Stephen Montoya
A new coffee and eatery built inside an old multiple-bay car wash is celebrating its grand opening today, Monday, July 15.
Townes Quality Grinds, at 4100 Bryant Irvin Road, across the street from the Fort Worth Country Day School, is the brainchild of owners Drew Boatman, Chas Taipale, and Shanna Shanks.
The coffee concept is a first for the business partners, who have mainly operated in the bar space. Boatman owns Bodega, Dirty Laundry, and the Rusty Nickel Icehouse. He also recently purchased the beloved Star Café in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
The new Townes Quality Grinds resides in a space that sat dormant for a while until the business partners came up with an innovative idea to retrofit the old do-it-yourself carwash into a restaurant and coffee shop. A year after cutting through permitting and construction, Townes Quality Grinds is pouring coffee.
“We all have extensive experience in bars, and we are lucky enough to have a great landlord here who said, ‘Hey, I own this property, and I think a coffee shop would be really good there,’” Shanks says. “So, we got to drive by the space, look at it, and I mean, it was a no brainer.”
Stephen Montoya
In addition to offering a quick drive-thru experience, Townes also has a quaint interior that boasts a modern chic vibe. It also features a full kitchen.
“We are still in the process of making the inside a little cozier,” she says. “But, yeah, I mean you can come in and sit down. There's this dance studio right next to us. So, we have lots of moms and dads who drop the kids off at dance class and then they can come over here, sit down, get some work done, and just have some social time over a cup of coffee and maybe a bite to eat while they wait for the kids.”
The menu is Fort Worth-centric. Townes is the name of Shanks and Taipales’ son, which is also a nod to Fort Worth-native singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. One menu is the lavender and white chocolate coffee named “Queen of the Prairie,” a city nickname. The “Panther” is made with double chocolate mocha, chocolate chip cookie dough syrup, a dark chocolate drizzle, and then chocolate milk with a double shot of espresso for good measure.
Townes is also using 817 Coffee Roasters as the base for all of these drinks. They also have a line of cold drinks that include several smoothies, as well as iced coffees.
Townes also offers a series of breakfast biscuits that include classics like sausage, bacon, and brisket, all served with eggs and cheese. For lunch, the menu consists of such offerings like grilled and fried chicken sandwiches, a quiche of the day, as well as a Caesar wrap, among other things.
Townes is open from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
“This is such a great area, especially right across from Country Day,” Shanks says. “There was no way this didn't make sense.”