Texas Hold 'Em BBQ Coming Back to Downtown Fort Lauderdale

Chelsea Scholler

Texas Hold 'Em BBQ now operates a high-visibility restaurant and bar at Federal Highway and Sunrise Boulevard, but a smaller outpost in downtown Lauderdale that won some New Times honors didn't fare so well.

The tiny location on SE Seventh Street, behind the Andrews Avenue Publix near the Broward courthouse, shut down in February after lease negotiations with the building's owner. Texas Hold 'Em's owner, Jeremy "Jay" Armstead, told Clean Plate Charlie that the company had planned to open a "Tapped Out" beer bar, "if not in that space, then in that area."

Turns out, a failed business a couple of blocks away gave them an opportunity.

A pizza parlor showed up in a small shopping center at SW Sixth Street and Fourth Avenue a few months ago. It seemed to be always empty, never gaining traction with the people it would need to survive: either a downtown lunch and delivery base or the Tarpon River/Sailboat Bend neighborhoods. It closed down a few weeks ago, as quietly as it had opened.

Now signs in the window say "Texas Hold 'Em BBQ" and "Deal us back in!" We've reached out to the restaurant to see what its plans are and if they involve a beer bar or (we hope) another cozy, hearty barbecue restaurant. We're also curious if the barbecue would be built-in or outside on a trailer, as was the case with the old downtown location.

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