In 1986, Norma Manis sold the Oak Cliff cafe that carried her name. She had been feeding Dallas for decades by then, and the plan, as far as anyone could tell, was to finally sit down.
That plan lasted about two years.
By 1988 she was back at it, and since she’d sold the Norma’s name along with the business, she needed a new one. Everybody already called her Mama. Her daughters were going to be the ones running the thing. So she went with the obvious, and Mama’s Daughters’ Diner opened on Irving Boulevard, in the stretch of warehouses and showrooms that we now call the Design District.
It’s still there at 2014 Irving Blvd., and the lunch rush still looks about the way it always has. Somebody at the counter is on his second cup of coffee. A booth full of coworkers is arguing over who gets the last piece of cornbread. The pie case up front is doing its quiet work on everybody who walks past it…