Posted on 12/16/2022 11:40:43 AM PST by nickcarraway
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” may be the most famous sentence in the English language. In Texas, however, the seminal sentence came from Larry McMurtry’s In a Narrow Grave, when he remarked, “Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas without eating a chicken fried steak.”
Little did McMurtry know that the frontier for chicken fried steak was closing when he penned those words in 1968. The blue-plate mainstay is now an endangered species with the best offering in these fair parts coming from, of all places, an Italian restaurant on Greenville Avenue, Prego Pasta House. Talk about a cowboy’s lament. Perhaps I should have realized that the demise of the Highland Park Cafeteria was a “Last Picture Show” for Dallas.
Times have changed drastically, and the city of Dallas has largely seceded from the state of Texas. If there was a television show today about the largess of Texas, it would surely be set in Fort Worth, and J.R. Ewing and his nefarious relatives almost surely would office in a tower off Sundance Square and have a ranch in Southlake. (As an aside, at the end of the eighth season of Dallas in 1985, Bobby Ewing was run over and “killed” at the Lakewood home of my grandfather, W.H. Cothrum, who had developed the first mall in Dallas at Lochwood in the 1950s.)
No wonder Californians can settle in Dallas with such ease. Dalifornia started before they arrived, and someone left the light on for them. Dallas Country last voted for a Republican for statewide office, David Dewhurst, in 2010. Since 2004, Dallas County has voted Democratic in each presidential cycle, and the percentage gain continues to grow — nearly two-thirds in 2020. Federal election statistics demonstrate that 153,875 people
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
If Texas goes blue or even purple, it’s over, folks.....................
Highland Park Cafeteria was greatness.
Williamson County (north of Travis County - Austin!) voted +9.5% for Trump in 2016. In 2022, Abbott barely beat Beto in Williamson, by less than 1%. Both Patrick (Lt. Gov) and Paxton (AG) lost to their DEM challengers in Williamson. The disease has spread in less than 6 years, although I will say the COVID nonsense accelerated the spread (we’ve been here for a bit over 4 years).
Ted Cruz barely beat Beto O’Rourke. And O’Rourke doesn’t even pretend to be moderate.
well...there’s always Smith County that is home to the blue-blooded Tyler....R district if there ever was one. Louie Gohmert hails from there.
However, they do have Californians nesting there also...
True, but according to the 2018 exit polls, *native* Texans voted for Beto 51-48%, while the transplants voted for Cruz 57-42%. There is something seriously messed up with Texas natives.
I think the word the author was looking for is ‘Californicate’.
Up until the early 1990s, nearly all the governors and U.S Senators from Texas were democrats.
There was also a Kings Buffet that rocked. And a Pancho’s and El Chicos. Richardson in the 70’s. Then we moved to Pantego.
Come to the Hoosier state!
Every non-chain restaurant worth it’s salt has Chicken-fried Steak (often called Country-fried Steak).
We’re also the original home of the Pork Tenderloin sandwich.
And have yourself some fried biscuits with apple butter to go along.
Dang...now I’m hungry.
We have gotten a ton of Californians on Cedar Creek Lake as well. Most of them seem normal.
Hasn’t Texas been Democratic many more years than it’s been Republican? 4 or 5 Republican governors out of 47 or so since 1847.
With all due respect, I have tried Chicken Fried Steak outside of Texas, and I have regretted it every time. Even Oklahoma restaurants cannot do it.
Maybe it has something to do with being called ‘Country Fried Steak’.
My word to the wise and my new personal mantra: DON’T.
Still, there are plenty of places to get a Great Chicken Fried Steak in Texas.
Do you have a link to that? There was a polling company last summer who said most of the people leaving CA and NY are more conservative than the places they are moving to.
Yes. But those were the old style Democrats that still had some basic values...............
They’re even in the Ozarks in Arkansas. A friend who lives there told me they “remote” in to work.
Resulting in ‘Dalifornia’. Hadn’t heard that word. Keeper.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.