At a west Fort Worth cafe, tears with the pancakes, meatloaf and chicken-fried steaks
The late owner of West Side Cafe took care of his staffers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and now they’re taking care of his restaurant and its large west Fort Worth following.
West Side, 7950 Camp Bowie Blvd. West, continues under staff management after the May 24 death of owner Tracey Sanford, 24-year manager Sue Mitchell said this week.
“We have so many people who come here two or three times a day, four or five days a week,” she said. “We want to be here for everybody. That’s what Tracey would want.”
The busy breakfast-lunch-and-dinner home-cooking cafe, one of the mainstays of the annual “Texas Chicken-Fried Steak Day” promotion, will celebrate its 25th anniversary next month.
“We’ll be here,” Mitchell said, saying the operation will be “more employee-based.”
The restaurant took two days off in the confusion while Sanford was hospitalized, but reopened with the Facebook messages “Breakfast served all day!” and “Rise and Shine! See you at 7 am.”
“Everybody around here was crying, but it helps to see our customers,” Mitchell said.
“This is such a community. Everybody here knows each other’s birthdays, their families — we’ve all been together for years.”
Many of the customers are workers or retirees from Lockheed Martin or Naval Air Station Fort Worth, and a wall of photos remembers war veterans.
The regulars come for the service, but also for the meatloaf (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays), the Thursday chicken enchiladas, the fried catfish and the wide choice of vegetables.
“I think our pancakes are better than all the pancake houses,” Mitchell said.
Sanford, 64, a former corporate restaurant executive, originally came to West Side Cafe as a partner with early owners Bill and Judie Byrd not long after it opened in 1996.
Sanford bought the restaurant and eventually the property in the Cherry Lane Village shopping center.
In 2015, actor Burton Gilliam visited when West Side Cafe was chosen as one of four restaurants to showcase Texas Chicken-Fried Steak Day, celebrated annually on Oct. 26.
The restaurant bakes 16 pans of sweet cornbread daily to serve with the platters, she said.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Sanford had the restaurant remove its lunch-counter stools and converted the counter into a packing area for dozens of to-go orders.
“That’s been amazing,” Mitchell said. “It’s still strong. The customers in a walker or wheelchair — we bring it out to them. Moms don’t have to unbuckle their babies. It’s great.”
When other restaurants were cutting back, Sanford ordered extra supplies so workers would have eggs, ham, fruit and even toilet paper, she said.
Complete obituary information was not available at publication.
The cafe is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily; 817-560-1996, fortworthwestsidecafe.com.
This story was originally published June 2, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
