Amid national controversy, Stop & Get One’s Muslim owner sticks to grilling burgers
With national news cameras lined up across Texas 10, Hanif Jhaveri quietly grilled burgers and made Rahr beer-battered curly fries last week.
If national reporters had known that Jhaveri is also a Tarrant County Republican convention delegate and a Muslim in a family that has lived here for decades, his family’s Stop & Get One store would have been all over the news.
Instead, Jhaveri simply went about his business grilling hand-packed, half-pound burgers made from all-natural prime ground chuck while Tarrant County Republicans met across the street to vote on whether a Republican Muslim could keep his leadership post.
“The police wouldn’t even let me walk into my store,” he said.
“I said, ‘Sir, this is my property.’ We’ve owned this store 34 years.”
Every town has its legendary convenience-store burger grill. Richland Hills has Stop & Get One, a former Texaco Mart where Jhaveri has upgraded his Moe’s Kitchen menu and now serves large breakfast burritos and a grill menu at lunch and dinner daily.
The burgers come with a choice of six cheeses and toppings such as applewood-smoked bacon, grilled jalapenos or caramelized onions.
The prime chuck is leaner and more flavorful than a typical grocery-grill burger. A double cheeseburger would be several inches high.
The menu also includes thick grilled chicken sandwiches, Philly cheesesteaks and a BLT. The curly fries are battered in Rahr Winter Warmer.
Jhaveri, 35, was salutatorian of his class at Haltom High School years ago. Family members live and work throughout the Haltom-Richland community.
He said his family has always been Republican, saying, “We’re small business owners.”
When he was nominated to be a 2016 convention delegate and another Republican began calling him names, “like 10 people stood up for me,” he said. Nearly the entire district convention wound up supporting him.
He wasn’t interested in talking about the Shahid Shafi controversy and said he’s not a politician.
“I’m just a burger maker,” he said.
Moe’s Kitchen at Stop & Get One is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner; 6940 Baker Blvd. (Texas 10), Richland Hills, 817-595-2055, stopandgetone.com.
This story was originally published January 14, 2019 at 10:15 AM.
