Photography by Danny Fulgencio.
In the heart of Oak Cliff, Norma’s Cafe is more than just a diner; it’s much like that comforting old granny who always has a warm hug and a delicious meal waiting for you.
For years, the cherished community staple has been dishing out more than just hearty meals. While they have expanded over the years, their mission of giving back to the community has never faltered.
Every year in June, Norma’s takes customers back in time to celebrate the store’s birthday, offering its signature chicken fried steak platter for the 1950s price of $1.85 at all its locations. And since it’s Norma’s, the proceeds are, of course, donated.
This year was Norma’s 68th birthday, and proceeds from the special benefitted Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Dallas. Across all locations, they sold 4,987 chicken fried steak platters at the discounted price for a grand total of $12,537.45.
Big Brothers Big Sisters is particularly important to Norma’s owner Ed Murph, who was mentored by a World War II veteran, Bill Barnett, in the ‘50s. In the ‘80s, Murph reciprocated as a Big for several kids in the program and was even best man for one.
The restaurant originally started out as Bob McGhee’s Davis Cafe. McGhee was Norma Smith’s well-known husband, who played baseball for Adamson High School and Southern Methodist University before being recruited to baseball’s minor leagues as a right-handed pitcher around 1950.
After McGhee injured his arm, they started the cafe in the 1000 block of West Davis. The couple split in the 1960s, and Norma moved the restaurant to its current location. She and her family lived in the house directly behind the restaurant for years.
As a boy growing up in Oak Cliff, Murph was a regular at the cafe and later bought the store in 1986 from Norma herself, going on to grow the restaurant to six locations. Murph had been in the hospitality industry since 1970 and had owned a series of clubs, bars and restaurants, including Cafe Cancun in the early 1980s.
By Murph’s side for nearly his entire tenure is senior operations manager Pam Spell, who has been with Norma’s for 31 years.
“We have a rich history here,” Spell says. “We have families that come in, and their kids come in, and then their kids grow up and come in. It goes on down and down the line.”
For 68 years, Norma’s has provided customers with large country breakfasts, fluffy biscuits and cream gravy, stuffed omelets, and hearty pancakes, waffles and cinnamon rolls. They strive to create a family dining room atmosphere and keep customers coming back for the scratch cooking that reminds them of home.
Along with maintaining these high-quality, homestyle meals, Spell has spearheaded Norma’s mission to cater to the community and give back in any way they can. Over the last 30 years, she has seen their reach grow exponentially.
“We feed whoever walks through our doors on Thanksgiving Day, and when we started it, it was 500 people,” Spell says. “Throughout the years, I think this is going to be our 40th year, we now serve over 5,000 people.”
In addition to regular events like food and school supplies drives, Norma’s will help any person in need who walks into the restaurant.
“With people who need help, they’ll come in and eat, and they don’t have the money,” Spell says. “And we just say, that’s OK, come pay us back when you can. That’s what we call our community. When in need, we’re there for you.”
Like Spell and Murph, many employees at Norma’s have been around for decades. And for some families, working at Norma’s is tradition.
“Our main cook, Roy, he’s been here for 35 years. And now we have his nephews working here,” Spell says. “We have a longevity of employees, and we all help each other out. We treat everybody like family, and we just want everybody to feel welcome here.
