Landmark Tex-Mex restaurant northeast of Fort Worth closing after 28 years

Miguelito’s Mexican Restaurant, a mainstay for nearly three decades in the older suburb of Hurst, is closing and will change hands Aug. 31, according to a restaurant Facebook post.

“We’ve had some ups and downs but the support we received throughout these years will never be forgotten,” the post read. It was signed by owner Gabby Nevares, her family and the staff.

In 1996, when the Nevares family opened Miguelito’s, 209 W. Bedford-Euless Road, neighboring Bedford was the largest city in northeast Tarrant County. Hurst, next door in the corridor between Fort Worth and DFW Airport, was more than double the size of Southlake or Colleyville.

“Having 5 adult children, some living across the country, 6 grandchildren and 1 on the way, after some time of prayer, God’s timing couldn’t be more perfect,” Gabby Nevares wrote.

Nevares did not name the new operator or describe what will fill the space.

In 1996, she knew the business from her family’s La Playa Maya restaurants in Fort Worth. Her husband. Michael. had worked at the Hurst restaurant when it was a location of Ojeda’s, a legacy Tex-Mex restaurant in Dallas.

A Star-Telegram review in 2006 called it “the neighborhood fix for Mexican food” and praised the shrimp cocktail, “vaquero” street tacos and pollo diablo.

Michael (“Miguelito”) died of leukemia in 2004 after a long, emotional farewell that was covered in the Star-Telegram.