A new wine bistro has settled into a retail strip about a mile west of Interstate 35W in north Fort Worth, pouring whiskey and wine alongside Mediterranean-inspired tapas and offering a dedicated patio for cigar smokers. 9 Ounce & Somm, at 9577 Harmon Road, Suite 105, is the first business owned by Ana Stull, who has described it as a personal milestone years in the making.
A Pandemic-Era Idea Finally Opens Its Doors
Stull told the Star-Telegram that the restaurant represents a long-held ambition, saying, “This is my very first place — it's been a dream of mine since my 30s.” According to Community Impact, Stull has said the concept for 9 Ounce & Somm first took shape during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and she announced firmer plans for a wine bar and cigar lounge this past February. At that stage, the business was described as a specialty wine and whiskey bar expected to open last summer, featuring beer, cocktails, mocktails and a small-bite menu, per the same outlet.
Community Impact also reports that Stull intended the concept to honor her mother, who was raised in the Basque Country of northern Spain — a heritage that threads through the current food and drink program. To bring that vision to the plate, Stull hired Majid Shavandy as general manager and executive chef, a role confirmed on the 9 Ounce & Somm website. Shavandy is a former co-owner of The Pegasus in Fort Worth, the Star-Telegram notes, and Community Impact reports he has run restaurants in the city for decades, having previously started The Pegasus, Spice and the Crazy Horse Cafe.
Tapas, Skewers and a Petite Filet With Manchego Mash
The menu leans into Mediterranean- and Middle Eastern-inspired dishes, with the Star-Telegram describing simple hummus and feta plates, a Persian cucumber-tomato salad, and entrees such as Spanish chicken bravas and Moorish pinchos. Community Impact's rundown of the menu adds gambas al ajillo — Spanish-marinated shrimp cooked in olive oil with arbol chili, garlic and fresh herbs — along with calamari served with salsa brava and garlic aioli, duck wings glazed in sweet apricot chili, sumac-crusted lamb chops, and pan-seared chicken with cannellini beans and Spanish olives. One signature entree highlighted by the Star-Telegram is a petite filet served with Spanish manchego-cheese mashed potatoes and romesco sauce.
Shavandy helped craft the Mediterranean- and Africa-inspired food menu, according to Community Impact, which also reports that the chefs he hired bring more than 100 years of combined experience to the kitchen. He has said the food menu and drink list are built to complement each other, and he envisions the space as a social gathering spot where customers can enjoy tapas, have a drink and interact. For dessert, the menu includes olive oil cake, chocolate mousse cake and crema catalana, a traditional Spanish custard finished with a burnt-sugar crust, per the outlet's reporting.
Wine, Whiskey and a Cocktail Program With a Family Touch
On the drink side, 9 Ounce & Somm pours whiskey, gin, bourbon, scotch, vodka, tequila and white, rosé and red wines, Community Impact reports, along with eight beers on tap and three additional beers in bottles. The bar also offers dessert-like cocktails such as espresso martinis, and Shavandy's daughter helped craft the cocktail menu. The 9ounceandsomm.com site describes the business as a small upscale bar designed for those who appreciate quality over quantity. Community Impact reports that Shavandy focuses on wines from smaller vineyards that can be harder to find in retail stores.
The restaurant's name is itself a wink at that philosophy: 9 OUNCE refers to the size of a standard pour, while SOMM plays on the word sommelier, according to the business's own website. The Star-Telegram describes the space as a casual, relaxed gathering place — a bistro with barstools and couches alongside a few regular tables — while Community Impact's account of the layout adds bar seating, high-top tables, and smaller tables and chairs scattered throughout.
Cigar Patio Rounds Out the North Fort Worth Spot
True to its original billing as a cigar lounge concept, the business maintains a sprawling patio plus a separate cigar patio, the Star-Telegram reports in a photo caption dated Sept. 22, 2026. Community Impact reports the cigar lounge itself sits on the patio, and that the humidor arrived in the last week of September 2026. For now, the restaurant is open for dinner nightly and lunch at 11 a.m. on weekends, according to the Star-Telegram's reporting.
Permitting records tied to the Harmon Road address show a more tangled paper trail than the dining room suggests. A filing reviewed by Zabalist shows the project was registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on May 1, 2025, covering a 1,300-square-foot finish-out with an estimated construction cost of $208,000 and a build window running from August through November 2025. A separate record from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, however, lists an estimated cost of $450,000 for the same Suite 105 address, with a start date of January 30, 2026, and a completion date of May 29, 2026 — a discrepancy that has not been independently resolved. Zabalist further reports that City of Fort Worth permit records show 14 permits on file at the street address issued between March 2025 and August 2026, with declared valuations totaling $737,500, including an April 2026 permit covering a steel shade structure over an existing concrete patio. Zabalist's analysis also notes that the scheduled 92-day build window on the May 2025 filing was shorter than the 187-day county median for similar additions to existing buildings in Tarrant County.
