Reata Hands Its Kitchen to North Side High for One Night

On Sunday night, the specials at Reata will be written by teenagers.

Culinary arts students from North Side High School are taking over the kitchen on Sunday, November 8, from 5 to 9 p.m. They’ll create the three dishes Reata’s executive chef comes up with every day: the chef’s feature, the fish feature and the soup. The students are working from a Día de los Muertos theme, and they’ll be cooking for a regular Sunday dining room full of paying guests. Students from Trimble Tech get their own night later in the month, putting their spin on familiar Texas dishes.

It’s part of a year Reata has spent marking 30 years in Fort Worth. The restaurant has been through a lot to get here.

The story starts out west. Al Micallef, who owns the CF Ranch in the Davis Mountains, opened the first Reata in 1995 in an 1880s adobe house in Alpine. He named it for the ranch in Giant, the 1956 film shot about 20 miles away near Marfa. His son Mike Micallef, now president of the company, tells it plainly: his dad opened a restaurant because he couldn’t find a good meal in Alpine. The Alpine Reata is still open.

Fort Worth came a year later, in 1996, on the 35th floor of what was then the Bank One Tower. On March 28, 2000, an F3 tornado tore through downtown and wrecked the restaurant. Reata reopened 42 days later. When the tower closed for good, the family kept going with a catering business, Reata on the Road, and in May 2002 reopened in Sundance Square. It stayed there for two decades. CraveDFW reported in 2022 when that lease ended.

In July 2024, Reata moved to the ground floor of 530 Throckmorton St., the same building where the Fort Worth restaurant first opened.

The number that matters most may be how many careers started in that kitchen. Founding chef Grady Spears came out of Reata. So did Tim Love, Lou Lambert and Brian Olenjack. Juan and Paige Rodriguez of Magdalena’s Catering & Events are Reata alumni too. Gigi Howell, who ran guest services, now runs Westland Restaurant Group, the people behind JD’s Hamburgers and West Side Cafe. Al Micallef has said that when someone leaves Reata and builds something great, it’s the best compliment the restaurant can get.

Seen that way, a night with North Side students in the kitchen fits right in. Reata also helped launch the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival in 2013, and the foundation connected to it has given more than $325,000 in culinary scholarships and local grants.

The regular menu will be there Sunday, too. The Tenderloin Tamales with Pecan Mash are still the first thing most tables order. Then come the Chicken Fried Steak with Cracked Pepper Cream Gravy, the Blackened Buffalo Rib Eye, and the Carne Asada topped with Reata’s Cheese Enchiladas. Get a side of Jalapeño and Cheddar Grits, and if anyone has room, finish with the Chocolate Bread Pudding Tamale. Start with the specials, though. Someone’s kid made them.

Reata is at 530 Throckmorton St. in downtown Fort Worth. Sunday dinner runs from 5 to 9 p.m. Reservations are a good idea, or call 817-336-1009. The Tower garage offers free validated parking for two and a half hours.