Approaching Benito's, coming north on Fairmount.
Fairmount is one of the older residential neighborhoods in Fort Worth. It's best described as "spotty". It's a historic district, so as the homes are fixed up, they are kept true to the flavor of the neighborhood, and there are some truly beautiful homes. But there are also some eyesores that need to be leveled. Anyway, once I got closer to Benito's,
I found out that they don't open until 11 am on weekdays! So I made my way back to 8th Avenue and Park Place.
Because on my way through there earlier I noted that Esperanza's was open.
So I stopped in.
There was no place to lock my Raleigh DL-1 up, so I just left The Old Gentleman out front and grabbed a table near the window.
Looking around the place...
...it looked a little upscale. Luckily they have daily breakfast and lunch specials.
Being Friday, I ordered the "Huevos a la mexicana". For a little price you get a big breakfast!
The food was excellent. I'm not a big fan of hot, spicy food. The eggs had a nice bite to them, but weren't too hot. While I was there, I looked around at the other customers. The place was frequented by a combination of white gringos like myself, and mexicanos, many of them appeared to be workmen who I would think would know where to get the best Mexican food. This restaurant is in a neighborhood boundary area kind of like Filigree describes on her Lovely Bicycle! blog. But here, there wasn't such a stark line between the neighborhoods; there was a little more mixing and transition.
Within a block or two of Esperanza's are several other interesting looking eateries, including the generically named Joe's Italian Restaurant,
Chadra Mezza Grill (next to Herringbone Home Furnishings), serving Lebanese and Italian food,
and the Old Neighborhood Grill
East of 8th Avenue is Fairmount which I described earlier. If you go west down Park Place, you come into Berkeley Place, another older neighborhood. This one is extremely well kept, though, featuring tree-lined streets,
a "vintage" school (Lily B. Clayton Elementary),
and some very nice, well-preserved homes.
I did 23 miles on my Raleigh 3-speed, a nice workout, considering the bike weighs about 50 pounds. Then again, after that breakfast, I needed some exercise. ;- )
11 comments:
Great photos. It's good to see the old Raleigh taken out for some exercise.
I can't believe that I've never noticed Esperanza's before. It looks like a nice place.
I think a lot of people who ride use Arlington/Windsor or Allen Avenue to cross 8th and avoid crossing at Park Place since it does not go through at 8th. If you do that, you miss that little clump of restaurants and businesses.
Note that this Esperanza's is under the same ownership as Esperanza's and Joe T. Garcia's in the Stockyards.
I want to live in Berkeley! It looks so quaint!
Yeah I'd love to live in Berkeley but we can't afford it. Unless we win the lottery.
yum yum scrambled eggs and refried beans =9. I think you've found me a new place to get a meal.
So many rides.so many restaurants. So LITTLE time!
I actually like that. There are infinite possibilities, which means I'll never run out of interesting places to eat.
Did you happen to notice if that Lebanese place is open Saturday mornings? Not all of us get to work 9/80 schedules. Is this a forecast of the Doohickie restaurant review blog to come?
Esperanza's looks promising as well. I've concluded that Golden Corral is not a good place to go on a bike. The trip TO is OK. The trip HOME is not.
There is an Esperanza's just south of the Stockyards on Main Street, a couple blocks from the Trinity Trail. Same ownership, if you want to ride there Steve. The Lebanese restaurant was not open when I was there I'm pretty sure.
I'm going to have to stop by this blog more often. There is only one Mexican joint around these parts and it's a college drinking spot. Lots of Pabst gets drunk/drank there. But the food is really good.
I'd describe Fairmount as more "transitional" than "spotty." There are some streets that point towards its future, with the houses restored and in loving care again. That block you got the shot of, the 1300/1400 of Fairmount, is one of the least attractive in terms of the housing stock.
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