The $4.99 chicken-fried steak dinner is back. Here’s where in Fort Worth to find it
The restaurant with Fort Worth’s best takeout deal says come on back in.
Ol’ South Pancake House, which sells a $20 takeout dinner for four people, now is also selling $4.99 chicken-fried steak lunches and dinners.
Ol’ South is nearing its 60th year of statewide fame as a travelers’ breakfast stop. The “Dutch baby” popovers draw the most attention, although chicken-and-waffles is catching up.
With fewer travelers or morning workers along South University Drive near the Fort Worth Zoo, Ol’ South is going after the kind of home-cooking lunch and dinner crowd that usually goes to a Cracker Barrel.
A $4.99 chicken-fried steak dinner can win them over.
The dinner includes Ol’ South’s classic Benson family recipe derived from the chicken-fried steaks Pam Benson served at her old Jubilee Cafe.
It comes with two sides (with six to choose from).
“We’re doing it to get Fort Worth feeling good with some comfort food at a great price,” Rex Benson said.
Two months ago at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, he said Ol’ South had lost 85 percent of its business.
“We want to bring our community back,” he said.
The restaurant is adding partitions between booths, he said.
(Under new Texas health orders, customers can sit closer than 6 feet apart if there is a 6-foot partition separating them.)
The special is for dining room service only. For takeout, Ol’ South is still selling the four-for-$20 takeout dinners with chicken-fried steak or chicken, chicken tenders or chicken enchiladas.
A new Burleson location will open in the fall, Benson said.
