Stephen Montoya
The barricades that once blocked patrons from parking in two separate sections of blacktop surrounding the building where The Original Mexican Eats Café resided for 93 years are now gone.
Last week, Derek Muzquiz, owner of the property where this iconic restaurant once was at 4713 Camp Bowie Blvd, says the barricades were just gone one day when he came in to do renovations on the property last week.
For over a little over year, Muzquiz has been busy revamping this once bustling restaurant into a series of six retail spaces after he took over the space in the wake of a 13-year legal battle with his former tenant Robert “Butch” Self.
Self is the owner the Original Restaurant, which moved entirely to its north side locale in July of last year after a state appeals court ruling. The ruling itself stated that the 2003 lease signed by Self and Muzquiz’s grandmother, Leticia Grimaldo, was illegal. This allowed Muzquiz, who took over the property in the wake of his grandmother’s passing, to raise the rent.
Despite the ruling, Muzquiz says he attempted to keep the restaurant in the space, hoping to look past any acrimony. But Self’s unwillingness to negotiate led to the eventual departure of the Original.
Stephen Montoya
Derek Muzquiz, the owner of the property where he Original Mexican Eats Café resided for 93 years, is busy remodeling the space to make way for six new storefronts.
What makes this scenario frustrating for both men is the fact that Self purchased two parking lot spaces attached to The Original that reside in the back of the building and one more on the west side pie slice area next to Fort Worth Coffee Co. For nearly a year now both parking spots have sat vacant surrounded by a line of metal barricades.
Earlier this week, Bud Kennedy wrote he’d seen a legal notice go up for a new west side outlet posted on the old Original sign that resides inside of the section of blacktop owned by Self.
“The notice was posted in June in the old restaurant parking lot and also published in the Star-Telegram,” Kennedy wrote. “It requests a license to sell liquor at the address of the old parking lot adjacent to 4725 Camp Bowie Blvd.”
As of August 1st, that sign has been taken down along with any and all former barricades.
“I’m not sure what happened,” Muzquiz says. “I think because it's been just over a year since he moved out, right? So, I think maybe he had a year lease on them, and the lease might’ve been up.”
Muzquiz did verify, however, that Self had approached him a few times to discuss possibly buying the back lot while he was in the middle of several construction projects on the building.
“I was short on time, so I didn't respond,” he says. “A couple of weeks later, I responded, and I actually had my broker reach out to him.”
But Muzquiz verifies that Self recanted the offer.
The address that appeared on the notice Kennedy wrote about, is not available Muzquiz says. In fact, the address in question belongs to one of the four retail shops that have been completely remodeled by Muzquiz.
“Therein lies the problem,” he says. “If the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission was to do some research on the address placed on the notice, they would see it's zoned for commercial real estate not a restaurant or bar.”
For now, the future of these two disputed remnants of asphalt are still up in the air.
“At least the coffee shop has its parking back,” Muzquiz says. “This is only fair given the amount of business they bring to this corner.”
(Editor’s Note: Robert Self did not return any of our requests for comment before press time.)
