Construction at the new Blue Mesa Grill just north of West Seventh Street in Fort Worth earlier this year.
Photo: Muckleroy & Falls
Blue Mesa Grill is on the move.
After countless black bean dip and jalepeno salsa servings, the University Park Village mainstay is pulling up stakes and heading for West Seventh Street.
But Mesa mavens have nothing to fear. Their Sunday brunch will remain a staple of the Southwestern cuisine eatery. In fact, a new restaurant design promises to enliven the experience.
“We’ll have an exhibition kitchen and have designed the restaurant around the brunch area,” said Jim Baron, owner of the new location at 600 Carroll St. just north of West Seventh Street near Montgomery Plaza.
“It will allow us to set up the buffet without taking away any restaurant space,” said Baron, describing movable walls able to open up spaces for larger gatherings or downsize spaces for more intimate dining areas.
When the existing Blue Mesa Grill at 1600 S. University Drive serves its last abode pie has not been determined. Baron said he hopes to secure a lease extension with Simon Property Group LP, which owns the retail center. The current lease expires in June.
The restaurant first opened its doors in 1996. Baron said he is grateful for the new lease at Carroll Street provided by Karim Jamal, a local physician who owns the property.
The new restaurant will occupy 8,500 square feet at the ground level, with a banquet and corporate-events hall upstairs at the 17,000-square-foot, freestanding building. Muckleroy & Falls is handling construction, as it did when the Fort Worth firm built the existing University Drive location.
Representing Baron in lease negotiations was Earl Latimer of The Monitor Group, with Erik Coslik of The Woodmont Group representing Jamal.