[Story updated May 18, 2021, after the restaurant reopened for its first lunch service.]
Chef Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant group has taken charge of the food at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, both the Cafe Modern restaurant and catering operations.
The restaurant had its first service on May 18, 2021 and is initially open for lunch and brunch only; dinner comes later.
Puck operates several dozen restaurants around the world, including a steakhouse named Cut and a California-inspired restaurant named Spago. Puck’s restaurant group has not operated any fine-dining restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth since April 2020, when Five Sixty restaurant at Reunion Tower in Dallas closed. (The company does, however, have a place at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.)
The partnership at the Modern signals Wolfgang Puck’s return to upscale dining in North Texas.
Wolfgang Puck Catering has a history with museums, as it also provides catering for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science and the Nasher Sculpture Center, both in Dallas. It also recently became the hospitality provider for Space Center Houston.
The Modern project is Wolfgang Puck’s first foray into Fort Worth.
“Wolfgang Puck Catering brings an international reputation for excellence to Café Modern, and we look forward to working with their team,” says Marla Price, director of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, in a statement.
The restaurant at Fort Worth’s Modern Art Museum will keep its name, Cafe Modern. Chef Jett Mora leads the kitchen. Mora has worked for Wolfgang Puck for a decade and moved to Fort Worth from Los Angeles for the job.
Some of the menu items at lunch include chicken paillard; pan-roasted mahi mahi; and a Korean barbecue beef bowl with kimchi pickled vegetables and rice.
Mora says he wants to find inspiration from the farmers markets around town. He was born and raised in Los Angeles and is Filipino American.
“I had the advantage of being in such a multicultural city,” he says of LA, noting that cuisines from many cultures were available “on one street,” walking distance from where he grew up.
“I have huge influences from all types of Asian food,” he says. He also was raised going on road trips with his dad, eating “tuna melts and craft sodas at hole-in-the-walls and burger joints along the road.”
While the restaurant may have fine-dining options on Friday evening, it also has sandwiches at lunch and egg dishes at brunch. Other brunch items include a fried chicken biscuit sandwich and beef migas.
The Wolfgang Puck team is also now presiding over the Modern’s catering and events. Each year (pre-pandemic), the museum hosts about 30 weddings and 15-25 corporate events and holiday dinners.
Cafe Modern is at 3200 Darnell St., inside the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The new menu is available as of May 18, 2021. Cafe Modern is open for lunch or brunch Tuesday through Sunday. Chef Mora plans to add dinner service in the future, on Fridays only.
