Creating a foodie community in Parker County

This story originally appeared in the June 25 edition of The Community News in Aledo.

For just over a year, Chelsea and Scott Dollar have been working to uncover the hidden gems, showcase the local favorites and bring out the silent foodies of Parker County.

The married couple launched the Parker County Eats and Drinks Facebook page last June, in an attempt to separate facts about local restaurants from the rumors that circulated across social media.

“We knew there was a lot of kind-of steamrolling information and everything was moving so fast, we needed somewhere to put information from all the restaurant pages, so everyone knew what was going on,” Scott said. “We saw Fort Worth Foodies and realized we (also) needed to make one hub of information to hopefully keep all these restaurants alive. And our goal was to not let one restaurant fail.”

But as local businesses began to regain traction, the Facebook page quickly transitioned from a local news source into a community of food lovers — or foodies — raving about their local food finds.

Now, the group brings solidarity — through food and drinks — to nearly 14,000 Parker County residents, who would have likely never have spoken to each other, or even met, otherwise.

Continued support

In addition to their hobby of running the Eats and Drinks page, Chelsea and Scott market for and manage the social media of nearly two-dozen local restaurants.

And even though the state has slowly began its return to pre-coronavirus operations, the restored sense of normalcy hasn’t stopped the couple from continuing to support local businesses during their free time.

Recently, the couple has begun to focus on more community engagement and participation to help boost the local economy and support local businesses.

Last month, they created a “burger bracket” — and soon will launch a taco bracket — which mimics the popular March Madness basketball bracket, encouraging residents to put their taste buds to the test before voting, so the winners of each competition aren’t chosen solely on popularity and a familiar name.

Only two fast food restaurants competed in the 16-restaurant challenge, while some lesser-known restaurants have received more attention, including Hooker’s Grill in Hudson Oaks, Tavern on the Lake near the marina, Comfort Kitchen To Go in Brock and Woody’s Bar and Grill in Mineral Wells.

In addition to these types of challenges, Scott has also partnered with local businesses to host events, including the Locals Only Peach Crawl and Beefmasters’ Backyard Takeover next month.

At one point, he even attempted to launch a network of servers and restaurants to help fill the need in short-staffed restaurants and bars.

Together, the couple also continues to support local businesses just by word-of-mouth.

Pura Vida Mexican Bar and Grill and Lenny’s Local, for instance, have not slowed in business since the day they opened, due in part to the Facebook group that often brags on their food and atmosphere. And in one day, Pura Vida went from a few-dozen likes on Facebook to more than 500 — and now sits at more than 1,600.

Goals as foodies

Chelsea and Scott have set goals for the Parker County food community they have helped to create.

One of their biggest goals for the foodie community, they said, is that the members will branch out and visit new places because of their participation in the group, just as they have done themselves.

The couple noted how they had just left Comfort Kitchen To Go, which they tried for the first time because of the group’s positive reviews.

“Next, I really want to try the cheese wheel pasta at Zeno’s,” Chelsea said, while sipping on one of her favorite drinks — the espresso martini at Northside Remedy.

They also hope to see more engagement outside of the Weatherford-Hudson Oaks-Willow Park I-20 corridor cities.

Instead, they encourage members to visit restaurants in a different city than which they live in and even the furthest cities, such as Aledo downtown, Azle, Poolville and Springtown.

For Parker County’s portfolio of restaurants and bars, Chelsea and Scott said they would like it to include more culturally diverse restaurants, including a “true Hibachi grill” and maybe even a Greek restaurant.

The couple has also set-out large goals for themselves and their own food marketing business.

Passionate about food, they said they couldn’t imagine themselves ever working in a different field — maybe just a larger one.

As the Parker County Eats and Drinks group gains its following, Scott said he hopes they can turn their efforts into something larger, and the two can feature cuisine from all over the world.

He recently began taking small steps by creating his own Facebook blog page called Mr. Eats. He also hopes he can write some columns for local newspapers and magazines about his favorite dishes.

But for now, they’re going to continue to work on their original goal: to not let one restaurant fail.