Off of Camp Bowie Boulevard, on the corner of Horne Street and Curzon Avenue is a group staple of the Como neighborhood referred to as Drew’s Place.
Owned and operated by Drew Thomas, spouse Stephanie and their daughter, Krystal, Drew’s Position, 5701 Curzon Ave., serves up house cooking and soul foods with group pleasers like fried rooster and selfmade desserts.
Thomas’ like for the restaurant enterprise commenced following he graduated from Texas Tech College, when he utilized to work at a steakhouse off Camp Bowie Boulevard termed The Keg to make some gasoline cash until eventually his first post-grad position started off.
His very first posture at The Keg was washing dishes just before he moved on to busing tables then cutting the key rib and last but not least learning how to prepare dinner the steaks. Thomas stated he relished interacting with the men and women and would set a goal each individual evening of no steaks coming back again to the kitchen area, which he regularly accomplished.
He saved operating at The Keg even immediately after he began his post-grad work and has been in the cafe business enterprise because.
Thomas, born and elevated in Fort Worthy of, opened his restaurant in the Forest Hill community in 1987 in advance of transferring to its very first Como spot in 1991 and then to its current place in 1998.
The thought for his very own restaurant sparked when Thomas saw a setting up in Forest Hill that he said usually had one thing occupying it but practically nothing at any time stayed.
“I was like, ‘I question why?’ due to the fact I assumed it was a fantastic area,” Thomas stated. “I claimed, ‘Well, I’ll consider that’ and I just tried out it.”
Now, Drew’s Place’s most well known dish is fried chicken — an item that was not outlined when it 1st commenced. The restaurant was 1 of a few finalists in the Star-Telegram’s Readers’ Alternative poll for the most effective fried chicken.
Drew’s Position was very first termed Drew’s Sandwich Shoppe and, as the identify suggests, served sandwiches. Above time the menu evolved to in shape with what customers required.
“We just sort of listened to the shoppers,” Thomas stated. “The menu’s just truly listening to the customers and they variety of explained to us what they needed.”
Thomas achieved Stephanie in 1988. The two acquired to know each other far more by spending time alongside one another in the kitchen area, with Stephanie offering to aid on the weekends.
“It was the only way to date him,” Stephanie said with a laugh. “It was the only way to day him simply because he was married to this sandwich shop.”
The restaurant’s existing spot, a crimson and yellow setting up offering both indoor and outdoor seating, was an eye sore when they first bought it.
Initially developed as a dentist office and later on a splendor store, it was vacant for 20 years before the Thomas loved ones bought it from the town of Fort Truly worth as a result of a bid.
Stephanie stated there ended up holes in the roof and plants expanding through the flooring and partitions and they only agreed to acquire it underneath the condition Thomas would bid the minimal amount. Their bid was the only a single, Stephanie mentioned, and the future Drew’s Spot location was secured.
Following three years of restoration with assist from spouse and children, in particular Stephanie’s father, Drew’s Position opened in April 1998, the very same thirty day period and calendar year their daughter, Krystal, was born.
April 19 marked 24 a long time due to the fact Drew’s Place opened in its new place. Stephanie said they have various loyal buyers, several with them considering the fact that they moved to Curzon Avenue, and Thomas reported he appreciates of at minimum one particular person who’s dined at the cafe routinely given that it was a sandwich shop.
“It’s just wonderful that men and women will trip with you that very long,” Stephanie said.
Drew’s Location is open up Tuesday by way of Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For first-time buyers, Stephanie claimed they suggest ordering the fried hen with greens and yams for the sides. Dessert goods involve chocolate sheet cake, banana pudding, sweet potato pie and, customer favorites peach cobbler and Italian cream cake.
This story was originally printed April 21, 2022 1:00 PM.
Megan Cardona is a services journalism reporter at the Star-Telegram masking plan, govt packages, local community methods and more to help inhabitants navigate each day lifetime in Tarrant County and North Texas. She graduated from the College of Texas at Arlington in 2020, in which she worked at the campus paper, The Shorthorn, for two yrs.