Beloved Bob Armstrong Dip is Now an Endangered Species

Tex-Mex stalwart Matt's Rancho Martinez is in trouble. Two locations in Cedar Hill and Colleyville shuttered this week and the operating company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Lakewood Advocate reported yesterday. The bankruptcy filing affects both the closed restaurants and three that remain open (Lakewood, Roanoke, and Garland). An Allen location shut down last year.

Advocate quotes a statement from Matt's which claims the remaining locations are "still operating and healthy," and further says "we are taking actions to re-group, re-organize, re-structure and take a close, hard look internally to resolve issues that determine whether we are a sustainable business."

Matt's Rancho Martinez is a spin-off of Austin restaurant Matt's Famous El Rancho, which was founded way back in 1952; in 1985, Matt Jr. and his wife Estella brought the concept to Dallas. The most famous dish at Matt's is one that doesn't actually appear on the menu at all: the Bob Armstrong dip, an off-menu concoction of queso, taco meat, guac, and sour cream named for a Texas politician.