The first time I ever stepped foot in the Black-eyed Pea on Cedar Springs was in May 1991, when Queen Elizabeth II was paying a state visit that brought her to Dallas. “Just what Oak Lawn needs” read a handwritten sign on the chalkboard menu. “Another queen.”
That’s what it’s been like at The Black-eyed Pea — at this point, the longest continually-operating business in one location on The Strip — since the beginning: Out, proud and a little saucy.
Funny, then, that this bastion of home-cookin’ was the flagship first location in the company chain. Founded by Mesquite native Gene Street, it opened in its present space in the spring of 1975, at a time when Oak Lawn was already the hotbed of gay life in Dallas — an unlikely spot for a place that serves (famously) Texas-sized chicken-fried steak (pictured), broccoli and rice casserole and homemade cornbread. Then again, the gays have always loved kitsch … and they appreciate a good deal on food when they find one.
The attitude hasn’t changed (for me) since that first visit more than 20 years ago. On my last lunch there, I asked my waiter for tea: “Regular, sweet or Long Island?” he deadpanned. “Hey, It’s an option! I’m not gonna tell your boss,” he promised.
THE OAK LAWN BAND
1980
OAK LAWN BOWLING ASSOCIATION
1980
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition May 16, 2014.