WEEKLY EMAIL D SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY EMAIL LIST www.dallasobserver.com/signup for feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more! go to Lauren Drewes Daniels Dish from p13 normally may not give them a chance. Now, being at the top, they cannot be ignored.” W CHECK OUT OUR $ W EEKLY BUFFET 1 DRINKS M- F: 11AM - 2PM | 4PM - 8PM *DALLAS LOCATION ONLY Free Buffet FULL MENU AVAILABLE *BOTH CLUBS OPEN DAILY 11AM-2AM & SUNDAY 12PM-2AM 10723 COMPOSITE DR | (214) 350 - 0303 14 DALLAS OPEN DAILY 11AM-2AM & SUNDAY 12PM-2AM 2711 MAJESTY DR | (817) 640 - 8555 ARLINGTON 14 7oz WELL HIGHBALLS DAILY TIL 9PM ith just two weeks before opening day, Sternes and Easter were prep- ping for a busy season. “My house looks like a Honey Bun fac- tory,” Sternes says as Easter pulled out his phone to show a photo of a mountain of stacked boxes he started collecting this sum- mer. Remember rule No. 1: Never run out of food. “I think it’s going to work itself out,” Eas- ter says of getting enough honey buns. “I’ve been able to talk to a couple of suppliers and get pallets at a time, weekly. I’m thinking if I can get 2,500 every four days, I should hit the mark.” They closed their restaurant in late Sep- tember to focus on the fair, and the space will become a temporary Honey Bun hold- ing facility. They had to completely re-create a kitchen at the fair; last year when they walked up they were stunned at the empti- ness. Even the flooring had to be brought in, as well as all the equipment. Their employees, to whom they attribute a large part of their success, all head to the fair to work the long 10- and 12-hour days — up to 79 hours a week — and that’s just when the gates are open. There’s also prep and cleanup. Melanie Linnear is the senior vice presi- dent of concessions at the fair and has worked closely with Sternes and Easter over the past year to make sure they’re successful. “Chris and Nicole have deep roots in the southern Dallas community. Everyone calls him ‘Scoota,’” says Linnear, whose sister at- tended school with Sternes. “Their corpora- tion is called ‘SouthSide the Realest.’ Chris says it’s ‘straight (real) from the heart,’ and he is all about keeping it real with the people in the community.” The Big Tex Choice Award winners take a celebratory photo with the Big Tex mascot. Sternes and Easter hosted a tasting for Linnear and her team at their restaurant earlier this year. Linnear remembers a homeless man who came in asking to pick up trash around the parking lot to earn money for food. “He did not have to pick up the trash be- cause Chris made sure he was provided with food to eat, and Nicole instructed her team to provide water to take with him when he left. To me, that was keeping it real. In that moment, I had made up my mind to book them for the 2021 fair, and the rest is his- tory,” Linnear says. She connected them with Tim Williams, the COO of Williams Chicken and a former vendor at the fair. He and several other ven- dors, among them the Reaves brothers, acted as mentors that first year. “They always plan their work and work their plan while looking ahead to what’s next in their food and beverage business,” Linnear says of Easter and Sternes. “The Big Tex Choice Awards was their next step.” When asked about where they see them- selves in 10 years, the couple pauses and looks at one another, then Easter asks his wife if she wants to go first. In addition to continuing their run at the fair, they want to be mentors for other restaurants in their neighborhood, particularly along Al Lip- scomb Way, to help lift others up. They also want to expand their concessionaire busi- ness by attending other events. As for the man who gave Easter the idea for Peanut Butter Paradise, they lost track of him during the pandemic when the restau- rant was closed. They think he moved away but hope he reappears soon. “We keep hop- ing he sees the news and shows back up so we can tell him that we won,” Sternes says. SEPTEMBER 29–OCTOBER 5, 2022 DALLAS OBSERVER CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS dallasobserver.com MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 DALLAS OBSERVER | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | MOVIES | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | SCHUTZE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS | dallasobserver.com FREE PARKING
