While we were in Fort Worth recently, we looked for another new place to eat...and of course, found one. A winner too! Esperanza's Cafe & Bakery close to the Historic Stockyards on Main Street.

We threw caution to the wind and just decided to drive to that area to start with no particular type food in mind. Several looked great, but Esperanza's caught our eye and had a healthy crowd - a good sign.

We were seated and could tell immediately that there were plenty ofregulars around us. Our waitress brought menus which we began to study.With so many delicious sounding choices, it took a while for us tochoose but I picked Sopes, which came with my choice of meat, shreddedbeef in this case. My plate consisted of four small grilled, thenfried, thick, round corn 'tortillas' covered with beef, lettuce, tomatoes and Mexican cheese. It was served with refried beans and rice.This was an excellent decision on my part, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed these. The beef was seasoned perfectly and was tender & juicy. The sopes were wonderful.

RJ has Tacos de Lengua - three soft flour tortillas stuff full ofsucculent beef tongue. Now, lengua is not my cup of tea, but RJ lovesit, as do many, many folks. I must admit that it did look really good.His meal came along with refried beans and rice and our waitressbrought a stack of freshly made flour tortillas. A fine diningexperience was had by all! We remembered that the legendary Joe T. Garcias' was right aroundthe corner from Esperanza's and commented to each other that wedefinitely liked Esperanza's so much better. I suppose unlike everybodyelse in Cowtown, we are not huge fans of Joe T's even though weregularly buy their hot sauce. RJ was eating his lengua tacos when hewas startled to see "Joe T. Garcia" imprinted on his plate.

We discovered that indeed, Esperanza's is an offshoot of the famed restaurant. Amongst all the bakery goodies are rows and rows of their hot sauce. I had to get online as soon as we got back home to uncover the facts and learned that the bottled Joe T.'s hot sauce came from the birth of this spin-off location as did the Esperanza's Wholesale Mexican Bread Division. AND, there are actually two Esperanza's locations! This one on Main Street and another on Hemphill.
If you are in the area and are hungry, stop and dine. At the very least, grab some of those beautiful bakery goods.

2122 North Main Street
Fort Worth

1109 Hemphill
Fort Worth

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