On March 25, 2026, Original ChopShop opened at 105 East Pennsylvania Avenue in Fort Worth’s Medical District.
It is the brand’s 27th location. They donated 10 percent of opening day proceeds to Mental Health America of Greater Tarrant County. The doors opened at 10 am to a line.
One new restaurant. But it is not really about the restaurant.
New Restaurants in Fort Worth and What They Are Actually Choosing
Businesses choose Fort Worth on purpose.
A brand that has 27 locations and is profitable does not open a new one in a city that does not have the residents or the income to support it. Original ChopShop came to the Medical District. The TEXRail Near Southside station, now fully funded and breaking ground in late 2026, is projected to serve 50,000 jobs in the surrounding area. Fort Worth now has more than 1 million residents. The city has been growing faster than any top-30 American city since 2020.
The restaurant is the result. The city is the reason.
What the Medical District Has Become
The Fort Worth Medical District is not just a cluster of hospitals.
JPS Health Network, Texas Health Harris Methodist, Cook Children’s, and a growing hub of medical research and innovation are all here. The 1,200-acre Medical Innovation District, anchored by the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, is drawing life sciences startups and research institutions.
The Near Southside strategic plan calls for this to become the most livable medical district in the United States. That is not a slogan. That is a city investing in a neighborhood.
New restaurants follow residents. Residents follow opportunity. The opportunity here is real and getting more visible every year.
West Magnolia Avenue: What a Fort Worth Street Looks Like After Twenty Years of Work
The story of Fort Worth’s restaurant scene does not start in 2026. It starts on West Magnolia Avenue.
In 2018, the American Planning Association named Magnolia one of America’s 5 Great Streets. Twenty-six restaurants now operate on that stretch. Twenty-four of them are locally owned or DFW-based. Every fall, ArtsGoggle transforms 21 city blocks into a living gallery and open-air concert. An estimated 80,000+ people show up. An estimated 1,000+ artists line the streets.
Heim Barbecue opened its first brick-and-mortar here and now has multiple locations. Ellerbe Fine Foods opened in a 1940s service station and was one of the first farm-to-table restaurants in Fort Worth.
Magnolia did not happen overnight. It took decades of community investment, street redesign, and patient development. The result is a street that no national chain can replicate.
The Blend That Gives Fort Worth Its Character
This is what Cathy Taylor wrote about in the Pineapple Post this year.
Fort Worth grows, but what makes it special is how it grows. Established neighborhoods alongside expanding districts. Long-standing institutions alongside fresh ideas. Old buildings repurposed. New ones built with care.
That blend is what holds value. Not just charm. Value.
The neighborhoods where new restaurants keep opening, Fairmount, the Near Southside, the Cultural District, the Medical District, are also the neighborhoods where home prices have stayed stable or appreciated through every recent cycle. That is not a coincidence.
What Fort Worth Is in 2026
The 10th largest city in the United States. Ranked No. 3 best big city to live in America. The fastest-growing top-30 city in the country.
And still the place where a new restaurant donates its opening day to local mental health services, where 24 of 26 restaurants on the same street are locally owned, and where the Paramount series Lioness has been parked outside the Helen Painter office on Forest Park Boulevard for two seasons running.
Fort Worth keeps showing up in places it was not expected. The families who have been here longest are not surprised.
Fort Worth families keep coming back to Helen Painter. They trust us to help them make the right decision. Since 1958.