Former Taco Cabana

Picture from May 2019 by author.
Texas Avenue has always been full of restaurants and hotels, and occasionally both. Saber Inn was one such place at 701 Texas Avenue South, and featured a restaurant along with a small motel section (just 36 rooms) and a cloverleaf-shaped swimming pool. As not many restaurants were in town in those days, hotel restaurants were a viable choice when dining out for locals. (Nowadays, most of the hotels have restaurants near them, not in them, though there are still some notable exceptions, like the hotels at Century Square).

The motel was torn down years ago. From what I've read, it lasted from 1957 to 1982, and then became "Baker Street Restaurant & Bar" (unknown if related to the Baker Street Pubs in Houston, some of which have since closed), and that was torn down too for a Taco Cabana (unless of course, I'm wrong again and the restaurant was at the motel site), which opened sometime in 1989 (Brazos CAD says the main restaurant was built in 1988 with the patio in 1989).

Saber Inn had a restaurant as well, but the scan cut off the address.
For years I argued that the Grapevine was never in the Saber Inn (partially because for years they ran another location down the road from Saber Inn), until I did find proof of it in another phone book; seems they took over the dinner service at one time while expanding to have wine and cheese. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the date, and I still need to work on the chronology of that.

Taco Cabana would stand guard at the corner of Live Oak and Texas Avenue for over thirty years, though the logo and exterior updated as the chain changed its image, with the last incarnation being tan with pink accents, and a pink sign with white lettering. This would come to an end in January 2020 when the store and 18 other Taco Cabana restaurants closed with parent company Fiesta Restaurant Group citing underperformance (given the competition Taco Cabana faces between Mad Taco, Fuego, and Torchy's, all of which produce a superior taco at a better price point, it shouldn't be a surprise).

UPDATE 03-15-2021: In March 2021, Las Palapas (also from San Antonio, like Taco Cabana) opened. "Las Palapas Aggieland" as the sign says, has a color scheme in terms of lighting that resembles a bit of how Taco Cabana used to be. Post renamed to "Former Taco Cabana" to better reflect state of pictures.
UPDATE 07-21-2021: Removed [Defunct] as Las Palapas now operates in the spot. I should also note that it is open 24 hours (except on Mondays and Tuesdays), making it a rare 24 hour sit-down operation. Menudo is served on weekends.
UPDATE 05-26-2023: Tragically, Las Palapas ended up cutting down on hours again (10 pm weekdays, 2 am weekends) like other restaurants these days...and eventually the dreaded "closed for remodeling" suddenly cropped up. A Facebook post by the company later confirmed it. (Re-added [defunct] to the page...)

The Grapevine

A bit off the beaten path, but the fence wasn't here when it was a restaurant.
201 Live Oak Street

To clear up a few rumors that still float around even today, the Grapevine, a defunct restaurant near the intersection of Texas Avenue and University, was not and was never at Saber Inn down the street (EDIT 6/12/2018: actually, that may have been right all along--more later). It was, however, not located at its current place, from 1974 to 1980 it was at 315 Texas Avenue, a long-gone address that was shared with Senter-Piece Flowers.

In 1980, the current restaurant was built and owned by Patsy Perry (Zabel), running up until 2001 when Patsy (now Patsy Zabel) retired retired after nearly three decades [archive]. The restaurant briefly reopened under new owners (as mentioned in the KBTX article) and it did in fact open (in the original 2013 version of this article there was a Battalion article from 2004 entitled "Fresh from the Grapevine", but they removed it and I can't get an archived replacement article), if briefly, probably gone by mid-2005, if that.

Normally we would just put up an ad (as seen above) but today, we're presenting (and this is something I've worked out) real recipes from The Grapevine. The dressing, the potatoes, and the cheesecake have all been released on a Facebook group, and they're here now. (Yes, I got permission and yes, the link does in fact work!)

I also acquired a partial menu from late 2000 (with the last price increases in place--a typical entree held a cost of about $8.50) but I decided against putting it up except on request.

This blog reports it was "Lighthouse Christian Church" for a while after the closing of the Grapevine. The blog talked about said baked potatoes in great length, which I have reproduced here. I was going to leave a comment, but comments are closed on that post. Their loss, I suppose. I don't know how long Lighthouse was there, the blog was published in June 2007, but June 2007 happened to be when the current tenant, the Rohr Chabad Jewish Center, opened its doors for the first time.

Updated July 2017 with new photo taken this month, clarification of when the current restaurant opened, redoing links, further details on chronology, and integrating the October 2013 update.

Tinsley's Chicken 'n Rolls / Kokopelli's / Clay Oven

Chicken done well, chicken well done!
See our updated version of this post here.

College Main Wash & Go

Be honest, have you ever seen a "Grand Opening" ad for a common laundromat? (from The Eagle)
Located just north of Northgate (and colloquially considered part of it), 4405 College Main is completely abandoned, but it wasn't always that way. The building was built in 1985 according to Brazos CAD and was divided into two suites.

4405A was primarily a laundromat. The first one, College Main Wash & Go, only lasted until 1989 but it served as a laundromat sporadically over the years, including Come 'N Wash (2004-2005) and BV Washateria (2005-2009). There might've been something in the during the 1990s but research has been inconclusive at the latest update's press time. By 2014, it was converted into the i-Stop convenience store but by 2015, i-Stop had shriveled up, leaving the center completely empty.

At 4405B, the earliest restaurant I can find is Carrie's Kitchen in 1987, immortalized in the "Camptoons map" (from Carbon-izer) While I don't have phone books for the late 1980s (except 1989) readily available, it appeared that before the more well-known Thai Taste (which occupied B for most of the 1990s), "Carrie's Kitchen" was at 4405B in 1987 (and according to taxpayer records, only lasted a very short time). Thai Taste opened in 1990 and moved out to University Square in 2002. From what I've heard, Thai Taste was well-liked in this location, the University Square location, not so much. Details on Thai Taste are still sketchy, but I seem to remember from reading on forum postings that Thai Taste closed in the mid-2000s on College Main, but the name was bought and it reopened on University Square for a few years. Vietnamese Taste began operations in 2003 (keeping the "Taste" part of the old sign). Vietnamese Taste closed in May 2012 (roughly) and reopened as "Vy's Asian Kitchen Cuisine" just off Texas Avenue a few months later. It lasted another five years in that spot before changing hands; they must have done SOMETHING right.

After that, it was registered as "Bottoms Up" (presumably a bar) but Googling it just shows it as a taxpayer entity and not anywhere as an actual business. Despite "existing" for a year, this was probably just a stillborn business. With Vietnamese Taste having left in 2012 and never reopened, and the short rise and fall of I-Stop, the whole building has been vacant and is for sale. It can be yours for about $860k.

UPDATE 08-03-2021: New name, minor rewrite, new details, removing [2000s], [services], and [northgate], adding [defunct], [service businesses], and [college main].