skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Once this restaurant's namesake, Vivian Courtney (click on her name to view a video tribute to her and photos of the inside of her restaurant), died in 2004 it was closed. The main building, which was as unique as the sign, was leveled (wished I'd taken a shot of it before it was bulldozed) but the place's unique sign remains to this day.
In fact, if you want the sign you can have it. John T. Roberts posted this @ Fort Worth Architecture, "If anyone is interested, the old neon Vivian Courtney's Restaurant sign is available to anyone who wishes to take it away. It is a two-sided exposed neon sign with the letter 'V' on top. It sits at the corner of Jacksboro Highway and Roberts Cut-Off Road @ 5915 Jacksboro Highway. I tried to find a home for it with two organizations but they did not have a place to put it. Now I'm offering it to anyone who thinks they can remove it and preserve it. The sign is about 28 feet tall and about 12 feet wide at the widest point."
Me and my friends ate their several times. It was a cool a place, with photos and posters from Old Hollywood --- we're talkin' John Wayne, Elvis Presley, Gone With The Wind, etc. --- hanging on the walls and in each booth there were equipped with miniture jukeboxes that really worked. You put in a quarter and got to choose three songs.
It had a buffet at lunch or you could order off the menu. The eats were simple good ol' white trash cuisine dishes.
A beautiful place that is now in the dustbin of history. Too bad. To me, the old stuff is, and still will be, the best stuff.
Yeah, as I get older I cherish the good ol' days more.
Yes, I'm sentimental but that comes with age and there's nothing wrong with getting older because you get smarter and realize that the modern stuff is just stuff that's not worth a damn (iPods & cell phones, for example) in my opinion.
This white trash soul food eating place makes the dreamiest pancakes you'll ever put into your mouth.
Buttery, sugary, greasy homemade goodness.
For more info on this long-time Fort Worth institution, located at the intersection of South University Drive and Interstate 30 in Fort Worth, visit Fort Worth Culture.
The place has changed ownership, from reading reviews online, and people now say the old staff, little old ladies who worked hard, are now all gone and the food sucks. That is too bad. It was a great place to congregate. Every class of folk went there. Reading these bad reviews of it now makes me sad but that's life, with everything changing for the worst, as always.
Fair well, Ol' South, you were an oldie but a goodie but, apparently, not anymore.
Thinking Pappas Burger might not be all that great ---- it's got the usual "flare" and wall decorations you see @ TGIF and Bennigans, etc., --- I was extremely surprised at how comfy and cool a joint this actually is. Sure, it's got what the other corporate dine-in places have --- "fun" food and a happening atmosphere --- but I sensed something different about this place the moment I walked into it. I was there only because my dad called me up and asked me if I wanted him to pick me up from work and go eat lunch @ Pappas Burger.
I immediately sensed this place was different and, to my surprise, it was.
First off, the food is top notch. Sure the prices are top notch too, the price of the burger I ate was $9.95, but it's worth. And you do get free refills on your drinks, soft drinks, I mean. I know that's a LOT of dough for a burger and fries but I'm telling you this burger was extremely delicious, tasty (the bacon was crisp and it had my taste buds all in a flux) and filling. So I can't bemoan the price at all --- but my dad did pay. It was a full meal (and I'm 227 lbs) and the hickory-smoked cheddar bacon cheese burger meat was juicy, tender and flat out top notch beef. The fries were well-seasoned and tasted fresh. I didn't even bother throwing Ketchup on them so as not to mask their genuine flavor.
Pappas Burger's advertising folks says this about their home away from home joint, "A one-of-a-kind burger haven serving Texas-size burgers with fresh and flavorful toppings. Watch the game on Pappas Burger’s big screen televisions or just enjoy our fun and laid back atmosphere."
I couldn't agree more. And there's no doubt about it: I'll be going again, whether I pay or not.
Went to lunch at Red Hot & Blue --- Texas, a BBQ joint that got its start in Memphis, Tennessee, with two ladies from work and painted on the dining room brick wall was the restaurant's icon, two pink piggies jamming with guitars.
As usual, I had my Nikon D50 with me and took it out of the bag I carry it in and took this shot.
Loved the neon strings for the guitars. The place also had real guitars and posters of blues rockers, including Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn and well-known black blues artists that made the atmosphere excellent.
The food was very good too. I had the pulled pork bar-be-que sandwich. And classic blues songs were played over the sound system to boot.
To celebrate my youngest nephew's birthday me, my dad and step-mother took him to Massey's Restaurant for lunch. He had a chicken fried steak. The place has been in the same location, on 8th Avenue almost exactly between Berry and Rosedale Streets, since the '40s and it remains extremely popular with it's home cooked meals and delicious desserts. The fried catfish is excellent.
A few years ago the original owner was gonna close the place down due to his age but a couple of younger fellas talked him into leasing it to them and they contacted my dad to buy from and install new flooring. I know a lot of folks were very happy to see it re-open as the same place with the same good food. The different color of carpeting they paid no mind to.
William Bryan Massey III, head cook at Fred's Texas Cafe and poet/writer who self-publishes his own hand-made books, is, according to the FW WEEKLY's food critic, Chow, Baby, the best hamburger cook in the country.
During her visit to check out WBM III's skill on the grill Bryan told me she looked like she enjoyed his white trash cookin'.
"She (the critic) wanted another one of my Fred Burgers for dessert," he said. "And she ate it at her table."
Once this restaurant's namesake, Vivian Courtney (click on her name to view a video tribute to her and photos of the inside of her restaurant), died in 2004 it was closed. The main building, which was as unique as the sign, was leveled (wished I'd taken a shot of it before it was bulldozed) but the place's unique sign remains to this day.
Posts
