Long before this summer’s Black Lives Matter movement brought a focus on Black-owned businesses, Drew and Stephanie Thomas were feeding pork chops, fried chicken and crispy catfish to Fort Worth for more than 30 years. Their restaurant, Drew’s Place, sits a few steps off Camp Bowie Boulevard, at the crossroads of Como, a historic Black neighborhood, and a couple of traditionally white residential areas of town. Since the early 1990s, Drew’s has been a place where a multi-racial clientele enjoyed some of the best soul food to be found in North Texas.
Drew’s Place is just one of several places in Fort Worth where good dishes from Black kitchens are beloved, longtime favorites. And they are continuing to grow and build larger followings as support for Black businesses continues through social media efforts such as #blackbusinessspotlight and #buyblack.
These three eateries are all family-run, and you’ll find a diverse group of fans standing in line for delicious cooking served with generous sides of hospitality. Be assured that if there’s a wait, you’ll find your patience a worthwhile investment.
Drew’s Place
After playing football for and earning his telecommunications degree from Texas Tech, Drew Thomas came home to Fort Worth and worked for defense contractor General Dynamics and moonlighted in the restaurant business. Armed with home-cooking smarts taught by his mom, he caught the bug for feeding people. After opening his first café in Forest Hill in the late 1980s, he moved it to his native Como a few years later — and never looked back. As business grew, the family considered expanding to another location but decided that their flagship restaurant was just right. Nevertheless, a food truck was added. “You feel good when somebody tells you how much they like what you cook,” he says.
Who’s cooking: Drew’s manning the kitchen, with wife Stephanie — who employs her skills from the corporate world as a buyer and product manager — joining him at the stoves and greeting customers. Daughter Krystal, who’s grown up at the restaurant and ponders taking over from her parents one day, lends a hand with desserts and running front-of-house operations while finishing up (via remote classes) her degree in kinesiology from Prairie View A&M.
Order this: Comfort food fills the menu, top to bottom. Impossibly tender smothered pork chops are a favorite, followed by crunchy-crusted fried chicken and chicken-fried steak, along with crispy catfish. Among sides, which are every bit as good as the entrees, try the scratch-made mac and cheese, broccoli-cheese-rice casserole, spicy collard greens, cabbage and pinto beans. Don’t forget cornbread muffins. Cheesecakes and coconut cake top the dessert list.
Good to know: Orders come in two sizes, and the large is huge. If you want a lighter lunch, ask for the LeeAnn, with a single serving of meat with two veggies. To-go is the only option at present, but these dishes all travel well. Phone in your order and pick up, or order from the window of the food truck sitting in front of the restaurant, and cool your heels while visiting with other customers. Friendly regulars will tell you what their go-to choices are. Masks required.
Open for lunch only, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. 5701 Curzon Ave., Fort Worth, 817-735-4408. drewssoulfoodfw.com.
Dough Boy Donuts
Pastry chef Melvin Roberson worked in the biz for 15 years before breaking out in 2015 with his own brand, marketing the handcrafted, cooked-to-order doughnuts he taught himself to make. Once he ironed out some rookie kinks — perfecting his dough with just the right amount of yeast, balancing his early-morning and late-night doughnut peddling with his steakhouse kitchen-managing hours — his Dough Boy Donut truck became popular quickly.
Catering to the after-clubbing crowd proved not so much fun. “I realized it wasn’t best for my personal health. So I started doing corporate events, bar mitzvahs, and birthday and holiday parties, which was a lot better,” he says. By 2018, he opened his first shop on Camp Bowie Boulevard. Business was slow at times, but he was gratified to build a following — one that grew with the pandemic onset, when people craved more sugar, and exploded this summer with the Black Lives Matter movement.
“When we started doing neighborhood deliveries, things took off. I welcomed being busy but I have friends in the industry who are suffering, so there’s some survivor’s guilt, I think,” he says. The support from customers of all colors has been touching. “It’s humbling when people are cheering for you.”
Who’s cooking: Melvin runs the show, with dad Melvin, Sr., on the job, too. Mom Teresa left her job three years ago to join her husband and son in the doughnut trade. Working with family can have its challenges, but they work through it all with the common goal of success. “We like each other a lot, and even when we don’t, we make it all happen,” the son says. “It’s a different dynamic; we have to have conversations as employees and not relatives. We all know, you have to have thick skin to do this work.” As business has grown, so has his staff.
Order this: The signature doughnut since the start has been the sriracha maple bacon, which will never go away, thanks to the sweet, salty and spicy melding of flavors that hits all the right notes. Good “introductory” choices include the Bam Bam, a glazed doughnut with cream cheese icing topped with Fruity Pebbles cereal; and the cheesecake, also with a cream-cheese frosting topped with crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. But it’s not all strictly sweet at Dough Boy — witness the Cowboy, a doughnut topped with white cheddar queso, tortilla chips, onions, jalapeños and tomatoes. Breakfast sandwiches are gaining ground for the savory-sweet double-whammy, the best of which is The Dough Boy, halves of a grilled doughnut framing a filling of American, pepperjack and cheddar cheeses, bacon and sausage. Watch for specials incorporating smoked meats from Smoke-A-Holics, below.
Good to know: The custom coffee blend is a righteous brew, and there’s freshly squeezed orange juice, too. Want to see who Melvin supports? Check out his Facebook page, where he promotes fellow food producers with the hashtag #blackbusinessspotlight.
The Burleson location is set to open soon in the Standard at Chisenhall, 279 W. Hidden Creek Parkway, Burleson. Until then, visit facebook.com/DoughBoyDonutsDFW/ and Instagram @doughboydonuts to see days and hours when Fort Worth coffee shops and farmers markets are hosting the Dough Boy Donuts truck.
Smoke-A-Holics BBQ
At age 12, Derrick Walker began helping his grandfather work his 250-gallon smoker, which was always employed for family functions — and got hooked. By the time he was 17, Derrick was smoking barbecue for friends every chance he got.
“I found out about barbecue competitions in 2003, and that really sparked my bug for it. I loved the cooking and camaraderie — nothing was more fun than hanging out, drinking cold beer and making barbecue.”
Working his way through hospital kitchens as a food service manager, executive chef and food service director, Derrick also put himself through culinary school, still finding time, too, for catering and working pop-ups — “before pop-ups were cool.” Wife Kesha would take orders and he’d cut the meat, while his mother and dad pitched in on busy weekend gigs. Their barbecue trailer eventually became so successful that the family opened Smoke-A-Holics BBQ in August 2019. Business exploded soon afterward, when Texas Monthly’s barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn gave his stamp of approval. This fall, Garden & Gun shined a bright on Smoke-A-Holics in a feature on Derrick, his technique and his passion.
Who’s cooking: Derrick and his dad, Michael “Duck” Walker, are manning the pits. Kesha still keeps a hand in her hairstyling salon while also turning out desserts and running the front of the restaurant. Daughter Ariyana takes orders and acts as cashier. They all keep count on the food supply, warning folks in line when staples are running low.
What to order: Get there early enough if you want pork ribs, prime beef brisket, sausage, smoked bologna and turkey. Genius specialties include the Big Macc, a boat of mac and cheese topped with chopped brisket, sliced sausage, green onions and barbecue sauce; and the loaded cornbread, a slab of sweet yellow cornbread layered with baked beans, chopped brisket, shredded cheddar, green onions and barbecue sauce. Must-eat desserts include Coca-Cola cake, banana pudding and Kesha’s cake-meets-cobbler creation called the Peach Thang. These are also sold by the pan.
Good to know: The line isn’t as long at about 2:30 p.m., but meats are “soul’d out,” as Derrick puts it, by 3 p.m. or so. All food is served to go, and only about five or six customers are allowed in the little dining room at once to order. The Walkers have purchased the lot next door and hope to expand before too long, perhaps with patio seating and Sunday hours.
Open from 11 a.m. until the food is gone, usually about 3 or 4 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday. 1417 Evans Ave., Fort Worth, 817-386-5658. smoke-a-holicsbbq.com.
