Architecture in Fort Worth
The Original has new life.
Fort Worth’s oldest restaurant set for closure in mere days got an extension of three months to stay, and, perhaps, permanently, according to officials of the iconic Mexican restaurant who posted the news to its social media channels late Wednesday afternoon.
“Well friends, we’ve been waiting for our Knight in shining armor, and He has ARRIVED!! We just secured a 3 month extension! Hopefully this will lead to a permanent stay! Nonetheless, we will stay here on Camp Bowie at least through the end of June!!”
Via Instagram
Considering the proximity to April 1, we are not discounting a prank. On the other hand, it’s on the internet, so, it must be true.
We have inquiries out for owner Robert Self to confirm and provide details of this development, including an explanation of who exactly is this so-called knight in shining armor.
Has an investor appeared to buy the property and work out a new lease with the restaurant? Did an investor enter to buy the restaurant from Self and work out a new lease with the landlord? Or did Batman simply have a sit-down with the building owner?
Inquiring minds want to know.
The restaurant had planned to close because of a lease dispute between Self and building owner Joe Frank Muzquiz. The two had been at odds over the lease signed in 2003 by Muzquiz’s mother, Leticia Grimaldo, who, at the time, owned the Arlington Heights strip mall where The Original is a tenant.
After Grimaldo passed away in 2014, Muzquiz inherited the property. Muzquiz claims that while his mother’s original lease may have been acceptable in 2003, it no longer is today. Citing costs associated with property taxes, roof replacement, and parking lot improvements, costs Muzquiz is responsible for, he says he may be relegated to a property that could cost him more to maintain than it generates in revenue, according to the El Paso state appeals court, which recently heard the case.
Self had planned to simply consolidate operations of the Camp Bowie location with the recent opening of The Original del Norte, housed in the former home of El Rancho Grande on the North Side. In 2022, Self purchased the building.
The del Norte location had already become a hybrid of the two locations. Many of the menu items from The Original are included on the del Norte menu.
Still, news of the closure was a punch to the gut of West Siders, many of whom had great-grandparents who dined there.
The Original is the city’s oldest Mexican restaurant — older than Joe T.’s, older than Mexican Inn. For nearly a century, it’s been more than a restaurant; it’s been a gathering place for friends and families — one generation has passed it down to the next, like a family photo album.
There’s little doubt The Original is the area’s oldest Mexican restaurant. But whether it’s the city’s oldest restaurant period — a popular claim, especially as it was nearing its end — remains unknown.
The sign out front says it opened in 1926.
But most likely it opened in 1930. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram first mentioned it in a 1931 article and said the restaurant had been open for a year. Echoing that fact, an advertisement placed by the restaurant itself in the Star-Telegram proclaimed, in 1930, that the cafe was “now open for business.”
The property, however, with its Spanish tile roof, was built in 1926, according to website Fort Worth Architecture.
What we do know is that Geronimo Pineda and his wife, Lola, opened the restaurant at 4317 Camp Bowie Blvd. A native of Barcelona, Spain, Pineda came to Fort Worth with nearly a decade’s worth of experience in running a similar Mexican restaurant in Waco called the Texas Café. In an interview with the Star-Telegram in 1931, he said he sold the Texas Café to partners and moved to Fort Worth to open the Original.
Pineda died at age 69 in 1941, and Lola and the couple’s daughter, Eva, ran it until 1965, when the two sold it to their accountant, Gordon Sheffield. Tom Holton, Sheffield’s stepson, acquired it in 1972. Various members of the Holton family ran it until 1999, when the restaurant was purchased by Self.
Well, it appears now that Roosevelts will continue to be on the menu on Camp Bowie for the next three months … at least.
And, we’ll drink to that.
Writer Malcolm Mayhew contributed to this report.