You might feel a little disloyal walking into Johnny Carrabba’s new Grace’s with the ever-satisfying and recently renovated Carrabba’s sitting just across the street. But the two restaurants offer completely different experiences and both warrant a spot on your regular dining-out rotation.

Grace’s — it opened February 13 — is the third of Carrabba’s restaurants to open on Kirby Drive and is part of the Carrabba restaurant campus that also includes a huge (and free) parking garage. Its two nearby siblings are the 27-year-old Original Carrabba’s and the still-new Mia’s, a fast-casual concept named after Carrabba’s daughter that opened last year just a block east into the neighborhood.

Grace’s is also named after a beloved woman in Carrabba’s life, his grandmother Grace Mandola. The restaurant, as related on the website, “is home to Grace’s memory and extraordinary interest in cooking.”

The wood accents throughout the big brick bunaglow as well as the curtains, framed lace doilies and floral-patterned porcelain plates hanging on the walls conjure memories of grandma’s home, but with a modern twist.

Grace Mandola was born in Louisiana to two immigrant parents from Sicily, so the restaurant’s menu features a round-up of down-home Southern dishes, such as fried quail, Mia’s gumbo and a chicken potpie. We were surprised that the menu at Grace’s offers only a single pasta dish, lobster tagliatelle. The rest of the menu is an amalgamation of Asian, Tex-Mex and Southern-inspired dishes: braised short ribs, roast chicken, carne asada with an enchilada.

We decided to try a few Asian-style dishes, because it is just not something one would typically expect from Johnny Carrabba, who built his reputation with Gulf Coast Italian food. The sticky ribs appetizer (photo below) are boneless tender-chewy ribs in an orange ginger glaze, liberally sprinkled with sesame seeds. The cheekily named Johnny Chang’s Kung Fu Chicken is lightly fried, sauced and served with a small portion of fried rice studded with lemon zest.

Other Asian-inspired dishes include sweet and sour calamari and shrimp, the seafood cocktail with kimchi slaw, and beef and sugar snap peas with fried rice.

We have long loved the Caesar salad at Carrabba’s, so we ordered it here, too. Like the original, it was simple and well balanced, coated in a bright and well-seasoned dressing.

The Original Carrabba’s (along with the Voss location) undoubtedly feels like family for many Houstonians, and we see Grace’s becoming another home away from home for many local diners.

Grace’s, 3111 Kirby, 713-728-6410, gracesonkirby.com