FORT WORTH
A new Japanese hibachi steakhouse from Aspen, Colorado, is planned off Camp Bowie Boulevard next door to the same company’s new Italian restaurant, according to a city zoning application.
Aspen Hospitality Group, owned in part by energy executive John Sellers of Fort Worth, has applied to build the Japanese steakhouse at 2509 Merrick St., just south of the company’s planned Acquolina at 5139 Camp Bowie Blvd.
The hibachi steakhouse would replace what was originally proposed as Acquolina’s parking lot at Merrick Street and Birchman Avenue. Acquolina, which will take over the former Bella Italia West restaurant, has been downsized significantly from a proposed 9,020 square feet, according to an illustration on the company website.
Bella Italia West moved to 6115 Camp Bowie Blvd.
A new proposed design for the Acquolina restaurant in Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth, Texas, as shown on the Aspen Hospitality Group website. aspenhospitality.group
Aspen Hospitality has requested a city zoning amendment to allow a restaurant with a 4-foot-high fence and 19 parking spaces. The steakhouse would use five spaces in another private lot across Merrick Street, according to the application.
The company website has added a Fort Worth description: “Over the years, we welcomed generations of Fort Worth families to our Aspen restaurants. … We are not here to recreate Aspen. We are here to belong and create something genuine for Fort Worth.”
The proposed design of a Japanese steakhouse on Merrick Street in Fort Worth, Texas, as shown on the Aspen Hospitality Group website. aspenhospitality.group
The applications are filed by managing partner Carlos Solorzano-Smith of Aspen Hospitality Group.
Acquolina is one of several Aspen restaurants owned in part by Sellers, a co-founder of Fort Worth-based Double Eagle Energy and Double Eagle Development.
Acquolina is one of Aspen’s highest-rated restaurants.
According to an Aspen Times review, it “feels like Italy, minus the jet lag. … It’s Aspen with a Roman soul.”
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Acquario in Aspen, Colorado, will open a location in Fort Worth. Nik House Media
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Bud Kennedy is celebrating his 40th year writing about restaurants in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has written the “Eats Beat” dining column in print since 1985 and online since 1992 — that’s more than 3,000 columns about Texas cafes, barbecue, burgers and where to eat.
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