The stretch of Benbrook Boulevard between Westpark Drive and the old Dairy Queen used to be the part of town people drove through, not to. Six months from now, three restaurants will sit within a mile of each other on that same corridor, and a fourth is going up on Camp Bowie West. If you have lived here through the long stretch of vacant pads and boarded windows, the pace of 2026 is a real shift, not a press release.
This is a guide for people who already live in Benbrook and want to know what is actually opening, when, and whether it is worth changing your Friday routine for.
The thesis, in one line
Benbrook is quietly becoming a place you eat in, not a place you leave to eat. The Boulevard is picking up density that Camp Bowie West lost a decade ago, and the openings are clustered tightly enough that a Saturday afternoon can start with tacos, end with ice cream, and never require I-20.
The corner that changed
The southwest corner of Benbrook Boulevard and Westpark Drive sat as unimproved frontage for years. It is now the site of a two-restaurant "restaurant park," a format the Addison-based operator has been rolling out across DFW.
The developer is MAD Concepts Group, working with the Benbrook Economic Development Corporation and Blue Plate Network. The project sits at the southwest corner of Benbrook Boulevard and Westpark Drive and features two full-service restaurants, each with a full bar, spacious outdoor seating, and a shared "backyard" experience with dedicated play areas. Each building runs 4,000 to 5,000 square feet, and the 1.5-acre backyard is designed for gatherings, outdoor entertainment, and casual dining.
The two tenants are Jakes Burgers and Tacos & Avocados. Opening dates are now firm.
Jakes Burgers is set for its official grand opening on Monday, April 13, 2026, with a soft opening from April 8 through April 12. Tacos & Avocados is expected to open later in April, though a specific date has not yet been announced.
For a family with kids, the shared 1.5-acre backyard is the actual draw. Two restaurants sharing a green means a parent can eat a burger while another parent watches the six-year-old on the lawn, and neither one is stuck in a booth.
If you have not seen the Jakes menu, it is short and specific. Founded in Dallas in 1985, Jakes Burgers and Beer is known for double-patty burgers, hand-cut fries, and ice-cold beer. The Aledo location has been a quiet regional favorite, and the Sundance Square store is often the first pick after a Bass Hall show. Bringing that same brand five minutes off I-20 is what closes the gap.
Tacos & Avocados is the newer concept. The Mex-Tex menu fuses traditional Mexican cooking techniques with Texas-inspired flavors, and signature items include Birria, Barbacoa, Shiner-Braised Brisket Tacos, Fire-Grilled Fajitas, and Queso Blanco, along with avocado-forward dishes like grilled avocado shrimp cocktail and Molcajete-style guacamole.
Benbrook's taco density problem, solved
Half a mile north of the restaurant park, another opening is quietly reshaping the drive-through side of the block. The former Dairy Queen at 8636 Benbrook Blvd is under active renovation, with doors open, interior walls coming down, and dumpsters filling daily. Public records with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation show a registered project for a Taco Bell, filed October 10, 2025, converting the roughly 3,400-square-foot Dairy Queen building. Construction was scheduled to complete by February 1, 2026, and Southern Multifoods has posted job listings targeting a February 2026 launch.
Whether you personally care about Taco Bell is beside the point. The count is what is interesting.
| Concept | Where | Style |
|---|---|---|
| Taco Bell | 8636 Benbrook Blvd | Drive-through, national |
| Taco Bueno | Next door to the Taco Bell site | Drive-through, regional |
| 3 Parrots Taco Shop | Down the road | Sit-down, independent |
| Taco Casa | Further south on the Boulevard | Drive-through, Texas chain |
| Tacos & Avocados | Benbrook Blvd and Westpark | Full service, patio, bar |
That is five taco options inside a corridor most cities would call a single strip. Taco Bell will sit right next to Taco Bueno, with 3 Parrots Taco Shop just down the road, Taco Casa further south, and Tacos & Avocados expected to arrive in 2026. Few places embrace taco competition quite like Benbrook.
For homeowners on the west side of town, the practical effect is that a weeknight dinner run no longer involves picking between the same two exits off I-20. The Boulevard now does what the Boulevard was designed to do.
Worth a note on history for anyone new to the area. This is Taco Bell's third attempt at Benbrook, with past locations near where Pasiano's now sits and near the AT&T store; the current building has sat boarded up for years, and before that housed a Taco Villa back in 2009. If it sticks this time, the pattern of "national chain arrives, holds two years, closes" may finally be breaking.
Camp Bowie West, revived by television
The other corridor to watch is Camp Bowie West, just past the Aledo line. If you have driven past the shuttered retail strip at 9840 Camp Bowie West and wondered what was happening behind the plywood, you can now stop wondering.
The space previously featured as "Patch Cafe" on the TV series Landman will open later this year as a full-service Texas-themed eatery, with owner Philip Murrin announcing that the family-run restaurant will serve classic Texas fare including steaks and chicken-fried steaks, prepared by the culinary team at River Ranch Stockyards. Alongside it, a premium ice cream shop, Rosebuds Picnic Supply, will open this summer, offering sandwiches and salads.
The restaurant and ice cream shop are part of Murrin's vision to revitalize the neighborhood retail center his family built in 1951, located at 9840 and 9812 Camp Bowie West Blvd., positioned between Fort Worth and growing communities like Aledo, Benbrook, Veale Ranch, and Walsh Ranch.
The Landman connection will bring curiosity traffic in the first few months, but the actual local story is the culinary partnership. River Ranch Stockyards runs one of the more polished event kitchens in the region, and Texas fare from that team is a different proposition than the average roadside chicken-fried steak. For anyone in west Benbrook or the Aledo edge of town, this is now the closest Sunday-supper option that is not a chain.
Late summer, then a real September
Between the April openings and the September calendar, the local rhythm is starting to fill in. Dutch Branch Park is the anchor, and Heritage Fest is the reason to put a Saturday on hold.
The Dog Costume Contest returns for the 18th Annual Heritage Fest on September 19, 2026, and children ages seven and under are invited to run the barrels at Dutch Branch Park. Adults have the Corn on the Cob Eating Competition on Saturday, September 19 for a chance at cash prizes, with free registration but limited space, closing August 31.
The rest of the day, as the city describes it:
- A free, family-friendly day of western-themed entertainment, food vendors, and activities including live music, community performances, mechanical bull riding, a petting zoo, mini golf, interactive competitions, a chuckwagon dinner, and a street dance.
- A December followup for the 35th Annual Tree Lighting and Fireworks Show on Saturday, December 5, 2026, at Dutch Branch Park behind the Benbrook Community Center YMCA at 1899 Winscott Road, with the show starting at 7 p.m.
That gives residents a real arc: April openings, a full summer to break them in, an August 31 signup deadline for anyone with corn-eating ambition, and a September festival to close out the warm months. If you moved here from a denser part of Fort Worth and worried the calendar would go quiet, this is the year that argument stops holding.
What this all adds up to
The pattern is not one restaurant park or one revived retail strip. It is the fact that both are happening within the same construction season, four miles apart, backed by different developers with different theses about what Benbrook wants. MAD Concepts is betting on a shared backyard and family patios. Philip Murrin is betting on Texas culinary identity and television-driven curiosity. Southern Multifoods is betting that a national brand can, on the third try, hold a Benbrook footprint.
For a homeowner already here, the takeaway is simple. The corridor you have been driving through is turning into a corridor you can spend an evening on. That changes the value of a Saturday, and over time, it changes the value of a Benbrook address.
If you are thinking about how these openings shape the case for staying, upsizing, or investing in a property near the Boulevard, Willoughby Agency works with owners across Benbrook and the western edge of Fort Worth on exactly that kind of decision. Schedule a Private Consultation to talk it through.
