At a small grill at a gas station in suburban West Fort Worth, the chef’s thoughts are focused on June.
“Two years ago last week, I came to Fort Worth and prayed to the Lord,” said Damian Crockem, a New Orleans native who found a Texas following for his Cajun cuisine.
“And in June I also lost my son.”
In 2017, before Crockem came to Texas to marry his current wife Christina, he lost a son to gun violence in eastern New Orleans.
The beginning of summer is still a time of heartbreak.
But now it also marks the month he stumbled across a vacant grill in a worn-out grocery store and turned it into a west-side outpost of Cajun classics: Always Cooking NOLA, 5001 River Oaks Blvd.
In addition to the usual burgers and tacos, Always Cooking NOLA sells shrimp, crawfish, etouffee, jambalaya, catfish, soft-shell crab, fried pork chops, boudin and po-boys on New Orleans bread.
The name was his son’s idea, Crockem said.
“My son, thank God, said, ‘Daddy, man, you’re always cooking!’ That’s how I came up with the name Always Cooking.”
Crockem has been cooking almost non-stop since he opened, even without a sign except for a banner on the storefront of the 72-year-old gas station. And even that gets lost among all the vape shop signs and beer and cigarette ads.
First, River Oaks residents started talking about Always Cooking. Then Facebook foodie groups caught on. Delivery orders are now pouring in.
The atmosphere is early Chevron.
The restaurant has only one Formica table in a cluttered storage area near the drink fountain. On the other hand, there is a choice of 12 cool chests with drinks.
The classic success story here for a gas station grill is Chef Point Cafe, which started in Watauga serving duck a l’orange alongside motor oil before moving to Colleyville.
Like Chef Point, Always Cooking is a stunning standout with an attractive chef.
Crockem, a former chef at casino hotels and French Quarter cafes in New Orleans, produces an incredible selection of specialties at a counter next to customers purchasing lottery tickets.
He serves creamy Cajun pasta. Grilled shrimp, Cajun fried ribs and crawfish mac-and-cheese, plus little-known breakfast dishes like catfish and grits.
Side dishes include kale, spinach and Cajun-spiced boiled potatoes with Crockem’s own spices.
Even the small salad is carefully cut and looks much more attractive than in some mid-price restaurants.
His “Treme Sixth Ward” seafood egg rolls combine crab with shrimp, crawfish, bacon and dirty rice.
If it’s closed the day you stop by or call, it’s to drive to New Orleans for more supplies and bread.
Crockem said he was praying for help and strength in New Orleans two years ago when “20 minutes later I had her number,” pointing to his wife, Christina.
When she needed to take out a short-term loan from a lender across River Oaks Boulevard, he saw the grill for rent.
“We’ve been busy ever since,” he says.
His recipes come from “the spirit within me,” he said. He experimented with about half a dozen different combinations before settling on the recipe for the seafood rolls.
A fried catfish fillet was huge and lightly breaded. It comes as an appetizer or on a po-boy.
The greens are southern sweet. The jambalaya is a highlight, packed with chicken and sausage.
Crockem said his next goal is to add a food trailer for events. But he wants Always Cooking to remain a two-person operation and not expand enough to need employees.
He calls himself the “NOLA Cowboy Chef.”
“I became a cowboy,” he said with a grin, holding up a New Orleans Saints victory sign and referring to a Saints fan’s nickname.
“But I’m still a ‘Whodat?’ fan all day.”
Always Cooking NOLA is open Monday through Saturday from 10:30 AM to 6:30 PM and Sunday from 11 AM to 3 PM; 504-688-9548facebook.com/alwayscooking.nola.
