Dallas Tex-Mex legend Alfred Martinez, whose parents founded iconic Texas restaurant El Fenix more than 105 years ago, died on July 14. Martinez had just celebrated his 100th birthday.
Martinez’s parents started El Fenix a few years before he was born, in 1918. He and his seven siblings grew up in the restaurant, and all of them worked with the family business for most of their lives. Martinez worked more than 12 hours a day at the McKinney Avenue restaurant in Dallas for decades.
Martinez cut back his hours at the restaurant in his mid-80s, in 2008, when Dallas businessman Mike Karns bought El Fenix from the Martinez family. It allowed him to retire, but still “he was the taster,” said his eldest son, Al Martinez.
Alfred knew what all of El Fenix recipes tasted like, and he enjoyed supporting the family business even after it was sold.
Alfred was fulfilled by a busy life working in Dallas restaurants. He loved making customers feel welcome and is described as the heart and soul of the flagship location.
“This was his north star,” his son said over lunch at the restaurant.
El Fenix remains the oldest operating restaurant in North Texas. Alfred’s sister, Faustina “Tina” Martinez, is now the last living child of El Fenix founders Miguel “Papa Mike” Martinez and Faustina “Mama Tina” Martinez.
Alfred was the restaurant’s “gentle giant,” Karns wrote in an online tribute. Alfred would greet customers on Enchilada Wednesday, an especially busy day.
It was inside El Fenix, as a teenager, that Alfred Martinez met Anita Nanez. As Anita tells it, she begrudgingly took a one-day job helping at El Fenix, where her sister worked.
You could say it was nearly love at first sight for the two teenagers, then 15 and 16 years old.
“She looked down the hallway [at El Fenix on New Year’s Eve], and there’s this tall, good-looking man wearing a navy suit, a white shirt and a burgundy tie,” their son Al recounted. Alfred was a gentleman when he asked her out on dates, and Anita’s family quickly took a liking to him.
She went on to be his wife of nearly 80 years, and she’s now 98 years old.
Alfred was born on June 4, 1924. He graduated from North Dallas High School in 1941 and volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps as a pilot. He was offered commercial pilot jobs after World War II, but he chose to return home to Dallas, to the family business.
Alfred and Anita married in 1946 and raised four children. The couple were passionate businessowners. Anita was a two-term Dallas city councilwoman — the first Hispanic person on the council — and also founded the Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico. Alfred was her reserved, respectful partner.
“He had a great regard for his customers,” his son Al said. “My mother, she helped the least among us by using her voice and muscle.” She has always been a champion for poor communities and educating Hispanic youth about the significance of their culture.
They were different, but they made a good team.
“My parents reminded me of a coloring book: My dad was the curved black lines on the page, and my mom was the box of crayons,” Al said.
Both sides of the family loved to dance. The Martinezes — Alfred’s parents — once owned a ballroom next door to El Fenix Cafe. Alfred raised a family of kids who loved music. Some asked for guitar lessons during the Beatles era, and to cheer them on, mom Anita learned the guitar, too. Eventually, so did Alfred. He was the best among them, skilled at playing flamenco music.
Alfred wouldn’t perform to a room full of restaurant guests — that wasn’t his style. Instead, he would play in his office. As one story goes, Alfred once noticed a young mother at El Fenix with her two sons. She seemed sad. Alfred invited all three upstairs and played music while the kids fiddled with the trinkets in his office. It’s unclear if he ever saw them again.
Over the years, Alfred met plenty of celebrities — Mick Jagger, for one — though he didn’t seem star-struck. Alfred was a modest person with a strong presence. Actually, maybe it was the celebrities who should have been star-struck.
“One of the ‘things’ [for celebrities] was to meet Mr. Martinez,” his son said, smiling.
Alfred loved his family restaurant until the end. He died peacefully in his home, surrounded by family.
Alfred Martinez is survived by his wife, Anita, their four children, and their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The service is Monday. Visitation and a rosary service is at 9 a.m. and mass is at 11 a.m. at Calvary Hill Funeral and Cemetery’s North Chapel, 3235 Lombardy Lane, Dallas. In lieu of flowers, the family asks supporters to consider donating to Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico.
