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About this opportunity, Jenna Kinard says: “We are so elated. What an honor, what privilege. We’re so stoked.”
The highly anticipated reintroduction of the Fort Worth Public Market building in downtown’s southwest corridor got a whole lot more intriguing in recent weeks with news of what’s in store for it.
Jenna and Micah Kinard are partnering with Wilks Development to bring three concepts to the almost 20,000-square-foot building that served as a farmers market when it was constructed more than 90 years ago.
The centerpiece will be upscale dining with what the team is calling “Texas flair.” Madrone will feature chef’s tasting menus and private dining experiences with a focus on seasonal, locally sourced ingredients.
Madrone is a Texas evergreen tree that thrives in West Texas, and the flavor of the restaurant will be uniquely Texana, with a focus on seasonal native ingredients providing, says Jenna, “a taste of Texas in an elevated way.”
Complementing the restaurant will be Willow, a cocktail bar and lounge with a premium liquor locker program.
On the building’s north side will be the Public Market Café & Goods, which will feature freshly baked goods, coffee, and locally made products. The Kinards plan to grow hydroponic produce on-site, including microgreens, herbs, and tomatoes, while curating goods from regional farmers and makers, an homage to the building’s origins.
The Kinards are approaching the enterprise the way a monk approaches a sacred altar — complete devotion and reverence to the history and significance of the place.
“That's what it has come back to again and again — what an honor is to get to steward such a historic building, such a historic place that has meant a great deal to so many people for many, many years,” Jenna Kinard says. “We’re being very intentional about building relationships within each concept and honoring what public market was to begin with. So, that's kind of the heartbeat of every concept.”
Renovation of the Public Market building and the adjacent active senior apartment community, The Harden, began in June 2023. The project is on track for completion in early fall.
Jenna Kinard has established herself as a chef in Southern-influenced cuisine through roles as executive chef of Max's Wine Dive, Hotel Drover's 97 West, and Jellico's at the Westin Southlake. She was also the winner of Fort Worth Magazine’s Top Chef competition in 2019.
The partnership with Wilks is an evolution. The parties considered a collaboration at The District at Willow Park, a Wilks development in Parker County. The Wilks people had another idea for her.
“The more we listened to her, to us it made more sense to kind of look at Fort Worth in the Public Market building,” says Jess Green, Wilks Development senior vice president. “I think she agreed right off the bat, honestly. Fort Worth is where her heart is and where she's really had a lot of passion to do things, so it just kind of made sense.”
Logistically, partnering with one team on three concepts made sense, too, says Green, who called the prospect of three different vendors a “complicated nightmare.”
The Kinards worked out three different concepts for three different buildings in Willow Park.
This will be the first time husband and wife have worked together. They’ve been talking about it for a while. They did a test run running a culinary program in Alaska, Jenna relates.
“Micah kind of came on as my sous-chef,” Jenna says laughing. “But for the first time, we worked every day straight for four months, no days off. It was very grueling work, but we got to work as a team, and really it was not only marriage bootcamp, but also let's see if we can actually do this. And, man, we thrived, and we just started getting so excited and started brainstorming again.”
That’s when Wilks reconnected. Green told them he wanted to show them a building.
“We pulled up, and I was like, ‘No freaking way!’” Micah says. “‘Are you kidding? The Public Market?’ Jess said, ‘What do you think about this?’ We said, for which concept? He said, ‘Maybe all of your concepts.’”
Says Jenna: “We are so elated. What an honor, what privilege. We’re so stoked.”