When George Bush became president the prominent gourmet chef Walter Scheib III, who had served the past two presidents, during eleven years of White House service, was dismissed and Laura and George began searching for a chef that could cook good Mexican food and bar-b-cue.  I don’t know that selecting Cristeta Comerford, a 10-year veteran of the White House kitchen, as the new executive chef, was the answer to southern cooking, but it was the first female to ever hold the prestigious position of White House Chef.  Anyway – perhaps she should have gone to Mary’s Café in Strawn, Texas for the best in chicken fried steak, Mexican food, draft beer, and hamburgers so large they would scare the foreign dignitaries.  Business hours at Mary's Cafe are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. The restaurant is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  

 Star-Telegram columnist Bud Kennedy and Art Chapman on several occasions expressed his high opinion of their chicken-fried steaks in one of Texas highly esteemed newspapers. 

“Strawn is a small Texas town midway between Abilene and Fort Worth, just a few miles off Interstate 20 on Texas 16.  A couple of generations ago, Strawn and nearby Mingus were known as places for college students to go howl at the moon for cold beer and country music.

Now, older and wiser, they travel to Strawn for its chicken-fried steak.  Mary's Cafe is the mother church of Strawn chicken-fried. It has been heralded as one of the state's best by Texas Monthly, Texas Highways, and Texas Journey magazines.”   By ART CHAPMAN | May 3, 2006

Texas Monthly   “MARY’S CAFE [Strawn, American and Home Cooking] This review from January 2006. Just off I-20 in downtown, you’ll find a cafe lost in time (think old photos of Strawn on the walls). Mary’s offers daily specials, but it is the chicken-fried steak, big as a barn door but much tenderer, that keeps people coming back. The Mexican dishes (try the tacos or the enchiladas) and the fried seafood platters are hits too. They’re all best washed down with a cold Shiner Bock. Beer. 119 Grant Ave (254-672-5741).” 

 Want to know more about Texas food? 

Want to know more about Strawn, Texas?

Strawn & Mary's

Stop at Mary’s Café in Strawn

By Glenn Dromgoole

Special to the Reporter-News

"The little town of Strawn sits four miles off Interstate 20 (exit 361) between Ranger Hill and Thurber. It’s almost equidistant between Abilene and Fort Worth.

Which makes it a good place to stop for lunch if you’re on the way to the Metroplex, or dinner if you’re on the way back.

Mary’s Café is on the right as you come into Strawn. You’ll usually see a number of pickups parked out front, a testimony to the chicken fried steak served inside.

Mary’s has a full menu of steaks, Mexican food, seafood, barbecue, sandwiches, salads, and nightly specials. But far and away the favorite course is the chicken fried steak.

The servings are huge. What Mary’s calls a medium steak is more than enough for most appetites; a large chicken fried  is three-quarters of a pound. And if that isn’t enough, on Monday night between 6 and 9, you can have all the chicken fried steak you can eat.

But it’s not the size of the steak that draws people off the interstate to Mary’s. It’s the great home-cooked taste. One group of Abilenians told owner Mary Tretter that they had heard about her chicken fried steak while they were on a cruise to China and just had to come see for themselves…”  Glenn Dromgoole is an Abilene author. "

Mary’s has shrimp, chicken livers,, beef liver, one pound T-bone steaks, all kinds of Mexican food, fried oysters, and burgers that are bigger than George Forman’s fist. Nothing is ordered from a supplier prepared – “just heat and serve” – this is a “start from scratch” place only – and you realize it the first bite into the food no matter what your choice!   Nothing fancy here at all – just a “redneck place” where redneck and CEOs sit table to table.  The “friendly service” – will also keep you coming back again and again in a country café atmosphere. 

Photo Credit: 

www.pbase.com/craig_c/restaurant1

http://www.southernliving.com

Happy Traveling and happy dining.