By now, you’ve probably read our series on Dallas-Fort Worth’s most historic restaurants. Can you believe we have 80+ restaurants that are 50 years old or older? And that 15 of those restaurants are 75 or older?
North Texas might have a reputation for shiny new buildings, but these numbers prove that classic restaurants have strong cultural significance in D-FW as well.
Missing from those lists are three food-related businesses that deserve to be recognized for their longevity. They’re not restaurants: They’re a bakery, a meat market and a tortilleria. And their histories are just as fascinating.
Two of these three food businesses are nearly twice as old as some of North Texas’ oldest restaurants.
Stein’s Bakery
About 159 years old (including more than 70 years in Dallas)
Open since 1863
North Texans today know Stein’s Bakery for its lovely petit fours. (Can you even host a baby shower without them? Some might argue no.) But the shop dates back to 1863, when owner Julia Stein opened a bakery about 150 miles south of Dallas in Rockdale, Texas. Current owner Owedia Alvarado believes the Steins moved to Dallas in the early 1950s and brought their bakery with them. Twice, the owner of Stein’s has sold it to a reliable worker: first to the Sutton family and now to the Alvarado family. Its sweet treats have been as consistent as its staff. Baker Floyd Evans, a friendly face to many, worked at the shop for 43 years — from 1957 to 2000.
- Stein’s Bakery is at 12829 Preston Road, Dallas.
Rudolph’s Meat Market and Sausage Factory
127 years old
Open since April 1895
It’s easy to see how this 127-year-old market has lived so long. Rudolph’s Meat Market’s longest-tenured owner was Cyrill “Sid” Pokladnik, who started working there washing the floors as a teenager in 1927. He bought the business 20 years later and worked at the shop almost daily for more than 60 years. Its owners have surely seen a lot of change in the Deep Ellum neighborhood over more than a century, as it sat just outside of the action, on the east side. “If it wasn’t that we’d been here 100 years, we couldn’t make it,” co-owner Brandon Andreason — Pokladnik’s grandson — told The News back in 1996. It’s still in the family today, a historic place selling Easter hams, whole briskets and aged rib-eyes in a historic storefront on the fringe of one of Dallas’ biggest neighborhood scenes.
- Rudolph’s Meat Market and Sausage Factory is at 2924 Elm St., Dallas.
Luna’s Tortillas
98 years old
Open since February 1924
Luna’s Tortillas owner Fernando Luna grew up above the Luna’s factory on McKinney Avenue in Dallas, in his grandmother’s house. For 83 years, the whole family was raised there, a floor above the shop. That same family is still making tortillas five generations later in Dallas. But they’ve moved from McKinney Avenue and were displaced a few times, once because of a fire. Luna says that the recipes have not changed and that the family-run business “does things the old-fashioned way”: They grind the corn, cook it, let it sit, and then make masa. They can make 600 dozen tortillas an hour, but each one endures an 18- to 24-hour process. (”That’s why we can sell to Dean Fearing,” Luna says, referring to the acclaimed chef. The company’s client list includes about 70 restaurants and venues, including the Hilton Anatole, José on Lovers Lane and Fearing’s restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton.) In 2021, the family closed their Tex-Mex restaurant and chose to focus solely on what they know best: making tortillas. Luna said at the time of the restaurant closure, “There’s no way I’m going to let [the tortilleria] die out two years from 100 years.”
- Luna’s Tortillas is at 8014 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas.
We want to talk to you!
You’re welcome to ask questions or send us historical information about food-related businesses you don’t see on this list. Please email sblaskovich@dallasnews.com.
This story is part of a series about North Texas’ oldest restaurants. Next, read these:
- Delicious history: The stories behind Dallas-Fort Worth’s oldest restaurants
- A living list: Dallas-Fort Worth’s oldest restaurants, age 50 and up
- What’s the one Dallas restaurant you miss most?
