72 years of history and retro prices at a BBQ-and-burger grill off I-30 in Dallas
The Hickory House BBQ and Grill has been out of style so long, it’s back in.
The former drive-in near downtown Dallas opened in 1952, in the days before freeways criss-crossed above 600 S. Riverfront Blvd.
The signage is old-school: a faded red awning, an even more faded neon sign reading “Beer — Open,” and photos of 1960s and 1970s Dallas Cowboys.
Sure, it looks like a retro diner, or a small-town Texas tavern out of a Taylor Sheridan TV show.
But the prices are retro, too.
The plate lunches with three vegetables sell for less than $11. A big burger basket with fries costs less than $9, sometimes two-for-$15 as a special.
A four-meat combo barbecue plate — basic commercial beef, pork ribs, Polish sausage and smoked ham, not anything fancy — costs less than $17.
I stopped in at mid-morning the other day and asked what to get.
“Breakfast!” two older men in muddy jeans and dusty work boots said in unison.
“Breakfast!” a young woman in a Cowboys T-shirt echoed from another table.
One of the restaurant’s Facebook posts sums it up: “Come in for some golden brown pancakes, or a nice cold beer.”
I’d stopped at Hickory House for barbecue in another life 45 years ago, but never breakfast.
I was amazed how little the restaurant near the Interstate 30-35E ramps seemed to have changed.
They were right. An above-average omelet with home fries and a grilled biscuit with gravy sells for less than $11.
The most expensive breakfast on the menu is a diner rib-eye steak and eggs for less than $17.
“People don’t know how good the food is here,” one of the men in work boots said.
It’s a notch more working-class than Dallas’ beloved chicken-fried steak cafes, Mama’s Daughters’ Diner or Norma’s Cafe. But it’s definitely an easy stop off Interstate 30.
The signs say “Best Burgers in Dallas,” and they must at least be some of the best for the money. A bacon double cheeseburger basket with fries is less than $12, or add grilled onions, jalapenos and red bell peppers.
The rest of the menu includes an “Arkansas” sliced brisket sandwich with cole slaw on top. A Polish sausage sandwich is less than $6.
In the 1970s and 1980s heyday of Dallas nightlife and country nightclubs near downtown, Hickory House was open from 6 a.m. to midnight every day.
Now, it’s still open from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. or later for breakfast, lunch and dinner weekdays and Saturdays, and open some Sundays “depending on the Cowboys”; 214-747-0758, facebook.com.
