Church Street Blues and BBQ

This post has been merged! Please see this page for more information.

Former JJ's Liquor, Texas Avenue

In the pre-JJ's days, though all but the ball-looking thing at the top of the sign survived to the end.
Originally located at the now-defunct Texas Avenue page and later at this page, this former liquor store (1600 Texas Avenue South) has been near the corner of Harvey Road since the 1970s (original build date unknown, it was listed in the early 1970s phone books but did not exist in 1971 as per aerials), originally as Discount Liquor Store. J.J. Ruffino bought it in 1983 to complement a Bryan store, and it remained as such for decades. In late 2010, Ruffino exited the liquor store and sold the three stores to Spec's. Spec's converted the store on Rock Prairie and Longmire to their brand but kept the two stores as JJ's, eventually converting them to wholesale only. I went into the store only once in 2016, when I applied for a job in the chain, though for unknown reasons it fell through. (I can tell you that the inside of the store was dark and dingy). The location at Redmond and Texas Avenue closed in 2017 when Spec's built a new store at University and Highway 6 at the former Linens-N-Things that incorporated their wholesale operation.
Southbound on Texas Avenue, March 2014, from car.
Southbound on Texas Avenue, March 2014. Another view.

UPDATE 01-20-2025: JJ's Liquor at 1219 N. Texas Avenue did end up closing sometime in the early 2010s and never converted to the Spec's name. Anyway, after the 1600 Texas Avenue South store closed for good, it was reopened by What's the Buzz Specialty Coffee Company for a few years (removing the "JJ's" signs that were along the building's facade for decades), but by 2024 that moved out and became Scoots, which moved from the DSW shopping center.

Rice Garden

The big black thing in the foreground is the menu board for Taco Cabana. Picture by author, May 2019.
Behind the Taco Cabana (currently the now-closed Las Palapas) was another restaurant at 102 Live Oak. It opened in late 1994 as La Barroneña Ranch Steakhouse when it opened (though was initially planned as "City Slickers Steakhouse").

This is from the Battalion archives circa 2000 The later tenant chronology includes College Station Seafood (operating from 2004 to January 2011), Oceans Bar & Grill (operated in the very early 2010s), Vy's Kitchen Asian Cuisine (opened July 2012, same ownership and menu of Vietnamese Taste), and finally Rice Garden (changed hands around 2018, despite Yelp treating it like the same business, it appears that it was a separate entity--a residual link from the now-defunct EatBCS mentions that it was under construction as of September 2018). Rice Garden closed around 2020, a victim of COVID-19, and is still vacant.


UPDATE 03-15-2021: Rice Garden is now closed permanently. It appears it was a victim of COVID-19 last year. Also, the Taco Cabana referred here has since closed and replaced with Las Palapas.
UPDATE 05-21-2021: Made a more extensive update that fixes a pressing formatting error but also adds dates to businesses.
UPDATE 04-25-2024: A third update to finally put in something for La Barroneña Ranch Steakhouse, and also to mention the passing of Las Palapas.
UPDATE 01-31-2025: In addition to the La Quinta auxiliary buildings this and the nearby defunct Taco Cabana / Las Palapas have received demolition permits as well.
UPDATE 02-21-2025: It's gone. Taco Cabana is being torn into right now.

Layne's of College Station, Eastgate

Picture from author, May 2014. Note the former Sully's in the background.

Built in 1962 and home to Wilson Plumbing Company for many years, Layne's of College Station has been in operation at 106 Walton since 1994, serving little more than fried chicken strips, Texas Toast, and a spicy mustard-based dipping sauce. It is similar to the Raising Cane's chain, though actually predated the chain by two years, but unlike the 400+ locations of Raising Cane's, Layne's just has three, the original, Southwest Crossing in 2006, and a third location near Caprock Crossing opened in October 2015. (This post is split from this one).

It should be noted that Brazos CAD says the building was built in 1962, but Wilson's website suggests that they have been at Eastgate since 1945. It's entirely possible that they moved or rebuilt once while in Eastgate.

UPDATE 04-08-2025: Sadly, while Layne's still looks like that on the exterior, it has sold out—bigger menu, more locations, and drastically more expensive.