Hey, Bud! When’s a good time to beat the crowd and take the family somewhere like Joe T’s, Heim and Hurtado BBQ, or to see the lights at Campo Verde?
—Bennett, Arlington
This is an all-time restaurant hack: Go to busy restaurants the day after a big holiday or party night. So the best time to go is for lunch Saturday, Dec. 26, or Jan. 1-2. Other good days are March 18, July 5 or Nov. 1. (Or try going Monday, Dec. 28. There’s often a shorter line the morning after a Cowboys late game.)
The Iron Skillet Restaurant at a Weatherford truck stop has an old-timey, long soup-and-salad bar. Iron Skillet Restaurant
Where the truckers go for Christmas
Hey, Bud! Are any other inexpensive places open Christmas Day? I’m worried Furr’s will be too crowded.
—Anita, Arlington
The Iron Skillet Restaurant inside the TA-Petro Travel Center, 2001 Santa Fe Drive in Weatherford, is open. It’s a classic truck stop restaurant with turkey, ham, sides and pumpkin pie on a sprawling buffet. (For now, servers refresh your plate). In Arlington, the Skillet N Grill plate-lunch cafe is open, and in Fort Worth try Ol’ South or Heaven’s Gate.
Day Break Cafe serves breakfast and lunch every day of the year. Bud Kennedy bud@star-telegram.com
Christmas Day at the drive-thru
Hey, Bud! What about somewhere with a drive-thru window?
—Saginaw reader
There no Christmas special, but Day Break Cafe, 2720 White Settlement Road, is a good local cafe serving breakfasts and a burgers-and-tacos plate lunch menu at its safe drive-thru window every day of the year. Both Fuel City Tacos locations have walk-up windows, including in Saginaw.
This story was originally published December 23, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
Bud Kennedy is celebrating his 40th year writing about restaurants in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has written the “Eats Beat” dining column in print since 1985 and online since 1992 — that’s more than 3,000 columns about Texas cafes, barbecue, burgers and where to eat.Support my work with a digital subscription
