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Music venue Mama Tried opens this weekend in Irving

Its operator Brooke Humphries is trying out a new plan: Move to the suburbs.

Mama Tried Honky Tonk is boot-scootin' to the Toyota Music Factory in Irving.

The locally-owned music venue and restaurant opened in Deep Ellum about a year ago. On Oct. 10, owner Brooke Humphries plans to open her second Mama Tried. Free kick-off events at Toyota Music Factory feature Nick Sterling & The Nomads on Thursday, Oct. 10 and Roger Creager on Friday, Oct. 11.

"This happened so fast," Humphries says.

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The 5,000-square-foot music venue will ooze with country-music flair: The original Mama Tried has photos of celebrity musicians on its walls and bartenders who wear cowboy hats.

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The new Mama Tried will have pool tables, shuffleboard and lots of TVs, Humphries reports. It'll also feature favorites from the original menu, like chicken-fried steak with rosemary gravy, brisket sliders and mile-high nachos. Chef Ashley Heredia will create an expanded menu — to cater to the expected lunchtime crowd — while beverage director Julie Campbell will oversee all things alcohol.

Humphries plans to have live music regularly. And, she'll hand-pick acts for the courtyard outside, which can be seen (and heard from) by the neighboring businesses such as new patio and restaurant Reservoir.

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Mama Tried has a southern menu, with items like this pimento sandwich made with Duke's mayo....
Mama Tried has a southern menu, with items like this pimento sandwich made with Duke's mayo. The Mama Tried in Irving will have a bigger menu than the one in Deep Ellum.(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)

Toyota Music Factory and its nearby Texas Lottery Plaza are home to about a dozen restaurants, an Alamo Drafthouse movie theater and a large live-music venue. Many of the restaurants in the complex are large companies like Bar Louie and Freshii. Humphries offers some local appeal. She operates coffee shop Mudsmith (which just closed on Greenville Avenue in Dallas and is opening in Trophy Club imminently), arcade bar Barcadia, Beauty Bar and dance club It'll Do. Mudsmith and Mama Tried are her first suburban projects.

"I'm always the pioneer to go into a neighborhood, whether that's Mudsmith on Greenville Avenue or Barcadia at the end of a street, on Henderson [Avenue], where nobody goes," she says. "To be the last piece of the puzzle [in Irving] to a place that already has its own ecosystem and vibe: I couldn't be more excited about it."

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"I've been trying to go suburban forever," she adds.

Mama Tried is an interesting concept for Humphries, considering that she didn't used to like country music. She didn't know George Jones from George Strait until around 2016, when she started going to live country concerts. Humphries was so inspired by the community — and the opportunity — that she opened Mama Tried in Deep Ellum in 2018.

"Who knew that we'd be at the front door of a [expletive] honky tonk, taking video of a guy on a fiddle, blowing our minds?" Humphries says, looking back on her career. "That's life for you."

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.

Updated Oct. 2, 2019 with new opening date