What About the Tenderloin Tamales? Fort Worth’s Reata Restaurant Leaves Sundance Square

Fort Worth’s Reata Restaurant was buzzing last Sunday.

Diners poured in with reservations booked steadily from brunch through lunch on to dinner Sunday — the last day in its 310 Houston Street location in Sundance Square.

The upscale southwestern restaurant’s signature tenderloin tamales, chicken fried steak, and dessert tacos were zipping out of the kitchen. Customers came early for their reservations to enjoy a toast in the bar area’s leather chairs under the Texas-style art. The bartenders kept the cocktail shakers moving as company president Mike Micallef tabled hopped, thanking the faithful for the business.

The destination restaurant Reata closed as its Sundance Square lease ended in the interesting building that once housed Caravan of Dreams. The popular establishment is in good company. It’s the latest in a lengthy list of Sundance Square businesses that have moved outside of the once-bustling downtown area, and there’s some bigtime finger-pointing going on.

Sundance Square is 37 blocks of prime downtown property that were developed, nurtured, and polished by Fort Worth’s Bass family. Movie theaters, restaurants, retailers, and private, visible security made Sundance Square a popular gathering spot for decades. The last few years, though, have left the once-shiny spot a tarnished area of shuttered businesses.

Oh sure, the 2020 pandemic was a contributor. But there are those who wonder, What’s the Deal With Sundance Square?. That’s the intriguing question Fort Worth Magazine recently asked, and has observant Fort Worthians wondering if new ownership is to blame.

Businesses are closing or moving. The sidewalks are missing bricks. The place feels empty.

Ed Bass and his wife Sasha took control of Sundance Square in the fall of 2019. Bass, 78, is one of the four sons of Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass, whose names appear on downtown’s gem of a performance hall. He married Sasha Camacho, 42, in December of 2017 in two ceremonies, one in Fort Worth and one in Mexico.

The billionaire Mr. Bass has the kind of money that most of us can’t quite imagine. Back in 1991, he could afford to follow a hobby, or maybe we could call it a personal interest or a scientific experiment, by spending $150 million on the Biosphere 2 project in Arizona.

The past years, the Sundance Square landscape has shifted. Free parking, once plentiful for those driving downtown to a Sundance business, has vanished. There’s been an exodus of businesses — some there for 30 years — including restaurants Taco Diner, Pizzeria Uno, Taverna, Bird Café; retailers Ann Taylor, White House Black Market, Jos. A Bank; Earth Bones, Houston Street Toy Co. Marie Antoinette Parfumerie; dentist Marie Holliday; and later this month improv comedy Four Day Weekend. The number of empty storefronts has increased.

Sigh.

But back at Reata on Houston Street, as popular as it is, with everything from visiting football teams competing in bowl games to brides and grooms celebrating their weddings, this is not its first location. The Fort Worth Reata isn’t even the first Reata. The original, named for the ranch in the Edna Ferber tome “Giant,” still exists in Alpine for its sizzling steaks.

Reata in Fort Worth first located in a downtown high-rise in 1996 with celebrated cowboy chef Grady Spears. Then a tornado blew the windows out in 2000, making a mess of the entire building.

Luckily, much of the iconic décor, which included plenty of “Giant” related items like a mannequin of movie star James Dean transitioned to the Houston street location. Popular menu items made the move, too, into a distinctive Sundance Square building.

Now another move is necessary as lease terms weren’t renegotiated. Micallef knew much of his clientele comes from Bass Hall theatergoers, hotel visitors, and downtown business execs so he wanted to stay close. That’s good news. He expects us to be able to order the tenderloin tamales, chicken fried steak, and dessert tacos by the middle of this month. Location? It’s two minutes away at 530 Throckmorton St., on the ground floor of its first Cowtown site.

On its last day there Sunday, people weren’t saying goodbye as much as see ya soon.