High school friends fulfill restaurant dream
Everyone wants to make their mark in this world.
For two graduates of the Katy Independent School District that means opening a restaurant offering Southern dishes made with ingredients that are fresh from local sources.
Cane Island Bar & Grill is tentatively set to open in April in a roughly 2,000-square-foot space at the The Shops at Pine Mill Ranch on FM 1463 at Pine Mill Ranch Drive in Katy.
It is the brainchild of Patrick DeMarco, owner/general manager, and Eliab Olivares, kitchen manager. Patrick's dad, Bob DeMarco is owner and manager.
Patrick DeMarco, 31, a Cinco Ranch graduate, and Olivares, 28, a Katy High grad, shared musical interests after meeting through a mutual friend - DeMarco plays guitar and Olivares sings. After graduation, DeMarco attended the University of Houston and Olivares attended Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Dallas.
At UH, DeMarco said "I was bouncing around majors." But he liked to cook at home, was always kind of interested in cooking and had management and bar experience having tended bar through college.
He rethought what he was doing and transferred to UH's Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management.
"From the beginning I wanted my own place," he said. "For a while, I thought just a bar. Now it's morphed into a bar and grill."
And, he had no doubt about who would be his kitchen manager - Eliab.
The introduction to Eliab's future career came about when he worked for a small appliance store at Katy Mills where one of his regular customers was a chef. The chef gave him an opportunity to cook.
Olivares started cooking when he was 18 and his career has ranged from high-volume casual eateries to high-end boutique restaurants and working with prestigious chefs in Dallas.
"I'm trying to do simple food the right way," he said, "sourcing food locally with as many small vendors as I can."
Planning for the restaurant started more than two years ago.
Bob DeMarco said they wanted the family restaurant to be where they lived and grew up and considered FM 1463 to be a great spot.
"Traveling either way on FM 1463 you'll find Chinese, fast food, pizza," he said. "They don't have a restaurant with homecooked food made from scratch every day. It's the same high quality food you make at home.
Article by Karen Zurawski via
Chron.com
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