From a 50-year Dallas Tex-Mex icon to holiday-week shutdowns and food-truck pivots, several familiar spots quietly closed across the state.
As a winter storm grips the Southwest, the new year has ushered in a quiet but significant wave of Texas closures, most notably the end of a 50-year legacy at Dallas’s Herrera’s Cafe #1 near Love Field. The holiday season proved difficult across the state, with an Amarillo Chicken Express shuttering on Christmas Eve and San Antonio’s Miguelito’s Mexican Grill closing due to a rent lockout. While Bryan prepares to lose a long-standing Dairy Queen later this month, East Dallas offers a glimpse of adaptation, as Palmer’s Hot Chicken shifts from a storefront model to a focus on food trucks and catering. This email was originally sent out on Jan 26th, 2026.
Southwest Stories chronicles the fading restaurant landscape of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arizona, dedicated to documenting the closures of family-owned diners and roadside staples. Each Monday, the newsletter captures the history of these community fixtures, preserving the memories of places shaped by the region’s deep roots and long highways before they are forgotten. Read more here.
