Stephen Montoya
Since last September, the building that housed the Original Mexican Eats Café at 4735 Camp Bowie Boulevard has been in a state of flux keeping its owner, Derek Muzquiz, busy. Today, this building is already host to four retail spaces in the same sections where diners enjoyed Tex-Mex cuisine for nearly a century.
But this once bustling restaurant’s legacy isn’t the only thing that remains of the Original. Two parking lots connected to the property where the Original once operated still belong to the restaurant's owner Robert Self, which have sat vacant for months.
Now one of these spaces could be the new location of a smaller drive-thru version of the legendary Tex-Mex eatery.
For those of you who might not know the story, the Original Mexican Eats Café was one of Fort Worth’s oldest restaurants; try for over 90 years. However, after a lengthy court battle between Self, who was the tenant, and Muzquiz and his grandmother, Leticia Grimaldo, the owners, the restaurant moved to its second location at 1400 North Main in September of last year.
With both Muzquiz and Self heading in separate directions per a legal ruling stating a 2003 lease signed by Self and Grimaldo, was illegal, things seemed to settle down surrounding the future of the restaurant and the structure that used to be its home base.
The only thing that kept Self in the area were the two parking lots he purchased on the property, back when the restaurant was still open. Muzquiz says he inquired about buying the lots back but couldn’t come to an agreement with Self on terms. So, with that, Muzquiz regained control over the building his grandparents owned adjacent to two barricaded parking lots that were once used for the Original.
The lots sat dormant and unusable for months until a few weeks ago the barricades were removed, and a legal notice of a liquor application was posted on the pole of the Original’s sign, which is still standing.
Patrons at the local businesses near this spot, immediately began parking their vehicles there out of convenience. But it seems the pie slice section of parking on the east side of the building may be taken over again.
According to a recent filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, this could be the new spot of a drive-thru restaurant overseen by Self in the near future.
The project details state that the new structure will be a little over 900 square-feet, under the project name 4735 Camp Bowie. This is less than a stone's throw from where the Original resided for over 90 years.
What isn’t going to last, however, is the parking space patrons were just getting used to in front of the Fort Worth Coffee Co. In its place could be a small drive-thru eatery estimated to cost upwards of $300,000 to build. Whatever the outcome, it seems the food that made the Original so popular might be available for west siders once again.
Editor’s Note: Neither Derek Muzquiz nor Robert Self were available for comment before press time.
