Is this restaurant really only a few days old? Walking up to Fred’s Texas Cafe on Camp Bowie West in Fort Worth, it’s hard to believe this lived-in place, with a rusty pickup truck parked out front, plants sprouting from under the hood, is the brand-new reincarnation of a 43-year-old burger joint.
That’s all by design, of course. And the real estate helped.
See, the original Fred’s was a dive, located in the West Seventh area of Fort Worth long before it got cool. Owners JD and Gari Chandler decided to put the building up for sale, which meant the burger joint eventually had to go. Current CEO Quincy Wallace came up with a plan: Send customers over to West Fort Worth, to a restaurant that carries some of the original Fred’s memorabilia and shabby-chic country charm.
It’s 7 miles away from the original, but darn it if it doesn’t feel like it works.
In its previous life, this plot of land was a Steak & Ale dating back to the late ‘60s. It was a hot spot at the time, but a sordid tale killed the business: A man named Steven Staley went on a crime spree in 1989, reports the Texas Tribune, ending in a robbery and murder inside this here Steak & Ale.
Wallace doesn’t love that part of the building’s past. But what a story, to open a local burger joint at the site of a beloved Texas chain restaurant, where a murder happened.
Customers visiting for the first time should ask to sit in “the Fred’s Room,” the front room with photos and cattle brands from the original restaurant that closed Dec. 31, 2021. Mustard yellow booths line the walls.
“People keep bringing us stuff,” Wallace says. “This place will evolve, just like Fred’s did on Currie Street.”
Beyond its lovable status as a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Fred’s Texas Cafe made it big when Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives featured it in 2009. Customers still come in, asking for the chipotle brown butter rib-eye — which isn’t available yet at the new restaurant but might eventually make the menu, the CEO says.
“People come from all over the country and the world,” he says.
Returning guests will be happy to see that the parking lot is huge but the menu has stayed the same.
Triple D watchers might be interested in the restaurant’s most popular burger, the Diablo, which puts that famous chipotle brown butter atop a beef patty with grilled onions, Swiss cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato and mustard. The onion rings and chicken-fried steak with white gravy are also top sellers.
Fred’s Texas Cafe is at 7101 Camp Bowie West, Fort Worth. It opened in early May 2022 after the original Fred’s closed Dec. 31, 2021. The grand opening for the new restaurant is May 21, 2022.
A second Fred’s remains, at 2730 Western Center Blvd., Fort Worth. (The Fred’s near Texas Christian University closed during the pandemic.)
