One of Fort Worth’s and Texas’ oldest barbecue restaurants needs a new roof, and help
Bailey’s Bar-B-Que, a tiny downtown Fort Worth landmark that has served brisket to oil barons, lawyers and office workers for more than 90 years, is dark and awaiting repairs for now after roof damage in the windy March 2 thunderstorm.
Bailey’s is awaiting an insurance adjuster to review the damage so workers can begin repairing the sheet-metal roof and patching the cinder-block facade, owner Tim Turner said.
The 92-year-old barbecue restaurant, 826 Taylor St., was undamaged inside, Turner said. The wind peeled off the outer layer of the roof.
The repairs and missed sales are a setback for Bailey’s, which was just recovering after two years of lost pandemic sales as downtown office business and weekday lunch sales slowed, Turner said.
Turner bought Bailey’s in May 2021, he said. Until then, it had been operated by descendants of founders J.T. and Tommie Bailey since May 17, 1931.
(That had made it the oldest barbecue restaurant in Texas that was still in the same family, an honor now claimed by Black’s in Lockhart.)
Turner said the restaurant will resume weekday lunch service as soon as he gets the go-ahead from insurance adjusters, before workers restore the double-layered roof.
“I’m ready to get open again,” he said. “That was supposed to be a 50-year roof. Now I guess I need one to last another 50 years.”
Turner, a sales agent for a food-service company, has added more side dishes such as greens and mac-and-cheese but otherwise plans to keep the recipes handed down to former owner Brenda Phifer, he said.
“I’m doing a few more things customers want and a few more specials,” he said.
“But I’ve got people coming here who have been coming here 50 years. They don’t want anything to change.”
Phifer had worked there since 1975 for father Buddy Platt, J.T. Bailey’s nephew.
Bailey’s was originally a metal shed. The cinder blocks were added in the 1940s, according to Star-Telegram archives.
During World War II, Tommie Bailey oversaw the restaurant while J.T served 14 months in the Navy Seabees. According to Texas Monthly, she was a sister of East Texas barbecue pioneer Bill Cain, who had opened a restaurant in 1918 in Mutt and Jeff, Texas, near Winnsboro.
Bailey’s thrived when West Seventh Street was lined with the city’s three largest banks, three movie theaters, office towers and the Star-Telegram building and pressroom.
In recent years, Bailey’s business has come primarily from federal and city office and court buildings nearby, and from the Fort Worth Club tower and other offices at the south and west edges of downtown.
The brisket sandwich (with both mustard and sauce, a Fort Worth tradition) remains the most popular order, although Bailey’s is also known for a spicy pulled pork special on Wednesdays.
When Bailey’s reopens, it will return to regular hours: lunch from 10:30 a.m. weekdays, staying open until 4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 5:30 p.m. Fridays for takeout; 817-335-7469, facebook.com.
This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
