Go ahead and walk through the mud. It’s worth it to find this 70-year-old cafe
First a blue-collar workers’ cafe, then a west side breakfast hangout, the Montgomery Street Cafe is about to start a new life at age 70.
When street construction is finished and the Dickies Arena opens, the tiny cafe will be busy with event crowds.
But right now, it’s suffering, along with other businesses on a Montgomery Street that is more like Montgomery Mudhole.
“Lunches had been off and now breakfast has slipped — people can’t get here,” said Claudette Finley, speaking about dealing with construction that blocked first the front parking and then the side street, Dexter Avenue.
She called the construction’s extended rain delays “devastating.”
“Every business on Montgomery is hanging on for dear life,” she said.
I remember it as the Industrial Cafe. Then, later, owners painted a 1950s mural and turned it into a nostalgic throwback diner.
It’s still a classic small-town cafe. For years, I didn’t write much about it because the lines there were already long.
Now, the lines are gone for weekday breakfast and lunch, and they’re short for Saturday breakfast.
I stopped in last week for the Thursday meatloaf special ($8.25) — above average, more oniony than most — and a slice of reputable coconut pie ($3.25).
Then I made a return trip for a pork chop breakfast and biscuits. Both compare well to the platters at nearby Vickery Cafe or other local mainstays such as the Bluebonnet Cafe, Dixie House or the Paris Coffee Shop..
The biscuits, thick and fluffy, are some of the city’s best.
Finley said customers also come for specials such as beef tips on Tuesday or fried chicken on Friday.
The Montgomery Street Cafe is open at 6 a.m. weekdays for breakfast and lunch, and at 7 a.m. Saturdays for breakfast (until noon); 2000 Montgomery St., 817-731-8033.
Bud Kennedy, 817-390-7538 @BudKennedy
This story was originally published November 13, 2018 at 10:17 PM.
