Home-cooking News
Comfort food and Tex-Mex: Family-owned Amy's Cafe in Hurst has it all
Honking burger at Amy's Cafe in Hurst
There’s a family-owned cafe dishing out Tex-Mex and Southern eats in Hurst: Called Amy’s Cafe, it opened recently in the former home of Miranda’s Cafe at 477 W. Harwood Rd., in Village Plaza.
Amy’s Cafe is from the Herrera-Arellano family, a Latino-owned restaurant doing Southern and Tex-Mex cuisine made from scratch.
It was founded by Gerardo Herrera, former executive chef at AT&T Stadium and owner of his own catering company, who previously worked as a chef at restaurants such as Haywire, The Statler, and Cafe Nubia.
He launched Amy's with his extended family, wife, and children, including his son Ivan.
“We've been in catering for about 15 years, and I guess it was finally that leap of faith that we were always scared to take to get our own restaurant,” Ivan says.
The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch, and brunch, with frequent Tex-Mex twists, especially in their daily lunch specials such as fajita plates and Taco Tuesdays.
Dinner includes chicken-fried steak, a fried catfish basket, and a ribeye steak. Entree prices are affordable, ranging from $15 to $22.75 for the ribeye. True to home-cooking style, there are more than a dozen sides such as glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, and mac & cheese.
Breakfast includes brioche French toast, breakfast tacos, and build-your-own omelets, with prices ranging from $12 to $14. A signature dish is the Lalo's power skillet, and power is the word: It features potatoes, chorizo, sausage, bacon, red onion, poblano pepper, and eggs.
One sly little touch on the brunch menu is the "Hipster Toast," featuring wheat toast topped with smashed avocado, egg any style, pico and sweet tomato green salad, for $12.25.
Herrera says the decision to offer Southern dishes in the midst of Tex-Mex was to cater to his senior customers and their familiar tastes. It's a menu with something for everyone.
“We tried to bring the old school cuisine from Texas, so part of my menu is the classic chopped steak, chicken fried steak, catfish basket, and that one has a really good acceptance from my clients,” Herrera says. “Right now, we want to update the menu because sometimes customers come in and try looking for something new, not a classic.”
For some customers, the cafe has come to be something of a place of comfort.
"I would say it feels like home,” Ivan says. “One of our regular customers, whenever she hasn’t been here in a week, she always walks through the door and says, “Finally, I’m back home.’”
