Smoked pork enchiladas at Crossroads Diner. Photo by Alison Fechtel
Crossroads Diner is famous for its ooey-gooey from-scratch sticky buns, and the restaurant showcases myriad mouthwatering items on its menu. But chef and owner Tom Fleming says he frequently receives requests for his off-the-menu smoked pork enchiladas and eggs.
“I’ve had a love affair with Mexican and Tex-Mex food forever. I spent my formative years in San Antonio. So I got some pork butts, smoked them, and created this as a special — I love it. People seem to love it and always tell me to put it on the menu,” he says. “But there’s an old secret in the restaurant world. When you put something on the menu, it dies. It dies a long and painful death.
“We had another item — a braised pork shank with caramelized onion and potato hash, and people said, ‘Put it on the menu. Put it on the menu.’ So I did, and no one ever ordered it. So I took it back off.”
Fleming says that patrons ordering off-menu is hardly ever a problem.
“It’s basic customer service to allow people to have what they want if we have it. On the other hand, if they want me to make foie gras like I did back [when I was] at The Riviera, I’m going to say, ‘No, that’s not us.’ ”
8121 Walnut Hill 214.346.3491 crossroads-diner.com» Next: Señor Chico at Mi Cocina
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