Antoine Dental Center (Houston, Texas)

Picture from Loopnet (see below)
Nothing much for today...it's just Loopnet's picture of what is now Island Dental, a dental operation that opened sometime between 1997 and 2007 in a former Grandy's (#2061) that operated from 1984 to 1997, located at 6206 Antoine Drive. Island Dental is the successor operation to the late 2000s/early 2010s Antoine Dental Center, and in the process, actually repainted the Grandy's awnings red (they were tan under Antoine Dental Center, though probably dark green when Grandy's actually operated. (Spun off from this post).

Italy Truck Stop (Italy, Texas)

The weird blurriness of Street View doesn't do it justice, this was quite an interesting sight to see.
As part of a rework of Carbon-izer, I've decided to rework my page, currently (soon to be formerly) Italy in 2014 (archive version). It was designed when I had a different vision of the site. It will focus on Starship Pegasus exclusively in the future...

In the meantime, let's look at the other eye-catcher of the town.

I went to the Dallas-Fort Worth area twice in 2014, and both trips were enjoyable. One of them was for an academic-related function yet still had some time to kill. I mentioned in that article that I wanted to write about Italy, Texas, and this is that article. (I hope by now you realize that this is referring to Italy, Texas and not the country). The particular 2014 trip to Dallas-Fort Worth was with my family and took a meandering route, so that Italy was only seen on the way home. A McDonald's in a truck stop wasn't unusual, but what was unusual was the motel rooms cantilevered over it. I only saw the "hotel above truck stop" once before (Orange, Texas), and I thought it was weird/cool then. A hotel in a truck stop was rare enough but McDonald's? Didn't see that coming. Additionally, it also featured a second restaurant, a Grandy's (practically extinct south of Dallas-Fort Worth, even then) and on top of all that, included a Stuckey's store-within-a-store inside the Exxon "Tiger Mart" (#32), all located at 101 L.R. Campbell Road.

In 2017, McDonald's moved out to a stand-alone location on the other side of the Interstate at the old Starship Pegasus site (see next section) and by spring 2019, Grandy's (ever shrinking) was out, and while the Stuckey's "branding" (mostly just some merchandise, which I don't remember seeing) remained, it had lost two restaurants and just wasn't that special anymore. Moreover, in 2015, Love's had opened a new travel center catty-corner to it, featuring a Carl's Jr. (which, despite the closure of most Carl's Jr. restaurants in Texas, is still there).

However, it was down, but not out. By the end of the year, Denny's had opened up in the parking lot of the Exxon and the McDonald's side was filled with Golden Chick. By 2021 it did gain the Pilot branding but only for the diesel bays in the back, not for the main gas station in the front, and not for the convenience store. Finally, tax records indicate Einstein Bros. opening inside the gas station, presumably replacing Grandy's but if Pilot's other Einstein Bros. kiosks are any indication, this isn't much of a bagel shop like the real ones are, and doesn't use much kitchen equipment.

Sales tax records indicate McDonald's opened in 2002, so I have to assume that's when the truck stop opened.

Burned-Out Grandy's (Dallas, Texas)

Slightly modified picture from Google Maps, originally from "Sia S."
Grandy's continues to die with just 16 locations remaining as of this writing, but one of them, at 3738 Marvin D. Love Freeway (US-67) suffered a catastrophic fire in 2023 but despite being boarded up in June 2024 (and demolished by spring 2025) Google claims it is still open (as of this writing) despite being gone from the company's website and never rebuilt. A sad fate for a chain that once claimed nearly 200 restaurants.

This particular restaurant dated back to 1984 as store #2040 (renumbered to #5302 in 2019).

UPDATE 07-29-2026: The Las Cruces, NM location has also closed, so that number has dropped to 15. Information on 3806 S. Polk Street has been moved to this post. Store number and opening also added.

Grandy's in Texarkana (Texarkana, Texas)

When I was on my July 2024 road trip, I had a number of things I wanted to do and try. Some of them I wasn't able to get, some of them I was. One of the things I wanted to do and did was eat at a Grandy's restaurant. I was a bit skeptical as I read that Broken Chains had hated it (though the location was very far away from the North Texas base, being located in Evansville, Indiana).

Like a few other sites I'll be covering in the future, Grandy's used to have a more presence locally. They closed the last of their Houston stores in the late 1990s, so I never got to try it (the local store closed even earlier).

As it turns out, it wasn't that old. It was actually built in 2010, moving from an older location at 3225 Kennedy Lane (since demolished for a dental office) but it kept its late 1980s-era charm, which can't be said for another 2010s location in Brunswick, Georgia, which is arguably nicer but is not true to the Grandy's spirit.

My experience, though, was pleasant. The fried chicken was good, if a bit greasy, but everything came out hot and fast and on a real plate instead of various boxes and bags. Perhaps that's why Grandy's suffered over the years; their competition (basically every other fast food restaurant) can stick things in a paper bag and send them on their way.