Longtime landmark restaurant Los Vaqueros will reopen in the nearby Stockyards Exhibits Building after reaching an agreement to sell its large historic location.
“We’re staying right here in the community we love. We’re just moving down the street to another historic building, right across the plaza from Billy Bob’s,” said President Vicki Cisneros of Cisneros Restaurants Inc.
On April 22, Cisneros Restaurants signed a long-term lease on a new Los Vaqueros location in the 1911-era Stockyards Exhibits Building at 2515 Rodeo Plaza. The deal was negotiated by Vicki Cisneros’ son-in-law, Davidson Liland, of Altera Development.
The Cisneros family is currently renovating the space and plans to close the original location June 30. The new location is expected to open after July 4. Neighbors in the building include the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame and the John Wayne: An American Experience Museum.
A location change had long been on the table, as the current Los Vaqueros building was no longer the right option for family and staff, Cisneros said.
“While we’ve loved the challenge of a 34,000-square-foot building, it is time for the building to have an opportunity to grow further, and our vision for Los Vaqueros’ future does not coincide with expansion,” Cisneros said.
The family-run business had been looking at updating the building, built in 1915, but it was approached by a potential buyer. The company will not name the purchaser until the sale closes next month, Cisneros said.
The business traces its origins to when Amelia “Kiki” Yvonne Cisneros met Johnny Valentine Cisneros Jr. while they worked together at El Chico Restaurant. When they founded their own restaurant in 1983, they named it after sons Johnny and Michael, known as the two “vaqueros.”
The family opened another Los Vaqueros location in Willow Park in 2008.
Cisneros expects the new location to be up and running by July 14, the date the Major League Baseball draft takes place next door at Cowtown Coliseum.
“Our vision is to continue to operate in a way that allows us to adhere to our core values of family, food, grace, community service and hospitality — which means a smaller footprint,” Cisneros said. “It will also allow us to spend more time enjoying our grandchildren, family and friends.”
The new Los Vaqueros will occupy 8,000 square feet, with an adjacent patio that seats an additional 85 guests.
“Not to worry if you have an event booked — the new location’s banquet rooms are very similar to the current banquet spaces,” Vicki Cisneros said. “Not to mention, we’ll still have the Los Vaqueros West location in Willow Park, where we just added a banquet hall that seats 250 people.”
Cisneros recalled when the family first opened in the current location in 1996. It was so large, she expected it would take weeks or months for the restaurant to fill up. The restaurant had originally been a few blocks away in a much smaller location.
“As we were waiting to open on our first official day, I was so worried about having too many workers there,” she said. “Then one of the servers came up to me and turned me toward the window and there was a line down the stairs, out in the parking lot, down the block. I’ll never forget that.”
As for the long-occupied original Los Vaqueros location at 2629 North Main St., Cisneros said, the potential buyer will be a good steward of the building and wants to maintain the historic look and feel of the Stockyards.
Cisneros said when she told a longtime customer that the restaurant was moving, the customer broke into tears.
“That’s the kind of customers we have, so the message I want to get out to our faithful patrons, and to the schools, churches, and nonprofit organizations we’ve worked with for 40 years, is that their patronage makes all the difference to us. We’re still here for them, just a few doors down the road.”
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.
Disclosure: Sonya Cisneros Wierzowiecki is director of development for the Fort Worth Report and is the granddaughter of the founders of the restaurant.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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