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    Lost Restaurants of Forth Worth
    Lost Restaurants of Forth Worth
    Lost Restaurants of Forth Worth
    Ebook158 pages1 hour

    Lost Restaurants of Forth Worth

    By Celestina Blok

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    About this ebook

    Despite a thriving culinary scene, Fort Worth lost some of its most iconic restaurants decades ago. Locals still buzz about the legendary chili dished out at historic Richelieu Grill and the potato soup Sammy's served all night. Fort Worth could accommodate every palate, from the Bakon Burger at Carlson's Drive-Inn to the escargot and chateaubriand laid out at the Carriage House. Even movie stars like Bob Hope and Gene Autry frequented the city for steaks from the Seibold Café, and President Lyndon B. Johnson loved Cowtown for the barbecue from famed chuckwagon cook Walter Jetton. Join food writer Celestina Blok as she journeys through her hometown's dining past.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJun 3, 2014
    ISBN9781439663509
    Lost Restaurants of Forth Worth

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      Book preview

      Lost Restaurants of Forth Worth - Celestina Blok

      INTRODUCTION

      There are two things folks from Fort Worth know for sure: the city slogan is Where the West Begins, and the city is most certainly not Dallas.

      A bit of history: In 1849, U.S. Army major Ripley Arnold, per his commander’s orders, planted a U.S. flag on the future site of Fort Worth, near the convergence of two forks of the Trinity River. A fort was built, named for Major General Williams Jenkins Worth, and Tarrant County was created by the state legislature. Settlers were soon attracted by rich soil and the army’s security.

      In 1853, the fort was vacated as troops were redeployed to make a push toward the Pacific Ocean. Residents converted the military buildings left behind into schools, stores and churches, and trade and business began to thrive. Fort Worth elected its first mayor, Dr. W.P. Burts, in 1873.

      In the years that followed, Fort Worth became a major trading point, as it stood on the main route of the Chisholm Trail, where herds of longhorns were driven from Texas to Kansas. A red-light district notoriously dubbed Hell’s Half Acre sprang up, and bawdy behavior involving pistol-firing cowboys and lewd ladies ensued.

      The first Fat Stock Show (today known as the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo) was held in 1896. By the turn of the century, the city was booming. The population in 1900 was approximately twenty-six thousand. That’s twenty thousand more than in 1880.

      This is when we began to see promotion of some of Fort Worth’s first restaurants, via ads in the Fort Worth Morning Register. An 1897 ad for the White Elephant Restaurant at 604–606 Main Street boasted a fish-heavy menu of lake trout, Spanish mackerel, black bass, Gulf trout, lobster, redfish and pickerel. Stop here for good dinner or lunch, the ad stated. A reincarnated White Elephant Saloon, now owned by celebrity chef Tim Love, exists today in the Fort Worth Stockyards.

      But Fort Worth quickly became known for beef rather than fish, thanks to multiple meatpacking houses that arrived in 1902, including Swift & Company, Armour & Company and McNeill & Libby. Fort Worth, now nicknamed Cowtown, became the meatpacking hub of the Southwest.

      This glimpse into history provides a peek at the origins of Fort Worth’s restaurant past. The beef industry, the red-light district and the arrival of immigrants from around the world attracted to such an economically sound city all helped shape Fort Worth’s earliest culinary roots.

      Longtime restaurateurs, including L.O. Fuqua of Fuqua’s meat market, grocery store and coffee shop and Theo Yordanoff of Theo’s Saddle & Sirloin Inn, started their businesses early in the twentieth century. The Richelieu Grill began even earlier, sometime between 1885 and 1895, and lasted all the way until 1991. And a Chinese man named Eng Wing (who somehow became known as Murphy) turned a popular downtown saloon into an internationally recognized Cantonese restaurant after the institution of Prohibition in 1918. That restaurant later evolved into the Bamboo Inn.

      Fast-forward to today. Having written about restaurants in rapidly growing Fort Worth for more than a decade, my focus has always been on everything new. Through a monthly restaurant column and local recipe feature stories, I share all that I can uncover about the latest and greatest culinary finds. What are this season’s trends in cooking wild game? What chef left what restaurant, and where is he or she going next? What new cocktail is sweeping the bar scene? What’s the latest concept going into that cursed shopping center corner that keeps changing tenants?

      I frantically try to stay on top of breaking restaurant news via social media and Internet searches. I even check if for lease signs have been replaced by Texas Alcoholic and Beverage Commission signage informing residents that the applicant is requesting a liquor permit—usually a sign that a new restaurant is coming soon. And my inbox is frequently flooded with press releases from local public relations firms seeking coverage of what’s happening with their endless list of restaurant clients.

      In today’s climate of instantaneous news, what’s new is what readers want. Every foodie hopes to be the first to try the latest hip eatery and share their mouthwatering pics on Instagram.

      Although I am a native, rarely (like most area diners my age) did I think much about the long-shuttered Fort Worth restaurants—until I was approached about writing this book.

      Sure, I had a strong appreciation for Fort Worth mainstays like the eighty-two-year-old Joe T. Garcia’s, the fifty-nine-year-old Angelo’s Bar-B-Que and landmark restaurants like Paris Coffee Shop, El Rancho Grande and Cattlemen’s Steak House. These establishments still operate today and have drawn regulars for decades.

      But, upon embarking on my research of Fort Worth’s iconic restaurant past, I quickly learned that long-lost restaurants still very much pull at the heartstrings of many longtime Fort Worth residents while also triggering nostalgic pangs of hunger. Social media pages dedicated to Closed and Forgotten Cowtown Eateries and Fort Worth Memories have tens of thousands of followers, many of whom reminisce regularly about their favorite dives and dishes. It seems the faster Fort Worth grows, the more residents long for a taste of the good old days.

      I sincerely hope this book will allow those who frequented these restaurants to recall fond memories and experience a bit of pleasure in reading about what made them iconic. Perhaps, readers may also learn something they didn’t know.

      Speaking of the restaurants, by no means are all that were considered iconic included. As I spoke to longtime Fort Worth residents, many of them community leaders and successful business owners themselves, as well as local history buffs and avid memorabilia collectors, I received the names of dozens of recommended restaurants to include.

      Over and over, I was asked if I got the one on University Drive, on Main Street, on the North Side, on Camp Bowie Boulevard, on Berry Street and many more. I soon realized that including all that were mentioned was just not possible, so I narrowed down the list to the places that were brought up most often. Then I further narrowed the list to places for which I could find images or memorabilia of any sort.

      So, sit back and savor this small but hearty portion of some of Fort Worth’s gone but not forgotten favorites; and if you take anything away, may it be to never take for granted the restaurants you cherish today.

      1

      THE INFLUENCE OF THE IMMIGRANT

      Part of Fort Worth’s history is the great immigrant families who have come here and opened restaurants," said longtime Fort Worth Star-Telegram food columnist Bud Kennedy during a 2014 speaking engagement on the city’s iconic restaurants presented by the Fort Worth Library. "The Stockyards brought all kinds of cultures: Germans, Eastern Europeans, Russians, people from Mexico. People from all over the world came to work in the Stockyards and those people brought all kinds of food culture to the North

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