Impressions of Ft. Worth

There are few cities which I visit and say to myself: "Get me out of here". Ft. Worth is one of those.

I admit I was there only for about 24 hours, and maybe I am being unfair. But it is not like I saw any place that I wanted to see again, or better, or missed any place I thought might be worthwhile.

It took me about 40 minutes to get to Ft. Worth from the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport, and I was following the instructions to my hotel, located outside of downtown and near the campus of Texas Christian University. About TCU: don't come here because of the architecture, nor because you think that there are going to be intellectual establishments on the blocks surrounding the campus.

The hotel itself, a Marriott Courtyard, had one advantage, a very friendly desk clerk. Friendly and helpful. The hotel is more than adequate.

Dinner at a steak house next door (Marriott guests get a free appetizer) gave me an insight into the Ft. Worth scene. It was quite crowded; I had to wait almost 30 minutes on a Wednesday night. The average customer weighed about 250 pounds (and I am including women and children in my count), but considering what the restaurant served, that was probably less than you would expect.

The menu had, for main courses, a variety of steaks (listed by type and weight), chicken (mainly fried types, including "chicken fried chicken"), shrimp (fried), pork ("chicken fried pork") and salmon (which was advertised as smothered in some type of sauce). Each of the appetizers were fried, including the cheese. The soups were onion (with cheese) and "steak soup". There were a lot of desserts.

I took as my free appetizer the "fried mushrooms" with ranch dressing on the side. They must have given me 50 mushrooms. Unfortunately, they were delicious, but I held myself to 20.

I asked Lacey (what an unfortunate name these days, but very Texan), my waitress, what I should order of the steaks and she suggested the three medallion filets, medium or medium rare. I said OK, and she told me it came with a salad (turned out to be dinner size), and that I had a choice of a number of kinds of potatoes, such as french fries and baked with butter and chives and sour cream. I opted out and told me I could have fresh veggies and that sounded good. She brought a loaf of whole wheat bread, which I told her save for someone else.

20 mushrooms, 1/3 or so of my salad, 2 of the 3 medallions, and the veggies later (I had also had a margherita, called a rio rita there), and the bill came to only $27.

Looking at the people around me, I ate light. They ate and ate and ate.

Lacey was having a hard night, I thought, since the older fellow who with his wife at the table next door, said to her (after she stopped by to ask of everything was all right): "No, it's not. But what I want is for you to get the hell out of here and let me eat in peace". She smiled and backed away. Her boss, the manager, came by about ten minutes later, asking the same question and, of course, getting the same answer.

After the table emptied, I asked Lacey if this was a Ft. Worth term of endearment; I at least thought he must be a regular. She told me she was rather taken aback, but decided not to take it personally, but I think she was quite relieved to know that her boss got the same treatment.

The hotel is located along the banks of the Trinity River (which in drought condition looks more like a brackish sewer) and I did walk along the bike path in the morning a mile or two. There were the usual bikers, walkers, joggers and one roller blader. None said hello. I did not think that this was a very friendly place.

The next day for lunch downtown, I stopped into a "deli" and discovered it was a mini-counter, with four tables, and a soda/beer cooler, mainly for carry out. It was 100 degrees, so i was not going to carry anything anywhere, and I ordered a chicken salad sandwich on wheat bread, which for $4 came with a pickle and Lay's original chips.

Conclusion: you can eat cheap in Ft. Worth.

But it is ugly, ugly, ugly. And not very attractive besides.