If you have not made it to The Usual on Magnolia Avenue in Fort Worth lately, April gives you several good reasons to fix that. The bar — which opened in 2009 and has the quiet distinction of being the second oldest craft cocktail bar in Texas — is rolling out a new seasonal menu, launching a weekly creative gathering series, and hosting a dinner on April 26 that pairs sous chefs from Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine with one of Fort Worth’s best bartenders. Three different things happening in one month is more than most bars manage in a year.
Start with the spring cocktail menu, which drops April 21. Managing Partner Jason Pollard runs the development process the way serious kitchens run recipe testing — multiple hands-on R&D sessions where every bartender at the bar has a seat at the table. The idea is that the person pouring the drink has had a hand in building it, which matters more than it sounds. What comes out of that process are cocktails that feel considered rather than assembled.
Two highlights from the new menu: The Amendment is a spirit-forward drink rooted in the 19th-century “Improved Cocktail” — a pre-Prohibition template built on a base spirit, a liqueur, bitters, and absinthe — here rendered with Scotch, Grand Marnier, and maraschino with a citrus finish. It is the kind of cocktail that rewards people who like their drinks to taste like drinks. La Frutera goes the other direction — mango, lime, and overproof rum with pasilla chile providing a slow smoky heat underneath, finished with a Tajín rim. Both are worth ordering on their own merits. The full menu is available by contacting the bar directly.
Every Tuesday this month, The Usual is running Arts & Crafted, a weekly gathering from 5 to 9 p.m. that is exactly what it sounds like — a room where people bring projects, work on things, or just sit with a drink and other humans. The rotating weekly partners give each Tuesday its own character: first Tuesdays are Silent Book Club, second Tuesdays are The Welman Project (launching April 14), third Tuesdays are Art Tooth, and fourth Tuesdays are W7 Wool. You can bring your own thing or join in with whatever the partner of the week has going. The bar has always had that kind of easy, unforced social quality — this is just giving it a formal container.
The bigger event is April 26. Four Courses is a dinner series The Usual launched in 2026 with a specific premise: put sous chefs — the people doing most of the actual cooking in professional kitchens who rarely get credit for it — in front of a room and let them cook. The February edition featured Chef Adam Krajewski of The Chumley House. The April installment brings in Spencer Marks and Chef Kobi Perdue from Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine.
Bonnell’s has been operating at 4259 Bryant Irvin Road since 2001, when Chef Jon Bonnell opened it as a farm-to-table Texas restaurant that took wild game, Gulf seafood, and local rancher relationships seriously before that was a common thing to do. It has held a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence every year since 2004 and has been named among the top restaurants in Texas by just about every publication that covers the state. The sous chefs coming out of that kitchen know what they are doing. Paired with bartender Joe Sherry of Refinery 714 on cocktails, the April 26 dinner should be one of the better evenings in Fort Worth this month.
Seatings are at 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Reservations open Wednesday, April 15. If you are reading this after that date, call now rather than waiting — these dinners are small and they fill.
The Usual is at 1408 W. Magnolia Ave., Fort Worth, TX 76104. Phone is (817) 810-0114. Regular hours are Monday 6 p.m. to midnight, Tuesday through Wednesday 4 p.m. to midnight, Thursday through Saturday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 6 p.m. to midnight.
