Who
Madea’s Down Home Cooking
Where
1019 W Enon Av D, Everman, 817-551-9295.
Vibe Homey, warm, family friendly
Madea’s Secret Ingredient This Everman soul-food bastion is hardly a secret to locals. BY IAN CONNALLY PHOTOS BY DAVID HOLLISTER
From time to time in my wanderings through the mom-andpop restaurant landscape of Fort Worth, I’m able to experience
we laid out a simple plan: order three representative entrees and attempt to try all of the side dishes on offer. At Madea’s, like most legit home-cooking restaurants, the sides are indispensable. that special combination of joy and reWe decided on chicken-fried steak, gret that comes with discovering a truly meatloaf, and smothered pork chops as great restaurant that I could have been anchor points and agreed that we each frequenting for the last 15 years. That wouldn’t duplicate any of the sides we Madea’s Down Home Cooking in Evordered. erman serves some of the best Southern This plan, as simple and elegant cuisine in town was evidently not news as it was, unraveled quickly as I came to the 40 or so people ahead of me in face-to-face with a half-pan of steaming line at the counter-service restaurant on slow-braised oxtails. In a last-ditch effort a recent weekday visit –– many of whom to stay the course, I asked for advice were clearly regulars. from behind the counter. Pork chops My guests and I arrived about half or oxtails? Oxtails, unambiguously, a an hour before the confusingly early sentiment echoed by several people closing time of 7 p.m. and noted as behind me in line, sitting atop rice, they we stood in the fast-moving line that recommended, to soak up the clear, rich Madea’s does a brisk take-out business. broth, and served alongside yams and Strategizing ways to sample the great steamed cabbage. Not one to veer from range of food from the overhead menu, unanimously voiced guidance, I followed these instructions, agreeing as well to crispy hot-water cornbread and, sure, some sweet tea. At the table, I discovered that my deviation from our in-line agreement had resulted in duplication of side dishes. We all had yams, spiced and lightly sweetened, still bright and rich, avoiding the dessert-like territory that they tend to approach in less skilled hands. Two of us had cabbage. Tender and perfectly seasoned, it was accented with At Madea’s, like most home-cooking restaurants worth finely diced flecks of their salt, the sides are indispensable. red bell pepper, an
April 2019
Madea’s fork-tender, enormous chicken-fried steak was slathered in fresh-made, expertly seasoned gravy. outstanding counterpoint to the richness hunks of meat hanging loosely off the of the yams. Collard greens, dotted with pile of tailbones on my plate. I had been steered in exactly the smoked ham hock, did similar work, right direction. Sweet and rich, with their pungent earthiness accented by the texture of all-day vinegar and sugar, pot roast, the oxtails still lively despite were a lesson in the their tenderness. Don’t-Miss Dishes alchemy of care, time, Broccoli-rice casOx tail, chicken-fried steak, and heat, a magic that serole and mac ’n’ meatloaf, and yams. tastes a whole lot like cheese rounded out love. This is closeour samplings, both Entree Prices your-eyes-and-takeexcellent examples of $TK. All major credit cards a-moment territory the dish. But we had accepted. –– the kind of wholemissed at least three body reaction to food of the other sides. When that briefly puts you And it was my fault. 11am-5pm Sun, out of touch with the My dining com11am-7pm Tue-Sat room around you and panions kindly did forces you to consider not give voice to the whether you could betrayal they clearly live on just this dish forever. The way it’s felt, and I assuaged any hard feelings done at Madea’s, I’m pretty sure I could. by sharing the glistening, deeply beefy
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