Panther City BBQ intends to open a second restaurant in the historic North Main Street building that currently houses La Playa Maya, according to co-owner Chris Magallanes. The closure of La Playa Maya is scheduled for July 5. Fort Worth is located approximately 31 miles west of Dallas.
The two-story red-orange brick structure at 1540 N. Main St. was constructed in 1913 as a police substation. Over the decades, it has housed government offices, including a Texas Department of Public Safety license bureau, a public library branch, and the North Side Lions Club after 1940. The property sits three blocks south of the official Fort Worth Stockyards historic district.
Magallanes stated that Panther City BBQ did not originally plan to expand beyond its current location at 201 E. Hattie St. However, the opportunity to take over the La Playa Maya space prompted immediate action. The new site will feature a custom-designed smokehouse and smokers. The menu will include the chain’s standard barbecue offerings alongside neighborhood specials like brisket elote, barbacoa, smoked fajitas, and brisket guisada. Additionally, the restaurant will introduce new Tex-Mex dishes and coastal seafood items.
Panther City BBQ first opened in 2018 in a trailer on a vacant lot adjacent to its current building. It has consistently received top rankings for barbecue in central Fort Worth from Texas Monthly and other publications. The Michelin Guide also lists the restaurant as recommended for Texas classics, including Tex-Mex brisket burritos, elote, tacos, and smoked mac-and-cheese. Magallanes and Ernest Morales founded the business, which has since expanded to include catering and Fort Worth Barbecue Co. downtown.
La Playa Maya, which has served coastal seafood since 1998, is owned by the family of late founder Lupe Ayala. The original La Playa opened in 1988 on West Central Avenue. The family moved the North Main location to its current building in 1998. The restaurant is known for traditional chile relleno and fish or shrimp tacos with chipotle sauce and mango pico de gallo. Three other La Playa Maya locations in south and west Fort Worth and Hudson Oaks will remain open.
