{"id":16321,"date":"2026-08-26T19:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T19:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/16321\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T19:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T19:40:08","slug":"panther-city-bbq-takes-over-fort-worth-stockyards-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/16321\/","title":{"rendered":"Panther City BBQ takes over Fort Worth Stockyards restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new spot for a top-flight omakase experience has opened in Fort Worth&#8217;s Near Southside: Hiro\u2019s Kitchen, located at 309 W. Daggett Ave. Ste. 101, comes from husband-and-wife team Hiroto and Nami Ochiai, both natives of Japan who built their restaurant careers in New York City before moving to Dallas in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Hiroto is \u201cHiro,\u201d the restaurant\u2019s namesake and omakase master who first trained at a French restaurant in Tokyo before honing his sushi skills at not one, but two Michelin-starred sushi destinations in NYC: Sushi Amane and 69 Leonard Street.<\/p>\n<p>The duo, also both certified sake sommeliers, chose a 1,300 square-foot space next to The Holly wine shop for their first brick-and-mortar restaurant after hosting weekly pop-ups there since 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe team from The Holly came to one of our pop-ups in North Dallas,\u201d says Nami. \u201cThey encouraged us to visit Fort Worth, which eventually led to us doing pop-ups with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those pop-ups built a loyal following, which in turn led to fully booked reservations for Hiro\u2019s recent first week of business. With space for 15 at the anchoring sushi bar, plus a few additional seats at a handful small tables, Hiro\u2019s is a hot ticket offering just dinner service to start. Plans to add weekend lunch are in the future. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe counter is really the heart of the restaurant,\u201d says Nami. \u201cIt\u2019s not a large restaurant, but we were able to create a beautiful, spacious counter that brings us close to our guests. We love that it allows us to talk with everyone and provide a very personal experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On trend with omakase<br \/>Omakase translates literally to \u201cI\u2019ll leave it up to you\u201d in Japanese. In a sushi restaurant setting, it means the chef leads the meal, choosing and preparing small plates while guests watch.<\/p>\n<p>The concept is having a moment in Fort Worth with several recent omakase openings. Nami says the trend is a sign that more people in Cowtown are becoming interested in Japanese culture and cuisine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs Japanese people ourselves, that makes us very happy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>As with many omakase destinations, the menu changes frequently based on season, ingredient availability, and the chef\u2019s inspiration. Hiro\u2019s omakase price (currently $90) may be viewed when making reservations and includes three to four appetizers (like blue crab, salmon roe, and edamame with yuzu puree), miso soup, seven pieces of seasonal sushi, a hand roll, and dessert. <\/p>\n<p>Current specialties include Wagyu tagliata with seasonal accompaniments and fresh amberjack with jalape\u00f1o and house-made ponzu sauce. The a la carte menu is predominantly gluten-free, as is the standard omakase.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHiro has experience in both Japanese and French cuisine, so those influences naturally come through in his cooking while the foundation remains rooted in Japanese techniques and philosophy,\u201d says Nami.<\/p>\n<p>Sake is a specialty<br \/>Sake is also important to Hiro and Nami, given their extensive educational background on the spirit. While Hiro\u2019s does offer a full bar program, there\u2019s an intentional focus on curated sakes along with Japanese beer, Japanese whisky, wine, and champagne. Guests will also find sake-based and Japanese-inspired cocktails.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve carefully selected our sake not only to complement Hiro\u2019s food, but to introduce our guests to different styles, regions, and breweries from Japan,\u201d says Nami. \u201cWe also plan to host special events with sake breweries, drawing on the relationships Hiro has built throughout his career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patrons can expect sake pairing dinners featuring French and Japanese courses by late September.<\/p>\n<p>But Nami says she and her husband don\u2019t want Hiro\u2019s to become a place customers visit only for special occasions. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hope it becomes a place people feel comfortable returning to again and again,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>Hiro\u2019s Kitchen is open Tuesday through Saturday with seating times running from 4:30-8:30 pm. Reservations are available through Resy.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"da0b1\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"860b4551bc06d54f490b9c61313c6eec\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' viewBox='0 0 2000 1500'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787773208_925_hiro-s-kitchen.png\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" alt=\"Hiro's Kitchen\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"457d4\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"7d832ca67fdbf01ba05493ede91b666e\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' viewBox='0 0 2000 1500'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787773208_492_hiro-s-kitchen-u200b.png\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" alt=\"Hiro's Kitchen\\u200b\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new spot for a top-flight omakase experience has opened in Fort Worth&#8217;s Near Southside: Hiro\u2019s Kitchen, located at 309 W. Daggett Ave. Ste. 101, comes from husband-and-wife team Hiroto and Nami Ochiai, both natives of Japan who built their restaurant careers in New York City before moving to Dallas in 2024. Hiroto is \u201cHiro,\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[627],"tags":[573,14361,14362,14363,1095,628,629],"class_list":["post-16321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tex-mex-restaurants","tag-barbecue","tag-panther-city-bbq","tag-playa-maya","tag-stockyards","tag-tex-mex","tag-tex-mex-restaurant","tag-tex-mex-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117163508615034051","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}