommelier Conference, Stevie Nicks, and the Lavender and Wine Fest . . .

The Drop Everything List

Asleep at the Wheel, Texas Olive Oil, Alejandro Escovedo, Plaza Classic Film Festival, Juan Williams, and Dandee Danao's take on Smurfs . . .

A Q&A With Skip Hollandsworth

The executive editor on attending TCU, following the Horned Frogs, and why Gary Patterson may be the best college football coach in Texas.

Gary Patterson Is Still Yelling at His Players

Who cares if TCU went to the Rose Bowl last season and shocked the world? If the extremely intense coach of the Horned Frogs is going to keep his thrilling roll going, he’s got to keep! these! kids! focused!

Designated Rivalry

Should the Astros join the Rangers in the American League West?

Gunfire and Brimstone

Fort Worth preacher J. Frank Norris paved the way for today’s televangelists. But he’s probably best known as the defendant in a wild 1927 murder trial.

Offering Fine Advice Since 2007

Expensive quinceañeras, dangerous toys, lawn-watering etiquette, and seasonal restrictions on chili consumption.

Cutting

What every Texan should know about cutting.

The Drop Everything List

Pachanga Fest, the Real Ale Ride, the Kerrville Folk Festival, and Bay Day. . .

The Drop Everything List

The Golden Arm Trio, Texas Bound, the Tejano Conjunto Festival, and the 24-Hour Video Race . . .

The Drop Everything List

The Texas Beer Fest, Lucinda Williams and Erika Wennerstrom, the Battle of Port Jefferson, and Railfest . . .

The Drop Everything List

Arcade Fire, the Texas State Surfing Championships, the Wings Over the Hills Nature Festival, and the Wiener Dog Races  . . .

A Q&A With Christopher Kelly

The film critic on archetypes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the quintessential Texas film

Betty Buckley’s Piano

The Drop Everything List

The Big Bend Open Road Race, Larry Joe Taylor’s Texas Music Festival & Chili Cook-off, Itzhak Perlman, and the Buc Days Carnival . . .

The Drop Everything List

Buffalo Gap Wine & Food Summit, George Saunders, the Old Settler’s Music Festival, and the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival . . .

The Drop Everything List

The Texas Tornados, the Festival of Ideas, Becoming Kinky: The World According to Kinky Friedman, and the Texas Pinball Festival . . .

Chicken-Fried Steak

Grilled Ribeye

Chicken-fried Steak

Think you know how to cook like a Texan? Chef Grady Spears shows us how it’s done. Camera by Brian Birzer

The Drop Everything List

The Rothko Chapel, the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Mardi Gras! Galveston, and the North Texas Farm Toy Show . . .

The Drop Everything List

Robert Duvall, the Steve Miller Band, the Whooping Crane Festival, and “The Thrill of the Chase” . . .

1–25

From dinosaurs roaming the Paluxy in Glen Rose to Lance Armstrong joining his first cycling team in Richardson

1–25

From dinosaurs roaming the Paluxy in Glen Rose to Lance Armstrong joining his first cycling team in Richardson

The Drop Everything List

Blaze Foley, the Black Architecture Project, the Ennis Czech Music Festival, and Willie Nelson . . .

The Drop Everything List

Texas vs. the Nation, the South Padre Island Kite Fest, Barbara Smith Conrad, and Eagle Fest . . .

The Drop Everything List

Rodney Crowell, Zestfest, the NFL Experience, and the United Nations Film Festival . . .

The Drop Everything List

Pinetop Perkins, Red Hot Patriot, Fredericksburg Wine Road 290, and the Dallas Burlesque Festival . . .

The Drop Everything List

Shearwater, the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture, the Texas Citrus Fiesta, and the Monster Truck Thunder Slam . . .

Where to Eat Now 2011

Jalapeño sausage–stuffed quail, lemon-pepper-marinated fried chicken: The trend for most of the best new restaurants last year was comfort food with pizzazz. But then along came Uchiko to wow us with its mouthwatering take on Japanese fusion. Who says you can’t buck a trend?

Chow Hound

Read a Q&A with Patricia Sharpe.

All He Needs Is Love

Bill Paxton’s role of a lifetime.

Broadcasting the Super Bowl

Stephanie Druley on broadcasting the Super Bowl.

Rose to the Occasion

For longtime TCU fans, the Rose Bowl was a reminder of being snubbed in the school’s heyday. With the victory over Wisconsin, the Horned Frogs have shaken off the ghosts of the past—and taken their rightful place on the national stage.

The Drop Everything List

The Intergalactic Nemesis, the Cotton Bowl, the Magnificent Seven Ice Sculpting Competition, and the Ted Roddy Elvis Show . . .

The Drop Everything List

The Drop Everything List

Jeff Dunham, the “It Gets Better” Film Festival, the Mavs vs. the Spurs, and the South Texas Institute of the Arts . . .

The Time of Mex-Tex

Scenes from the fifty best Mexican restaurants in Texas, from Fonda San Miguel, in Austin, to El Meson de San Agustin, in Laredo.

The Eyes of Texas Are Upon Them

And the question on everyone’s mind is: Does TCU deserve a shot at the BCS title game?

The Drop Everything List

Ornette Coleman, the Great American Peanut Butter Festival, Tommy Tune, and the 15th World Championship Ranch Rodeo . . .

Guys in the White Hats

If these seven chefs have their way, Mexican food in Texas will never be the same.

The Yellow Cheese Hall of Fame

Mex-Mex has the purist vote wrapped up, but these Tex-Mex bastions win hands down when it comes to comfort food and customer loyalty.

Gentling Cheatgrass

What does it take to break a wild mustang? Patience, horse sense, experience, and if you’re Teryn Lee Muench, no more than one hundred days.

Let’s Have Mex-Tex

Where’s the best place to get a perfect plate of enchiladas? A chile relleno to die for? A salsa you’ll never forget? Come along on our tour of the fifty greatest Mexican restaurants in Texas, from Hugo’s, in Houston, to Tacos Santa Cecilia, in El Paso. This is not your father’s Tex-Mex.

Ruth Buzzi’s Garage

At the end of every show we’d pop out of these doors and scream out something ridiculous.

Annie Nelson, 52

Housing admissions specialist.

The Drop Everything List

The Fun Fun Fun Fest, the Terlingua International Chili Championship, Stephan Pyles, and Asleep at the Wheel . . .

The Drop Everything List

Wurstfest, Jean-Michel Basquiat, the Houston Rockets, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra . . .

The Gentle One

A slide show featuring James H. Evans’s images of a wild mustang and the cowboy who tames him.

The Horse Whisperer

Read a Q&A with Sterry Butcher.

Going Deep

What’s different about this Rangers team that earned them their first trip to the World Series? Everything.

Snap Decisions

Your unofficial playbook for watching college football in Texas during the weekend of October 23.

Snap Decisions

Your unofficial playbook for watching college football in Texas during the weekend of October 16.

New and Noteworthy

Las Canarias, San Antonio and Patrizio, Fort Worth

Fort Worth Stockyards

Fort Worth Stockyards.

Andrea Karnes, 44

Andrea Karnes, museum curator.

Leveling the Field

How coach Gary Patterson turned TCU Into a football powerhouse.

New and Noteworthy

Brownstone Restaurant and Lounge, Fort Worth and The Meddlesome Moth, Dallas.

Letters in the Deep

Texas Sound Bites

Twelve garage rock songs you must hear before you die.

The Texanist

The trouble with black beans, an unnatural attachment to Texas license plates, the perils of striking up a conversation in the restroom, and the discomfort of two men riding together on the same Harley.

Texas Nuggets

The secret history of garage rock in the Lone Star State.

Good Eats

A slide show of images featuring our state’s top ten restaurants, from Il Sogno, in San Antonio, to RDG + Bar Annie, in Houston, to Samar by Stephan Pyles, in Dallas.

Where to Eat Now 2010

You had to be brave to open a restaurant last year. Or you had to be a genius. Or, like Robert Del Grande, whose revamped Houston eatery tops our list of the ten best gastronomical debuts of 2009, you had to be both.

Bishop Takes Castle

Fort Worth clergyman Jack Iker’s battle with the Episcopal Church has become an all-out war. And the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Into the Wild

A slide show of images featuring some of our state’s most precious landscapes, from the Dahlstrom Ranch, in the Hill Country, to the surviving patch of the Great Plains just west of Fort Worth. Photographs by Sarah Wilson

Mother, Heal Thyself

Susan Hyde’s children were constantly in and out of the hospital with one illness or another. But were they the ones who were sick?

A Beautiful Mind

Terry Stickels is combining his love of puzzles with spreading awareness of Alzheimer’s disease in his new book, The Big Brain Puzzle Book .

It Takes a Texas Village to Raise Spinach

How a local Asian community came together to fight for their way of life.

Don’t Back Down

Why can’t TCU seem to break into the national sports consciousness?

People We’ll Miss—2009

A fond look back at 22 Texans who died in 2009, from Farrah Fawcett and Walter Cronkite to Brandon Lara and Joe Bowman.

Art of the Weekend

Game Over

Sure, sure, the newspaper business is dying, and this is bad for freedom, accountability, and democracy itself. But worst of all is what’s happened to sportswriting.

Gossip Girl

The Grande Dame of Dish is far from retired.

Music Man

Record producer T Bone Burnett talks about the industry, working with musicians, and good music.

The Show Goes On

The Texas Ballet Theater; Olafur Eliasson; Art Guys in Abilene.

A Modern Addition

A McNay makeover; welcome to Shangri La; show us the Monet.

BBQ08

Eighteen hungry reviewers. 14,773 miles driven/flown. 341 joints visited. Countless bites of brisket, sausage, chicken, pork, white bread, potato salad, and slaw—and vats of sauce—ingested. There are only fifty slots on our quinquennial list of the best places to eat barbecue in Texas. Only five of those got high honors. And only one (you’ll never guess which one in a million years) is the best of the best.

42

How to play 42.

Sportswriter High

Three cheers for Sportswriter High.

Where To Eat Now 2008

Yes, the setting is ritzy and the food remarkable. But what really makes the state’s best new restaurant sizzle is something less tangible: the (Dean) Fearing factor.

Being an Art Critic

Dave Hickey on being an art critic.

Army of One

There is no more important job than reshaping the military to confront a dark and dangerous future—and Pete Geren is reporting for duty.

The Last Drop

Texas has the country’s most precise state water plan. So how is it that every one of our major cities is still on track to run dry in the next fifty years?

Donald R. Horton

57, homebuilder, Fort Worth

George P. Bush

31, investor, Fort Worth

Tomorrow Never Dies

The perils of prediction.

Straight Strait

Strait talk; Fort Worth takes stock; MLK in S.A.

The Struggle Continues

An Udder Shame

Even Cowgirl Hall of Famers get the blues.

Texas Twenty: Betty Buckley

Give her regards to Broadway.

Call Me Clevio

I had everything it took to win the Mr. Romance Cover Model pageant—except for the looks and the body.

Hunger Pains

Without constant care, victims of an obscure genetic disorder would eat themselves to death.

Start Your Engines

Critter Bidders

High-tech meets down-home in Texas’ latest ranching trend: a video auction of emus, elk, and other exotic animals.

The Songs Remain the Same

And for these 8 one-hit wonders, including Balde Silva, of Toby Beau, that’s a good thing: Thanks to wildly successful singles they released many years ago, what might have otherwise been forgettable careers are anything but.

Where to Eat Now 2007

Well, first and foremost, Dallas, since four of the year’s ten best new restaurants—including the top three—are there. But if you’re hip and hungry in Houston, Austin, or San Antonio, my list won’t disappoint.

EEEEEEAAAAOOOOWWW!!!

On November 5, 181,500 people crowded into a former cow pasture north of Fort Worth to watch 43 race cars drive really, really fast for five hundred miles. That day, the Texas Motor Speedway would be, measured by population, one of the largest cities in the state. Welcome to NASCAR, Texas.

Sundance Square, Fort Worth

Sundance Square takes shape.

Free Richard Lafuente!

They say he ran over Eddie Peltier with his El Camino on a North Dakota Indian reservation in 1983. He says he didn’t do it, and the evidence is overwhelmingly on his side—yet the Plainview native has languished in federal prison for twenty years. It’s long past time for justice to be done.

Thank God It’s Friday

And Saturday. And Sunday. The arrival of fall means weekends spent watching football, up close and on-screen, and yet another opportunity to love the greatest game on earth for all the usual reasons. Forty-nine of them, in fact.

Heavenly

The heavenly hits of God’s Property.

Gossip • Liz Smith

She’s got a secret.

State Fare

There’s no need to be chicken about the dumplings at Fort Worth’s Angeluna: After all, they’re filled with pork.

Stick a Rourke in It—It’s Done.

On With the Shows

Now that both its building and its mission have been renovated, Houston’s Contemporary Arts Museum is ready to win back the public and reestablish its eminence.

Range Rover

After fifty years of traveling the Southwest, ranch photographer Frank Reeves left behind a vast body of work and unforgettable portraits of the cowboy’s way of life.

Speed

This month, more than 150,000 fans will pack an enormous new venue near Fort Worth to watch the state’s first major stock car race. Clearly, NASCAR is on the right track in Texas.

.commies

A Fort Worth filmmaker makes history on the Internet.

Bum Rap

Poisoning Daddy

No one ever suspected a thing until she asked her best friend if she could keep a terrible secret: the bizarre story of teenager Marie Robards, the devoted daughter who murdered her father.

Dial M for Molly.

Molly Ivins and Bob Wade on TV.

Grady Spears

Bad News, Baird’s

This spring, Texas’ leading white-bread maker was ordered to pay a fine of $10 million and settled a lawsuit for another $18 million. Why does the company have to cough up so much dough?

Unfriendly Skies

An airline deal sets off an American revolution.

Music • Kirk Franklin

The voice of God.

Theater • Lou Diamond Phillips

It’s good to be King.

Business • Richard Rainwater

The last tycoon.

Joan of Art

Less than a decade ago, she was a homemaker and an arts volunteer, but today the Arlington Museum of Art’s Joan Davidow is the most imaginative and adventurous museum director working in Texas.

Toad Warriors

The Great, Late Townes Van Zandt

More than a year after his death, he’s still being remembered as the best Texas songwriter of his time. This month’s star-studded Austin City Limits tribute shows why.

Wowtown!

The billionaire Basses had a vision—and money, of course. Now, thanks to their efforts, Fort Worth has the hottest downtown in Texas.

Tax Moncrief

Inside Tex Moncrief’s IRS mess.

Honor Thy Father

In suburban Fort Worth the frail psyche of a football prodigy collided with the crazed ambition of his dad, who himself had been a high school football star way back when. The consequences were deadly.

CD and Book Reviews

TELEVISION • Lisa McRee

Co-anchor aweigh.

RADIO • Tom Joyner

The host with the most.

Georgia O’Beef

Fort Worth art patrons fight the Presbyterians over Georgia O’Keefe

Ethan Hawke

Larry McMurtry writes about how if you’re forced to leave Texas before you’re ready, before the state lets you go, you always dream of it.

Wild Turkey

Here’s something to be thankful for: chef Grady Spears’s holiday feast, with a deep-fried bird and all the trimmings.

Grumpy Old Man

Dan Jenkins has just published his eighth novel. It’s called Rude Behavior. Spend a few hours with him and you’ll know why.

The Killer Cadets

David Graham and Diane Zamora were intelligent, young, and in love. And they shared a secret: They had brutally murdered Adreianne Jones.

Brooklyn Heights

A one-on-one with Brooklyn Pope reveals her to be—off the court, at least—a fairly typical fifteen-year-old girl. But when the game clock starts, she’s the future of women’s basketball. Maybe basketball, period.

Shoot a Basketball

Mondo Bondo

Texas’ multimillionaire of the moment.

Old-timers’ Day

Duking it out, after more than fifty years of friendship, over Ann Coulter, Terri Schiavo, the appeal of golf, and, inevitably, the decline of the Cowboys.

Suburban Renewal

How three Dallas area developers are beating back the threat of soulless sprawl by restoring a sense of community.

CD and Book Reviews

Shock Star

Fort Worth officers and teachers get to know Marilyn Manson.

Child’s Play

The state’s reigning piano prodigy is a nine-year-old from Carrollton? No kidding.

CD and Book Reviews

Return to Splendor

From humble Oak Cliff roots did a hip intellectual giant grow. In this oral history, friends and fans remember the late Grover Lewis, one of the great magazine writers of our day.

Malled

Wealthy school districts think they’ve found a way to shield millions of dollars from the state’s Robin Hood law. Are they about to get malled?

Funny Papers

If you believe the Fort Worth Star-Telegram obituary that says Jaime Woodson was one of the great writers of this century, let me tell you about the Corbet Comets.

The Shot Not Heard Round the World

Elmo Henderson’s entire life story can be summed up in a single moment: when he stepped into the ring in San Antonio one night in 1972 and knocked out Muhammad Ali. At least that’s the way he tells it. And tells it.

Duke of Dunbar

That would be 75-year-old Robert Hughes, who has amassed more victories while coaching in Fort Worth than anyone in high school basketball history. For most people, that would be enough.

The Traitor Next Door

His name was Wadih el-Hage. He had an American wife and American kids, a home in Arlington, a job at a tire store in Fort Worth, and a secret past that led straight to Osama bin Laden.

Our Towns

What's the story behind "Bug Tussle"? "Old Dime Box"? "Frognot"? It turns out there's more to a name than I ever expected.

The Craddickal Right

Tom Craddick of Midland wants to be the first Republican Speaker of the House in Texas since 1873. He may already have the votes, but his critics are questioning his tactics.

Amon High

With a massive addition to its gallery space and a host of new exhibitions in the works, Fort Worth's Amon Carter Museum is back in the saddle.