Bluebonnet Cafe is open. The biscuits are ready. But will customers come back?
The Bluebonnet Cafe started 25 years ago, and this weekend, Carlos and Judy Quiroz are starting all over again.
The Haltom City plate-lunch cafe, known for fluffy breakfast biscuits and juicy lunchtime pot roast, will reopen for to-go orders Thursday after a month off.
Judy Quiroz doesn’t know how many customers will show up.
“This last month has been very stressful on us,” she said.
“To spend half your life building a brand and a legacy and have to worry about losing it all to this pandemic is an indescribable pain.”
Fort Worth has legacy plate-lunch cafes across town: the Paris Coffee Shop, the West Side Cafe, the Dixie House Cafe.
The Bluebonnet, 2223 Haltom Road near East Belknap Street, is the legacy cafe for Haltom City.
The biscuits and many of the recipes show the Bluebonnet’s roots in the old Cactus Flower Cafes.
Customers order the Carlos Special breakfast — eggs, all the meats, a pancake and hash browns or grits — or the pot roast or burgers.
The dining room is filled with 1950s Coca-Cola and “I Love Lucy” memorabilia.
“I was 27 years old when Carlos and I took a chance on each other and started the Bluebonnet — I’m 53 now,” she said.
“I pray all goes well.”
The Bluebonnet is open for take-out breakfast and lunch Thursday through Saturday; 817-834-4988. bluebonnet-cafe.com.
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
