Diners and Coffee Shops

Austin's BBQ could be considered a diner- it was open all day and had a reguler menu other than its great BBQ. I used it as a coffee stop more than once and had many breakfast there too.

Oh yes. Austin's was terrific. We used to eat there after rehearsals when we were in a community chorus out at Mountain View College. I still miss it every time I drive through that intersection. My husband loved the mini juke boxes on the tables.

Barbec's probably deserves a mention here, too. Great breakfast and a perfect location if you are riding/skating/running/walking around White Rock Lake. If Barbec's ever closes, I think the city might have to provide trauma counseling.

If the Dobb;s Houses mentioned above qualify then you would have to mention the Toddle Houses would have to be recognized also. There were a lot more Toddle House locations and it cost a little less. IMO the Toddle House chocolate icebox pie was about the best ever, period. The blackbottom pie at Dobbs House was even better.

The Circle Grill on Buckner north of I-30 is still around - though it had been closed for awhile. It has limited hours - it closes after lunch Sunday thorugh Thursday and is open til 9:00 PM only on Friday and Saturday. The food and the service are excellent. I always get their Mexican plate. Their Mexican food is the only that I have been able to find that is like the Mexican food one used to get in truck stops and diners when I was a kid. Over the years, Mexican food has gone trendy. But when I was a kid, enchiladas and tamales would be covered in a very think (and greasy) chile sauce with lots of cheddar cheese and raw onions on top. I have never been able to find anything similar as an adult - until I rediscovered Circle Grill. They have other stuff as well - burgers and everything you would expect from such a resaturant. And the place looks just like it did when I was a kid in the early '80s. Definitely worth a visit.

Ate breakfast and Lunch at The Lynn Hotel and Coffee Shop on Gaston across from Baylor hospital from 1960 till 1966 when I worked at Baylor Dental College and Medcalf Thomas Dental Supply on Ross, Always good food, friendly waitress's. All gone now.....

Circle Grill IS a good place. Years ago, when we lived in Rowlett, there was a second Circle Grill. It was farther out on I-30. It burned and they had no insurance so it never reopened.

Austins BBQ & Lucas B & B and a Drive In & Restaurant I can not remember the name of, it was on the Fort Worth Pike (Fort Worth Ave. to most of you) in Arcadia Park on the South side of the street......all these were 24 hour places and we use to go to them at all times of the day or night......Bill Strouse

Bill
I remember the place in Arcadia Park. It was next to a Plant Nursery which towered above it up the hillside to the East with lots of hot houses and a tall chimney. Of course I also remember Austins and Lucas B&B. I can't remember the name of the Arcadia Park one either.

Wayne

I remember Lucas B&B but never ate there. It amuses me that the sign is still in place after all these years and they still turn it on every night.

altozwei Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I remember Lucas B&B but never ate there. It
> amuses me that the sign is still in place after
> all these years and they still turn it on every
> night.


The daughter of Faithon P Lucas who owned the B&B as well as a large farm in Mesquite which supplied it with a lot of its food married into the Pappas family that owns Pappadeaux which is now located in the old B&B building. So there is a bit of a family connection to the sign.

I did a search in the archives for this restaurant and didn't see a reference so I'm asking this question here since this place was like a diner.

The Eatwell Cafe downtown. We often went there as a break from shopping in the 1960s and I'm placing it on Main or Commerce. Ebay has a 1940s menu for sale which has the address on Akard. Was this the location in the 1960s or did the Eatwell move?

Anyone know when it closed?

In August 1945 there was a fire at the Eatwell Café on Akard which did a great amount of damage to the building. An ad from December 1946 places the Eatwell Café at 1404 Main Street. That address is the only address listed in ads through 1973.

In 1976 the Eatwell Café was listed as being at 3011 Main Street in a list of businesses reported as owing over $10,000 in state and local taxes. The Eatwell Café was listed as having its sales tax permit suspended which meant it was illegal for the company “to continue carrying on activities.”

For most of my 53 years in north Dallas, my daily sustenance has depended on eateries that no longer exist. Perhaps 100 percent of those I found in 1959 are long gone. For instance, on Oak Lawn near Lemmon Avenue were Lucas B&B, Phil's Delicatessen, Mrs. Heath's Steak House, Louie's Oyster Bar, The Carnation ice cream and steak store, a cafeteria that may have been Dunton's or Goodman's, and the Metro Diner. Jay's Marine Grill was on Hall just off Oak Lawn. And the various Kip's Big Boy locations and Luby's or Wyatt's around town.

Louie served raw oysters, and people would jump off the city buses at Lemmon, sprint down to Louie's and inhale a beer and some oysters, and make it back to the intersection in time to catch the next bus. At least they claimed they did that. I used to spot Van Cliburn around town, and once in awhile in the Metro Diner, which was just across Cedar Springs from his apartment house. Various forms of nocturnal life could be found at the counter of the Lucas coffee shop, which seemed never to close. People who cut their teeth on bagels and lox washed down with Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray tonic patronized Phil's. He had another location downtown and later at Central Expressway at Northaven. Mrs. Heath featured a rich lemon pie with vanilla-wafer crust, and if you could eat an entire pie after your steak and potato, the meal was free, or maybe it was just the pie. I never tried it or saw it done. Near the end of her career, Mrs. Heath moved to Medallion Center.

Marilyn - the 1404 Main Ave. address would be the one we went to. Poor Eatwell! Had no idea about the fire or the 1970s woes. Thank you for the research.

Wayne and Bill - I have a 1967 criss-cross directory and there is a Roth's Restaurant at 2601 Fort Worth near the Bronco Bowl.Could this be the diner you remember?

I wonder if this could have been where the Howard Johnson's restaurant had been. By then it had moved to the turnpike. I recall it being near Bronco Bowl.

The one I was referring too was down chalk hill-some distance from Bronco Bowl.

Wayne

WOW!!! Mrs Heath's Steak House ,,,ate there a lot. Had stools you could sit on.
The price was cheap and the steak was wonderful.
Thanks for stirring up so many golden memories!

Seems like the Phil's I remember was near the intersection of NW Hiway and Preston - I thought that was the one that ended up out at Northaven and Central. I certainly remember the Jay's and Lucas B & B as remembered by Keith Nichols. It may have been mentioned earlier but the Spanish Village was close by also.

Griffs Hamburgers on Lancaster across from Chester Clinic Hospital
Goffs at Wynwood Shopping Center
And yes, the lunch counter at Kresges (already mentioned). Went there many times while Mom dragged me along shopping.
Austins ("tender as ol' Austins heart) BBQ on....it's coming to me...Kiest and Westmorland I believe. After football games at Boude-Story.
Kellers (or was it Kesters?) on NW Highway and one on Harry Hines
Pig Stands on NW Highway
Great Outdoors (way before Subway hit Dallas) on Skillman near NW Highway
Webbs BBQ on Oriole in Duncanville
Village Charbroil on Camp Wisdom in Duncanville
Campisis Egyptian Restaurant - not exactly a diner or coffee shop, but is still around.

Give me awhile. I'll think of more.

dhumphus ,
Thanks for reminding me of Griff's.
And there is still one down on S. Buckner!
Tom

In 1949 and 50, while I was still in High School, I worked in the summer at a Hamburger place called the TINY GRILL on Gaston just off Peak. There was also a location on Capitol off Haskell and on Maple Ave across from Parkland Hospital. I worked all three of them. I worked the night shift from 7:00 PM until 6:00 AM. I had a great time. They were owned by Forrest Garland. He was great to work for.
Ralph