Zest 817 SECRET SAUCE // Madea's Secret Ingredient

Zest 817 // SECRET SAUCE

Madea’s Secret Ingredient

This Everman soul-food bastion is hardly a secret to locals.

BY IAN CONNALLY

From time to time in my wanderings through the mom-andpop restaurant landscape of Fort Worth, I’m able to experience that special combination of joy and regret that comes with discovering a truly great restaurant that I could have been frequenting for the last 15 years. That Madea’s Down Home Cooking in Everman serves some of the best Southern cuisine in town was evidently not news to the 40 or so people ahead of me in line at the counter-service restaurant on a recent weekday visit –– many of whom were clearly regulars.

Who

Madea’s Down Home Cooking

My guests and I arrived about half an hour before the confusingly early closing time of 7 p.m. and noted as we stood in the fast-moving line that Madea’s does a brisk take-out business. Strategizing ways to sample the great range of food from the overhead menu, 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. We decided on chicken-fried steak, meatloaf, and smothered pork chops as anchor points and agreed that we each wouldn’t duplicate any of the sides we ordered.

At Madea’s, like most home-cooking restaurants worth their salt, the sides are indispensable.

PHOTOS BY DAVID HOLLISTER

This plan, as simple and elegant as it was, unraveled quickly as I came face-to-face with a half-pan of steaming slow-braised oxtails. In a last-ditch effort to stay the course, I asked for advice from behind the counter. Pork chops or oxtails? Oxtails, unambiguously, a sentiment echoed by several people behind me in line, sitting atop rice, they recommended, to soak up the clear, rich broth, and served alongside yams and steamed cabbage. Not one to veer from unanimously voiced guidance, I followed these instructions, agreeing as well to crispy hot-water cornbread and, sure, some sweet tea.

Madea’s fork-tender, enormous chicken-fried steak was slathered in fresh-made, expertly seasoned gravy.

PHOTOS BY DAVID HOLLISTER

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 finely diced flecks of red bell pepper, an outstanding counterpoint to the richness of the yams. Collard greens, dotted with smoked ham hock, did similar work, their pungent earthiness accented by vinegar and sugar, still lively despitetheir tenderness. Broccoli-rice casserole and mac ’n’ cheese rounded out our samplings, both excellent examples of the dish. But we had missed at least three of the other sides. And it was my fault. My dining companions kindly did not give voice to the betrayal they clearly felt, and I assuaged any hard feelings by sharing the glistening, deeply beefy hunks of meat hanging loosely off the pile of tailbones on my plate.

Where

1019 W Enon Av D, Everman, 817-551-9295.

I had been steered in exactly the right direction. Sweet and rich, with the texture of all-day pot roast, the oxtailswere a lesson in the alchemy of care, time, and heat, a magic that tastes a whole lot like love. This is closeyour-eyes-and-takea-moment territory –– the kind of wholebody reaction to food that briefly puts you out of touch with the room around you and forces you to consider whether you could live on just this dish forever. The way it’s done at Madea’s, I’m pretty sure I could.

Vibe

Homey, warm, family friendly

Don’t-Miss Dishes

Ox tail, chicken-fried steak, meatloaf, and yams.

When

11am-5pm Sun, 11am-7pm Tue-Sat

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