Open now: Tex-Mex restaurant El Tiempo, in North Texas sports hub

Tex-Mex restaurant El Tiempo Cantina is in a familiar spot for Dallas-Fort Worth sports fans. This Arlington restaurant opening July 1, 2024 takes up a space that was once part of the concourse at Globe Life Park, the Texas Rangers’ ballpark before the newer stadium opened across the street.
Where baseball fans used to spill out into the Texas sun through a series of ground-level gates, El Tiempo’s team enclosed one section with tall, arched windows decorated with red and gold velvet drapes. The ballpark’s original stone columns stand tall inside the new restaurant.
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These large arches were once exit gates for the Texas Rangers’ past ballpark. Now, this part of the building was enclosed and has become a franchise of Tex-Mex restaurant El Tiempo Cantina. (Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)
Years ago, baseball fans might never have envisioned a fajitas restaurant at the end of the concourse. Or a Starbucks on another corner, and a steakhouse nearby. But that’s the new plan for the red-brick event center now known as Choctaw Stadium. The city of Arlington owns Choctaw Stadium, and the Rangers operate it.
Nearly any restaurant could have gone here, but a team of partners that own the Rangers liked El Tiempo, the family-run Houston restaurant with deep Texas history.
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The restaurant family’s history dates back to 1949, when it opened a tortilleria in Houston. Next came Tex-Mex spot Ninfa’s in Houston in 1973. Matriarch “Mama” Ninfa Laurenzo and her family grew Ninfa’s for more than two decades, including to parts of Dallas-Fort Worth. It went into bankruptcy in 1996 and a new company took ownership of it. Mama Ninfa’s family was back in restaurants by 1998 in Houston with the first El Tiempo Cantina, a more refined version of its Tex-Mex predecessor.
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The new restaurant in Arlington marks the first El Tiempo in D-FW. It’s the 16th in Texas.
Why Arlington
Franchising a Texas Tex-Mex restaurant at the former baseball stadium furthers a commitment made by Rangers staff to utilize Choctaw Stadium. It’s in the Arlington Entertainment District — near the new ballpark, the football stadium for the Dallas Cowboys, restaurant hub Texas Live! and new hotels. Neil Leibman, the baseball team’s president of business operations and COO, sees El Tiempo as an amenity for sports fans.
El Tiempo menu items in Arlington include guacamole (from top left, clockwise), chile con queso, Texas red chili burrito, chicken enchiladas and beef fajita nachos. (Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)
“We’re thrilled we know we have the right restaurant partner,” said Rob Matwick, the Rangers’ executive vice president of business operations during a walk-through of the new El Tiempo. Across the street, the Rangers staff was preparing for the All-Star Week in mid-July. El Tiempo will be another lunch and dinner option for fans of the defending World Series Champion Texas Rangers.
“Really good Tex-Mex has been the missing piece for us,” Matwick said.
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What to eat at El Tiempo
El Tiempo’s dinner menu is more than 10 pages long. If you haven’t been, here’s the short version. Margaritas. Fajitas. Tortillas. Combos. Tres leches.
The frozen margaritas are a secret recipe known by just three people: Mama Ninfa’s eldest son Roland Laurenzo; his son Domenic Laurenzo; and a staffer who goes by the nickname Pedrito. It’s Pedrito’s job to go from restaurant to restaurant, making sure the margaritas are mixed right.
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“It’s the only way you can keep the margaritas the same,” said Rafael Hernandez, chief revenue officer for the restaurant group. (Reporter’s note: Pedrito’s job sounds fun.)
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El Tiempo sells its margaritas a few ways, but frozen margarita is the way to go, staffers said. It costs $10.99.
El Tiempo’s steak and chicken fajitas are served from a small, hot oven called an anafre, not a skillet like some other Tex-Mex restaurants. (Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)
After appetizers like guacamole, chile con queso, bacon-wrapped shrimp and more, another stop on the menu is for El Tiempo’s fajitas. Options include shrimp, salmon, ahi tuna, chicken, pork carnitas, steak, veggie — a much lengthier list than most of El Tiempo’s competitors. Its proteins and veggies are served on a sizzling anafre, or a portable oven with embers that keep the vessel hot. Their anafres are custom-made in Monterrey, Mexico.
They’re so hot, they leave burn marks on the tables. And that’s OK.
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“It gives the table such a beautiful look,” Hernandez said. All the tables and chairs at El Tiempo in Arlington are made in a woodshop in Houston owned by the restaurant. The tables in Arlington were so far smooth and untarnished. Once dinner starts July 1, anafres will start to leave their mark.
El Tiempo Cantina’s chairs and tables are built in a shop in Houston. Each chair has the ETC brand on the back. (Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)
Fajitas are served with house-made flour tortillas. Mama Ninfa’s history goes back to owning a tortilleria, after all. The tortillas are an essential part of El Tiempo, said Armando Ayala, who has worked for the company on and off for more than 30 years. He’s had nearly every job, “starting from dishwasher [at age 14] to general manager — and everything in between,” he said. Today, he’s the company’s franchise operator, reinforcing its history as the company grows into new cities like Arlington.
El Tiempo’s tres leches cake was recently recreated by chef and owner Domenic Laurenzo. (Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)
For those who want to try a variety, the Las Vegas Combo is “the ultimate Tex-Mex plate,” owner and chef Domenic Laurenzo said. This big platter includes a cheese enchilada topped with Texas red chili, a crispy beef taco, chicken fajitas, and rice and beans. The owner adds an a la carte flauta.
And then there’s dessert. (Are any of you still hungry?) The tres leches cake, recently redone, is the company’s newest point of pride. Domenic Laurenzo spent 90 days testing 100 cake recipes. The finished tres leches cake is a mix between a chiffon cake and a Japanese hot milk cake, he explained. He hangs the cakes upside-down when they come out of the oven, which keeps them tall.
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The three milks that give tres leches its name are richer and thicker than before. The chef is confident: “I think I came up with the greatest tres leches cake in the world.”
How to get there
El Tiempo opens July 1, 2024 at 1011 Nolan Ryan Expressway (on a corner of Choctaw Stadium, accessible from outside of the building), in Arlington. Dinner only for about a week. Restaurant operators expect to open for lunch and dinner seven days a week by mid-July 2024, in time for All-Star Week.
Parking is allowed at Globe Life Field’s Lot B for free on non-event days.
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During games or other events, nearby lots will be subject to event rates.
Hotel guests can take the Arlington Trolley, which drops off near the front door of El Tiempo.
For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on X (formerly Twitter) at @sblaskovich.