It's out with the ribs and crab, and in with tacos and green chiles.

After a 10-year run, the Dixie Grill Bar-b-que & Crab Shack restaurant at 404 Ward Ave. is being recast as Tio's Garage & Taco Station in a Southeast-to-Southwest shift in food and atmosphere by owner Ed Wary.

Tio's is scheduled to open Oct. 16 for dinner, and after that will be open daily for lunch and dinner.

Wary said the new restaurant will feature New Mex cuisine emphasizing chiles.

On the menu will be an assortment of tacos, enchiladas, and burritos as well as more creative fare such as tortilla soup poured at the table from a teapot, serrano pepper and mint shrimp lettuce wraps, green chile stew, chipotle chicken wings and goat cheese nachos.

Dixie Grill's lanai sandbox for children is being replaced by a chile roaster, though the marquee sign sometimes featuring humorous messages is slated to remain.

Dixie Grill, which opened in 1997, closed Aug. 5. The Dixie Grill in 'Aiea will continue operating.

Wary said Tio's was inspired by his wife's grandparents, who he said emigrated to New Mexico from Mexico in 1938 and ran a small gas station and repair garage.

The business, Wary said, evolved from one where garage customers were offered food to more of a restaurant that also sold gasoline.

"Before long, they were selling more food than gas," Wary said. "They had to take part of the garage and make it into a dining room."

Wary is a longtime Hawai'i restaurateur who also operates Auntie Pasto's restaurants on Beretania Street and in Kunia Shopping Center on O'ahu, and in Queen Ka'ahumanu Center on Maui.

He also has been involved with past Hawai'i restaurants Eddies Burgers & Frozen Custard in Kaimuki and Rodeo Cantina at Aloha Tower Marketplace.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.