Texas Sets the Table: The Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival Arrives With Its Most Ambitious Lineup Yet
Texas has always had more culinary talent than it’s had occasions to show it all off at once. The Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival, running April 9 through 12 at Heart of the Ranch at Clearfork, 5000 Clearfork Main St., has spent twelve years fixing that problem for Fort Worth. This year, it’s attempting something larger: fixing it for the whole state. Several events are already sold out or selling fast. Check fwfwf.org before you plan.
Thursday, April 9 — Tacos + Tequila
Early Entrance 5:30–9 p.m. | $129 (SOLD OUT) / General Admission 6:30–9 p.m. | $75 (SOLD OUT)
The festival opens where Texas almost always does, with tortillas and agave, and this year the taco lineup is as good as it’s ever been. Rodrigo Rivera Rio of Almacén el Gallo is the headliner, and he’s bringing two dishes worth showing up for: a Taco Olvidado de Camaron built on corn tortilla with zarandeado shrimp and Mixe chile dressing, and a short rib barbacoa taco with fire-roasted tomatillo salsa and avocado crema. That’s the standard the rest of the room is cooking against.
Mesero, one of our favorite Mexican dining rooms in Dallas and a restaurant that’s been doing right by their guests by serving LiquidZERO zero-sugar margaritas across their locations, arrives with brisket tacos. Chef Armando Mendiola and his team know what they’re doing with beef, and this is the format to prove it. Rodrigo Cárdenas of Dos Mares brings a fresh tuna tostada. Jake Morgan of Flama Blanca is serving suadero, confit brisket finished with black magic oil and calabacita salsa. Gabriel DeLeon of Mi Dia From Scratch goes with duck carnitas. Ernest Morales and Chris Magallanes of Panther City BBQ bring sliced barbacoa tacos with salsa verde. Brian Olenjack of Rex’s Bar & Grill does a cheesy brisket barbacoa taco with Munster cheese, red onion, and cilantro. Leena Shanaa of La Cabrona goes traditional with an asado taco in red chile sauce on homemade corn tortilla. Amanda Yunger and Angel Fuentes of Los Guapos bring octopus al pastor with pineapple and habanero on flour tortilla. Tagan Couch of Taco Darlin offers the Oki Taco, Dr Pepper pulled pork with kimchi bacon sauce on flour tortilla, which is either a terrible idea or a great one and probably deserves investigation. Julio Cartagena of Toro Toro Fort Worth contributes short rib tacos with peanut sauce and crispy potatoes. And Francisco “Paco” Islas of Shogun Taqueria brings a teriyaki al pastor that earns its reputation for controlled chaos.
Friday, April 10 — The Main Event
Early Entrance 5:30–9 p.m. | $229 (SOLD OUT) / General Admission 6:30–9 p.m. | $145
This is the cornerstone tasting, and the 2026 menu is stacked. Tom Perini of Perini Ranch Steakhouse, the man from Buffalo Gap who’s been feeding presidents and cowboys with the same mesquite-smoked hand for decades, is here with a peppered beef tenderloin. Ricardo Dominguez of B&B Butchers brings Chef Tommy’s Bacon: thick smoked bacon with blue cheese and truffle-infused honey, which is three good ideas occupying the same plate. Jon Bonnell of Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine goes with quail schnitzel and creamed spinach, the kind of dish that sounds restrained until you’re eating it. Molly McCook of Ellerbe Fine Foods, Bon Appétit’s pick for one of America’s best new restaurants in her opening year, is serving a deviled egg tartlet with housemade gravlax, dill, and crispy capers, the kind of thing that makes you pause mid-conversation. Marcus Kopplin of Duchess at The Nobleman is doing duck confit with mole negro and pepitas. Donato Ricci of Emilia’s brings cappelletti in smoked ham broth. Braden Wages of Malai Kitchen serves massaman braised lamb confit with crispy roti. Jenna Kinard of Madrone has a crab tartlet with Cajun crab, avocado buttermilk mousse, and peach jalapeño sriracha, and is also pouring a ranch water made with coconut-washed plata tequila and soursop. Te’von Johnson of Roots Southern Table brings a smoked beef cheek tostada. Marcus Paslay of Piatello Italian Kitchen goes with fried calamari and Calabrian aioli. Ix-Chel Ornelas of Tinies serves a chicken sope with green pipian on heirloom corn. Lindsey Lawing of Sweet Lucy’s Pies closes things out with Texas whiskey buttermilk mini pies with roasted strawberry compote.
Early entrance is sold out. General admission at $145 remains available.
Saturday, April 11 — Fork + Fire
Early Entrance 5–9 p.m. | $159 / General Admission 6–9 p.m. | $105
This is the new one, and the one that justifies the weekend. Fork + Fire brings Taste of Texas Row together with The Fireside, a dedicated live-fire cooking area spanning over seven acres of the Edwards Ranch property, with two music stages and premium beverage partners running throughout the evening.
Taste of Texas Row is organized city by city. From Austin’s Hot Luck Festival: Michael Fojtasek of Michelin-starred Olamaie brings country ham with fried cheesy potato, shaved ham and fried potato with parmesan, proof that restraint is a technique. Bob Somsith of Lao’d Bar does a waterfall ribeye steak skewer. Mariela Camacho of Comadre Panadería, a 2025 Food & Wine Best New Chef, brings guayaba tres leches made with Texas Sonora flour chiffon cake, oaxacan rum, and MX guava mermelada, a dessert that carries the weight of two cultures without making a speech about it. Anthony Pratto and Austin Lucas of Pyro, the live-fire concept making its public debut this weekend, serve a Texas picanha skewer smoked and grilled over oak with a charred-chile honey glaze and fire-blistered chimichurri.
Dallas’s Chefs For Farmers sends Aubrey Murphy of SER Steak + Spirits with berbere-spiced Colorado bison over redneck cheddar grits with tomatillo salsa. Eduardo Osorio of Meridian brings chilled smoked clam with honeydew nuoc cham and compressed melon. Jacob Williamson of The Devonshire Club makes a foie gras “Snickers” bar with Maldon sea salt, which is the dish most likely to generate a line. Franchesca Nor of Dive Coastal Cuisine does blackened salmon tacos with jicama slaw and sriracha aioli.
Houston’s Southern Smoke sends Ryan Pera of Coltivare with marinated crab on ceci bean cake and spring pea verde. Graham Laborde and Benjy Mason of Winnie’s bring pimento cheese with lemon pepper shrimp chips, a move that shows a kitchen comfortable enough with its own cooking to let the condiment carry the night. Becky Masson of Fluff Bake Bar serves a baked Alaska with pistachio ice cream, strawberry magic shell, and toasted meringue. Mike Pham of Trill Burgers, co-founded with Bun B and certified Best Burger in America by Good Morning America, brings the Trill OG: a signature smashburger with American cheese, grilled onions, pickles, and Trill Sauce on a potato bun.
Fort Worth’s home team: Graham Elliot of Le Margot does bleu cheese stuffed bacon-wrapped dates. Marcus Paslay of Scratch Hospitality brings a shrimp “cocktail” michelada, poached shrimp, avocado, Latin cocktail sauce, and cerveza, which is exactly the kind of invention that sounds like a joke until you taste it. Molly McCook of Ellerbe Fine Foods is serving housemade chorizo and sweet corn grits with pickled purple onion and manchego. Jenny Castor of Lucky Bee Kitchen brings champagne fried sunflowers with Calabrian honey and flaky salt.
The Hidden Gems section deserves its own walk-through. Austin and Shannon Odom of Oma Leen’s in Hico serve buttermilk and duck fat focaccia with Southern-style nduja, Vollemans milk ricotta, smoky pickled beets, and fermented blueberry relish. Lance McWhorter of Heritage East in Tyler brings a Texas wagyu beef cheek taco with queso fresco and jalapeño. Phillip Moellering of 12 Gage Restaurant at the historic Gage Hotel in Marathon does a grilled bavette with New Mexico chili rojo sauce, cilantro lime slaw, and cotija cheese. Jim Lee of Old Pal Texas Tavern in Lockhart shows up with chicken tenders and boom boom sauce, which either proves that confidence is everything or that Lee knows something the rest of the room doesn’t.
The broader Fireside field is equally loaded: Dayne Weaver of Dayne’s Craft Barbecue does steak frites with smoked and seared NY strip, chimichurri whipped butter, and beef tallow fries. Theodore Tom of Cattlemen’s Steakhouse brings a Bosque Ranch wagyu tartare cowboy with garlic truffle chili crisp and smoked yolk crumble. Julio Cartagena of Toro Toro serves a smoked short rib in bibb lettuce with peanut sauce and pickled chiles. Keith Wineinger of The Burn Shop does a Wellborn caprese with tri-tip, fresh mozzarella, and balsamic drizzle. Hao Tran of Hao’s Grocery & Cafe makes bún chà Hà Nội, charcoal-grilled pork patties and caramelized pork belly over rice vermicelli with pickled vegetables. Jon Bonnell of Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine brings a bacon-crusted redfish Pontchartrain.
Sunday, April 12 — The Big Brunch
Early Entrance 11:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. | $149 / General Admission 12:30–3:30 p.m. | $95
The festival closes with a wide, relaxed Sunday afternoon built around gospel music on one stage, country on the other, and a brunch table that covers serious ground. Jett Mora of Café Modern by Wolfgang Puck Catering is doing his Korean fried chicken and waffles, built on kimchi fermented for a month, a 24-hour kimchi jus brine, and Korean chile flake-infused Texas honey, a dish that required more preparation calendar than most people apply to their entire meal. Rodrigo Cárdenas returns, now representing Don Artemio, the Michelin-recognized Mexican heritage concept, rather than Dos Mares. Dayne Weaver of Dayne’s Craft Barbecue is back on the fire. Jesse Gibson of Cocodrie’s Bayou Kitchen brings a Louisiana thread to the Sunday spread. Robyn Walsh of Black Rooster Bakery anchors the sweeter end. Tasha Monticure of Bodega South Main, Dariana Jimenez of Rise Soufflé, Brian Olenjack of Rex’s Bar & Grill, Derrick Walker of Smoke-A-Holics BBQ, and Joe Cole of Terry Black’s BBQ round out a lineup that manages to feel both celebratory and unhurried, which is exactly what a Sunday should be.
Parking on-site is limited and The Shops at Clearfork lot isn’t available to festival guests. A shuttle runs from 5600 Clearfork Main St. beginning 30 minutes before each event through 30 minutes after close. Ride-share is the better call. All events are 21 and over without exception.