Now we know more: Plans filed for Tex-Mex icon to return to west Fort Worth
The Original Mexican Eats Cafe, a 94-year-old haven of Tex-Mex history, has applied to build a small restaurant and drive-thru on its former parking lot in west Fort Worth.
The Original, one of Texas’ oldest Tex-Mex restaurants, is asking for permission to build a narrow, diner-like stand and driveway on a parking lot at 4735 Camp Bowie Blvd., five doors west of the location where it served tacos and chili-covered enchiladas for 93 years.
The restaurant moved to 1400 N. Main St. near the Stockyards in July 2023, but owner Robert Self kept the parking lots.
The Original had lost a years-long, bitter legal dispute that voided an old property lease.
The application proposes a drive-through along the east border of the property behind a restaurant facing west, toward a canopied and landscaped patio.
The Original hinted at a return to the location when a legal notice of a liquor application was posted on the parking lot and printed in the Star-Telegram in June. It was revised Aug. 1.
The former space has been converted for retail shops.
Self has not returned messages.
The restaurant is nationally known for chili con carne, retro Tex-Mex and its “Roosevelt Special” platter, named for presidential son Elliott Roosevelt, a former Fort Worth and Benbrook resident whose parents, first lady Eleanor and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, often visited.
The North Main Street location is open for lunch and dinner daily except Monday; 817-761-1890, originalmexcafe.com.
