Restaurant review: Drew’s Place Restaurant in Fort Worth

by Steve Smith of West and Clear

I have been troubled for some time by the absence of exceptional home cooking in Fort Worth. Surely it had to be out there, but why was it so hard to find?

Sure, there was always Paris Coffee Shop, and Dixie House has done an acceptable job of clogging my arteries while not quite winning my heart. But I was still at a loss. Where was that home cooking I was looking for?

Well, it turned out that it was in Como, right down Horne Street from Camp Bowie, at Drew’s Place Restaurant. As I walked out the door after my lunch yesterday, all I could do was shake my head.

All of those years I have wasted not eating at Drew’s … I want them back.

If I seem to be veering toward hyperbole, I assure you I am not. Eating at Drew’s was a truly soul-rattling experience. A combo plate with a smothered pork chop and fried chicken, cornbread red beans and rice and mashed potatoes covered in graby — GRAY-be, not grabby, note the b — was truly a transcendental moment.

Graby really is something more than gravy. Usually you can only get graby from someone you are related to and who loves you a felonious degree. Well, Drew’s has graby. And I just had the brown graby, the cream variety will have to wait until after the angioplasty. But whether you pour it on a mashed potato or cook a pork chop in it until it is falling apart, I vouch for the brown graby. Pour it in a mug and I’ll drink it after stirring it with a chicken leg.

And speaking of the fried chicken, it was perfect — juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside with a hint of spice. Again, the best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten from someone I wasn’t related to. I really felt like I didn’t deserve to eat anything that good — I needed to mow the lawn or go to church first. But I didn’t let that stop me. I did everything but lick the plate.

If you haven’t made it to Drew’s yet, go by … like today. And if you think you know a place that can match it, tell me now, because I want to know.