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SPIN TO SIZZLE
The
DJ turned burger maestro
Story by JILLIAN NACHTIGAL
Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
Whether it’s spinning records or flipping burgers, Will Rhoten is happiest when he’s bringing people together.
Rhoten, better known in Dallas-Fort Worth as “DJ Sober” is doing what he does best in the heart of Oak Cliff. At age 16, he discovered his love for music and creating community and has been doing so ever since.
“When I discovered music, it kind of consumed my life,” Rhoten says. “I went to a house party and it was the first time I saw a DJ in real life. I was just glued to him all night, and I knew this is something I had to do.”
Despite a genuine love for music, Rhoten never had the goal of performing for crowds, but soon his passion turned into a career.
As evident by his stage name, Rhoten is known for being a DJ who does not drink. He’s left a mark on the city’s music scene over the last decade, launching the influential soirees “The Party” and “Big Bang!” Along the way, he’s played Dallas Cowboys and FC Dallas games, spun private affairs for Erykah Badu and Dirk Nowitzki and thrown birthday bashes and pop-ups with Leon Bridges.
When the pandemic hit, anything club or bar-related was shut down. In search of a way to stay afloat while limiting physical contact with others, Rhoten started a lawn care business — Herby’s Lawn Care.
The name comes from Rhoten’s dog, Herby. The pet-forward brand is what helped drive success.
“I probably sold more T-shirts than I mowed lawns,” Rhoten says. “I like to brand things and I’m also an artist and designer. So that part of it was fun as well, just the challenge of creating a new business.”
At his first music gig back from the pandemic, Rhoten connected with Jake Saenz, owner of Rev’s Grilled Cheese. The grilled cheese joint was mobile and would pop up at events around the city. Saenz was ready to stay in one place, and Rhoten had been looking to open a spot that could be a community. It was a match made in heaven.
“I originally wanted to open a bar, but none of the available spaces would really work, so that was out of the question,” Rhoten says. “Jake was already in talks with a couple people about a smashburger concept. And then all of the partners that were interested in that ended up not moving forward. We had a conversation and talked about it. Things progressed from there pretty quickly. We just decided to join forces.”
The name Herby’s stuck, and Herby’s Burgers opened its doors early this year. The simple menu features messy burgers, cheesy fries, hot dogs and gooey grilled cheese. With Rhoten’s reputation as a DJ and Saenz’s popularity with Rev’s, their new venture has had plenty of support since opening day.
“I think it’s one thing to get in all the internet folks, but it’s another to win over the neighborhood and build their trust, and loyalty,” Rhoten says. “That’s something that’s been really cool to see. The neighborhood definitely rocks with Herby’s.”
Walk into Herby’s and you’ll immediately see a big white door labeled “Jake’s Kitchen” behind the counter. For Saenz, it’s everything he could ever dream of.
Herby’s Burgers brought a retroinspired restaurant with a simple menu to Elmwood early this year.
FOOD + DRINK
BEST BAKERY
WINNER - VERA’S BAKERY
2ND - CRETIA’S EATERY AND BAKE SHOPPE
3RD - POTPOURRI BOULANGERIE
BEST BRUNCH
WINNER - TRIBAL ALL DAY CAFE
2ND - ODDFELLOWS
3RD - THE MIXING BOWL BREAKFAST TACOS
BEST BURGER
WINNER - HUNKY’S OLD FASHIONED HAMBURGERS
2ND - COUNTRY BURGER
3RD - CHIP’S OLD FASHIONED HAMBURGERS
BEST CATERING
WINNER - HARDEMAN’S BBQ & CATERING
2ND - BEYOND THE BOX CATERING
3RD - D JACKSON BBQ & CATERING
BEST CELEBRATORY DINNER
WINNER - PARADISO
2ND - ENCINA
3RD - STOCK & BARREL
BEST CHINESE
WINNER - SUM DANG GOOD CHINESE
2ND - MR. WONG’S CHICKEN & RICE
3RD - CRISPY CHICKEN & RICE
3RD - LUCKY RICE
BEST COCKTAILS
WINNER - THE BRANCA ROOM
2ND - TINY VICTORIES
3RD - REVELERS HALL
BEST COFFEE SHOP
WINNER - HOLA CAFE
2ND - XAMÁN CAFE
3RD - WHITE RHINO COFFEE
BEST CRITICS CHOICE
WINNER - WRITTEN BY THE SEASONS
2ND - NORA
3RD - RESTAURANT BEATRICE
BEST DESSERTS
WINNER - COCOANDRÉ CHOCOLATIER
2ND - EMPORIUM PIES
3RD - CAKE BAR
BEST DONUT SHOP
WINNER - THE SALTY DONUT
2ND - OAK CLIFF DOUGHNUTS
3RD - KIM’S DONUTS
BEST FROZEN TREATS
WINNER - PICOLÉ POPS
2ND - PALETERIA (LA SUPER) ICE CREAM
3RD - ENCANTO POPS
BEST HEALTHY BITE
WINNER - TRIBAL ALL DAY CAFE
2ND - ANN’S HEALTH FOOD CENTER & MARKET
3RD - VEGAN FOOD HOUSE
BEST ITALIAN FOOD
WINNER - LUCIA
2ND - CIBODIVINO MARKETPLACE
3RD - ABRUZZO’S
BEST JAPANESE/SUSHI
WINNER - ZEN SUSHI
2ND - OSAKI SUSHI HIBACHI
3RD - SUSHIYA
BEST KOREAN
WINNER - BBBOP SEOUL KITCHEN
2ND - KIM’S HOUSE GRILL & BBQ
3RD - MOONBOWLS
BEST LATIN AMERICAN CUISINE
WINNER - GLORIA’S LATIN CUISINE
2ND - LA CALLE DOCE
3RD - ALEBRIJES CAFE
BEST MEXICAN/TEX-MEX
WINNER - LA CALLE DOCE
2ND - GONZALEZ RESTAURANT
3RD - EL RANCHITO
BEST PATIO
WINNER - PARADISO
2ND - CIBODIVINO MARKETPLACE
3RD - CASABLANCA
BEST PIZZA
WINNER - ENO’S PIZZA TAVERN
2ND - NEONY’S
3RD - HOME RUN PIZZA
BEST SANDWICH
WINNER - NORMA’S CAFE
2ND - CHEESESTEAK HOUSE
3RD - METRO DINER OC
BEST SEAFOOD
WINNER - SUNSET CRAB SHACK
2ND - MARISCOS LA REYNA
3RD - KRIO
BEST TACOS
WINNER - TAQUERIA EL SI HAY
2ND - CESAR’S TACOS
3RD - TACOS LA GLORIA
BEST THAI
WINNER - CHAN THAI & PHO 88
2ND - KA-TIP THAI STREET FOOD
3RD - KIIN THAI STREET FOOD
BEST WINE LIST
WINNER - NEIGHBORHOOD CELLAR
2ND - CIBODIVINO MARKETPLACE
3RD - LUCIA
“I was starting to get tired of popping up everywhere — it’s been nice not having to haul things around,” Saenz says. “Just having a team has been really cool. Building a solid crew, front and back, just people we can rely on and help us. I like cooking for people. That’s always something that I’ve done with my groups of friends. We’ll invite a huge crowd of people over and just cook for them. And so it’s nice to actually have space and be able to do that now.”
It’s a dream come true for Rhoten as well, who has desired to create a space in Elmwood for people to gather.
“There’s people that make it their Friday night thing, like they come in with their family and get a burger at Herby’s on Friday night,” Rhoten says. “I think that’s something that Jake and I both envisioned with the space — just becoming a neighborhood staple. We’re kind of in a food desert here in Elmwood.”
Taco spots and Mexican cuisine such as Torrtilleria Marritos and Morales Restaurant are in Elmwood near Herby’s, but Rhoten wanted to offer more variety and a place for neighbors to hang out.
Of course, the music in Herby’s is curated by Rhoten himself. With ‘60s-inspired décor such as a checkered floor, pops of neon yellow and music-themed portraits on the wood-paneled walls, Herby’s has a classic diner feel.
“I always have wanted to create a space,” Rhoten says. “I thought it would be a bar, but I think this makes a little more sense because I eat burgers, and I don’t drink alcohol. When this presented itself as an opportunity, I was happy because I feel like a burger joint is way more wholesome.”
Chef Jake Saenz (left) and Dallas DJ Will Rhoten (right) teamed up to create a classic neighborhood burger joint on Edgefield Ave.
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR MARGARITA?
THE THING ABOUT RUNNING A HOSPITALITY GROUP IS YOU’RE GOING TO NEED HOSPITALITY.
“The food is the easy part,” says Justo Blanco, director of food and beverage at Boxwood Hospitality.
It’s ironic.
For years, co-founder and Oak Cliff neighbor Thomas Bain “wanted no part of food,” since it was complicated.
Bain, who graduated with a journalism degree at Texas A&M University in 2002, began investing in real estate with a “group of guys” in the aftermath of 2008. He ended up buying a wedding venue in Houston.
“We’re just really intrigued by it and fascinated, and it was kind of going gangbusters at the time everything else was burning down,” Bain says.
It was eventually sold back to the original owners, but Bain had latched on to the idea of owning a wedding venue.
This time, Bain decided to make one from scratch. During initial construction in 2014, his wife Lynn, a health care consultant at that time, decided to quit her job, take a couple of months off and then perhaps look for something else. She had been commuting to Fort Worth for several years and the Bains were thinking it was about time to start a family.
Three Oak Cliff neighbors are at the forefront of Boxwood Hospitality
“Can I just have you for 60 days,” he asked her. Bain had plenty of real estate development experience, but Lynn’s strength is operations.
“Lynn is the talent of us all. I think her process level is higher than anyone I’ve ever met,” Blanco says. “It’s impressive to watch and yet somehow not intimidating.”
“And a decade later, I’ve still got her for 60 days on this project,” Bain says.
The Laurel, designed by Richard Drummond Davis, is a Texas Hill Country-inspired property which opened in Grapevine, of all places. In 2016, they tackled the restoration of The Cliff House on Tyler Street. Then in 2017, they began working with Four Corners Brewing Company to build out and manage the brewery’s event services.
At that point, there wasn’t a Boxwood Hospitality company. And the thing about running a company is
Story by JEHADU ABSHIRO
Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
you’re going to need a company.
“There was just enough folks moving around that it became kind of an opportunity to put them all in one group,” Bain says.
When they were looking for a brand name, Bain wanted something that was neutral, that was everywhere but didn’t have a strong correlation with anything specifically.
“I think boxwoods are really interesting,” Bain says. “You can drive through all sorts of different places, Kensington Palace to single family homes that are in Oak Cliff, there’s boxwood everywhere and they work on a large variety of spaces.”
So, what does Boxwood Hospitality Group do exactly?
The company outright owns two venues: The Laurel and The Cliff House. They manage event services at other venues. They offer development services — from concepting to construction administration — for renovating or building hospitality-centered spaces. There’s a consulting arm for brands that already offer hospitality services but need a little, or a lot, of extra help.
Oh, they plan events too.
But Boxwood Hospitality avoided food and beverages services for years, partnering with different companies to stay out of catering.
“But we struggled to find the right one, and so we really started trying to figure out how can we do this internally,” Bain says.
As the story goes with anything that happened during the pandemic; it was time to pivot.
Bain and Justo Blanco ran in similar circles. Blanco’s company, Familia Events, had catered at The Cliff House, which incidentally he lives within walking distance of. And he had launched the event program with Trinity River Audubon Center as it began its partnership with Boxwood Hospitality.
“We reconnected at the playground, like dads taking care of their kids,” Blanco says.
“I remember walking home that day, thinking ‘I need to give Justo a call,’” Bain says.
Blanco has nearly 20 years of experience working in food and beverage.
A Dallas native, Blanco was studying
chemistry at the University of Texas when he started cooking as a hobby before starting at the Texas Culinary Academy in 2003.
He was getting ready to leave the kitchen for front-of-house duties when he got an offer to spend six months in Belgium working at Les Pecheries, a brasserie. It turned out to be a job interview for a new restaurant, Brussels Bistro in Laguna Beach. Blanco worked six days a week and all shifts, he says. Then he was offered the executive chef role, and he took along one of his colleagues to be his sous chef.
“And I was extremely under qualified to be running the kitchen,” he says.
After a brief stint in San Francisco, he ended up traveling through Southeast Asia, learning at a Bangkok cooking school and training at an Indian restaurant.
He eventually made his way back to Dallas, working at the Las Colinas’ Four Seasons, the now shuttered Bolsa Mercado and The Statler. Blanco had figured he’d go back to living in North Dallas, but when he discovered Oak Cliff, he fell in love.
“Probably, because it felt the most like Austin to me at the time,” he says. “Obviously, this is where I needed to be.”
He was right. Otherwise, he might not have been at that playground talking to Bain on that day.
Now, the hospitality group also works with Downtown’s historic 400 North Ervay and an actual Hill Country venue, Walden Retreats. The newest arm of the company features Blanco, who runs Boxwood’s catering business that provides in-house and external services. A lot of questions get asked at Boxwood.
Especially when clients walk into the new Design District space, which the company moved into after outgrowing their former Bishop Arts spot.
When I walked in, I was seated in the room where clients first meet the team. Off the bat, Blanco wanted to ask me a few questions.
First, “Can you tell me about yourself?”
Which I answered with a brief synopsis of how I got from Ethiopia to Dallas and how I got from Southern Methodist University to the Advocate
His second question was: “Where’s your favorite place to get a margarita?”
“At home,” I responded. Fresh lemon, lime and orange juice, a tequila like Patrón, Grand Marnier and skip the simple syrup.
Any meeting with the Boxwood team starts from the lens of hospitality.
“That’s why I wanted to start today with a conversation, not an introduction,” Blanco told me. “The majority of our work, 99% of it, it’s about understanding what the client is actually asking for. The food is just the tool that we’re using to deliver the message back to them.”
Clients are presented with sample menus of a plated dinner or a buffet. Then they make modifications to incorporate elements of the client’s personality or history.
“It’s not like I have an Ethiopian menu and this is the way I make my margaritas,” Blanco references his initial questions. “It’s much more about ‘what is it that you value?’ And ‘how can I make sure that you experience that?’”
A big part of building event menus is private tastings, but when a company is doing
300-400 events a year, primarily in Dallas’ busiest social seasons, it gets pretty expensive.
That’s when, yet another aspect of Boxwood, was born. The Supper Club is a sit-down dinner hosted at The Cliff House.
“It became a way for us to show hospitality to our clients,” Bain says. “It gives them a date night. Lets them experience Boxwood food. Lets them experience Boxwood service.”
The concept worked, so they decided to launch a public spinoff called The Jazz Supper Club, featuring live music and three courses. One event included a heirloom tomato tart with caramelized fennel and arugula pesto, cast iron-seared Tai snapper with forbidden rice, green papaya ceviche and coconut broth, and a Texas olive oil cake with grilled stone fruit, lemon curd and crispy basil.
For either suppers, you can hear and smell meat on a grill in a makeshift kitchen on the back porch of The Cliff House.
“I call it sizzle flair,” Blanco says.
The standard of catering is that food is produced in a centralized location and then shipped off hot. But Boxwood has a policy of making as much of it on site at any event as possible, building and tearing down kitchens, usually at “great expense.”
“We do everything we can to shorten the time from when it last leaves a chef’s hands to when it is being consumed by a guest,” Blanco says.
That’s the complicated part of food.
“The phrase, the food is the easy part was said early, and it actually initially scared me a little bit,” Bain says. “Almost like he’s riding on terms of the hospitality portion, but then obviously the [culinary] skill set is there.”
Hospitality isn’t just external.
Every Thursday, there’s a family meal prepared in the Boxwood kitchen.
“We’re huggers and feelers, especially from the kitchen side,” Blanco says. “So this is all of their love language: to prepare.”
Every Friday, before hitting the slew of events scheduled, Blanco grabs a margarita with his wife and his son, blessed with the chef’s curse of being a picky eater, consumes chickenless kids quesadilla at Mi Cocina.
“A margarita is a good pathway between my personal life and my professional life,” Blanco says. “It’s how I transition out of my day. It’s how I connect with my wife. It’s in a place that my son loves to be in.”
Bain says the way he and his wife decompress is at a concert or a quick trip out of Dallas. Blanco says sometimes for Bain, it’s spinning vinyls and drinking bourbon, preferably Eagle Rare.
He’s comfortable answering that question. For Bain’s birthday, Blanco cooked a dinner featuring some of Bain’s favorite things, testing his knowledge of how well he knew him.
“If you’re signing up for events, you’re gonna spend a lot of time with people,” Bain says. “Events are hard. We try to be in a place that you’re supported. And we know where each other is coming from.”
After all, food is the easy part.
A Legacy of Luxury Real Estate in Oak Cliff
Buying or selling your distinctive Oak Cliff home? We know Arcadia Park, Cedar Crest, Elmwood, Five Mile Creek, Kessler Park, Kidd Springs, Kings Highway Conservation District, Lake Cliff, Ravinia Heights, Redbird, Stevens Park, Winnetka Heights, University/ Singing Hills and Wynnewood.
SIR, MA’AM & THE CHICKENS
Elmwood Farm has introduced some new friends to their small plot of land in Oak Cliff. But don’t get too attached.
Two pigs, Sir and Ma’am, were brought to the farm in January and provide for the land in a variety of ways, along with their flock of chickens.
“Integrating animals into the rotation is a regenerative agricultural principle,” says Eric Nystrom, Elmwood Farm pig coordinator and culinary director. “It’s mimicking nature. You’re growing cover crops that cover the soil, take solar energy, put it into the ground, feed the microbes, and then we graze it down with the pigs and the chickens. We’re cycling those nutrients so there’s a natural rhythm regenerative cycle that we’re trying to enact with these animals.”
The pigs take about 10 months to get to slaughter weight, so when November rolls around, Sir and Ma’am will be made into charcuterie to be shared with the community.
“We are generally very separated from where our food comes from, but also from death, and that’s a necessary part of having meat,” Nystrom says. “A couple of people have come out and been blanched a little bit when we say we’re gonna eat them. I don’t want to say it casually because it is a somber and sobering thing to take something’s life to sustain your own, but we are part of nature. If you do choose to eat meat, there can be a no more close and hands-on and ethical way to do it.”
The farm hopes to host dinners for the community with meals based around the specific meats as they are prepared.
Elmwood Farms is making dinner a little more sustainable
Story by JILLIAN NACHTIGAL Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
MA’AM , a darker-toned, tri-color Idaho Pasture pig is more gregarious and rambunctious. Nystrom says Ma’am is like a cat who will take off running at the spur of a moment. Ma’am is likely to nibble on shoe laces and is the alpha of the two pigs, nudging Sir out of the way when their favorite food, avocado, is thrown on the ground. Despite this,
Ma’am is docile and sweet like Sir, and the two enjoy being together and snuggling together. Pigs are unable to sweat, so they will often create a little wallow, get all covered with mud and lay together.
SIR sports a ginger coat, perfect plump-shape and is described as the more mild-mannered pig of the pair. Sir is an Idaho Pasture Pig, which is a mixture of the New Zealand KuneKune, Duroc, and Berkshire breeds. This combination of breeds gives him the traits of a grazing pig, and a pig that produces high-quality pork. KuneKune pigs are also known for short, upturned snouts, which make them ideal for grazing rather than rooting up the ground. Like most pigs, Sir is very intelligent, and will try to break into the chicken coop for extra food with the help of his partner in crime, Ma’am.
THIRTY-FIVE CHICKENS
of all different breeds. Some look like they’re wearing a fuzzy pair of boots, some look like they have a mohawk, and they all have their own styles and personalities. Some are for egg production, some are for meat and some are simply for decoration. Chickens were originally introduced to Elmwood Farm back in 2021, but with a much smaller group of 12. The details as far as eating some of the chickens are still to be determined.
TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO
Story by JILLIAN NACHTIGAL
Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
TAQUERIA EL SI HAY
There was no better place to start than El Si Hay, which has won the Best of Advocate Best Tacos several times. The tacos here are so good that it has received mentions in Texas Monthly and the New York Times , and customers are willing to wait to get their hands on them. Go on a Sunday after -
We started a game of taco telephone and asked some local favorite taco shops where they would eat tacos, other than their own business.
TAQUERIA EL SI HAY SUGGESTION: TACOS CHANOS
Tacos Chanos has been an Oak Cliff staple since 1948. Located on Jefferson Boulevard, Chanos is housed in a simple white building with plenty of room inside to enjoy a variety of classic tacos, whether it be carne asada, al pastor or barbacoa.
TACOS
CHANOS SUGGESTION:
FITO’S TACOS DE TROMPO
Fito’s has locations across Dallas and two in Oak Cliff. The chain is known for its authentic tacos de trompo — corn tortillas filled with marinated and seasoned pork. Taco choices also include chicken, steak, brisket, beef tongue and tripe. They serve tortas, quesadillas, burgers and even a baked potato loaded with sour cream, butter, cheese, avocado and the meat of your choice.
FITO’S SUGGESTION:
CESAR’S TACOS
Cesar’s Tacos was originally Cesar’s Donuts. Established in 1996 by Cesar Jasso, he followed his dream of owning his own business. The thing is, donuts are primarily a morning-only business, so he decided to add tacos for an all-day menu. Eventually, he dropped the donuts entirely.
CESAR’S TACOS SUGGESTION:
MASKARAS MEXICAN GRILL
Maskaras Mexican Grill is a family restaurant owned by couple Zulma V. Hernández & Rodolfo Jiménez and is simultaneously a vibrant celebration of Lucha Libre culture. “Maskaras” is a Spanglish word meaning the same in English and Spanish: “Mask and Mascaras.” Hernández is an ex-beauty queen from Mexico while Jiménez is a former model, host and actor. The pair came together to offer the community traditional Mexican dishes passed down from their mothers.
UNCORKING TRADITION
Vinito’s journey to introducing Mexican wine culture
Story by JILLIAN NACHTIGAL | Photography by KELSEY SHOEMAKER
One of Texas’ first Mexican wine shops sits at the corner of Jefferson and Polk Street in Oak Cliff, occupying just a 330-square-foot space. But to Arturo Flores and Eduardo Mendoza, it’s much bigger.
The friends met while working at Meso Maya. Flores was working there while studying to become a mechanical engineer while Mendoza continued his career in hospitality and retail. They found that they shared an interest in Mexican wine, and decided to team up as business partners.
“I had always seen that he had the right mentality, and it was just an instant spark,” Mendoza says of Flores. “We just clicked, and I’ve been with him through his whole journey from Austin, to college, to this.”
With the desire to share a lesser-known part of their culture, they tossed around the idea of planting a vineyard in Mexico, but found that to be a bit too ambitious. From there, the idea for Vinito was established, and they hit the ground running.
Although Flores and Mendoza didn’t have experience as business owners, they began building relationships with winemakers, importers, and distributors and remained undeterred despite the scarcity of Mexican wines.
the years.
“Whatever we do, it has to be here. It has to be here in the heart of Texas,” Mendoza says. “We never lost the dream we had. We made a lot of phone calls, connected with some people, and in the mix of that, I was also trying to look for a location.”
Just over 40% of the Dallas population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, and Oak Cliff in particular has a large Hispanic population, making it a perfect spot to open the shop.
IT’S ONLY 300 SQUARE FEET, BUT TO US, IT’S BIGGER THAN THAT.
“Throughout that time, we made a lot of phone calls, and we would say ‘I want to showcase your bottles in the U.S.,’” Flores says. “It was a bunch of no’s, but I say you have to go through 20 no’s to get your first yes. Luckily, they saw the vision we had and that nobody else was doing it. It’s the authenticity. We’re not trying to be something we’re not.”
Mendoza was born and raised in Dallas and has seen the city and community grow throughout
“Half of the Dallas Hispanic population is here in Oak Cliff — there was no better place than here,” Mendoza says. “I found this little location, and we checked it out. It’s only 300 square feet, but to us, it’s bigger than that.”
Vinito opened last October with 130 labels for sale, and has opened the door for conversations about a widely unknown aspect of Hispanic culture.
“Mexico is not really known for their wine. I want to teach people why Mexican wine is important,” Flores says. “People don’t know that, going back through history, the first vineyard was planted in Mexico in 1597. The community behind the Mexican wine culture, they are so connected. They develop a family. And when they started seeing that there’s two guys in Texas doing something like this, that’s when they started reaching out.”
Factors such as soil type and climate give a specific wine its own flavor, body, and aroma. Some of the red wines have notes of hibiscus, some have hints of chile de árbol, and some are spicy. There are also natural wines and native Mexican grapes, such as Rosa del Peru.
Flores and Mendoza seek to make Vinito a warm and welcoming place for locals, regardless of their
Opposite: Arturo Flores and Eduardo Mendoza offer more than one hundred labels of Mexican wine, from Valle de Guadalupe—“the Napa of Mexico”—to Zacatecas
Helping local businesses navigate small business loans.
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knowledge of wine or their budget. During the pandemic, Flores studied for the certified sommelier examination from the Court of Master Sommeliers and achieved a level-one certification, allowing himself to pass on his knowledge to his customers.
“You come in here, and you actually get to speak to Hispanics,” Mendoza says. “We try not to make it intimidating for the pricing, and a lot of Hispanics will come in here and they’re interested, but they’re intimidated because they don’t know about it, and that’s where the education comes into play.”
The pair have been able to see their impact firsthand, making all the roadblocks they had to overcome worth it.
“I think one of my proudest moments I had was back during the holidays. That’s where I saw it being implemented, and saw why it’s so important to have a place like this in Oak Cliff,” Flores says. “Throughout the holidays, I saw this period of gifting. (Sons and daughters) would come in and ask what we recommend, because they are buying for their parents.”
Flores said the feeling of gifting a family member or loved one a bottle from their home state is special, and he is proud to be a part of spreading this side of their culture.
“I knew I had to make a difference somehow. It may start off small, but this will eventually get better down the road,” Flores says. “This is just a little seed that’s been planted and will continue growing.”
August marks 10 months since Vinito’s opening.
“Every month, we have to celebrate,” Mendoza says. ”This is an accomplishment. Especially nowadays, we didn’t think we were gonna be here that long. The whole purpose of this is to showcase. We don’t want to get rich off of this. When you come in here, it’s not about getting drunk, it’s about a memory you’re going to create.”
Monte Xanic Cabernet Sauvignon and émeve Cabernet Sauvignon are among the wine selections found at Vinito.
AC & HEAT
ELECTRICAL SERVICES
HANDYMAN SERVICES
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MONSTER TREE SERVICE DALLAS
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Installations & Repairs
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OUR
An Oak Cliff original has been giving back to the community for over 68 years
Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
being recruited to baseball’s minor leagues as a right-handed pitcher around 1950.
After McGhee injured his arm, they started the cafe in the 1000 block of West Davis. The couple split in the 1960s, and Norma moved the restaurant to its current location. She and her family lived in the house directly behind the restaurant for years.
As a boy growing up in Oak Cliff, Murph was a regular at the cafe and later bought the store in 1986 from Norma herself, going on to grow the restaurant to six locations. Murph had been in the hospitality industry since 1970 and had owned a series of clubs,
bars and restaurants, including Cafe Cancun in the early 1980s.
By Murph’s side for nearly his entire tenure is senior operations manager Pam Spell, who has been with Norma’s for 31 years.
“We have a rich history here,” Spell says. “We have families that come in, and their kids come in, and then their kids grow up and come in. It goes on down and down the line.”
For 68 years, Norma’s has provided customers with large country breakfasts, fluffy biscuits and cream gravy, stuffed omelets, and hearty pancakes, waffles and cinnamon rolls. They strive to create a family dining room atmosphere and keep customers coming back for the scratch cooking that reminds them of home.
Along with maintaining these high-quality, homestyle meals, Spell has spearheaded Norma’s mission to cater to the community and give back in any way they can. Over the last 30 years, she has seen their reach grow exponentially.
“We feed whoever walks through our doors on Thanksgiving Day, and when we started it, it was 500 people,” Spell says. “Throughout the years, I think this is going to be our 40th year, we now serve over 5,000 people.”
In addition to regular events like food and school supplies drives, Norma’s will help any person in need who walks into the restaurant.
“With people who need help, they’ll come in and eat, and they don’t have the money,” Spell says. “And we just say, that’s OK, come pay us back when you can. That’s what we call our community. When in need, we’re there for you.”
Like Spell and Murph, many employees at Norma’s have been around for decades. And for some families, working at Norma’s is tradition.
“Our main cook, Roy, he’s been here for 35 years. And now we have his nephews working here,” Spell says. “We have a longevity of employees, and we all help each other out. We treat everybody like family, and we just want everybody to feel welcome here.”
