Here’s what a $6 million BBQ palace looks like: It’s a new Terry Black’s in Fort Worth

Bud Kennedy
·3 min read

The new $6 million Fort Worth location of Lockhart-based Terry Black’s Barbecue will include a main building along West Seventh Street with parking behind it, according to plans filed with the city.

Terry Black’s, founded by descendants from one of Central Texas’ legacy barbecue families, is building a 6,400-square-foot restaurant on a former Wendy’s hamburger stand site at 2926 W. Seventh St.

The restaurant site stretches back to the parking on the West Sixth Street side, according to the plans.

The restaurant is tentatively scheduled to open by next fall, according to a state application.

The view from West Seventh Street of the new Terry Black’s BBQ in west Fort Worth.
The view from West Seventh Street of the new Terry Black’s BBQ in west Fort Worth.

It was officially announced earlier in October. Black’s had bought the land in January.

Terry Black’s has a Dallas location at 3025 Main St. in Deep Ellum. The original opened in 2014 in Austin after a family split with 90-year-old Black’s Barbecue in Lockhart.

Terry Black’s expanded to Dallas in 2019 and added a Lockhart restaurant in 2022.

Mark Black said in January that the Fort Worth restaurant will open at lunch and dinner daily and serve “straight-up Central Texas barbecue — the same thing we’ve been doing since the 1930s.” (No shorter hours, burgers or brisket tacos.)

Customers at the Dallas location often say, “come to Fort Worth,” he said then.

“The barbecue scene in Fort Worth has blown up,” he said. “We love to be in areas where barbecue is king.”

Artist’s rendition of the waiting line at Terry Black’s BBQ in west Fort Worth.
Artist’s rendition of the waiting line at Terry Black’s BBQ in west Fort Worth.

The Blacks are also building a restaurant, winery and resort in Driftwood near Austin.

A chef-driven barbecue restaurant and bar by TV food show celebrity chef Graham Elliot and executive Felipe Armenta, F1 Smokehouse, recently opened nearby at 517 University Drive.

Several of the city’s “new school” barbecue restaurants have achieved state top 10 or top 50 rankings, led by Panther City BBQ, 201 E. Hattie St. (also mapped as 201 E. Pennsylvania Ave.).

Dayne Weaver of state top-50 Dayne’s Craft Barbecue, currently at 9840 Camp Bowie West Blvd., is remodeling a new home at 109 S. Front St. in Aledo.

An artist’s conception of the new Terry Black’s BBQ under construction in west Fort Worth.
An artist’s conception of the new Terry Black’s BBQ under construction in west Fort Worth.

The Terry Black’s site, three blocks from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, is valued at $1.8 million just for the land.

The old Wendy’s was built in 1977 and replaced a 40-year-old Texaco station. An In-N-Out Burger is next door.

Fort Worth gained statewide fame in 2021 when Goldee’s Barbecue south of Kennedale was ranked the state’s best and 11 more local restaurants made the “50 best” or top 100.

Also listed among Texas Monthly’s 2021 guide to the state’s top 50 barbecue restaurants:

▪ Hurtado Barbecue, 1116 Eighth Ave., Fort Worth, and 205 E. Front St., Arlington.

▪ Smoke-A-Holics BBQ, 1417 Evans Ave., Fort Worth;

▪ Zavala’s Barbecue, 421 W. Main St., Grand Prairie.

A “Best of the Rest” honorable mention list included 407BBQ, Argyle; 225° BBQ, Arlington; Bare Barbecue, Johnson County; BBQ on the Brazos, Cresson; and Heim Barbecue, with three locations in Fort Worth and Dallas and a new restaurant expected next year in Burleson.