Texas Monthly lists two from Fort Worth among Texas’ ‘Best New Restaurants’

Fort Worth is renowned for barbecue, but now, it’s also known statewide for French and Italian dining.

Le Margot, a French bistro from celebrity chef Graham Elliot, is ranked No. 2 on the list of “Texas’ Best New Restaurants in 2024” according to Texas Monthly magazine.

61 Osteria, a modern Italian restaurant with a Manhattan vibe, is ranked No. 4, a new success for the Grace prime steakhouse team of owner Adam Jones and chef Blaine Staniford.

That gave Fort Worth two of the four best new restaurants in Texas, a year after Don Artemio Mexican Heritage was Texas’ first national finalist in the James Beard Award voting for the best new restaurant in America.

Fort Worth is more than just a steak, barbecue and burger town. It’s a foodie town.

Le Margot: French and fun

Le Margot, 3150 S. Hulen St., marked Elliot’s debut as the chef for Felipe Armenta’s vast network of restaurants, soon to include a Cowboy Prime steakhouse in the Stockyards.

Texas Monthly praised the sense of fun and the traditional dishes such as French onion soup, but also the cheeseburger “Royale” with brie fondue, a joking reference to McDonalds France’s “Le Royal Cheese” and the movie line reference in “Pulp Fiction.”

“For dessert,” the magazine wrote, “they shamelessly aim for laughs with a chocolate-drenched profiterole the size of a baseball,” filled with white chocolate gelato and topped with hot fudge.

It’s open daily for lunch, brunch and dinner; lemargottx.com

Le Margot’s newest company affiliate, Press Cafe, named for a French coffee press, is also now open in Aledo.

61 Osteria: pasta on the park

61 Osteria, 500 W. Seventh St., was chosen for notably different dishes such as the ricotta-filled “serpente” pasta.

But “61” now also ventures into the steak market with a prime strip or a porterhouse Florentine.

The restaurant also draws attention in the magazine for its fine-dining decor. The floor-to-ceiling windows face Burnett Park.

It’s open nightly at dinner; 61osteria.com.

Fort Worth chefs celebrate

Celebrity chef and Stockyards restaurateur Tim Love said he’s thrilled to see Elliot’s and Staniford’s success and the “evolution” of the Fort Worth food scene.

“We have somebody in the top 10 almost every year now,” he said. “Fort Worth is having a boom. People forget Fort Worth is the fastest-growing large city.”

Chef Russell Kirkpatrick, operations chief for chef Marcus Paslay’s restaurants and co-founder of the upcoming Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival, said city restaurateurs pull for each other.

“We are all our own biggest cheerleaders,” he wrote in a text message.

“Hopefully the readers of Texas Monthly will carve out some time for a trip to Fort Worth to visit them and our other fantastic restaurants,” he wrote.

The full Top Ten:

1. Katami, Houston.

2. Le Margot.

3. Quarter Acre, Dallas.

4. 61 Osteria.

5. Josephine’s Gulf Coast Tradition, Houston.

6. Bureau de Poste, Austin.

7. Leche de Tigre Cebichería Peruana, San Antonio.

8. Via Triozzi, Dallas.

9. Efro Pizza + Crudo, Houston.

10. Ezov, Austin.