A new Fred's south of Fort Worth has those big burgers — and new surprises, too
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Fred's opened a Crowley location at 101 N. Magnolia St., extending customer reach.
- Menu preserves 18 burger varieties, adds chicken-fried items and TV-featured Outlaw.
- Dining room evokes a country-barn vibe with antique wagon, high beams, family-friendly.
The new Fred’s Texas Cafe has all the atmosphere of a country barn, and that’s exactly what we want.
As long as it serves Fred Burgers and Fred’s huge chicken-fried steaks, that’s what matters to faithful customers of this Fort Worth burger legend.
The new location at 101 N. Magnolia St. in Crowley — actually, it faces Texas Street — is the most country Fred’s yet.
It’s in late grocer Ray Legg’s former Super Save market, originally a general store built in 1887 in what is now Crowley Crossing.
Crowley is 2½ miles west of Interstate 35W or 5 miles east of the Chisholm Trail Parkway.
Like every location for this 48-year tradition, the Crowley Fred’s serves the voluminous menu of 18 burgers, including the beloved serrano or chipotle “Diablo” versions
But if you haven’t gone to one of the Fort Worth Fred’s locations in a while, you’ll be stunned what else you’ll find.
A chicken-fried steak with a pepper jack cheese poblano, guacamole and pico on top? That’s the “Outlaw,” as seen on the “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives” TV spinoff “Triple D Nation.”
A smoked bologna sandwich? That’s also from the TV show.
A bacon-lettuce-and-tomato sandwich? Sure, keep it simple.
And — chicken?
It’s true. After years of fighting back the call for chicken, Fred’s has added chicken-fried chicken, hot-honey chicken tenders, a bacon-pepper jack blackened chicken sandwich and even a bacon-Swiss grilled chicken club with guacamole and mushrooms.
And — although this isn’t on the menu — you can substitute grilled chicken on any of the Fred’s burger varieties, say with bacon, mushrooms and Swiss. (Just swap out the mustard.)
The new location is opening Fred’s to more customers, including families who need more than the old beer-dive atmosphere of Fred’s when it started near downtown.
The oldest location is now at 2730 Western Center Blvd. in north Fort Worth. The center-city location moved to 7101 Camp Bowie Blvd in 2022.
The new Fred’s has high-beam ceilings, booths, a giant antique covered wagon in the middle of the dining room and one heck of a 1970s-1980s country music playlist.
During one lunch, I found myself singing along with George Strait on “You Look So Good in Love,” Lynn Anderson on “Rose Garden” and Tom T. Hall on “Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine.”
It was like the other Fred’s, just a bit less of a dive. But with a lot more good food.
