{"id":35050,"date":"2025-07-03T10:30:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T10:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/35050\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T10:30:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T10:30:16","slug":"the-women-behind-historic-fort-worth-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/35050\/","title":{"rendered":"The women behind historic Fort Worth restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s Joe T. Garcia\u2019s name on the sign, but for nearly 90 years, this iconic Fort Worth restaurant<\/a> has been run by women. <\/p>\n

It started July 4, 1935, when Mexican immigrants Teresa de Jes\u00fas \u201cJessie\u201d Torres Garcia and her husband Joe Tafolla Garcia opened a restaurant in their home near the Fort Worth Stockyards. Matriarch Jessie, who everyone called \u201cMamasuez,\u201d spent 18 hours a day in the kitchen until she was in her 70s. A charismatic Joe T. worked the 16-seat dining room. <\/p>\n

Joe T. was, by all accounts, the face of the establishment \u2014 a fast friend to politicians, policemen and locals who visited his restaurant for 25-cent tamales and 35-cent enchiladas in the 1930s.<\/p>\n

But Joe T. didn\u2019t get to see most of the restaurant\u2019s legacy. He died in 1953, less than 20 years into the restaurant\u2019s 90 years in business today. Only one living family member has memories of Joe T. \u2014 Lanny Lancarte Sr., the oldest of the grandchildren. <\/p>\n

Restaurant News<\/p>\n

Get the scoop on the latest openings, closings, and where and what to eat and drink.<\/p>\n

Related:Delicious history: the stories behind Dallas-Fort Worth\u2019s oldest restaurants<\/a><\/p>\n

It was Mamasuez and her daughter Esperanza \u201cHope\u201d Tafolla Garcia Lancarte who sustained the restaurant that\u2019s now one of Dallas-Fort Worth\u2019s oldest living legends<\/a>. Mamasuez was \u201can immigrant woman in a man\u2019s world,\u201d as her grandchildren describe her, and she vowed to preserve and protect the business after her husband died.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe garden at Joe T. Garcia’s came along in 1970. The restaurant matriarch loved the garden, her grandchildren said.(Steve Hamm \/ Special Contributor)<\/p>\n

The tiny, tough Mamasuez was the \u201cheart and soul\u201d of the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything came from her hands,\u201d Lancarte said. <\/p>\n

Mamasuez worked at Joe T. Garcia\u2019s alongside a dozen or more family members until her death in 1988. Hope, who was as strict and hardworking as her mom, continued on for decades more.<\/p>\n

Little has changed in the family-owned restaurant\u2019s 90 years selling Mexican food. Mamasuez\u2019s enchilada gravy recipe \u2014 the same one used today as the finishing touch on cheese enchiladas \u2014 has never been written down. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe didn\u2019t want anyone to know what was in it,\u201d said Zurella Lancarte, one of the six siblings who run the restaurant today. Mamasuez eventually taught other family members to make the enchilada gravy. Begrudgingly.<\/p>\n

Joe T. Garcia\u2019s is also still a cash-only restaurant, a fact that infuriates some customers. It\u2019s easier to operate a business on cash, the siblings say. <\/p>\n

\"HistoricHistoric Fort Worth restaurant Joe T. Garcia’s is celebrating its 90th year on July 4. Family members photographed at the restaurant are (from left around the table) Elizabeth Lancarte; Jesse Lancarte; Lanny P. Lancarte ll; Lanny P. Lancarte, Sr.; Joe T. Lancarte; Phillip Lancarte and Zurella Lancarte.(Steve Hamm \/ Special Contributor)<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople would say, \u2018No credit cards?\u2019 You\u2019ll never make it,\u201d said Jesse Lancarte, the fifth oldest. That got a good laugh from his siblings, as they told stories of the 90 years of history. <\/p>\n

Lanny P. Lancarte II, the son of the eldest Lancarte sibling and the only <\/b>professionally <\/b>trained chef in the family, has another idea about why the family members dug in their heels with so many traditions, rooting their restaurant to the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a theory,\u201d the younger Lancarte said. \u201cI call it the magic of Joe T.\u2019s. There\u2019s a secret here, on how a restaurant is supposed to be run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could they accept credit cards in the future? Sure. <\/p>\n

Lancarte hopes they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s part of the magic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This old house<\/p>\n

Running a restaurant on cash meant that its namesake Joe T. often had money in hand. And he often spent it. In the 1930s and 1940s, he amassed 3 acres of land around the family home and restaurant.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe original cash registers from Joe T. Garcia’s are saved and on display in a room at the restaurant filled with memorabilia. The restaurant is still cash-only.(Steve Hamm \/ Special Contributor)<\/p>\n

While Mamasuez was making tortillas and rolling enchiladas, taking rare breaks to sit on a hard, wooden bench with no back rest, Joe T. was making deals.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe put every penny he had into a new shotgun house,\u201d said Jesse Lancarte. They needed the space, as nearly every member of the family lived on the property and worked in the restaurant.<\/p>\n

The \u201cpink house,\u201d now an ivy-coated event space next-door to the original restaurant, was where most of the Lancarte siblings lived. Mamasuez lived next door. Everyone was just steps away from the kitchen or the dining room.<\/p>\n

\"LookLook around the grounds of Joe T. Garcia’s in Fort Worth: Family members lived in many of these former homes \u2014 now converted into more restaurant space \u2014 over its 90 years in business.(Steve Hamm \/ Special Contributor)<\/p>\n

As Joe T. himself might appreciate, the family empire has expanded to 6.5 acres in Fort Worth. The now-sprawling restaurant can seat at least 1,000 people at one time. The garden has become an iconic part of the restaurant \u2014 an outdoor oasis for margaritas and fajitas, even in hot Texas months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe garden is for my grandmother,\u201d the elder Lanny Lancarte said. She loved roses, and she placed her own pots behind the restaurant long before it became a place for customers to sit, starting in 1970. <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s patio \u2014 a lush, shaded place filled with hundreds of potted flowers and greenery \u2014 is cared for by five gardeners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place is filled with memories of her,\u201d Lancarte said. His voice catches. \u201cIt\u2019s still her garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

All in the family<\/p>\n

The James Beard Foundation in 1998 named Joe T. Garcia\u2019s one of America\u2019s Classics \u2014 an honor bestowed upon restaurants with \u201ctimeless appeal\u201d and cultural significance. It helped cement the restaurant as a destination spot for enchiladas.<\/p>\n

Ask Hope and Mamasuez\u2019s family members who work there, and it\u2019s still a small business.<\/p>\n

\"LannyLanny P. Lancarte, Sr. explains the history of his family’s 90-year-old restaurant, Joe T. Garcia’s. He’s the only one who remembers the restaurant namesake, who died in the 1950s.(Steve Hamm \/ Special Contributor)<\/p>\n

The kids rolled silverware. As teens, they were given shifts washing dishes and cleaning tables until Mamasuez trusted them with the secret recipes. They\u2019ve worked as cooks, managers and money counters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I\u2019d work the register for my whole life,\u201d said Elizabeth Lancarte, who started that job at age 16. (Back then, Joe T. Garcia\u2019s still sold food and drinks on the honor system. That\u2019s one of the few traditions that didn\u2019t last, after college students stretched the truth on the number of beers they drank.)<\/p>\n

The restaurant business is \u201cthe only thing I know,\u201d said Joe T. Lancarte, who is named after his grandfather.<\/p>\n

\"AA wall of celebrity photos show the athletes, actors and dignitaries who have enjoyed enchiladas at Joe T. Garcia’s in Fort Worth.(Steve Hamm \/ Special Contributor)<\/p>\n

The only sibling who tried to leave the restaurant was Jesse Lancarte, who went to boarding school out of state and studied photojournalism in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to see what\u2019s outside these walls,\u201d said Jesse, who was named after his grandmother. \u201cBut I was drawn back in.\u201d<\/p>\n

He never pursued a job in journalism. After graduation, he was back at Joe T.\u2019s.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to wonder what Mamasuez, an immigrant from Michoac\u00e1n, would think of her one-room restaurant that can now feed several thousand people on a busy weekend. Would she appreciate that the enchilada gravy recipe never changed? Would she be proud the restaurant grew in size?<\/p>\n

The siblings guffawed and shook their heads. <\/p>\n

Jesse Lancarte jumped in. \u201cShe\u2019d say, \u2018Nobody\u2019s doing anything right!\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Joe T. Garcia\u2019s is at 2201 N. Commerce St., Fort Worth. Its 90th anniversary is July 4, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That\u2019s Joe T. Garcia\u2019s name on the sign, but for nearly 90 years, this iconic Fort Worth restaurant…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,2105,7371,7372,28968,9733,988,9064,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-35050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-food-and-drink","10":"tag-fort-worth","11":"tag-fortworth","12":"tag-historic-restaurants","13":"tag-restaurant-news","14":"tag-restaurants","15":"tag-tex-mex","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-tx","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114788842430484518","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}