Fort Worth Reaches Out to Foodies

Cowtown hosts group of food journalists for three-day tour of local eateries

Fort Worth is trying to broaden its cultural reach in the hopes of wrangling in more money for the city.

Cowtown is hosting a group of food journalists from around the country in hopes that they tell the world about the unique eats the locals know so well.

The group visited celebrity chef Tim Love's restaurant The Woodshed Smokehouse along the Trinity River on Wednesday afternoon as part of their three-day tour that ends Friday.

"Well, I'm wondering if I have started at the very top. The food here is amazing with smoked meats and smoked ice in drinks," said Annette Thompson, a freelance travel journalist from Birmingham, Ala.

She and the others have a packed schedule filled with Fred's, The Modern, coffee shops and more.

"You want to go to those places that are unique. Like this restaurant here could only be here on the banks of the Trinity River and can only taste like this right here. You can't pick this up and move this down to Austin or up to Chicago," Thompson said.

Love said he feels the same and is excited to host the group again at his Stockyards staple Lonesome Dove.

"What we want to do is take people to where we can embrace those cultures and take that kind of cuisine and elevate it to more exciting and fun things," he said.

Merianne Roth, of the Fort Worth Convention and Visitor's Bureau, said tourism brought in almost $1.5 billion in 2010. She said she would like travelers' interest in food to bring in more.

"It's not something that has been talked about a lot outside of Fort Worth," she said. "I think Fort Worthians know that, but we're looking for opportunities to share that."

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