Country Boyz Fixins has been serving soul food in the East MLK neighborhood of East Austin since 2013 with roots in the neighborhood that go back even farther. The residents of this historically minority neighborhood have seen it change dramatically over the years.
We recently chatted by phone with owner Thera Dolphus Williams, a longtime resident of East Austin. “I grew up over here on the East Side, so you know I’ve seen it. You know the majority was Hispanics and Blacks in this neighborhood – especially the neighborhood I grew up in. I went to Allen Jr. High School and that’s pretty much all we had over there. So I’ve seen drastic change. You know rising property taxes [are] kinda forcing the minorities out. You have a house worth $30,000 that’s all the sudden worth 100 thousand, 200, 400, now 500 thousand,” said Williams.
Williams has been working in the restaurant industry since 1997, and Country Boyz – a 2019 First Plates winner – is his second restaurant. “I was in partnership with some guys several years back. People asked me when I was going to open up on my own, so I eventually did it. I opened another [restaurant] around 2002 called Fixins R Us, but I had to close it down after going through a divorce. So after that, I waited a few years and then opened it up,” said Williams.
Business seemed brisk on the day I went for fried catfish and gumbo; cars pulled up every few minutes as staff handed off meals and took new orders. However, despite improvisations sense the pandemic began, it’s still been difficult for the bottom line. “Well, right now it’s slow…it’s way down from where it was before the pandemic,” said Williams about his business.
The pressure on small businesses and restaurants has, of course, ratcheted up over the last year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep the country making dining in and in-person gatherings more difficult.
Country Boyz Fixins sells a mixture of Southern and Creole classics like gumbo, alligator and okra, fried catfish, hot wings, and po’ boys. Additional classics are sold as daily specials. “Before the pandemic, basically whatever our daily special was for the day, we’d usually sell out. Oxtails, chicken and dumplings, beef tips and rice – stuff like that. We sell lots of wings and fish as well,” said Williams.
Country Boyz has a small dining area and with the lockdown orders came the decision to close down the dining area completely and focus solely on take out orders. “Because of the pandemic, we’re not doing any dine-in, and also my dining room is small, so even with dine in we could only allow two to three people in because of social distancing,” he said.
When asked if the city of Austin was providing any relief to businesses such as his, he answered with a curt, “No.”
Some local restaurants have shared stories of positive effects on their businesses after the summer 2020 Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality after the murder of George Floyd. Williams says there wasn’t as much business as a result of the increased spotlight on the Black community as he would have liked: “There was like one or two weeks where they had a ‘buy Black’ week. We had a little bit of a peak from where we were normally, but because of COVID, it was like a regular day before COVID hit. It wasn’t really noticeable to us, it was just kind of a good day.”
When asked where he thought the future of Black-owned restaurants in Austin was heading, he replied, “We need Black restaurant owners to get together first and come up with some ideas that we can bring to the city. Maybe they can be willing to do something to help keep us in business. I don’t think they’re gonna come out and reach out and say ‘hey let us do this for ya.’ It’d be a first because they’ve never really done anything for the Black community in Austin anyway.”
Country Boyz Fixins is currently open for take-out orders. www.countryboysfixins.com
This article appears in February 12 • 2021.