Sarah Castillo expands her Fort Worth restaurant empire with new Taco Heads, Sidesaddle Saloon

A dozen years ago, Sarah Castillo landed at home in Fort Worth with $ 25 in her pocket. After quenching her wanderlust after graduation, she was only sure of one thing: “I knew that I had to start my own business.”

Today she owns four restaurants and bars in Fort Worth, employs around 100 people, and has many dreams that have yet to manifest.

Everywhere she’d gone, Castillo had gathered experiences that might come next. After graduating from Paschal High School and a golf scholarship from the University of Texas, she studied American studies and enjoyed the Austin lifestyle. She moved to Aspen with sisters and worked in ski and golf stores asking wealthy customers about their businesses. She then worked in the boutique hotel industry in New York City before spending time in Spain and Mallorca. Her money eventually ran out and she returned to Fort Worth.

“I started driving my mother’s minivan that she had had since I was a child. The driver’s door wasn’t working, so I had to get in on the other side and crawl over to drive, ”says Castillo of her humble return home in 2009. She got a job as part of the opening team at Eddie V’s and she“ fell in love with the hospitality industry . “

Sarah Castillo owns Taco Heads in Fort Worth.(Brandon Wade / special article)

Castillo served food and drink at night and worked for the Texas Rangers during the day, helping with events and operations. With the income from the two jobs, she planned to return to Austin to find a career and a life. Meanwhile, she played golf with the restaurant managers. One day she was making breakfast tacos for an early round of golf, and that night she dreamed of starting a food truck.

“I told my mom about the dream and she said, ‘You can do this,’” recalls Castillo, watching the trend take off in Fort Worth. “When I was developing here on 7th Street, I knew I had to be a part of it.”

Their first Taco Heads trailer, serving handmade tacos and ice cold bottles of Topo Chico, was a huge hit outside of the bars in Fort Worth. Over time, she added two trucks and Taco Heads became a staple at outdoor events. Her green salsa became such a hit that she also started bottling it for sale. Finally a brick-and-mortar happened.

“We signed our shop on Montgomery Street and wanted it for a temporary kitchen – but we decided to convert the property into a restaurant and cantina,” says Castillo of the opening of the first Taco Heads shop in 2016 on a lot overlooking what is now huge Dickies Arena.

She brought in partner Glen Keely, who opened the popular Thompsons Bookstore downtown in 2017 – “Glen is so bar savvy, and we needed that!” – and hired chef Christian Lehrmann. The trio named their company Neon Light District after the neon lights that marked the Taco Heads Food Truck, and soon the team began making bigger, bolder plans.

Indoor dining area at Taco Heads in Fort Worth(Brandon Wade / special article)

After opening a Dallas Taco Head on Henderson Avenue in 2017, NLD found a near Southside Fort Worth hotel in 2018 for an upscale Mexican restaurant and bar called Tinie’s Mexican Cuisine. Named after Castillo’s mother Christina – her nickname is Tinie, pronounced “Theeny” – the restaurant is located in a two-story, centuries-old building with innumerable structural problems. After nearly two years of work, Tinie’s opened with a dynamic menu of seared achiote pork, striped steak on the bone with chimichurri, aguachile de camaron and sensational meat empanadas, along with a sophisticated cocktail menu served from a rooftop bar – a week previously until the pandemic shutdown in March 2020.

Tinie eventually recovered, but COVID-19 has closed Taco Heads in Dallas. The NLD team focused on the Fort Worth Stockyards. With style infusions from their 97W designers and a host of other talents, the Sidesaddle Saloon opened in March 2021 after almost two years of work. Sidesaddle is a fashionable bar with an elegant cowgirl theme and is located on Mule Alley, a renovated 108-year-old complex of horse and mule stables deep in the Stockyards National Historic District.

Named after historically famous women of the West, cocktails like Prairie Rose Henderson (Texas tea with bourbon tip, raspberry and rose water) and Wilma Mankiller (vodka, dry Curacao, hibiscus syrup and lime) prove to be elegant and delicious. Better yet, they go well with shareable plates like country ham with allspice cheese, pickled vegetables, and toasted sourdough; smoked brisket flatbread; Bison tartare; and duck confit tacos.

“The food is all Christian – it’s so good, but uncomplicated,” says Castillo of her chef’s kitchen. “And Glen’s cocktails are perfect.”

Managing partners Christian Lehrmann, Sarah Castillo and Glen Keely pose for a photo in the Side Saddle in the Fort Worth Stockyards.(Brandon Wade / special article)

The group barely took a breath before expanding Taco Heads: in early August, Castillo unveiled the second Fort Worth location in the Stockyards. Taco Heads v.2 is moving into a renovated, centuries-old building directly on the weathered red brick street North Main Street and offers an expanded menu – the chicken enchilada taco shouldn’t be missed, nor the spicy shrimp ceviche – and a significantly expanded one Bar . Margaritas are on tap, and there is also a “Big Effing Rita” that measures 24 ounces. Neon-lit interiors offer ample seating and there is also good hanging space outdoors. A walk-in window is a bonus; in the Stockyards area, guests can enjoy adult drinks on the sidewalks.

Meanwhile, the original Montgomery Street Taco Heads is getting a facelift. Big crowds who come to big concerts at Dickies have no other place to eat and drink within walking distance, and Castillo learned that their little taco margarita shop wasn’t ready for prime time when the crowd on George Strait was before dropped for almost two years.

“We had to wait two hours to get in and drink orders took 20 minutes,” recalls Castillo with a grimace, vowing that the Michael Buble and Blake Shelton audience coming this month will be much happier. “I want people to come to Taco Heads for a great evening, especially when they are spending hundreds of dollars on a ticket.”

The upgraded Taco Heads features an expanded pedestrian entrance, an indoor-outdoor patio that can be easily cooled and heated, more and larger toilets – and the expanded menu recently introduced at the Stockyards shop. People who stop by while it prepares to reopen in about a week may find Castillo replanting cacti or messing about with other chores.

“People know I’m a hard worker, and it’s not uncommon to find me in the sink when I’m needed there,” says Castillo, grinning her megawatt smile. “There is no ego with me. If something doesn’t work, I can easily ask for advice – that’s the great thing about Fort Worth, everyone is ready to help each other. “

Observers also praise Castillo, noting that her vision becomes luster as it matures.

“Sarah built this empire pretty quickly, and it has to do with the same tenacity she started with – she’s ambitious and has an unabashed optimism that it will work and everyone will love it,” said Megan Henderson, Communications and Event Director for the Near Southside. She also notes that Castillo always hires local creators to work on her restaurant designs and constructions.

“Your energy is contagious,” she adds. “When you are around her, you feel part of her dream and success.”

An “Alli Dee” cocktail made primarily from tequila, pineapple and lime juice, garnished with a burnt pineapple slice and jalapeño in a side saddle in the Fort Worth Stockyards.(Brandon Wade / special article)

Have a meal with Sarah

Find Castillo’s restaurants and bars in four Fort Worth locations.

Taco Heads, 1812 Montgomery St., 817-615-9899, ​​tacoheads.com.

Taco Heads Stockyards, 2349 N. Main St., 817-420-6299, tacoheads.com.

Sidesaddle Saloon, 122 E. Exchange Ave., Suite 240, 817-862-7952, sidesaddle-saloon.com.

Tinies Mexican Cuisine, 113 S. Main St., 682-255-5425, tiniesfw.com.

Upon entering, guests are greeted by American and Texas flags hanging over the bar at Side Saddle in the Fort Worth Stockyards(Brandon Wade / special article)The front of Taco Heads in Fort Worth(Brandon Wade / special article)

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