La Familia: The Best Tex-Mex Restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas

LA FAMILIA –translated –means The Family.

It’s also the name of a Fort Worth-based Mexican restaurant –family-owned & operated.

It’s nascent locale went thru a number of transitions –starting as a midtown MickeyD’s. A great, centrally located quick-food place to put yourself in a holding pattern enroute to the bustle & hustle of the day’s business.

A newer –at the time –McD’s opened up a mile & some up the road –leaving the boxy place vacant –before becoming a seafood restaurant, a Korean restaurant –noticeably *different* Asian-fare than BBQ & Cafeteria’d denizens were accustomed to... 

- before finally settling on a Mexican cantina.

It had all the earmarkings of a great little place. And the owner bore literally a rags to riches motif 
–having humbled beginnings cleaning offices before opening his restaurant.

The interior, albeit Spartan in décor, was roomy enough to accommodate a nice little crowd. 

And the price was absolutely RIGHT –reasonably rated for lunch and dinner dining.

The owners were always amiable... 

Al would rush to the door –hand extended in warm welcome –exclaiming, “Let me buy ya a beer...” 
- producing a good-sized frosty mug of the bubbly brew –just right for tempering digestive juices for what would be a superb Tex-Mex meal - while his wife and daughter, Lynette, held down the fort behind the cash register, sharing family updates about her new baby daughter. 

Easily the pride of Al’s life –photos of the tot festooning the counter –between piles of homemade praline-cookies and Lynette’s self-crafted beaded bracelets.... She was talked into making the bracelets as a means to stave off stress.

Funny, because the restaurant was thriving –despite the changing face of the neighborhood going from retail to restoration...