The Grill, formerly known as the venerable Golden Spread Grill in Groom, Texas, has closed due to the owner’s health issues.
Owner Karen Brown announced on Facebook that the restaurant at 407 E. Front St. (aka Route 66) would close on Sept. 13. She thanked the community for its support over the years.
She had owned the restaurant since 2008.
According to Route 66 Times, the Golden Spread Grill opened in 1957 as a companion business to the Golden Spread Motel next door.
Ruby Denton operated the restaurant from 1957 to 2002. Accordintg to her obituary, she was famous for her cinnamon rolls, hot steak sandwiches and hamburgers.
Denton died in 2011 at age 90.
Cheryl Eichar Jett devoted a few pages to Denton in her recently published “Aprons Away” book about women on Route 66. The Collinsville Daily News has a summary of a Denton story that didn’t make it to print:
A story her daughter told her that did not make the book was about a group of men traveling together and a few of them came in after the rest and startled her. Denton asked one of her staff after she left who they were and learned it was the Oak Ridge Boys.
Texas Archive of the Moving Image has a five-minute segment from 1991 about Denton, the Golden Spread Grill and Groom. The segment begins at the 8:11 mark.
(Exceprted image from Google Street View of The Grill in Groom, Texas)