Tag: history of Tex-Mex food

Mexican Inn Cafe No. 2, built in 1949 in the gambling-and-honky-tonk heyday of the Jacksboro Highway but closed for five years, is for sale.

The location, 612 N. Henderson St. next to the “Wind Roundabout” sculpture, is the oldest remaining building for a company started in 1936 by gambler Tiffin Hall.

The No. 2 location is now at a major gateway to retail development on Westside Drive. It was completely remodeled in 2021, but never reopened after road construction and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chris Carroll, owner of nine Mexican Inn locations and also Spring Creek Barbeque, originally remodeled the restaurant to serve growing development on Panther Island and in near west Fort Worth.

But new plans for the $1.7 billion Westside Village development just west have made the property more attractive.

“Things are hot over there,” Carroll said.

The first Mexican Inn was opened in 1936 by gambler Tiffin Hall at 115 E. Fifth St. It eventually expanded into the corner space location downtown at 516 Commerce St. and closed after a 1987 fire.

It is known nationally as the first restaurant on record to serve arroz con pollo Mexicano, a dish with pulled chicken and queso over rice, It also advertised chicken in mole sauce, unusual at a time when Tex-Mex restaurants were featuring enchilada and taco plates.

Locally, it’s known for its Fritos-style chips.

The Mexican Inn Cafes are the fourth oldest Tex-Mex restaurant company in North Texas, trailing El Fenix (1918), The Original Mexican Eats Cafe (1930, although the restaurant claims 1926) and Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Dishes (1935).

The Henderson Street location is decorated with the company’s signature azure blue tile work and trim.

It’s described in the “Handbook of Texas” as the beginning of “Thunder Road,” a 4-mile stretch of Jacksboro Highway known in the 1950s for gambling halls, seven flashy dance nightclubs, six liquor stores and a legacy of high-roller gaming, late-night carousing and organized crime.

Rock, country and blues musicians made the Mexican Inn a regular stop on the way to or from the Stockyards. Country singer Ernest Tubb (”Waltz Across Texas,” “Walking the Floor Over You”) had his tour bus detour to the restaurant every time the band was anyplace near North Texas.

Coincidentally, the building is not the Mexican Inn company’s oldest. The location at 1625 Eighth Ave. was built in 1948 for a different Tex-Mex restaurant.