Two First-in-Fort Worth Restaurants Land at Westbend: Mendocino Farms and Maman Will Open in 2027 in the 321-Unit Westbend Residences by the Trinity Trails
A California sandwich shop with five Dallas-side locations and a New York cafe chain with about 60 will both make their Fort Worth debuts on the ground floor of the seven-story Westbend Residences at 1701 S. University Drive — first residents and first tables both land in 2027.
FORT WORTH — Two restaurant chains that Dallas has known for years are finally crossing the Metroplex. Mendocino Farms, the California-based sandwich shop, and Maman, the New York cafe known for French-inspired pastries and coffee, will open in 2027 at Westbend Residences, the residential building rising next to the Westbend shopping center near TCU, according to CultureMap Fort Worth's Nov. 10 report, read in full by this desk. Westbend announced the signings in its own post: “Two first-to-market concepts are coming to @westbendresidencesfw, adjacent to Westbend! Both Maman and Mendocino Farms will open their first Fort Worth locations at our mixed-use community in 2027.” Both will occupy ground-floor restaurant spaces; exact opening dates have not been revealed.
The building they are anchoring is the second phase of the Westbend mixed-use community: a 321-unit, seven-story apartment community under construction at 1701 S. University Drive along the Trinity Trails, expected to welcome its first residents in early 2027, with two pools, a fitness center and a dog spa among its amenities. For Mendocino Farms — founded in California by Mario Del Pero and Ellen Chen, in Texas since its first Dallas restaurant in 2020, and since spread to West Village, Plano, NorthPark Center, Preston Hollow and Addison — the Westbend shop is its first in Fort Worth and in all of Tarrant County. CultureMap notes the chain was one of 10 nominees for Best Sandwich in the 2026 CultureMap Dallas Tastemaker Awards; its best-known sandwich is the Not-So-Fried Chicken, with shaved roasted chicken, crunchy krispies, slaw and herb aioli.
Maman arrives by a different route: founded in New York's SoHo in 2014 by Elisa Marshall and Benjamin Sormonte and grown to about 60 locations across the U.S. and Canada, it made its Texas debut in November 2025 at The Plaza at Preston Center in Dallas, added Lakewood earlier this year and Plano in August, and is known for creative espresso drinks, croissants, kouign-amann, tea cakes and its French provincial interiors with signature blue toile. Its Tarrant County debut actually comes first in Southlake's Park Village, planned for early 2027 — which makes Westbend its second in the county but its first inside Fort Worth. For the University Drive corridor, the pairing is the ground-floor promise of the whole Westbend bet: residents upstairs, trails outside, and two proven dining names at street level when the doors open in 2027.
