Bye bye Luby's

[Sam Lin 3564]

Another "I love Fuddruckers" here.

[Brisketexan 105569]

Another "I love Fuddruckers" here.

Same. Been a fan since I went to one for a friend’s birthday 35+ years ago. Reminded me of a place that used to be near us in Houston, Danver’s.

Then, once we had little kids, it was a regular stop for us. We could get a good burger, they had great kids meals, made everyone happy, and the management at the Anderson location really looked out for families and took great care of them. They even bought our meal one night when it was apparent we had a rough fucking day.

If all Fuddruckers disappear, that would suck.

[Murfdogg21 4480]

On 6/6/2020 at 9:35 PM, Parliament said:

You guys have a Golden Corral down there? It's 1 step above truck stop food, but I've never been disappointed. I fancy their sirloin tops. Combine it with an ice cream cone on the way out and you'll be able to visit the Shart Thread before you get home.

I’ve discovered that most men have pondered how many male GC employees had stuck their dicks into the chocolate fountain after closing each night. 

[Murfdogg21 4480]

32 minutes ago, Sam Lin said:

Another "I love Fuddruckers" here.

I was once fired from a Fuddruckers, but still love their burgers. As far as fast food-ish restaurants go, they ran a tight ship on cleanliness and ingredients. 

[Brisketexan 105569]

I’ve discovered that most men have pondered how many male GC employees had stuck their dicks into the chocolate fountain after closing each night. 

I mean....it’s all of em, right?

[Underdog 28868]

#TeamFuddruckers  

[CooterBrown 18089]

10 hours ago, Murfdogg21 said:

I’ve discovered that most men have pondered how many male GC employees had stuck their dicks into the chocolate fountain after closing each night. 

[Halohal 506]

I'll shed a tear for Luby's. Highland mall to 183/cameron, to Oltorf, to sunset valley and finally Slaughter. Miss jap bread, ice t, strawberry cake dessert, and finally the trolley lady.

[pepper brooks 580]

On 6/4/2020 at 8:33 AM, billfromlaketravis said:

My brother and I worked together one summer during high school at Luby's. It was the most time I've spent with my brother since, so Luby's will always have a soft spot in my heart. I received a free LuAnn every work day, and I never grew tired of the food. My go to : LuAnn baked white chicken with cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, fresh green beans and candied yams with a jalapeno cornbread. 

I think many of the people that don't like Luby's, don't know what to order there. I've never ventured away from roast beef with au jus, whole bird turkey on Thanksgiving (not that turkey breast roll stuff), baked chicken with stuffing, chopped steak, fried chicken, chicken fried steak, and chicken fried chicken. I know liver and onions is very popular as well, but not for me. If you order anything else, sure you're going to be disappointed. Their ribeye is hot garage and would be thrown away at a Golden Corral. It shouldn't be on their menu. 

If we're shouting out cafeterias, Cleburne  Cafeteria on Bissonnet in Houston. Best cafeteria I've ever eaten at. Everything is good so you really can't go wrong, but I usually order one of the daily specials. Superb fried chicken. 

the prime steaks at Cleburne for about $20 are incredible.  best steak deal in town.  

[billfromlaketravis 11601]

9 minutes ago, pepper brooks said:

the prime steaks at Cleburne for about $20 are incredible.  best steak deal in town.  

Sundays only or available daily?

[pepper brooks 580]

6 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Sundays only or available daily?

available every day.  Ribeye or NY strip.  

[Heisenberg 162]

On 6/9/2020 at 10:49 PM, Murfdogg21 said:

I was once fired from a Fuddruckers, but still love their burgers. As far as fast food-ish restaurants go, they ran a tight ship on cleanliness and ingredients. 

On my last trip tp Fuddruckers about 25 years ago my burger was served on a very long hair that had a bun baked around it, so so much for their tight ship, cleanliness, and ingredients.

[DonnyKerabatsos 86]

for many years my dad and I would hit up either Memorial Stadium or Texas Stadium for Thanksgiving. We always came home to a Luby's turkey dinner waiting for us. We would have 3 turkey meals between home, tailgates, and Luby's. 

[ChickenSandwich 9856]

2 hours ago, Heisenberg said:

On my last trip tp Fuddruckers about 25 years ago my burger was served on a very long hair that had a bun baked around it, so so much for their tight ship, cleanliness, and ingredients.

Shit happens when you party naked. 
 

Nobody’s perfect

[Murfdogg21 4480]

3 hours ago, Heisenberg said:

On my last trip tp Fuddruckers about 25 years ago my burger was served on a very long hair that had a bun baked around it, so so much for their tight ship, cleanliness, and ingredients.

or maybe Anita Hill was the baker that morning. 

[orangecat92 306]

Luby's from both perspectives, as a customer and then a manager.  The Killeen massacre happened exactly one week before my first interview with Luby's, in fall 1991.  I was an older college student finishing a no-name degree paid for by a state agency in Austin.   I grew up eating at various cafeterias on Sundays after church.  Luby's gradually became my parents' favorite- grew up in Austin area.  The item I knew as CFS was actually a breaded beef cutlet I found out later.  Breaded with cracker crumbs.  The actual chicken fried steak was even better and hardly ever served, flour batter flour batter flour.  Too much labor.  Tasted fantastic!  

Many strange moments and even dumber decisions by the company made this whole thing very predictable.  The management training program consisted of so much propaganda that it made all of us know this thing was a sinking ship, if consistency in quality was not maintained.  All the company had to do was follow DKR's advice and "dance with the one who brung ya".  One example.  The company decided let managers have control - turned out too much control.  Order cheaper fish?  These were frozen blocks of fish, then cut the fish on the bandsaw.  A boss of mine ordered Pollock instead of Haddock because of price.  So I am standing there one day behind the counter as we open and I smell the strange fish smell.  Customers knew something was different as well.  Was not a good smell. 

Another bit of stupidity- Old assholes were everywhere in the senior manager position.  The dumbass in El Paso refused to use real milk and butter in his mashed potatoes.  He used powdered milk and margarine.  

Interesting/strange things

                          1. learning to make fried chicken from old lady cook at "Old Bandera" in San Antonio  - Nellie- I think. 

                          2.  Sold 100 steaks at South Park Mall in San Antonio one Father's Day - T-Bone and Ribeye

                          3.  Strange chopped steak recipe one old manager - Jim Copeland -  had in San Antonio - "Luby's Special Chopped Steak" - had a special charbroil sauce in the middle and was nearly twice as big as a regular chopped steak.  We sold those every Sunday.  

                           4. The interview with the super-cute TV reporter in Sherman parking lot Thanksgiving Day 1996.  Most beautiful skin on that tiny little girl.  And our Area Vice President - Mr. Eldridge calling me to say thank you for doing the interview.  I had that interview on VHS for a long time.  

                            5. Eating free as a manager - every day - even days off- at any Luby's.  

                             6. The taste of so many foods.  My boss in Corpus-David Rice - made a fabulous Shrimp Etoufee.   It was awesome.  

                              7. When I made those three leftover ribeyes into chicken fried ribeye the next day in Sherman - That was the best chicken fried steak I ever had. 

                               8. S E S O V D M - ingredients to make mayonnaise. Salt Eggs Sugar Oil Vinegar Dry Mustard. 

                               9. The dessert I modified.   Our Area Vice President - Kent Weaver - son of the rich Mr. Kenneth Weaver - challenged us assistant managers to modify an item and run a food cost. I chose dessert . I took an existing lemon cake recipe and asked the pastry lady to put cream cheese icing on top instead of the usual lemon drizzle.  Tasted much better, imo. 

                             10. Sauteed mushrooms with Sherry Wine....Provencale sauce with wine...Dill sauce.....Tampico Sauce....almost any kind of sauce, except for stuffed bell pepper sauce. 

                              11. Meeting Dave Cowens at Walzem Road - San Antonio, and Randy Travis at Central Park Mall - San Antonio.   The funny part about Travis was there was an Express-News gossip columnist who wanted the scoop on stuff so I called her and told her Randy Travis and wife are here and how nice he was etc. and the lady asked me if the wife was pretty.  Hell no she wasn't so I just said ''uhhh, yeah".  My boss wasn't exactly thrilled when he read about his cafeteria in the  newspaper the next day,  but those old guys were pretty hard to please.

Edited June 12, 2020 by orangecat92

[billfromlaketravis 11601]

3 minutes ago, orangecat92 said:

Luby's from both perspectives, as a customer and then a manager.  The Killeen massacre happened exactly one week before my first interview with Luby's, in fall 1991.  I was an older college student finishing a no-name degree paid for by a state agency in Austin.   I grew up eating at various cafeterias on Sundays after church.  Luby's gradually became my parents' favorite- grew up in Austin area.  The item I knew as CFS was actually a breaded beef cutlet I found out later.  Breaded with cracker crumbs.  The actual chicken fried steak was even better and hardly ever served, flour batter flour batter flour.  Too much labor.  Tasted fantastic!  

Many strange moments and even dumber decisions by the company made this whole thing very predictable.  The management training program consisted of so much propaganda that it made all of us know this thing was a sinking ship, if consistency in quality was not maintained.  All the company had to do was follow DKR's advice and "dance with the one who brung ya".  One example.  The company decided let managers have control - turned out too much control.  Order cheaper fish?  These were frozen blocks of fish, then cut the fish on the bandsaw.  A boss of mine ordered Pollock instead of Haddock because of price.  So I am standing there one day behind the counter as we open and I smell the strange fish smell.  Customers knew something was different as well.  Was not a good smell. 

Another bit of stupidity- Old assholes were everywhere in the senior manager position.  The dumbass in El Paso refused to use real milk and butter in his mashed potatoes.  He used powdered milk and margarine.  

Interesting/strange things

                          1. learning to make fried chicken from old lady cook at "Old Bandera" in San Antonio  - Nellie- I think. 

                          2.  Sold 100 steaks at South Park Mall in San Antonio one Father's Day - T-Bone and Ribeye

                          3.  Strange chopped steak recipe one old manager - Jim Copeland -  had in San Antonio - "Luby's Special Chopped Steak" - had a special charbroil sauce in the middle                                   and was nearly twice as big as a regular chopped steak.  We sold those every Sunday.  

                           4. The interview with the super-cute TV reporter in Sherman parking lot Thanksgiving Day 1996.  Most beautiful skin on that tiny little girl.  And our Area Vice                                                         President - Mr. Eldridge calling me to say thank you for doing the interview.  I had that interview on VHS for a long time.  

                            5. Eating free as a manager - every day - even days off- at any Luby's.  

                             6. The taste of so many foods.  My boss in Corpus-David Rice - made a fabulous Shrimp Etoufee.   It was awesome.  

                              7. When I made those three leftover ribeyes into chicken fried ribeye the next day in Sherman - That was the best chicken fried steak I ever had. 

                               8. S E S O V D M - ingredients to make mayonnaise. Salt Eggs Sugar Oil Vinegar Dry Mustard. 

                               9. The dessert I modified.   Our Area Vice President - Kent Weaver - son of the rich Mr. Kenneth Weaver - challenged us assistant managers to modify                                                               an item and run a food cost. I chose dessert . I took an existing lemon cake recipe and asked the pastry lady to put cream cheese icing on top instead of the                                             usual lemon drizzle.  Tasted much better, imo. 

                             10. Sauteed mushrooms with Sherry Wine....Provencale sauce with wine...Dill sauce.....Tampico Sauce....almost any kind of sauce, except for stuffed bell pepper                                            sauce. 

                              11. Meeting Dave Cowens at Walzem Road - San Antonio, and Randy Travis at Central Park Mall - San Antonio.   The funny part about Travis was there was an                                                 Express-News gossip columnist who wanted the scoop on stuff so I called her and told her Randy Travis and wife are here and how nice he was etc. and the                                          lady asked me if the wife was pretty.  Hell no she wasn't so I just said ''uhhh, yeah".  My boss wasn't exactly thrilled when he read about his cafeteria in the                                                 newspaper the next day,  but those old guys were pretty hard to please.

Damn. That’s one hell of a post.

Yeah I remember them cutting the fish with a bandsaw. We used cod. Definitely the best selling item. There was no close second. We were the only Luby’s for about 40 miles, so we caught a lot of business from small towns on 290. It seems crazy to drive 40 miles for Luby’s, but many people in this great state did it for years. We’d go to church and Seguin and afterwards drive to New Braunfels to eat at Luby’s. There was never a discussion of eating in Seguin. Always Luby’s. 

Eating for free at Luby’s as an employee was a thing of beauty. It reminded of my grandfather digging into his pocket, digging out some 20’s and buying for the whole family. To say Luby’s wasn’t a special place is a dead give away that you didn’t grow up around here. 

[BearSchlong 8136]

Thanks, that was a good read.

[orangecat92 306]

  There is so much stupid stuff that is hard to believe.  So, as you may know assistant mgrs. worked the most hours - 7 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. on average. I felt like I was getting close to getting promoted to associate manager, and the company wanted to find out if I could handle some pressure, so they sent me to Corpus - in the mall - to work for the tightest old ex-Navy man they had.  The man was rich, worked two days per week.  The associate manager worked the other 5 days.  But this store was different. I had to come in at 6:30 a.m. and work until close.  Ok, so I can do this.  But then the associate manager refused to let me lock the door at the closing time, 8:00 p.m. on a Friday night.  He wanted to see if he could sell some more of that old food laying on the counter.  I quickly learned to keep the amount of food on the counter nice and low, so the Associate manager could not say we needed to stay open later.   Dumb tug-of-war, and then a bigshot came into the store one night with the counter down nice and low, and he was NOT happy.  Mr. Jimmy Wolliver, an officer in the company, not known as a nice guy.  The associate manager got in trouble and the senior manager told me I didn't exactly come out of it smelling like a rose.  

I think I won that little tug-of-war.  Oh and the money.  One month at Corpus - the mall - we netted 36% on about $260,000 volume, $93,600 net.  This was during the 60/40 split.  The store management received 40% of the net profit.  40% of net profit = $37440.  First they paid any assistant managers- me- I was the only assistant.  I was paid $2450.  That left almost exactly $35,000 to split between the top two managers.  The senior manager received 67% and the associate manager 33%.  Senior manager made $23450 and the associate manager made $11550.  The old man worked Sunday and Monday, and he did come in to count inventory-maybe 4 hours on the last day of the month.  

That was the highest net month I experienced.  A normal net at that store was about 32%.  The old man cried all of the way to the bank every month.  That old ex-Navy man held the company record for salary in one year.   We were told during training that he netted 42% one month, and that his company record salary of $300,000 happened in 1985, just seven years before I started work. 

I was promoted after working in the mall for a year.  My promotion came as a result of the infamous Wyatt's transaction, when Luby's opened a bunch of old Wyatt's in one day.  September 1996 I was promoted and working in paradise, aka Sherman TX.  Mr. Barry Bell was awesome.  Finally, a young man to work for, and I got a tiny piece of the pie before Luby's changed the compensation plan.  

 

[Chico_SA 521]

In my youth, we probably went a couple of times per year.  Dad ALWAYS got Liver and Onions. Then, I went a couple of times when I was in sales and my boss rode with me.  I think it was usually when we were down on SW Military.  When I got married 8 year ago and my wife started requesting Luby's to go almost weekly.  I was very WTF? about it.  But honestly, we had some pretty good meals, especially when our boys were babys.  We would just get a couple of baked chicken meals, and make plates for them.  It got old a few years ago and we haven't been.  Always loaded up on fried okra. 

[Chico_SA 521]

1 hour ago, orangecat92 said:

Luby's from both perspectives, as a customer and then a manager.  The Killeen massacre happened exactly one week before my first interview with Luby's, in fall 1991.  I was an older college student finishing a no-name degree paid for by a state agency in Austin.   I grew up eating at various cafeterias on Sundays after church.  Luby's gradually became my parents' favorite- grew up in Austin area.  The item I knew as CFS was actually a breaded beef cutlet I found out later.  Breaded with cracker crumbs.  The actual chicken fried steak was even better and hardly ever served, flour batter flour batter flour.  Too much labor.  Tasted fantastic!  

Many strange moments and even dumber decisions by the company made this whole thing very predictable.  The management training program consisted of so much propaganda that it made all of us know this thing was a sinking ship, if consistency in quality was not maintained.  All the company had to do was follow DKR's advice and "dance with the one who brung ya".  One example.  The company decided let managers have control - turned out too much control.  Order cheaper fish?  These were frozen blocks of fish, then cut the fish on the bandsaw.  A boss of mine ordered Pollock instead of Haddock because of price.  So I am standing there one day behind the counter as we open and I smell the strange fish smell.  Customers knew something was different as well.  Was not a good smell. 

Another bit of stupidity- Old assholes were everywhere in the senior manager position.  The dumbass in El Paso refused to use real milk and butter in his mashed potatoes.  He used powdered milk and margarine.  

Interesting/strange things

                          1. learning to make fried chicken from old lady cook at "Old Bandera" in San Antonio  - Nellie- I think. 

                          2.  Sold 100 steaks at South Park Mall in San Antonio one Father's Day - T-Bone and Ribeye

                          3.  Strange chopped steak recipe one old manager - Jim Copeland -  had in San Antonio - "Luby's Special Chopped Steak" - had a special charbroil sauce in the middle and was nearly twice as big as a regular chopped steak.  We sold those every Sunday.  

                           4. The interview with the super-cute TV reporter in Sherman parking lot Thanksgiving Day 1996.  Most beautiful skin on that tiny little girl.  And our Area Vice President - Mr. Eldridge calling me to say thank you for doing the interview.  I had that interview on VHS for a long time.  

                            5. Eating free as a manager - every day - even days off- at any Luby's.  

                             6. The taste of so many foods.  My boss in Corpus-David Rice - made a fabulous Shrimp Etoufee.   It was awesome.  

                              7. When I made those three leftover ribeyes into chicken fried ribeye the next day in Sherman - That was the best chicken fried steak I ever had. 

                               8. S E S O V D M - ingredients to make mayonnaise. Salt Eggs Sugar Oil Vinegar Dry Mustard. 

                               9. The dessert I modified.   Our Area Vice President - Kent Weaver - son of the rich Mr. Kenneth Weaver - challenged us assistant managers to modify an item and run a food cost. I chose dessert . I took an existing lemon cake recipe and asked the pastry lady to put cream cheese icing on top instead of the usual lemon drizzle.  Tasted much better, imo. 

                             10. Sauteed mushrooms with Sherry Wine....Provencale sauce with wine...Dill sauce.....Tampico Sauce....almost any kind of sauce, except for stuffed bell pepper sauce. 

                              11. Meeting Dave Cowens at Walzem Road - San Antonio, and Randy Travis at Central Park Mall - San Antonio.   The funny part about Travis was there was an Express-News gossip columnist who wanted the scoop on stuff so I called her and told her Randy Travis and wife are here and how nice he was etc. and the lady asked me if the wife was pretty.  Hell no she wasn't so I just said ''uhhh, yeah".  My boss wasn't exactly thrilled when he read about his cafeteria in the  newspaper the next day,  but those old guys were pretty hard to please.

Jim Copeland!  I believe I worked for him at I-10 Diner in the mid to late 90's after he left Luby's.  Yes? 

Is "Old Bandera" the Luby's in Leon Valley?  That was our regular place when I was growing up. 

South Park Mall was where my boss usually suggested when I was working Pharma down in the area.  

[orangecat92 306]

I don't know what happened to Copeland.  The Old Bandera store was inside the loop, in a very old shopping center, and the store was tiny, so I don't think it was Leon Valley. it was sometimes called Little Bandera.   South Park Mall was a great location for the company.  It seemed like all of the mall stores did well.  

 

 

[orangecat92 306]

I worked at several places in SA.  I started at Old Bandera, then Las Palmas, South Park Mall, North Star Mall, Central Park Mall, Walzem Road, then Corpus - the mall.  Then got promoted to Associate Manager in Sherman.  Then I agreed to take a transfer without consulting my wife, dumb move, to El Paso.  We were there for only two months.  Her mother was very sick, in south Texas, so we got to go back to Corpus, this time associate Manager at Corpus #3, which was a free-standing location.  By then the company had ditched the 60/40 compensation model, but it was still better to be i a high volume store.  I got to make more money working in Richardson.  Then I went back to Sherman to close out my career.  By this time, early 2001, the Pappas brothers were in control and the stock price was plummeting to a very low amount.  I thought there was a chance the company would go bankrupt, and nobody was happy.  

[orangecat92 306]

1 hour ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Damn. That’s one hell of a post.

Yeah I remember them cutting the fish with a bandsaw. We used cod. Definitely the best selling item. There was no close second. We were the only Luby’s for about 40 miles, so we caught a lot of business from small towns on 290. It seems crazy to drive 40 miles for Luby’s, but many people in this great state did it for years. We’d go to church and Seguin and afterwards drive to New Braunfels to eat at Luby’s. There was never a discussion of eating in Seguin. Always Luby’s. 

Eating for free at Luby’s as an employee was a thing of beauty. It reminded of my grandfather digging into his pocket, digging out some 20’s and buying for the whole family. To say Luby’s wasn’t a special place is a dead give away that you didn’t grow up around here. 

New Braunfels! I worked there one day.  It was required that before you took the employment offer you had to work a "free day".  Purely illegal of course.  I was interested in New Braunfels because the rising star in the company was the manager, Linda Seubert .  She was one of the first lady managers, and her bio made the company annual report the year I was interviewing.  I drove to New Braunfels to work my free day, and the asst. manager gave the vibe that she was very tough, which appeared to be correct.  She didn't mind working as hard as anybody.   Of course I didn't understand anything that was going on, but when she told me I could go home and it was about 9:45 p.m. I had the feeling she was about to tell the asst. manager everything he did wrong that day.  

 

[Iceman 2794]

It's not illegal to do the "free day" of observation, so a candidate knows WTF they are getting into, as long as it is fully disclosed and no work is expected.

Our entry level positions do it still, with one page waiver they sign.

 

The tricky part is some of our 'old school' field managers hold it against the candidate if they didn't do any work.  "They're going to be lazy!"

 

Maybe the candidate just follows directions???  It always gets real quiet.   LOLz.

[orangecat92 306]

2 hours ago, Iceman said:

It's not illegal to do the "free day" of observation, so a candidate knows WTF they are getting into, as long as it is fully disclosed and no work is expected.

Our entry level positions do it still, with one page waiver they sign.

 

The tricky part is some of our 'old school' field managers hold it against the candidate if they didn't do any work.  "They're going to be lazy!"

 

Maybe the candidate just follows directions???  It always gets real quiet.   LOLz.

"no work is expected"...?  I was expected to work 14.5 hours, which made sense from the company point of view.  They wanted potential mgt. employees to feel what it was like to work from open to close.  I never saw anybody do a free day at any of the stores I worked, so I think the company may have stopped the practice at some point. 

[Iceman 2794]

Wow.  Fuck that. 

[Steamboat1874 4152]

I remember reading some time ago that Luby's bought more Codfish than any other company in the US.

 

I always loved that oven fried fish.

[tokamak 6459]

19 minutes ago, Steamboat1874 said:

I remember reading some time ago that Luby's bought more Codfish than any other company in the US.

 

I always loved that oven fried fish.

These kind of random facts are always interesting to me. I spent one summer working at a Cracker Barrel (horrible place to work, btw) and they are lowkey the #1 consumer of pure maple syrup in the country. They guarded that shit like gold, though. Give exactly ONE per customer. If they ask for more, bring them ONE more bottle, etc.

[Underdog 28868]

Wife worked at the Luby's on Oltorf when she was in HS @Crockett, it's where she learned to cook CFS using crackers for the crust instead of flour.  IIRC, Mr. Lambert was her Mgr. she always thought he was awesome. 

[orangecat92 306]

6 hours ago, Steamboat1874 said:

I remember reading some time ago that Luby's bought more Codfish than any other company in the US.

 

I always loved that oven fried fish.

This is interesting to me.  I sort of remember that the baked fish was originally supposed to be cod, but the fried fish was always supposed to be Haddock.   I don't actually remember seeing frozen blocks of cod, always Haddock, until some of the people started trying to be cheap and bought pollock.   Pan grilled filets would come in as cod. The butcher would let those thaw and slice those.    

[BearSchlong 8136]

Well the fried fish surely isn't a filet, it's more like a chicken nugget, right?

I like it when they do fried catfish.

[orangecat92 306]

The fried fish arrived unbreaded in 4 blocks to a box...frozen. 66pounds, I think.   Don’t remember amounts but fried fish procedure was water flour batter crushed crackers.  Batter was buttermilk and eggs...hazard a guess and say 144 eggs to 2 gallons of buttermilk.  I know for sure that was supposed to be haddock, and most stores would also cut up the same block for baked fish and pan grilled fish.

 Catfish filets were not a company mandate, but in Sherman we sold plenty, two recipes, pan grilled and blackened.  Fry cook wasn’t happy when blackened cat was on menu, because he couldn’t keep up, and it was messy.  We liked to serve a grilled fish with sauce, either dill sauce or provencale.  Jmo, dill sauce was not as tasty as Provençale sauce, if the first cook put enough wine in  sauce.  Several fresh veggies including mushrooms, onions, etc. complemented the sherry wine.  

For Good Friday in San Antonio and corpus, the stores sold the following seafood items:

crab something- can’t remember

shrimp creole

seafood gumbo

Salmon patty/croquette

usual fried and baked fish

seafood tempura.....if you like sweet and sour sauce, this was the best.

pan grilled, either haddock or cod filet

fried shrimp....on the counter....only day for this.

I think this was it...over half the meat counter.  I would always put a double pan of fried fish in front of counter next to jellos, and we would have two fry cooks working both noon and dinner rush that day.  Six pieces of fish in basket, two baskets in one fryolater, two or three fryolaters working through the rush.....it was something else.

 

 

[Steamboat1874 4152]

The great thing about Luby's was it was not your typical cafeteria.

They did not just pour some frozen shit in the fryer or make instant mashed potatoes. The food was pretty much the real deal and always tasted good.

I always enjoyed the pea salad.

[DoobieWah 1475]

On 6/4/2020 at 3:20 PM, DoobieWah said:

Anyone remember Jetton's on Richmond in the Greenway area in Houston

Another Houston area cafeteria was Romano’s. The one we visited back in the 70’s was where the 290/34th Street Luby’s is. 

For now. 

[Brisketexan 105569]

2 hours ago, DoobieWah said:

Another Houston area cafeteria was Romano’s. The one we visited back in the 70’s was where the 290/34th Street Luby’s is. 

For now. 

They merged, and had a joint name -- we used to go to a Luby's Romanos cafeteria on Bissonnet (I think) in the late 70s.

[Brisketexan 105569]

Luby's plans to liquidate and shut down.

F 2020.

[CooterBrown 18089]

16 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Luby's plans to liquidate and shut down.

F 2020.

[billfromlaketravis 11601]

16 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Luby's plans to liquidate and shut down.

F 2020.

Timeline? I want to go grab some more cornbread stuffing before they shut down. 

[WBT 20735]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Luby's plans to liquidate and shut down.

F 2020.

Furk.  My local one just reopened after being closed since March.

https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/09-08-20-lubys-cafeteria-restaurant-fuddruckers-liquidation-dissolution-sale-closing/

[Guest Lobo]

the one in the basement of my old building, 700 Lavaca...is still open for the very short timebeing.  I may have to go hit up one more time outta nostalgia, despite its limted offerings.  

[tx 3 putt 77921]

Sucks, I would pick up food from there on the reg 

[Brisketexan 105569]

I do wonder whether assets like the recipes and the name could be purchased by someone who wants to make another go at the cafeteria model, without the burden of Luby's existing debt and numerous shitty locations.  Same with Fuddruckers.

[DalTxHornFan 3122]

PSA:

Luby’s liver and onions

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef liver, cut into 4 steaks
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Place the liver in a mixing bowl. Cover with water and let it soak for 15 to 20 minutes.

2. In a large cast-iron skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook, while stirring occasionally, until tender and lightly browned. Remove from the skillet and season to taste with salt.

3. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the milk and eggs until well blended. Place the bread crumbs on a plate.

4. Rinse the liver under cool running water and then pat dry with paper towels. Lightly season each side with salt and pepper. Dip into the milk mixture, then into the bread crumbs, coating evenly.

5. Pour the oil into the skillet that you used for the onions, and turn the heat to medium heat.

6. After the oil has heated, add the liver and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Top with the onions.

[ChickenSandwich 9856]

[NeverMarryAStripper 22030]

I do wonder whether assets like the recipes and the name could be purchased by someone who wants to make another go at the cafeteria model, without the burden of Luby's existing debt and numerous shitty locations.  Same with Fuddruckers.

H‑E‑B carries their frozen Mac and cheese

[deadshank 24653]

This is bad news.  I feel bad for all of the Luby’s employees I’ve come to know and appreciate over the last 20 years at my mothership Luby’s at W. 34th and 290 in Houston.   Joanne, Connie, Mary J., Maritza, Vicki, Sandra, and others.   
 

I would whack a doe each year and process it for Joanne and Connie.   They loved that stuff.   Sweet ladies.  
 

2020 and COVID 19 taking its toll.  

[Guest Lobo]

Yeah, wasn't always a big fan of their food (i liked it, just didn't love it)...I will miss their team and their attitude.  Everybody was happy to be working there, everybody was polite and upbeat, everybody wanted to help you with whatever you needed, they all knew how to do each other's jobs.  Kinda like Trader Joe's.  The soup station lady was also the Chief Financial Officer.  

But behind the glass or out on the floor, everybody seemed genuinely glad you were there.  They could move fluidly from dealing with some grumpy senior citizen who didn't think the chicken salad was so great, to giving a kid like me a refill and a line on some great dessert.  

As stated above, that brand and a handful of iconic recipes have to be worth something.  Sadly though, their current ownership will gut it and sell off to  PE group that will exploit the shit out of the brand.  It only carries so much geographic weight though, it's gonna be a tough multiple particularly when you weight in how much legacy real estate dead weight is gonna have to be carried into any deal.  Their stores were fucking massive considering there was no bar or entertainment area of any kind.  

Edited September 9, 2020 by Lobo

[Ghost of LL 15604]

The death of the Fuddrucker's hurts, man.  That's one of the few places around that generates some genuine nostalgia.

[Hate 20157]

The death of the Fuddrucker's hurts, man.  That's one of the few places around that generates some genuine nostalgia.

I’m hoping that someone steps in to buy Fuddruckers. That was still one of my favorite burger places.