Aggie Food

Formerly "The Commons and Other A&M Food Options"

This "Special Collection" features food options on campus. There are links to four outbound articles, all of which you should look at.

Sbisa
Originally written at this article, I originally included Sbisa on here, but in later revisions, I moved it out.

The Original Mess Hall
Found here.

The Commons
The Commons is now found here.

The MSC
Covered in MSC Old and New.

The Rest
- The University Club, which we won't cover today—it's the only places in campus where I didn't eat in spring 2012.
- The Golf Course Snack Bar—which closed circa 2004 and had hamburgers and grilled cheese. It was later functionally replaced with the Grill at the Pavilion, which took on a new name (from Pavilion Snack Bar) at about the time it closed. It got a menu update when the MSC closed, as well.
- The Ag Café was built circa 1991 and had Tomato Bar Express, Chick-fil-A, and Which Wich at the start of Spring 2012. Which Wich replaced a self-branded sandwich counter, and apparently the Ag Café was more of a cafeteria-type outlet at first until the mid-2000s, when Chick-fil-A was added, and the sandwich counter was renamed West Side Deli. Tomato Bar Express came later. Not much is known beyond that. (from MyBCS) In August 2012, it got some updates, including a repaint (from faded maroon to that pale green color I've seen around) and some removal of the florescent lights which gave it the "1980s food court" look. Tomato Bar Express was changed into 2-Mato and now has pizza slices instead personal pan pizzas.
- Pi R Square is in the CE/TTI basement. Until August 2012, it had the only known Olla Roja left, a disgusting Asian place called Lucky 8, a kiosk with Freschetta pizza, and Pickles Deli. No information is known beyond that. In August 2012, however, Olla Roja was replaced with a new concept (Chick-n-Grill), Lucky 8 was renamed as Wiki Wok, and like the Underground, Pickles became Mondo Subs.
- ChopStix may have opened in the mid-2000s. I'm not too sure. In August 2012, it became Feisty's and serves hot dogs instead of the mediocre but somewhat pricey for what you got rice bowls, which were never any good (hint: the microwavable stuff you can find the frozen foods section that look like rice boxes were about on par in terms of quality)
- The "Bus Stop Snack Bar" near Reed-McDonald had sandwiches and drinks. It closed circa 2006.
- Critical Care Café in the Veterinary Building used to offer food until the afternoon, but it does no longer serve food at all.
- At some point in the early to mid 2000s, "Zachry Snackry" closed down.
- Back when Cain Hall housed athletes, there was a buffet with gourmet food (at least, better than Sbisa and Duncan had to offer). Unfortunately, you had to be an athlete to eat there. (from Epinions)
A&M also used to have a full distribution center for its dining center, which it quit doing in the mid-2000s. The Fred Dollar Commissary was the place, complete with a functioning railroad spur. Since A&M no longer does the full distribution center, the Commissary is currently used for other purposes (like bike storage), although the railroad spur is still connected (the only connected spur in College Station in the city limits, in fact).

One of the things that was great was the Maroon Plate Specials, the "meal" plan: if you weren't eating a full meal at one of the Dining Centers, you could use a MPS as a meal, which included (usually) a drink, a side, and an entree, perhaps a fruit as well. Unfortunately, it began shrinking as of 2009, until it was announced they would be eliminated, with no meals in fall 2012, which means that it wasn't Compass Group's fault after all (at least for the loss of MPS). Another change that happened in fall 2012 was due to a mix-up in convenience store ownership...I heard from someone that Rattler's apparently won the contract to operate the convenience stores but was no longer affiliated with the University...so the convenience stores no longer accept Dining Dollars (the Rosenthal Meat Center store never did, by the way). I had heard that the convenience stores had Maroon Plate Specials at one time, though.

You can get more information on whatever food A&M is currently hawking at Dining.Tamu.edu. For everything else, please write it in the comments or check out the source thread at MyBCS.com.

I'd like to get more pictures too...you can wait for me to slowly collect them or you can be kind and send them to me!

Ira's

Sounds good to me, especially in a time of sub-par and small grocery stores. From the early 1980s.
Built as a gourmet foods store, this building later served as the buffet Taste of China, which is what most remember it by. At some point, the building changed addresses from 1704 Valley View to 2702 Texas, but here are the various incarnations of the building.

#1: Ira's
First alluded to a comment on this blog, Ira's was a two-level gourmet foods store that sold (among other things) wine, chocolate, and baked goods, built sometime around 1983-1984. It's unknown to when Ira's went out of business exactly (sometime in the mid 1980s, likely during the oil crash).

#2: Ferreri's Italian
Owned by former hotelier Joe Ferreri after he lost nearly everything he had after the oil bust caused him to lose his beloved Ramada Inn. Probably the red, white, and green striping was added to the building at this point. I just don't have a lot of information on Ferreri's, though, nor do I know if it was any good or not (Olive Garden was just at Holleman and Texas at this point). In early 1997 it closed when he retired. After that it became the "Burton Creek Pub & Brewery".

#3: Burton Creek Pub & Brewery
Discounting the fact that Burton Creek is in Bryan and the closest creek is Bee Creek (and Carter Creek Parkway is next to Burton Creek...don't ask), Burton Creek Pub didn't last too long, circa 1996 to 1998. The place sold cigars and homemade beer, with décor including a "walk-in humidor, leather sofas, [and] bear skin rugs". Somewhere I remember reading...it was either on MyBCS or the HAIF, that Taste of China, for years just hid the leftover brewing equipment and never used it. I don't know if they served real food otherwise, though.

#4: Taste of China
Finally, it became Taste of China, which was your average (forgettable) Chinese food place (though we picked up food a few times here before, but all I can remember is greasy noodles and such), though unfortunately, it's one of the "better" buffets (a very relative term), and that was in 2005 (I have no idea what it's like now nor am willing to find out). In summer 2014, it received a repaint (all yellow, but a different shade than the nearby AutoZone) and in spring 2015 closed with little fanfare. Previously, the restaurant kept the old exterior from Ferreri's, featuring Italian flag striping.

#5
In 2016, it became Q Beauty Supply (without fanfare) and C2 Education Centers (suite 200).

Updated July 2014 with new ad and some other stuff, then again in 2015 after it closed. In 2016 this post updated again, and I'll probably change the name and photo soon. Slight update in 2017 to account for formatting. Finally changed names again in 2019 with new header.

Putt-Putt Golf & Games

The building today

The late 1990s were a pretty sleepy time for College Station, and that was where I spent my youth. Many of these have been covered, but for mini-golf, it was Putt-Putt Golf. Located off Valley View and Harvey Mitchell at 1705 Valley View Drive, and opening circa 1988 (after the 1987 filing), Putt-Putt (no relation to the children's adventure game by Humongous Entertainment), was always pretty small (nothing too fancy, no windmills or exciting options, mostly green carpeting, beginner and less-beginner golf courses), some large fiberglass animals thrown around (giraffe, elephant: trying to with a vaguely "safari" theme), plus an arcade with tokens and prizes (it was really small--I don't even remember it having air conditioning or not, even as of circa 1999), a batting cage, and a small area for bumper boats, the only place in town for them. I later discovered that the establishment opened as a franchised location and taken over by the main company in 1991. The blurb that I found mentioned it had been expanded slightly, though I don't know what features they actually added.

While the bumper boats and mini-golf were unique, it was no Gattiland. If you wanted to have fun as a kid in those days or wanted a cool place to have a birthday, you went to Gattiland, case closed.


The logo. It's an edited version from Putt-Putt of Rome, Georgia, which did not update their logo, enabling me edit it for the purposes of this article.



Probably because of that fact (and everyone knew it), Putt-Putt just got sadder and more run-down over the years. The bumper boats went first, closing in the early 2000s (not that it was very big, I think it could only fit four), then the Putt-Putt name ("Brazos Valley Golf & Games" was the new name). By 2005, they had converted the bumper boats area to a skatepark, which seemed mildly popular. But by the end of 2006 (or early 2007--help me out here), the whole thing was closed, with only some tattered mini-golf holes, a creepy-looking abandoned batting cage, and those fiberglass animals, now fading in the sun.

Eventually the batting cage and mini-golf remnants were demolished, and the bumper boats area filled in for good for its new tenant: Paradise Scuba, which relocated from Parkway Square. They doubled the size of the old arcade building, even adding in a swimming pool inside (why they didn't use the old Bumper Boats area, who knows). They did, however, leave the lighthouse from the bumper boats area, though the lower rungs were removed so you couldn't climb up.



Paradise Scuba opened in September 2008 closed in June 2012 for good, despite the renovations to the property. Two years later, it reopened as a second location of Aggieland Cycling, which presumably filled in the pool inside. Neither business used the old batting cages area, and in late 2016, Domino's began to build a new location there (replacing their location on Texas Avenue near Deacon and Sunset Gardens), which opened in April 2017. The Domino's (no "Pizza" anymore due to corporate rebranding) has the address of 1801 Valley View, and unlike its old location, features dine-in seating. Weirdly, the official "entrance" to the pizza restaurant is the far side of Aggieland Cycling's parking lot, the closer driveway (shared with Aggieland Cycling) is supposed to be an exit-only lane.

Going back to Putt-Putt, it lasted over a decade, but to this day, we don't have a real mini-golf place. Sure, Grand Station Entertainment, the only place for bowling (Triangle Bowl and the MSC met their demise around the time Putt-Putt closed up shop) or mini-golf (of the "glow in the dark" variety, and they've got some sort of weird Western theme going on. If you want to golf in College Station, you'll have to stick with real courses and driving ranges.

Extensively updated in July 2014 with new tenant and picture, then again in 2015. In October 2017, a number of later updates were integrated. Minor updates in April 2020

Memorial Student Center

I admit, the new MSC does look stunning sometimes. (Picture by author, 2013). The old picture that appeared at the top of this post can be seen here.
Editor's Note from April 2020: This article was originally written in 2012 and went through some subsequent updates in 2013. At the time, especially when the first version of the page went up in April 2012 (when the MSC re-opened), I was a student, and the writing tended to reflect that. Even the website itself had lots of items in it that were later purged as things changed and a greater sense of what I wanted the website to be emerged. While I tried to get to restore the article as it appeared when it first went up (as in, with pictures, not the original text), the Battalion links don't work anymore and there's no archive available at this time. It is also one of the website's longer articles. The 2020 update featured a substantial rewrite of the article, with the older version seen here, archived shortly before the article was re-written.

The Memorial Student Center at Texas A&M University (at 275 Joe Routt) is more than a typical student union building that is found in nearly every campus, a commons building with lounges, a food court, offices, and conference facilities. Planning for the MSC began in the 1930s with a new building envisioned to replace the YMCA Building as the "social" center on campus (which had, among other things, a bowling alley and swimming pool in the basement). The growing "Texas A&M College" needed a large, centralized place for student activity and from day one, it was meant to be a memorial to those who served in the war, initially the "Great War", and later, World War II. The architect of the MSC, Carleton Adams, went to seven student centers from Midwest universities to gather ideas, always a good idea to gather ideas to become the best there can be. Sam Walton of Wal-Mart did the same thing, and up until his death 1992 kept visiting discount stores of all types to perfect his discount store. As part of the planning process (for the MSC, not Wal-Mart), Adams tossed around a few ideas for the name, including "The Memorial" and "Gold Star Hall".

In 1947, the building, now known as the Memorial Student Center, began its groundbreaking, situated between Houston Street, Clark Street, Lamar Street, and what would be Joe Routt Boulevard by the 1950s, replacing several houses (professors lived on campus in those days). It was also across the street from Guion Hall, a beautiful example of Classical European-style architecture, which was going out of style as Modernism started to take hold. The MSC was one of these, and ushered in an era of Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired buildings (the All-Faiths Chapel is another).

After three years, the building opened, dedicated to the fallen Aggies in World War II and World War I. I can't find the exact date of this opening: it was dedicated on 4/21/51, but according to the Battalion archives, it had been open for a few months prior, mentioning a bowling alley tournament as early as February 1951. The building actually had opened in September 1950.

The opening of the MSC was a huge deal to the university and the city of College Station, as for one it was one of the first air-conditioned buildings on campus, and the fact that it had ballrooms, a bowling alley, a barbershop, a dozen conference rooms, three dining rooms, a reading room (stocked with newspapers and magazines), a game room, and several retail tenants (a bookstore called the Exchange Store, hobbies and crafts, and even a cookie/candy counter, akin to what a department store at the time would have) Considering at this point America's first fully enclosed, climate-controlled regional mall was five years away, this was one of those "nothing else like it" buildings. I'm not sure what the "three dining rooms" was: I imagine that it wasn't for student use (people ate in Sbisa or Duncan), and for special events where a huge dining hall would not be appropriate.

Another feature of the MSC was a hotel on the second level, with 65 air-conditioned rooms. This replaced the on-campus Aggieland Inn (not related to the former Ramada that closed in 2011). However, the campus grew in the 1960s (accepting women, African Americans, and non-Corps members in the 1960s) and the MSC just wasn't adequate for Texas A&M anymore. The 1950s design had been outmoded, and it was time for change.

The 1970s incarnation did not close the whole MSC, and rebuilt it in phases, starting in 1971. The nearby Guion Hall, however came down for the Rudder Tower and Rudder Theatre complex (1970s Brutalist architecture had taken charge by this time) at about that time.

During this time, the MSC was not called the MSC (a successful branding campaign later on), it was known as the "C". When it finished renovations in 1974, the Memorial Student Center featured a new post office location (the Aggieland Post Office, officially, which used locks and keys instead of combinations), a cafeteria (or two?) and more bowling lanes. Another feature of the new MSC was a covered drive-up on the Lamar Street side. Decked out in the latest of 1970s fashions, students of the time thought the décor was tacky and overpriced, with a pine refectory table ($1650 in mid-1970s dollars), Japanese silkscreens, Italian marble busts, and more, especially since this was a time when students were paying six dollars a semester hour instead of two (it probably seemed like a huge deal at the time), and the Promenade, a gaudy room with chandeliers, dozens of big-game mounted animals heads, and a globe with flags sticking out of it. Windows looked out to the east, and when polled, 92% of the student body disliked it.

This room would be the Flag Room, which would later be seen as a revered campus gathering place, but that was years away. The animal heads were removed, and because the university couldn't get rid of them by sending them back, they were stored in a hangar at Riverside Campus. When I first wrote that section, I commented that they "presumably are still there", indirectly citing Riverside Campus' underuse and general age. Given that Riverside Campus has/is being redeveloped as the "RELLIS Campus", it is truly unknown to what happened with the animal heads, if they even made it this far.

Other changes of the 1970s included a larger Browsing Library (the Reading Room's descendant, I think) which had now expanded not only books and music, but video. Rumours (correct spelling, yes) was added near the Joe Routt side, a snack bar/coffeeshop which not only offered meals but occasional live entertainment.

The biggest change was the relocation of the relocation of the Exchange Store, which began calling itself the Texas A&M University Bookstore. While it would never move from that location (later the MSC Bookstore and now Barnes & Noble at Texas A&M University), it had a distinctly different layout. The lower level had textbooks (as they do now) but also different books (paperbacks, magazines, study guides, Cliffs Notes, reference books). The upper level had school supplies (now in the lower level for the most part), calculators (not cheap in the 1970s), A&M branded gifts and clothing, stationary, gifts, and records (I don't believe the 2012 incarnation of the bookstore sold ANY music).

As time marched on, the roads around campus started to close to make the campus more pedestrian-friendly. Houston Street no longer continued to the north (indeed, the 1970s renovation added a concrete pedestrian bridge from the MSC to the Rudder complex), Lamar curved left into Houston (heading north toward the YMCA Building and Sbisa), and Military Walk was converted to a pedestrian walkway and its identity all but forgotten. All the while, the student population was growing. By the 1980s, enrollment was around 40,000 up from 18,000 in the 1970s. Proposals for growth were submitted, and some student offices were outsourced to the Pavilion on Spence Street (which had been rebuilt into office space at about that time).

The overcrowding issue in campus affected other parts of campus. In the early 1980s, when parking on campus was plentiful and free, the MSC Cafeteria had chicken fried steak nights. According to TexAgs.com poster Aggiefan54, "The [chicken fried steak] would hang off both sides of the plate, was tender and perfectly cooked, and the sides were great. Then they did something with the food service provider (one of the first privatizations?) and quality went to crap and the crowds disappeared. It was like going to Luby's or Furr's Cafeterias, only better-and it was in Aggieland."

When it was obvious that the Pavilion was not going to cut it in the long range, work began on not only the MSC's second remodel but an additional building not connected to the MSC, the John J. Koldus Student Services building, opening catty-corner to the MSC, at the southeast corner of Houston Street and Joe Routt Boulevard. It even contained a parking garage. Winter 1986 had the building closed for asbestos tile removal.

The 1990s remodel (1989-1991) did not do much to the building's décor, leaving it solidly in the 1970s. What was done was a three-level extension to the east, removing the Flag Room's windows (and by this time, I believe "Flag Room" was the official name) and the concrete bridge for an art gallery, an enclosed skywalk over to Rudder, and the Micro Computer Center (a software store attached to the bookstore), which by circa 2000 had been transformed into a full convenience store (Aggie Express). The basement got a new bowling alley (8 lanes) while the old one became the Hullabaloo Food Court, which offered a variety of options.

The 1989-1991 remodel added a covered walkway between the Rudder complex and the MSC, and a huge skywalk above, with the collective structure being named "University Center Complex". I remember the sign that they had in front of the skywalk with profile views of the Rudder complex and the MSC. The Flag Room's windows were lost as the J. Wayne Stark Gallery was added, and the bowling alley was moved to the expanded basement. There was the "Print N Copy" in the skywalk section. The renovation ousted of some of the university functions that were not student centered (including The Department of Parking, Transit, and Traffic, which would move practically off-campus in 2006). The bookstore got a minor expansion, but by and large, the MSC remained a 1970s time warp. In fact, up until the closure in 2009 the meeting rooms and ballrooms retained their unique decor. Gaze at the wonders of Room 201 and its trippy pinecone-shaped lamp fixtures, for instance. This would be destroyed later.

It was this time that I remember the MSC. There was something about the dark corridors, the wood trim, the huge bookstore (for years, they had "Bop It", Nerf gun, and Super Soakers pens), and the bowling alley (it wasn't as good as the Wolf Pen Bowling, which wasn't much better). And of course the International Weeks...the Multi-Cultural services for the university were there, and I vaguely recall going there once or twice (when did they did their events).

But whether I liked it or not, the MSC was getting old. There was a very minor renovation of the Flag Room in 2004 (if I remember correctly, mostly new furniture: less couches), and the bowling alley finally met its demise in 2005 after several years of losses. Not to say no one went bowling: it was still modestly popular and the campus bowling team had actually outgrown the space. This happened rather unceremoniously, considering bowling had been around in the MSC since day one.

2005 was perhaps the last "golden years" for the old MSC. The Hullabaloo food court was remodeled, which involved brightening it up a bit and modernizing it. By the end of this, it featured Chick-fil-A (which would be the fourth Chick-fil-A on campus, albeit short-lived one at that), The Other Burger, Sargino's, and Downtown Deli. The Other Burger was a rebranding of a no-name hamburger stand in the food court (to match the one in the Underground), and Chick-fil-A replaced a line that served chicken fried steak and chicken strips.

All but one these establishments were featured elsewhere on campus, and I dare say that Downtown Deli was the same as Common Denominator in all but name--a "make your own sandwich" place. Moreover, the bowling alley did reopen that fall (instead of the rumored computer lab). It still wasn't making a profit during the off-season, and there was no way the eight lanes would make a profit, no matter how many people went bowling. To be profitable, it would have to be 12 lanes. Nevertheless, it, along with the piano practice rooms, pool tables, arcade games, and TV rooms (collectively the MSC Bowling & Games) remained, saving student jobs and keeping bowling part of the MSC tradition.

Another part of the "MSC tradition" in danger was the hotel rooms. In January 2006, the Board of Regents decided to close the MSC Hotel, due to similar reasons of the MSC Bowling & Games: it was not making a profit (it rarely had more than 50% occupancy and was mostly at losses since 1992). This was because the MSC Hotel was not up to standards, and lacked many of the amenities modern hotels offered: high speed Internet, on-site parking (best bet was parking in the garage attached to Koldus), an elevator, bar, or lounge. [source 1, 2] While it made sound financial sense to convert much of the space to meeting space, some students felt that although there were much nicer hotels around College Station (something that could not be said in 1951), it was against the MSC tradition of hospitality, but like the Bowling & Games, it was partially reopened.

Another loss before the old MSC went away forever was the Browsing Library, by 2007 it was converted to the MSC Class Councils Center (the Internet had presumably put the screws to it).

Still, the MSC flourished, as part of student tradition and the MSC programs, which are something entirely (for more focus on the MSC programs, you can read the book Building Leaders, Living Traditions: The Memorial Student Center at Texas A&M University, which wasn't consulted in the making of this article).

But dark times were ahead. The MSC was not to standards for the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems were aging and in need of repair. KBTX reported that ceilings were stained and cracked. An option to renovate by the student government appeared in October 2007. This initial plan would not close the MSC, but merely fix it up and update it. There would always be some part of it open. This video was posted on YouTube in support of the MSC renovation, which noticeably looks different than the actual product, particularly the shot of looking east toward Rudder Tower, replacing the loading docks with a large landscaped plaza. In reality, of course, this became part of the building. Heroically, there were votes against it, but the video was weak. It was hard to balance the energy of the MSC of the Future versus grim warnings of higher costs.

Thanks to some sort of mix-up regarding the plans of the building, it was delayed for a few years, until April 2009, when construction was about to begin. This renovation would dramatically alter the building, and cause it to close until August 2012.

The old MSC was doomed. By the end of the 2008-2009 school year, the MSC Bookstore moved into the G. Rollie White Coliseum, displacing the volleyball team (which moved out to West Campus, permanently), and the remaining services offered by the MSC spread across the winds of campus. The Choral Activities moved into the Commons basement, closing the popular Tomato Bar (which its cross-campus "Tomato Bar Express" paled in comparison to). The harsh buzz of the mercury vapor lights, the overall depressing atmosphere, and the overall reduced size was a terrible thing to happen to the bookstore, but it remained open.

Here is the map of the University Center Complex (including Loupot's) that was on the MSC website, circa 2008. Notice that it looks back toward Joe Routt Blvd., looking south. Not the greatest of maps, but it should do.



Most of the meeting space was outsourced to the nearby Rudder Tower/Rudder Theatre Complex, which was limited somewhat even, as the outdoor plaza that connected the second floor of the two buildings was closed, as well as the Rudder Fountain. A lot of the offices were relocated to Koldus, which had been built for the purposes of an overcrowding MSC and was about to be truly utilized once more. The Student Media (radio and The Battalion were moved to the Grove, where they would remain in a trailer house-like shack even as construction of the Old Main underpass would eventually take hold. The "Print N Copy" and the University Frame Shop would move to the Graphic Services Building, on Ireland Street. The Forsyth Galleries and J. Wayne Stark Gallery would relocate (I believe the J. Wayne Stark Gallery was in Downtown Bryan for a while). The Art Collections offices and Campus Art Loan Program resided in an office space carved out of the sixth floor of Evans Library (I believe there's grad student offices there, as well).

Worse was the closure of the food places at the MSC. When the MSC closed, about a third of the campus eateries essentially vanished. Despite minor updates to the other food places on campus, this was a blow to eating at campus as a whole. The casualties included the 12th Man International Food Court, a product of the 1990s (as it won some sort of award in 1999), which featured "three self-branded units: 01 Armydillo's, a barbecue unit; Elephant Walk, serving Asian cuisine; and Olla Roja, with its Tex-Mex menu." Before the 12th Man International Food Court, there was a "12th Man Burgers" in the MSC instead.

I can't speak for Elephant Wok (the actual name, it was misspelled on the article--it also served sushi, apparently, and it was better than the overpriced "Simply Fresh" sushi). Both of the Asian places on campus during the MSC's closure were pretty bad: both ChopStix and the worse Sucky Lucky 8) The recently remodeled Hullabaloo food court went too. Look at this: it looked like one of the nicer places to eat on campus at the time (ignoring the ripped out ceiling tiles and the like, that is):

The university tried to make up for the losses, including opening a small coffee bar in the lobby of the Rudder complex, extending hours of Bernie's Café, revising the menu of the Grill at the Pavilion, and opening ChopStix near the Commons.

The Aggieland Post Office closed permanently: a victim of changing times. Just as well: USPS announced major cuts during the time after the closure (it's okay, the Northgate Post Office is still open and still delightfully old-fashioned--although the Houston Street rebuild has made it extremely difficult to access), the Bowling & Games would not be returning, the Wells Fargo ATM would be moved to the Rudder building, the MSCC Information Desk was moved to Koldus, and the Aggie Express Convenience Store would shut down as well. Rumours was closed down permanently, with it and the post office being turned into an expanded bookstore. The loss of Rumours has been mourned by the students that remember it. Like how the Commons offered the "make-your-own" options, here's something from that same Epinions.com review about the late, lamented Rumours.

I can hear the angels singing as I type the name. This is as good as it gets on campus with the exception of Cain [which featured an upscale athletes-only buffet]. I actually find it as good as most places off campus. It's a great sandwich shop and deli. They make a great club sandwich and chicken caesar roll-up (my two personal favorites). They have excellent hot sandwiches as well. This one gets the A+, and it's the only one that I would choose to eat at over some off campus restaurant. The only problem is that it's not that big. It can be pretty busy around lunch time, taking as long as 30 minutes to get from the end of the line to having food in your hands. Finding a place to sit can be a trick, but usually someone will scoot over on a couch upstairs and give you a seat.

Sadly, I could find very little in terms of Rumours or the things it offered. I did find this graphic from 2001 (which confirms the spelling), and it apparently did offer Starbucks Coffee.

The course of the renovation did more than just give it new HVAC systems and a new coat of paint: it all but demolished the building and rebuilt it. In fact, with the changes proposed, it would've been probably more economical to run bulldozers into it and rebuild from scratch.

While the shell of the building and its concrete foundations went largely untouched, the building was ripped down to the bare walls, removing flooring, walls, and ceilings. From this 2011 shot, it looks like the roof was removed from most of the MSC and the upper level was completely gutted to the slab. Ouch.

For about two years, the MSC, Rudder Plaza, Joe Routt, and the northbound lane of Clark Street (renamed "Gene Stallings Blvd." in summer 2011) was closed off as the building came apart and slowly reassembled.

After an invite-only event on the evening of April 20th, the MSC was officially re-dedicated and reopened the April 21st, 2012, the, with one-time Presidential candidate and long-running Texas governor Rick Perry in attendance.

Everything about the MSC was altered, though necessarily not for the better. The hotel and the bowling alley, two of the things that the MSC had always featured for about half a century, were gone. Of course, these were also the things that were considered unprofitable, and the costs of making them viable were unfeasible. The bookstore needed the space of the bowling alley, and the hotel lacked free parking (something that every other hotel in town had at the time), thus ousting both. The "replacement" for the hotel was a few "guest suites" rather than the full hotel the MSC originally had. The MSC had a barber shop for years as well (although it likely closed well before the MSC did), with the barbershop briefly being the "Master Styling Center", but a replacement was not in the 2009 version.

Another thing that happened was that the MSC had somewhat sold out to chains: the Print N Copy was to be replaced with a Copy Corner (which wasn't exactly a chain since it is a local chain, but a "brand" nonetheless) and the MSC Bookstore was now branded as a "Barnes & Noble at Texas A&M University", even though it had been operated by Barnes & Noble for several years. This, however, created more of a Barnes & Noble-like merchandise mix, décor, and added a Barnes & Noble Café area (serving Starbucks Coffee, of course).

The second level walkway on the southwest side of the building and the courtyard fountains were completely demolished. While the shipping areas largely remained unchanged (sloping down from an entrance near Clark, er, "Gene Stallings"), a large ballroom (the Bethancourt Family Grand Ballroom, no doubt a well-moneyed alumni) was built over it on the second level. This had exterior staircases leading up to the second level. Directly below it was the new Copy Corner and a new Chase bank. The courtyard outside (now the "Betsy and Pete Forster '63 Courtyard and Garden"), but was reduced to mostly concrete walkways and a tree that they had saved. Unfortunately, the only grass there was part of the protected MSC grass, and there was no real places to sit and eat a lunch. On the west side was a new wing for the Board of Regents.

The Barnes & Noble store got a new, prominent entranceway under where the old A&M-standard Helvetica "Memorial Student Center" was written (indeed, you can see it was where it was if you look above the present sign), and the store was expanded even further than its old boundaries. Taking over the space where the post office and Rumours was, the first level of the bookstore offered a vast selection of both general books (the type you would normally find in a Barnes & Noble), the Barnes & Noble Café, and the new "Aggie Stop" convenience store. The lower level offered school supplies and textbooks. This had to take the space of the bowling alley, the remaining space of which became MacResource Computer Center, which wasn't much bigger or better than MacResource Computers @ Northgate, which it moved from, though this wasn't complete--this didn't open until about a month after the MSC reopened.

The 12th Man International Food Court was changed into a generic food court (officially, "Upper Level Dining") with several different options in an "ala carte" format. There was a "Vindaloo" kiosk, "Ciao" (probably a small nod to A&M's military history: "Chow", get it? never mind), a kiosk with serve-your-own fresh pizza, plus pasta options (usually a pasta-based casserole or fresh pasta), with other types of noodles and soups available. Both before and after the Compass outsourcing, I noticed that there was some quality control issues with the bread served there: one day it could be a slice of buttery goodness, the next a small, thin, stale slice.

I have to say, at first, Ciao was an awesome deal at first: you could two slices of hot pizza, a drink, and a piece of garlic toast for a meal (a good deal). But now it's not so much now. Vindaloo is one of the better deals in terms of dollars-to-food (though that's not saying much). Unfortunately, despite smelling good, Vindaloo (like all mediocre Indian food) compensates for bland food by adding tons of spices, and food being "simutaneously bland and spicy" is never a good thing.

Next to Ciao is "Pile On". Originally, this was a gourmet sandwich option, with a touchscreen interface on what you wanted, such as Vietnamese pulled pork sandwiches.
An alteration for fall 2012 added traditional sandwich options (a la Subway). Unfortunately, this fell short of the original plan--marketing materials mentioned options like fresh tuna, but this was never the case. I quote:

Looking for a sandwich or salad that's anything but ordinary? Then Pile On is the place for you, with selections including fresh tuna, sesame ginger chicken and lemon Dijon pork.

(from the Facility Descriptions).

To the right of the serving area was Smokin', the barbecue option, which was the "return" of 01 Ol' Armydillo's. This I never went to, and the one time I did (post-outsourcing) I discovered that there was no white bread available. High price notwithstanding, that was the dealbreaker.

The Flag Room was arguably demolished and replaced with a suspiciously similar replica. The grid-like 70's ceiling was removed with a generic ceiling with recessed lighting. Also added was some strange, lit plaques on the wall, which I don't have a picture of right now.

The skywalk was razed and replaced with the 12th Man Hall, plus a much smaller skywalk. I've taken a picture as seen below to give you a glance at how wide the original skywalk was. While it was Rumours that was lost for the new convenience store, the old convenience store was turned into Rev's American Sports Grill, the "late-night concept with exterior entrance" to make up for the loss of Rumours, with the menu being upscale hamburgers and grilled chicken sandwiches. One of Rev's big selling points when it opened was serving St. Arnold Root Beer, which was hard to find at the time. Supposedly, Rev's was supposed to serve real beer, but it was decided that serving alcohol in a war memorial wasn't the best of ideas. I did, however, hear of Rumours serving beer in the past, but that's all it is, a "rumour". 12th Man Hall itself is mostly a wide, tall gathering area emblazoned with the names of wealthy alumni who were willing to sponsor it. When it first opened, it had these map booklets derived from floorplans of the renovated MSC. Check them out here.

Because the idea was to purge as much as the 1970s essence as possible, skylights were cut out and light could reach the lower level. The wood trim on everything was gone, with one exception: near the ramp outside the first level entrance of the bookstore (which was also altered, because the ramp was too steep originally for modern standards), has the wood carvings that was from the old MSC.

In the basement area (now called the "Lower Level"), the huge MSC Bowling & Games was reduced to a few pool tables and some couches with TVs and "sound pods". Video games were available for rental. The old Hullabaloo food court was replaced with the "Lower Level Dining" area. There was Cabo, a Tex-Mex inspired eatery. At one time, this was the only non-Rev's place open past four (and hence, mega-popular). I was looking forward to the description as advertised: Discover new Mexican offerings with a fresh twist, from mahi-mahi tacos with melon salsa to chicharron stuffed with zesty marinated pork and caramelized onions. That too was a wash, as they only had certain tacos certain days. Still, the "Taco Al Carbon" I had wasn't bad and was somewhere between the (late? I heard it closed) Rusty Taco and Fuego Tortilla Grill. The tortilla chips had mild seasoning, as well. I liked it overall, and made a plan to return in the fall semester. But by fall semester, Cabo had closed--at least in essence. With the signage intact, Cabo was serving up only a Freebirds-esque burrito for prices I was unwilling to pay.

Another 2012 option, "Cool", offered smoothies, about two or three flavors of gelato, and about four flavors of frozen yogurt. It wasn't anything special and doesn't really pose a threat to any other frozen yogurt place in town, but it is something, and we haven't had gelato since Tuscany's closed. Cool's frozen yogurt wasn't great: the flavor selection and topping selection was pitiful compared to Spoons, and my vanilla frozen yogurt just ended up tasted like sugar. A guilty pleasure, but by no means anything special.

Finally, there was Panda Express, which opened in August 2012 (when it opened, it was just drywall with the Panda Express logo around it). It's also the only eatery in the MSC where you can get soda in a real paper cup instead of the even-chintizier "compostable Pepsi cups". Like most of the campus restaurants, Panda Express at the MSC wasn't as good as the "real" Panda Express stores, and based on a failed job there (manager ghosted me before I started training and filling out the paperwork), it's where other Panda Express employees train for the other restuarants.

Up on the second level was the butchered Room 201, now known as the Robert Gates Student Ballroom at Room 2400, which was converted into a tearfully boring conference room. I can see why my cousin, a member of the Corps who attended Texas A&M in the early 2000s was confused and disappointed by the "new" MSC.

The outside was significantly altered, as well. New entrances with names like "Loyalty" and "Integrity" were added. The most significant change was that Joe Routt, which once ran in front of the MSC as a four lane road, was butchered. The westbound lanes was converted into a wide plaza for things like stairs, ramps, and bike ramps, while the eastbound lanes was rebuilt with brick and had bike lanes (in two directions) and a bus only lane. This meant if you were trying to access the rest of campus (as in, where the parking lots and the like were) Joe Routt was no longer an option. However, in October 2012, the road changed so that normal cars could access it between 6pm and 6am.

The back hallways of the basement (er, "Lower Level", again, but were actually on a mid-level) was also unfinished. The Choral Activities remained in the Commons, because their area wasn't done yet. The Board of Regents wing also wasn't done yet. I can't blame them for cutting a few corners, as construction was mostly complete and the seniors needed some time to see the new MSC, and they were impressed.

By August 2012, the MSC was complete and by September began a Grand Opening celebration, with many guest speakers. By this time, Panda Express, MacResource Center, and Copy Corner (another branded option) were all open. I even attended one of these events: I got to go to a talk by Dr. Jorge Cham, creator of Piled Higher and Deeper.

Unfortunately, while the convenience center and the dining options were open later, the Compass Group had taken hold and the food quality went downhill. While Cabo never offered mahi-mahi tacos, the taco eatery was now a generic make-your-own burrito place, Ciao was no longer offering thick, delicious chunks of lasagna and heavenly garlic toast, replaced with some options that looked unappetizing and had less food. Pile On still had hot sandwich operations but had devolved into more-or-less, a generic "make your own sandwich" place. I remember buying a Vietnamese pulled pork sandwich from the old Pile On, and it was great. Decent bread, real cilantro, good meat. Of course, there were better and cheaper options in more traditional outlets (which were lacking in the area), but it was very good, like the other food in the MSC. Post-Compass, I was appalled at what they served me: some slices of pork, a carrot, maybe some cabbage, on a small, 6 inch toasted wheat bun, with the latter being much more expensive than what I had before.

The new J. Wayne Stark Galleries is nice and feels like a museum, but I never saw the old one.

Joe Routt never really re-opened. The westbound part was closed off for an expanded pedestrian area with lots of bike parking, with the eastbound part becoming a single lane eastbound only for buses, with bike lanes in both directions. By October, the road was reopened, but only between 6pm and 6am, and still no westbound traffic. At that time as well, the part of Joe Routt that ran near Rudder Tower was similarly butchered, with eastbound only as well.

I had only transferred to A&M one semester before the outsourcing hit, with The Commons being one of my favorite places to eat and even in fall 2012, I ate at the "BioBio" building in West Campus (which had a Which Wich and a Chick-fil-A). The on-campus lunch options eventually got so bad that by fall 2014 I had stopped eating on campus altogether...and the MSC unfortunately led that cause.

By spring 2013, Cabo was offering "tacos", but it was just burritos in a different tortilla size, and also offering ridiculously overpriced bottles of Jarritos. "Noodle", which was only in business in fall 2012 and had large (overpriced) cups of noodles, broth, vegetables, and protein was gone (I actually was a bit partial to the tofu and vegetable-based broth one, despite not being a vegetarian). I had tried Smokin' that same semester, and was pleased to find it offered just plain cafeteria-style food (and included things like boudin) but was appalled to find that it was far overpriced. In 2013, I got some boudin (which as you know, is mostly rice), macaroni and cheese, green beans (both pretty meager servings), and a banana. Without soda, it was $7.80, which was ridiculously high for a meal like that.

Happily, despite the loss of the old MSC, there is this Flickr album that has the MSC as it appeared in 2009. Do check out the impressive "gold grid" of the Flag Room: it gave it a level of warmth unseen in the new one. Also, note the change between the yellowish tile of the 70s MSC and the carpet of the 1990 expansion.

In fall 2013, Stark Galleries got some new signage in its south entrance (just east of the Flag Room), and the ruined Cabo was replaced with a Compass/Chartwells brand, "Chick-N-Grill". Changes to the upper level dining included "Crispy", a "budget" option that served fries, chicken fingers, and white gravy...probably to appeal to the chicken finger crowd, missing the point of what makes Layne's and Raising Cane's tasty (the chicken is unseasoned, no Texas toast, and white gravy is no substitute for the seasoned mustard dips), a smaller Cabo line (again burritos). To add insult to injury, the upper level dining center briefly got shut down due to rats, causing the student body to demand meal plan refunds. I guess I should've been grateful that my chicken fingers was in fact chicken, and did not have a strange, gamey taste to it.

By 2014, a large fixture that resembles a bunch of Christmas lights hanging down, which were supposed to do something like intermingle images of old with passing visitors through, or something along those lines, but I've never seen it worked (it remains a piece of nice, but expensive, décor). Below this light fixture is a fish tank with the cringe-worthy name "Aglantis", and has not much more beyond a crab ("E. Crab Gill"). "Aglantis" was the "winner" in an ocean of other cringeworthy puns, including "Under the M-S-Sea".

Already, the MSC is showing its age, reports are Chick-fil-A will be added back as well as a Jason's Deli in the upper level. Plus, apparently, the idea of a hotel on campus was not lost on A&M leadership, as in the late 2010s, Cain Hall was torn down for the "Texas A&M Hotel & Conference Center" and a parking garage.

For a final thought, the MSC really didn't have to go the way it did. Sure, it was dated, but I feel it didn't need all that have ripped out of it. Instead of destroying the courtyard with a "maze of wheelchair ramps", they could've just lowered the MSC's floor for access to it (after all, the ramp in front of the bookstore to the left of the Flag Room was altered to be less steep and into ADA standards). The Flag Room could've been left alone completely. Rumours could've been expanded (with keeping the original 70s theme) with an interior entrance. The post office probably couldn't be saved but recycled into the bookstore. The 12th Man International Food Court and Cafeteria could've been renovated into the concepts they introduced. The hotel could've been renovated into meeting rooms, and the lighting and flooring could've been altered. They could've left some parts open with others closed, which was the idea behind the previous two renovations. Since they did completely close the building anyway, they could've done something even more interesting, like officially connecting Koldus or The Zone to the building.

It's particularly telling that historians mourn the loss of "classical" buildings like Guion Hall, yet still see the (increasingly shrinking) 1970s-era buildings on campus as "outdated" and need of renewal. It's just the cyclical nature of progress, I suppose.



This article was written with the assistance of the official MSC History, MyBCS posters, cody_green, early 1970s Aggieland yearbooks (concerning the early 1970s MSC history, of course) and Nicholas Roznovsky. To have your say, send an email to admin@carbon-izer.com.

YMCA Building

This photo is from the original version of AggieMap.Tamu.edu, pictured at a time when they still had all those globe lamps.
Built in 1915 but hasn't been a real YMCA in years, the YMCA Building reopened in early 2012 (before flooding destroyed the lower level, necessitating more renovations, including adding a new ADA ramp). The building originally had a chapel, swimming pool, and bowling alley before those functions were replaced by other buildings. They also had a barber shop (also replaced by the MSC). Sometime in the mid-2000s, the building was condemned due to structural concerns (been tough to nail down, one source says 2003, one says 2006, and I think I read somewhere about 2005--also, it was offices before 1995) from previous renovations. In 2010, renovations took place to rebuild the rear wing and extensively renovate the front.

There isn't a whole lot of information on its history: I could dig up pictures, but there's no drama like the Memorial Student Center, either (the building is pretty small). As for the digging up pictures part, there's a Flickr page.

The newer photo below was from this page, though Archive.org didn't seem to save the picture.



Updated 2019

Fajita Rita's, The Building of Which Eventually Burned Down

One of the phone books I have shows it has simply "Fajita Rita", then was reverted later.

Located on 4501 Texas Avenue South, Fajita Rita's opened in a building near the intersection of Rosemary and Texas Avenue in 1984 (some sources say 1983, but a 1984 The Eagle mentions their grand opening was in November 1984), right on the College Station-Bryan border (but on the Bryan side). It wasn't the first restaurant in the spot. First, Chelsea Street Pub was here in the late 1970s and early 1980s (it later reopened in the mall), but by 1983 it was a place called Rebels Restaurant & Bar (sounded like "student food", the phone book mentions it had steaks, burgers, nachos, happy hour), then briefly a Fari's Restaurant & Bar. (It's important to note that sometime in the early 1980s, the address changed from 4425 to 4501).

Fajita Rita's did well but faltered in the 1990s as more chains and restaurants began popping up. Fajita Rita's closed sometime in the early 2000s (2003, likely) and was replaced with Fredricko's (unrelated to the similarly-named Northgate establishment, unless the newspaper botched the name). It soon became a restaurant called "Las Fuentes" for a few years (and it's entirely possible I'm missing one more), then ultimately Las Lomas Mexican Grill. Las Lomas did last for a while: it did offer more of the same from FR (margaritas, decent but average Mexican food), but the building started to fall into disrepair. Its popularity was never very high, and apparently never even turned on its roadside sign for most of its existence from 2008 to its closure in late 2011. A few months later, in February 2012, lightning struck an air conditioning unit and burned the restaurant to the ground in a spectacular fire. That same night, the YMCA Building flooded (it was quite a storm). What was left of the building (Las Lomas, not YMCA) was razed a few months later.

In 2014, a new somewhat non-descript building was built on the site, and in 2016 gained both First Watch (the first in Texas, and a very popular breakfast spot) and a second Hungry Howie's (first one in ten years since Southwest Crossing. One thing remains from the Fajita Rita's days...the signage predates the building.

UPDATE 10-27-2020: Hungry Howie's closed earlier this year (2020) with reports that First Watch will expand into their former spot.

Target College Station

My picture is from 2012, and it represents Target's second renovation. It originally didn't look like this, and altered slightly since.

2100 Texas Avenue South

We have talked about Kmart (which is gone). We talked about Walmart (which is still there). And now we get to Target.

The Bryan Target opened one day and 16 years after the College Station Target, and we are not talking about the Bryan Target today (and as for the Bryan Wal-Mart, we might that eventually, if only in passing)

Well, the Target in College Station (T-800) opened in July 22, 1992 and has only been remodeled once, around 2005-2006 or whereabouts (I don't remember when). I do remember the old store, though I'm glad I had a few memory jogs since then (including a visit to a two-story yet unrenovated Target, a few pictures of a Target of that vintage, a visit to a Kmart, and this excellent blog post [contains language]).

Well, unlike that link shared in Dumpy Strip Malls, which showed the interior of an early 1990s Target, this store looked different. There was still aluminum hand railings near the check-outs, a rather unimpressive in-store eatery, a store that smelled like popcorn (what's wrong with that?), but the signage was colorful, with large signage directing you to different parts of the store, with arrows and red/blue/green/yellow signage on the departments and signage to them (a "department signage example" here, though it's an old one). In fact, the whole store had these red/green/blue/yellow neon strips around the store. You can see a glimpse of that at Southridge Mall, Des Moines, Iowa, which opened the same day as the College Station one and delightfully hadn't renovated yet, so you can see that from inside the storefront (Sadly, it has since been remodeled). You might also find better pictures if you do some Flickr digging, but that's on your own time.

The store wasn't all that different from the one that's there now: the store was a different color on the outside (whiter) and the departments were arranged differently, with a different merchandise mix. I know the electronics were toward the front of the store, near where the pharmacy is (I remember that the Dreamcast games were closest to the front wall) and that the foods section (very different back then, mostly just chips, candy, and soda) was near the checkout stands. Regrettably, I can't remember much more than that (unlike the Wal-Mart, which only changed its departments more recently--plus I went to Wal-Mart a LOT more than Target). I remember the dressing rooms hadn't changed all that much (a bit nicer), the food area renovated, and the water fountains were finally cool (that's what bothered me about the old store: the water at the fountains was always warm). I remember the systems at the Customer Service desk advertising baby registry or Club Wedd...those didn't change too much (except for flat screens).

The toy section was in the far right back section of the store.

The post-remodel store, which finished by 2006 boasted a huge food section (this was before the P-Fresh model, so it lacks things like pre-packaged fruits and meats, and certainly things that SuperTarget would have) which added dozens of foods adorned with brand names and the Archer Foods name (Target's house brand). It even added milk, which Target lacked before (Wal-Mart always had it)

I don't know what it replaced, though I think it was some hardline goods that Target no longer carries (like gardening supplies or automotive--or they just shrunk the categories in everything else), and that's one of the reasons I don't like Target as a discount store, the small selection of hardlines, and the fact that the quality of some items aren't much better than Walmart's (take my advice, don't buy analog clocks at Target). Later on, Target did some more updates, like updating signage.

One final memory: when I was younger, there was some little glass display that appeared around Christmastime, with some sort of thing that spun around to the bottom. It had lots of fake "snow" and I think it was some sort of mini-Christmas village. Anyone remember it, know what I'm talking about? No?

Since this post was added in 2012, one more change has occurred, which updated the décor again to dark grey walls. The layout remained more or less the same, however.

Last updated June 2019

Special Services Building

Besides the rare snow, I couldn't find a picture of this building that wasn't decades old.

Does anyone remember the Special Services Building? It was just north of Haas Residence Hall in the northwest part of campus, and from data on the Internet, razed in fall 2001. (It sits about where the basketball courts of the Hullabaloo Residence Hall now stand).

Unfortunately, we have little information of this building. It was at least three stories tall and references on the Internet mention offices being located there. But what was it? "Special Services" is a rather vague term: I've heard it had laundry facilities (actually a branded operation of FabricCare Cleaners that appeared to stay up until around 2001) in the past, but that's about it.

The main reason for demolition I remember it had creaking floors: so bad that it was deemed structurally unstable, with the furniture being abandoned.

However, the "Special Services Building" reportedly dates back to 1914 according to this TAMU chronology. Is that right? I mean, most of the buildings back then were made primarily of wood and would've been demolished by the 1960s or 1970s, and it would be a miracle that the SSB survived for that long.

According to "Truthfinder" (a commenter), I received this information.

It was home to the Department of Rural Sociology and the Texas State Data Center when it was torn down. Rural Sociology then moved off campus to the buildings left of Barnes and Noble.

The building was deemed unsafe because of large cracks in the structure. The walls in the basement had cracks at least 8 inches wide. Everything was packed up and moved out within a few days.

It was a very unique building because it once was a hospital. Grad student offices were in a the old tiled operating room. The floors were sloped with a large drain in the center. The departmental supply closet was lined with lead. There was an old fashioned gated elevator in the back of the building. The facade had several Corinthian columns.

The building was also home of one of the more famous campus ghost stories. An elderly professor who passed away at the hospital was supposed to haunt the hall of the main floor. He wore a bathrobe and slippers and could be heard shuffling up and down the hallway.

More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cushinglibrary/sets/72157618490481476/

Updated July 2020 to incorporate 2012 comment

The Burger King Near Blinn

From August 2019 with the gas station recently de-Rattled. Picture by author.
When I first made this post back in January 2012, it was titled "The Terrible Food at Blinn", which was a rant on how awful the food was at Blinn compared to my new digs at A&M (which only lasted one semester before food was outsourced to Compass/Chartwells). I have no idea what Blinn's current digs are like but was astounded at what awful quality it was: there were very few places to eat on campus at all. There were vending machines (overpriced more than usual), the college bookstore with a small selection of convenience store items (Pop-Tarts were the usual item of choice here, despite an obvious push to stock more "healthy" items), and the student center having two "food court" type establishments, both of which were absolutely terrible, "Clux Delux" and "Block & Barrel". Clux Delux, according to what the packaging stating was supposed to be a bit like a poor man's Chick-fil-A, but it was just cafeteria food sitting under heat lamps, with cartoonishly bad everything. Unidentifiable gloop, an item on the menu literally listed as "chicken chunks"...Clux Delux had it all. Block & Barrel was just pre-packaged items including soggy, plastic-wrapped sandwiches (when were they made? who knows!)

This was depressing to me, as way back when Blinn was opening the Student Center building in the early 2000s, it had real fast food, one of which was a Taco Bell (I suspect the other was a Yum! Brands restaurant). Indeed, underneath the cheap banners of CD and B&B, you could see holes drilled in where the restaurant signs once were...and you know you're in for a real disappointment when Taco Bell is considered high cuisine to whatever they served.

Naturally, no one but the desperate wanted to eat the overpriced slop at the student center, so the nearest go-to place was a Burger King at the corner of 29th and Villa Maria, and due to schedules, was still too long to be walked to and from. Opened in 2007 along with an adjacent Rattlers', the first new Burger King in town in over two decades (certainly slow compared to the growth of the city's McDonald's restaurants). My memories of it were thinking it was grimier than the typical Burger King, and also around 2011 or 2012 when they switched to having monitors for the menu instead of just the normal menu system that slid to show breakfast and lunch items at different times.

The Rattlers', of course, is still branded as such, despite the takeover of the chain by Stripes. The chain's Shell stations have all been converted to Sunoco stations, but the Exxon-branded Rattlers' remain, for some reason. Or at least they would, except this is no longer a Rattlers', and instead a generic Exxon convenience store as of August 2019. (It also throws the other Exxon Rattlers', like the store on Boonville and Highway 6, or the one in Navasota, into doubt). This seems to have happened very recently, it's even still on the Stripes store locator page (#5258) as of this writing but lacks even the Stripes drink cups. The convenience store is at 2411 East 29th Street whereas Burger King is at 2401.

As an update to the above written, as of March 2020, the name of the convenience store is now called "Rustlers Den", a similar name to the Rattlers except with red lettering.

Tales of Defunct Restaurants at 1045 South Texas Avenue

Kerri's in better days. Sorry for the terrible scan and image quality, but this is what I have.

Back in 2012, instead of publishing articles on individual businesses, I made the wrong idea of dumping several restaurants into a single post called "Tales of Defunct Restaurants", which became a series. Initially, this contained a variety of other restaurants now covered elsewhere, namely Tuscany's, Yum Yums Texas Style, and Fort Shiloh Steakhouse, explaining the discrepancy in the comments below.I did update the post a few times since (though when I did that is lost to time) to add a picture of, and expand on, the restaurant that was last in the original building before Raising Cane's took it over...Kerri's Stacked Enchiladas.

But let's go back to the beginning, or at least the beginning as I can find it.

Built as a branch of California-based Sambo's (which had over 1000 in 47 states at its peak), the restaurant originally opened March 1974, replacing empty land. But in the early 1980s, Sambo's imploded. With mounting criticism from its name and theme by politically correct groups and problems stemming from a massive expansion, it filed for bankruptcy in 1982 and closed.

No restaurant appeared to be in place by the time the 1983 phone book was published.

In 1987, Wings 'n Things opened up by Mark Dennard. Apparently, this was related to the Houston-based Wings 'n Things as a franchise (or of the same corporate parent, seeing as how WnT opened the same year but for whatever reason, it fell through and Dennard renamed his restaurant in College Station to Wings 'N More soon after. It looks like it was founded at 2711 Fountainview, which was a Wings 'N Things just until this (re)writing in January 2017.

Sorry, Archive.is isn't working.

I can't find a lot of details on the split, or how much Mark Dennard was involved in Wings 'n Things, but apparently it did happen and the restaurant was renamed. Mark Dennard never opened very many other Wings 'N More stores (one in The Woodlands, one in south College Station in toward the late 1990s) but was able to franchise Wings 'N More in Houston (where Wings 'n Things was based), and those restaurants later became BreWingz as that spun off.

In January 2003, this location of Wings 'N More moved out to a modern location at University Drive East and Highway 6, where it remains today, but it wouldn't remain closed for much longer. In 2003, a new local restaurant replaced it, Kerri's Stacked Enchiladas. Despite a strong start, including winning Best New Restaurant in Best of the Brazos 2003 and Best Southwest Texas Cuisine a year later, it folded by 2005.

It made no changes to the outside of the old Wings 'N More, and from what I've heard, not much to the inside, either (except adding some new Aggie memorabilia). The logo was a semi-provacatively-dressed brunette (wearing one a torn shirt that was basically torn and twisted into a short top) holding a plate.

Open from 11am to "late", this is what the Dining Guide of 2004 had to say on the matter. Keep in mind that since I haven't heard great things about Kerri's in retrospect and this was written by the restaruant, chances are high that parts of this paragraph are blatant lies (already I see that they must have forgotten Kokopelli's, and the full paragraph is as follows:

The Brazos Valley's first Southwest restaurant has already been recognized among the very best restaurants in the entire Brazos Valley! Our unique stacked enchiladas are made fresh from scratch daily --topped with the freshest produce in town! At Kerri’s we also boast the best Fajita Stacks in town and offer a diverse menu sure to please everyone, from healthy choices like veggie quesadillas, veggie stacked enchiladas, stack house salads to main stay favorites such as ribeye steaks, chicken fried chicken, southwest lasagna, burgers and much much more. The desserts alone are worth the trip to Kerri’s. We have catered many special area events such as weddings, receptions, concerts, business luncheons and dinners, numerous city council meetings and an array of late night party events. Consider Kerri’s for all of you catering needs -- we will deliver to the location of your choice, or reserve our spacious dining and stage area or huge outdoor patio. Kerri’s has the freshest food in town at the most reasonable price. Go see for yourself why Kerri’s was voted Best New Restaurant in the Brazos Valley! While you’re here relax and enjoy our full service bar and ask your server how to get a
"soon to be famous"

All that disappeared by 2005 when Kerri's closed down. After the restaurant closed, someone made some sort of bizarre Pac-Man graffiti on the roof, with (illegible) names next to Pac-Man and the ghost. I'm not sure what they meant, but with the highly visible graffiti, a nearby dead Mobil (which closed in about 2004), and the closed Texaco down from it, by mid-2005 it contributed to a feeling that the stretch from University to George Bush just started feeling really run-down.

By January of 2006 (according to TexAgs archives, and sounds right in my memory), the building was torn down and a Raising Cane's was put in its place by summer. Raising Cane's actually has the date the store opened (June 2006) along with a little blurb about it. I wish more chains did that...that's really cool. You can see a picture of the building here that I took in May 2014.