The community was all smiles at the Feb. 3 ribbon cutting of Fred’s Texas Cafe – Crowley, but none were happier to hear the chatter, clatter and sounds of people swapping stories around the restaurant than longtime resident Jeanette Burns.
Her father, Ray Legg, owned the building and operated Legg’s Super Saver, a grocery and retail business that dates back to 1887, when it opened as the Hays Brothers General Store and Post Office.
“Daddy’s store was sort of a meeting place,” she recalled. “The older men, who were retired, would gather there and sit on a wooden bench out in the front and talk about who knows what. But there was real life there. I remember that.”
The older men would “spit and whittle,” she recalled, but her father’s store, which he owned from the late 1950s to the mid-’70s, was a center of social life in the city that then had a population of about 2,500 and was well outside of Fort Worth’s city limits.
Quincy Wallace, president of Fred’s Texas Cafe, knew nearly from the moment he found the location that it was a fit for Fred’s.
The “spit and whittle” social aspect appealed to him and to Fred’s Texas Cafe’s laid-back, counterculture cowboy charm.
“I want to expand. That’s our goal, but it has to be just right for us,” Wallace said. “This was just perfect.”
Fred’s knows a thing or two about breathing life into old buildings. The burger restaurant began life in a once-dilapitated area off 7th Street in 1978.
After that area underwent redevelopment, the main location moved west to a former Steak and Ale restaurant site at 7101 Camp Bowie West Blvd. They also have a restaurant at 2730 Western Center Blvd. in north Fort Worth.
Crowley is its first location outside of Fort Worth city limits, albeit by only a few extra-long french fries.
Quincy Wallace stands outside the new Fred’s Texas Cafe in Crowley. (Courtesy photo | Fred’s Texas Cafe, photo by The Cooper Studio)
But it wasn’t just the city’s Mayberry-ish small-town feel that caught Wallace’s eye. There was a solid business reason: Crowley’s population now exceeds 20,000 and is growing.
“You drive down here from Fort Worth, and you’ll see new rooftops after new rooftops,” he said. “We like that. Lots of new Fred’s customers to serve, and lots of our regular customers are from here too. It made business sense.”
A tour of the new Fred’s Texas Cafe in Crowley. (Courtesy video | Fred’s Texas Cafe)
Fred’s is bringing — along with its menu of 18 burgers and other items — a bit of the restaurant’s funky Western chic in the form of an original chuck wagon that originated with the Springfield Wagon Company in Bolivar, Missouri.
It was purchased by a group of chuck wagon enthusiasts, including Terry Chandler, the original owner of Fred’s on Currie Street, Wallace and others who cooked on the wagon at ranches across Texas for about 25 years. It was officially retired in 2020 and now lives inside Fred’s Crowley location.
The restaurant, newly renovated with bright white paint on the exterior, has room for 220 people inside and another 60 in the soon-to-come patio.
Some of those people may be locals, but Fred’s customers come from far and wide, Wallace said.
Fred’s was featured on Guy Fieri’s Food Network show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” in a classic segment in 2009 that created a sudden nationwide buzz for the restaurant. In 2024, a spin-off show, Triple D Nation, filmed a follow-up.
But the buzz lives on. Customers often ask for a dish featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” more than 15 years ago, the chipotle brown butter rib-eye. It’s not on the current menu, but Wallace recommends the restaurant’s popular Diablo Burger instead as it is similar to the steak consumed by the spikey-haired host.
The Diablo Burger has chipotle peppers sauteed in brown butter and served atop a burger with grilled onions.
“I don’t know why exactly, but it’s been very popular lately,” Wallace said. “Maybe they’re rerunning the program, but the original segment put us on the map nationwide.”
The Crowley location will be helmed by some Fred’s veterans, including Cliff Whaley, as director of operations; Adrien Lewis, general manager; and Sharry Darby, kitchen manager.
“It’ll be Fred’s through and through,” said Wallace. The restaurant will employ between 40 and 50 workers, he said.
For Crowley Mayor Bill Davis, the restoration of the historic building is just what the city needs.
“For generations, this corner of Main Street has been a place of connection and everyday life,” he said. “We are excited to see this historic building beautifully restored, preserving its character while allowing it to continue serving Crowley well into the future.”
Crowley’s future is likely to include more people. The North Texas Tollway Authority approved a $250 million, 13-mile expansion of the Chisholm Trail Parkway from two to four lanes from Crowley Plover Road/FM 1187 in Tarrant County to U.S. Highway 67 in Johnson County.
For Burns, seeing the new restaurant breathe life into the town she grew up in and loves is more than just a memory for her.
“I loved seeing all the comments on the Crowley Facebook page from people writing about their first ride to Legg’s Super Saver,” she said. “It was a rite of passage growing up in Crowley to be old enough to ride your bike down to Legg’s and get a cold drink.”
Her father’s business was not just important as a social gathering spot, she said.
“If a new mother needed milk for her baby on a Sunday morning, Dad would go down to the store, open up and bring it to her,” she said.
Her father also extended credit to families in need, Burns recalled.
“No family in Crowley ever went hungry as long as Daddy ran the store,” she said. “That’s just the way he was, and the way our family is.”
Burns is the mother of Joel Burns, a former Fort Worth city councilman for the Near Southside who currently represents the city on the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport board of directors.
Jeanette Burns said the community has already embraced Fred’s new location.
“I’ve been there three times already, and it’s been packed each time,” she said.
She admits she tears up a bit to see the building become the center of Crowley once again.
“It brings back such memories. I love preserving old buildings,” she said. “I think it’s smart business, but they don’t need to just sit there. They need to have life, and Fred’s brings that.”
If You Go
Fred’s Texas Cafe — Crowley
101 N. Magnolia St.
Crowley 76036
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.
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