We Go to Hooker's Grill in Fort Worth for Some Elusive Frybread

A recent road trip exploring the great Southwest yielded stunning vistas of canyons, deserts, mesas and rock formations, but it turns out that Monument Valley has more to offer than the Three Sisters or the Mitten Buttes. After a day of chasing tumbleweeds, we stopped for dinner at a small restaurant just outside Monument Valley and discovered frybread listed on the menu in a Navajo taco.

This flat dough bread is pan-fried or deep-fried in either lard, shortening or oil, which has a wonderful taste and texture that belies its somewhat troubled origins. It was unknown among the indigenous people of North America until right after the Civil War, only becoming a staple during the government-forced relocation during the Long Walk of the Navajo from present-day Arizona to eastern New Mexico.

Since it was difficult to support agriculture in this environment, the government graciously provided the Navajo with the few simple ingredients that could be used to produce this bread and thus avoid starvation during their forced displacement. They figured it was the least they could do after uprooting an entire people.

As often happens, a subjugated culture will adopt and thrive with the leftovers, refuse and castoffs of their oppressors, and eventually these can become delicacies and sought-after dishes by the original elite class. This explains how oxtails eventually end up costing more than steak, pigs’ feet are found pickled in jars at boutique shops and South Dakota designates frybread as the official state bread in 2005.

Setting aside its problematic beginnings, there’s no getting around the fact that frybread is good eats. We’d been searching for it in North Texas without any luck until we happened upon a CBS Texas story, “Fort Worth restaurant owner serves a daily taste of Native American pride,” which talked of a place called Hooker’s Grill near the Stockyards. Owner Ruth Hooker and mother, whose family are members of the Choctaw Nation, are proud to offer up their homemade take on frybread.
We were pleasantly surprised to learn from the chalkboard menu outside that the place also serves fried onion burgers, which we love and which saved us a trip to Oklahoma. This would be an even better trip than we’d hoped for.

We ordered a fried onion burger as well as some green chili cheese tots and our holy grail, the Indian taco. One might be taken aback at the $15 price of the taco, but rest assured, the frybread that provides the base is large and well worth it.
The tots were ooey gooey cheesy, with perhaps a bit less green chili than we’d have hoped for, but at the end of the day, they worked.
The fried onion burger comes with fried onions, mustard and a pickle for $7, but we added cheese, lettuce and tomato for a small upcharge. It was of a decent diameter, onion-y enough (but we can never have enough onions), juicy and fresh.
The Indian taco, the raison d'être for this visit, didn’t disappoint. It can best be described as sort of a Frito pie served on frybread instead of corn chips. The light yet firm frybread was smothered with chili and cheese, then topped with chopped lettuce and tomatoes. We think it was even better than the version we had at Monument Valley, and when Ruth made the rounds asking how our meal was, we let her know our verdict.

The menu also includes sandwiches (BLT, fried bolo, grilled PB & J), hot dogs (including one with chili and slaw), veggie burgers and desserts, including an Indian sundae, which is several ice creams, sauces, nuts, whipped cream, etc., on some frybread. Maybe next time.

So after months of searching for frybread in the area, we finally found some, just a short drive away in an air-conditioned vehicle. It beats a forced 300-mile trek across the desert, even though both had wonderful frybread at the conclusion.

Hooker's Grill, 213 W. Exchange Ave., Fort Worth. Wednesday – Thursday, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.