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Over a century ago, you could walk to the front of the State Capitol in Austin and find a young man behind a pushcart selling homemade tamales and pralines. That young man was Delfino Martinez. For his family, it marked the beginning of an epic culinary run that continues to this day and includes the iconic Matt’s Rancho Martinez restaurants in Allen and Royse City.
Delfino eventually opened his first restaurant, El Original Restaurant, in Austin. Three decades later, Delfino’s son, Matt Sr., followed suit with Matt’s El Rancho. Authentic recipes and exceptional hospitality were the hallmarks that cemented both as beloved Austin institutions. Then, in 1985, in Dallas, Matt Martinez Jr. and his wife Estella opened Matt’s Rancho Martinez, where the Martinez family has been doling out Tex-Mex favorites to North Texans for 40 years…