Another old-time cafe gone: A favorite in Arlington sells to a Fort Worth restaurant
Skillet N Grill, one of Arlington’s favorite breakfast and lunch cafes for nearly 30 years, has been sold to the locally owned Dixie House Cafes and will close Oct. 1, the owners announced Thursday on Facebook.
“We feel that now is the right time for us to hang our hat up,” the El-Etoum family announced.
Founder Shebli El-Etoum, 65, “puts in 100 hours every week and has for a long time,” Kevin El-Etoum wrote.
He thanked the restaurant’s regulars: “It’s because of y’all my dad was able to raise six children.”
Skillet N Grill opened in 1997 in a smaller former chain diner nearby. It became known for inexpensive prices and big breakfasts and was a favorite of Arlington city workers.
In 2018, the cafe moved to a sprawling, hacienda-style former Tex-Mex restaurant and garden patio built in 1977 at 1801 W. Division St.
The buying Simon family hopes to reopen the location in mid-October as the fourth Dixie House Cafe, owner Theresa Simon said.
Thie is the 40th year for Dixie House, also a legacy restaurant that began on the Jacksboro Highway as Theresa’s Home Cooking.
In 1996, the restaurants adopted the name Theresa’s Dixie House Cafe. They became known for serving home cooking day and night, and for offering a choice of 10 to 12 cream and fruit pies daily, along with a choice of about five cakes and three or four cobblers.
The other current Dixie House Cafe locations are at 5401 S. Hulen St. and 6200 E. Lancaster Ave. in Fort Worth. The location at 900 W. Airport Freeway in Hurst closed.
Most if not all Skillet N Grill employees and family members will stay on at Dixie House, El-Etoum wrote in the Facebook post.
This story was originally published August 25, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
