A historic Tex-Mex restaurant in the Fort Worth Stockyards is moving after land deal
Los Vaqueros Restaurant, a legacy Stockyards restaurant for 41 years, will move June 30 and has sold its current location in a century-old Stockyards warehouse.
The flagship of the Cisneros family’s Tex-Mex empire will open in early July at 2513 Rodeo Plaza, one block south across North Main Street.
The current Los Vaqueros, a cavernous brick cold-storage meat locker built in 1915 at 2629 N. Main St. in the D. Hart and Sons Livestock Co. building, was sold amid intense real estate interest in the booming Stockyards.
The buyer has not been named.
Nearby, “Yellowstone” producer Taylor Sheridan and his investors have been buying property and have begun a $3 million remodeling of Cattlemen’s Steak House, 2458 N. Main St.
The Los Vaqueros move was first described in the Fort Worth Report.
The new location is in the Exhibits Building, built in 1911 for the Stock Show and first used as a poultry and sheep barn. Later, it was Frank Kent Ford.
The building was remodeled in 1988 and has housed a series of restaurants, retail shops and a gastropub, along with museums.
The new Los Vaqueros will include a large patio on Rodeo Plaza but will not have a garden like the current location. It will have valet parking on weekend nights.
The location will be Los Vaqueros’ third in 41 years, all within one block.
Founders “Kiki” and Johnny Cisneros originally opened the restaurant Feb. 10, 1983, at 2609 N. Main St. “Kiki” Cisneros’ father, Pascacio Martinez, had worked long hours in the Stockyards for low pay as a butcher at now-gone Armour & Co.
Kiki and Johnny had met working at at El Chico, married and originally opened a restaurant, Mi Casa, in 1979 in a converted home at 2304 N. Sylvania Ave.
But when they took over the Main Street space next to a Stockyards saddle shop, they took the nickname they used for their two little boys — Los Vaqueros, “the cowboys.”
Los Vaqueros became known for its location across from nationally famous Billy Bob’s Texas, and for old-fashioned Tex-Mex including fajitas and the traditional “homestyle” enchiladas in a lighter chile sauce with lettuce and tomato on top.
The Cisneros family went on to add restaurants in Parker County and a now-closed location near TCU.
Los Vaqueros also has gluten-free and healthier items, such as a rice-and-squash-stuffed chile relleno, spinach or avocado enchiladas, and weekend brunch dishes such as migas or spinach stacked enchiladas.
