IronTiger

Equal time now for Longhorns. In Austin, a place named "The Mars Bar", which was actually a restaurant in an old house a bit removed from campus. Really good food, again great steak and some divine garlic mashed potatoes.

Excuse me, but this is the BCS thread with BCS restaurants.

I believe you wanted to go to here!

I loved that clown too, not to mention the old building design which was actualy a box.

Not sure thats the reason they got rid of it though. I think it was just a part of some goggle faced executives' plan to spruce up the company's image, and make it more upscale. This was the same time that they introduced the "steak sandwich" which actualy was a steak on a hoggie roll. It wasn't too bad either.

The biggest goof they made though, was blowing up the drive thru clown in the TV comercials. Do you remember the lawsuit that resulted from that. One family sued the company saying that their child would no longer go to Jack in the Box because she was having nightmares about the clown exploding, and was even scared to pass by one on the street! If memory serves....they won!

It was years before anyone saw "Jack" again.

Well, I actually posted an "expose" in a nutshell on my blog here, to demonstrate the great changes...

Man, you guys seem like you're having a blast discussing Houston restaurants! I had done a similar, unrelated thread that didn't do very well.

Which spot was Marshall Field's in in the Galleria?

Saks Fifth Avenue!

OK, next question: When I was in Houston last, I tried to snap a picture of the former Foley's HQ. Is that it, next to the Mega Millions sign? (apology for the terrible photo)

Oh! That "cake and pie" place was Royder's, or at least, Royder's was the last owner of the place before NailSpa.

Old Country Buffet, too, near Kroger was like a more-crappy version of Golden Corral.

I'll play - and show my age

What's now Carney's Pub used to be Youngbloods - best chicken fried steak in town. Best, biggest, wonderful! We're talking 1980 or so tho.

"Egg Roll House" has been gone forever - it was mexican in 1978-80, then Egg Roll till about 85??? It's sat vacant all these years.

What about Ken Martin's Steak House in it's original location on Texas Avenue.. with "the cave" in it. I think it's where FatBurger/Enterprise rent a car is now.

I don't remember Swensons in Post Oak at all just in Culpepper that I recall. But I do remember the tater place

And to date my time/experience in B/CS: Dairy Palace used to be just north on the west side of the intersection of Texas Ave & Hwy 30!

Wouldn't that be where Jack in the Box is now?

Oh, and Luby's Cafeteria and Chelsea Street Pub & Grill were there. I don't have any pictures of Chealsea Street in Post Oak Mall but here is a picture of it in a mall in Memphis (mall is now demo'd)

I haven't been here too long (since 2000), but a few places I remember were:

Garcia's (where Fuddruckers is now). This seemed to me to be a pretty popular place, I always liked it, and it had won several "Best in the Brazos" type awards. I'm surprised it went out of business, but there is a lot of competition in the Mexican food market.

Alicia's (where Crazy Cajun's is now). This was a unique kind of Mexican/Cajun place that we used to bring out-of-town guests to. This one closed when Alicia decided to retire/move, and was replaced by a Thai restaurant that moved there, then by Crazy Cajun's.

Imperial Chinese (I don't think anything has gone in there yet, though it's been closed for a while). I had some of the best Chinese food I've ever had outside of China there - yes, I'm serious. Of course, that was when I came here for my job interview and went with someone Chinese who ordered directly (not even off the menu). After raving about it to my wife, I took her there and had a not-very-good-at-all meal. I had the impression that they were fixing "Americanized" dishes geared toward buffets/mass preparation, while if they had stuck to more authentic dishes, they could have done really well.

And, though they weren't particularly outstanding places, there used to be two Thai places (Nipa Hot and Thai Taste) on the North side of University near A&M. I think high rent in Northgate drove out Nipa Hot, and the Thai Taste place had some of the slowest service ever, so I'm not surprised they're gone. I am surprised that there are no other Thai restaurants that took their place, though.

Two places I don't miss (but that I think others really liked) are T-Bone Jones and Tom's Barbecue. I tried each of those for the first and only time shortly before they went out of business, and in both cases, the food was pretty bad - maybe it had been better in earlier years.

T-Bone Jones and Tom's BBQ were pretty notorious for serving bad meals before going defunct. However, both were great restaurants before things went downhill.

Also, Confucius Chinese Cuisine (where Walgreen's is now) was an ornate building and had some of the best egg rolls ever. I believe it was right near Imperial Chinese (which was near the pawn shop?). Also, when did the "Egg Roll House" on University close?

Given that the area restaurant guide came out relatively recently, I'd like to take this time to have discussions of old restaurants. Here are a few:

Tuscany's: The Gelato place closed down and is replaced by some sign of a karate guy kicking! What happened?

The abandoned steakhouse on Texas Ave.: You've always seen it...it's the one with the tepees and the vine-coated sign, between Kroger and Wal-Mart...but what is it?

Defunct Post Oak Mall Eateries: According to an insert when Post Oak Mall opened, Chick-fil-A and Corn Dog 7 opened as well as the following eateries: Funnel Cakery, Giovanni's, The Great Hot Dog Experience, Ken Martins Chicken Fried Steak (looks like that venture didn't go too well), Peanut Shack (it's actually a candy and nut shop that still seems to exist in forgotten places), Pepe's, Potatoes Etc., Salad Bartique (that is how it's spelled), Seafood Shoppe, and Sesame Hut.

Also, McDonald's, Orange Julius, and Subway had presence as well.

Swenson's was also in it, as well as the now-defunct location near Los Cucos. I believe it closed Dec. 2005 but I could be wrong. The ice cream there (as well as the clown ice creams) were awesome!

I wasn't sad to see Pancho's (where Los Cucos is now) go. Pancho's had these creepy sun masks all against the wall. They gave me nightmares!

T-Bone Jones was a sad loss, but you couldn't find it unless you were looking for it after they redid University.

Tom's BBQ I have a menu of, but I never ate there.

That's all I can think of for now...anyone know of these places/have restaurants they knew of too/etc. etc.?

Yes, before Golden Wok was Golden Chick, a fried chicken place featuring (on the facade) a chicken wearing glasses. Next to that was a Texaco (a nice one), torn down for a Walgreen's.

And Oakwood was originally 5th grade, but they changed it to 5th and 6th. The dog on the Pooh's Park sign stayed for a long while, even after the site was redeveloped.

Here are some old pics of what you want:

(scroll down a bit on the page)

http://mallsofamerica.blogspot.com/search?q=houston+galleria