If there’s one subject that our fellow native Texans are insanely passionate about, it’s our undying love for our Texas born and Texas-bred restaurants. Simply listing the born and bred Texas restaurants that have gone on to become both statewide and nationwide phenomena would turn this article into thousands of words, and I doubt anyone could make it through an article that expansive.
In particular though, I felt that three restaurant brands stood out as great representations of everything Texan, those being Fuddruckers, Luby’s, and Whataburger. Throughout their careers as restaurants, they represented everything that is holy about Texan cuisine. The Houston-born Fuddruckers characteristically vowed to develop “The World’s Best Hamburger” in a state already historic for hamburger artistry and Luby’s provided and perfectly showcased the absolute best in Southern comfort cuisine, take that Cracker Barrel.
And the holiest of holies of all Texas cuisine, a restaurant that not only symbolizes unbound freedom but also the friendliness of our people and variance of cuisines that our citizens have taken on classic recipes. It’s almost an insult calling a culinary institution as unconditionally loved as Whataburger as just “a burger restaurant”, as anyone who’s ever ventured into a Whataburger and consumed the mana from the Texan higher powers themselves past 2 AM while attending any university in Texas knows that Whataburger is so much more than that.
However, the bright orange and white-colored rug, among the best colors of Texas besides Mean Green if you ask me, was pulled from under the hearts of all Texans last June, when Whataburger announced their acquisition by BDT Capital, an investment company ran by former Goldman Sachs vice chairman Byron Trott in Chicago, a city very much not in Texas to say it as nicely as Mama Kasoff would want me to. While many locations of Whataburger and their operations of dispensing everything from Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits to Patty Melts of all varieties remained business as usual and in fact will now expand into other states, Texans alike felt as if the chain lost its hometown charm.
And yet, the BBQ Chicken Strip Sandwiches are still delectable, the burgers still pack just as much Whata as they did previously and especially following a session of consuming a plant that is unfortunately still very much illegal in The Lone Star State, and the quality of the cuisine luckily hasn’t changed a considerable amount. Although the location of its heart may no longer solely be in Texas, the overwhelming majority of restaurants remain open to this day and the company’s headquarters even remained in San Antonio.
In a time when a global pandemic in the modern late 2010-early 2020’s world seemed to only be the plot of a Steven Soderbergh movie, this Whataburger acquisition was viewed by many Texans as the worst thing that could happen to longtime Texas restaurants and their endless adoring fans. And yet just earlier today amid a world crippling pandemic, Texans received news that carried the level of complete devastation that only a tackle from JJ Watt could mimic.
Luby’s Inc, owners of the cafeteria chain as historic to Texas as Blue Bell, announced the liquidation of the company’s entire assets, meaning the shareholders, who’ve yet to officially vote on the decision, themselves would be receiving all the proceeds from the stocks of the soon to be dissolved company. They’re essentially selling assets of the company to any prospective buyer. However, that buyer has yet to be discovered as of today.
In a press release from Luby’s Inc., the company announced that the Board of Directors announced that “after considering a number of strategic alternatives, has approved and adopted a plan of liquidation and dissolution that provides for the sale of the Company’s assets and distribution of the net proceeds to the Company’s stockholders, after which the Company will be dissolved.”
And tragically, Luby’s cafeterias, a chain that once had location in 11 states in the brand’s mid-90’s heyday, isn’t the only victim of this liquidation. The other longstanding Texas bred restaurant chain to be most likely closed due to the liquidation is Fuddruckers themselves. The burger restaurant, while not having as many choices or quality as Whataburger, the San Antonio-founded chain still carried a decent experience for burger lovers. With a stocked open bar of toppings to go crazy with, the experience was wildly customizable, a sense of creativity that other certain California burger chains that hilariously think they’re anywhere near as comparable don’t have. However due to the previous inability to purchase the Luby’s Inc. company and the current pandemic that’s decimated the restaurant industry, the forecasts for the future of these beloved chains aren’t picturesque for any LuAnn Platter and World’s Greatest-loving Texans.
And unlike the Whataburger acquisition, the several locations of Luby’s and Fuddruckers will likely shutter and become a relic of Texan history. While not currently residing in the Lone Star State myself, I believe I speak for every Texan when I say that I have cherished and deeply meaningful memories associated with these two chains. I remember going to Fuddruckers regularly, both in my younger days in Spring or my college days at the location of 288 in Denton after smoking an illegal herb. With Southern 50’s decor and vinyl records that donned the walls, the restaurant is undeniably nostalgic, but was modern enough to attract younger audiences.
As for Luby’s, it held a far more deeply personal attachment to myself and my fellow Kasoffs. My grandmother, Betty Silverman, who was the emotional and familial rock of the first 18 years of my life and whose spirit is deeply missed yet lives on through my mother, took my sister and brother, cousins, aunts and uncles and even the occasional visiting friend there more times than any of us could ever possibly recall throughout our lives. As a woman born and raised in South Texas and later raising her family near Meyerland, Luby’s became a staple of the Silverman family, and not just because it happened to also be one of my grandfather’s favorite restaurants too.
“If you ever need tomato soup,” my Pops would tell us over many meals at Luby’s, “just get some hot water and Heinz ketchup, and you have tomato soup!”
Even as a child, I knew that that isn’t exactly the recipe to tomato soup.
And without judgement or misunderstanding, my family was one of easily thousands across Texas who wanted to forgo the overwhelming and multi-layered stress of cooking for Turkey Day and instead receiving their Thanksgiving feasts from Luby’s. In classic Texan Thanksgiving fashion, the bundle contained a whole turkey, rolls, all kinds of sides and veggies and sauces and breads and everything that is important towards a true Southern Thanksgiving. As a family, you could truly enjoy the entire day without worrying about any logistics of cooking, which is the ultimate convenience on the holidays when you think about it. And although I was raised knowing better than to insult my mother’s cooking, the quality of cooking at Luby’s was undeniable.
“I went to Luby’s for Thanksgiving.” a 7-year-old student at Theiss Elementary School in 1999 named Josh Kasoff once wrote in crayon for a school project on how you and your family celebrated the last Thanksgiving of the 1990’s.
“It was awesome.” the young boy wrote, arguably being the first article I ever wrote.
So, rest easy to two of our state’s greatest and most iconic staples. You’ve served and fed us very well over the everchanging decades of our lives and have resulted in many great memories happening and being remembered as lovingly as they do. Someday again, we’ll have a LuAnn Platter with sweet tea just once more and you could imagine how fresh those rolls and sides would be. Until then, we’ll always hold you in our hearts, right next to the kolaches and Buc-ee’s Beef Jerky.