Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Falling by the Wayside, A Look at Former Restaurants at 102 Church Avenue


Having no memories of this establishment save for a few photos I got summer 2014, I've been thinking that I need to cover this, especially since (for several reasons).

The building was built in 1959 as per Brazos CAD. It appears it was built as a house, the first reference coming from a 1963 obituary about one Mrs. Marguerite Mary Edmonds, age 48, but it was later restaurants. The years that are listed come from the best references I have of the restaurants. Currently I don't have any information on any restaurants that took the space in the late 1990s (if there were any).

1977 - Dead Solid Perfect
This restaurant was listed in a dining guide list in The Eagle in 1977. All I have for this is description is from Yuccadoo on TexAgs.
Who remembers getting a burger at DSP? (Dead Solid Perfect). It was in the same building that is now a restaurant across from Cafe Eccell. No exhaust vents, smoke pouring out a coupla windows in the kitchen, made the best burgers commercially available in the world (IMO).

1980 - One Potato Two Potato
This was the restaurant listed in the 1980 phone book. I have no information on it.

1983 - Two Blocks North
This was the restaurant listed in the 1983 phone book. I have no information on it.

1984 - La Taqueria & Tortilla Factory
"La Taq" was the most memorable of the restaurants in the space and is still talked about even today.

1991 - Rosalie's Pasta House
According to Aggieland 1992, Rosalie's Pasta House opened September 25, 1991 in the former La Taqueria space. Directories indicate that it was open throughout the early 1990s. I don't have information on the space for the late 1990s, however.

2000 - La Bodega
This is when La Bodega Baja Taco Bar opened (as they closed in November 2014 after 14 years, or so they said). Here's the La Bodega specials, May 2014. One of their specials is the hotter it is outside, the cheaper drinks are. Not a bad idea.

So, why the title of this one? Well, despite some talk of more upscale dining in the Northgate area, it and the adjacent apartment building next to it (104 Church Avenue, where Eccell Group operated out of) was torn down. What has replaced it is supposed to be a food truck park, called Wayside Food Park. It was supposed to be a permanent place for food trucks complete with electrical conduits and a covered pavilion area, but it failed hard, opening in December 2017 and closing by early 2019. In regards to the apartment building, I have terrible pictures of that, the one with my finger covering a quarter of the shot is from this May (2014) and I do have a better picture that shows the building as a whole but I can't find it, and really it's not much better than what you can see from the older shots on Google Maps Street View.

Updated May 2019 to account for the coming and going of Wayside