Food and Fort Worth: Dude Sweet Chocolate

I have mentioned Times Ten Cellars before but I'll mention it again because Marian and I decided to celebrate a birthday dinner there. Because . . . the weather is perfect for outside dining, which Times Ten has plenty of, on Friday nights Cane Rosso is there with their pizza oven and their very good Neopolitan pizza, and we like the 7th Street development and enjoy seeing what's new and almost open. Most people go to Times Ten Cellars for a good glass of wine at a fair price, but since we don't even drink a little bit of wine these days we go for the pizza and the setting. I'm never disappointed.

While walking after dinner we stopped in at Dude, Sweet Chocolate, a small retail store next to Fireside Pies (not my favorite as you may recall). If you like chocolate and don't mind spending a little more than you would at the local Kroger's it's worth a visit. The counter guy called it "craft chocolate" which suits what it is and what they do. All the chocolate is made locally and they have just one other store in Dallas. I tasted a little and bought a little and it's real good. Like craft beer compared to Miller Lite this chocolate is a different category than a Hershey's bar, not that I have anything against Hershey's bars, but if you taste this you'll get what I mean.

Finally, I hope you enjoy the development of 7th Street and what city developers call "the area between the Central Business District and the Arts District" because you're fixin' to get more. Over 30 acres of development just south of 7th and west of the river in what is called the Left Bank. See the Star Telegram for a few more details but there's not much known as far as I can tell. The 1.5 million square feet development will be mixed use: hotel, shopping, business and residential. A sign is posted on the property and it appears that some infrastructure work has started. Fort Worth is now the 16th most populated city in the nation and the 10th fastest growing. Most of the other top ten are in Texas but North Dakota has a few areas growing faster than we are. Thank you horizontal drilling.