The ground beneath Castaways Seafood and Grill and the Shops at Old Town in Port Aransas has new owners. Domingo Hernandez and Emily Hernandez have purchased the property, tying together a story that began 25 years ago when Domingo Hernandez started as a line cook in the restaurant’s kitchen.
Hernandez’s path from cook to co-owner to property owner has unfolded over two and a half decades, according to Port Aransas South Jetty. He started out as a line cook at Castaways in 2001, a detail confirmed by portasouthjetty.com, which reported he purchased the restaurant with business partner Adam Gonzales in February. Under that arrangement, Gonzales handled accounting, legal and finance management while Hernandez ran day-to-day operations, the outlet reported.
Emily Hernandez and Domingo Hernandez later bought out Gonzales, according to the seed reporting on the Alister property transaction. The Better Business Bureau’s profile for Castaways Seafood and Grill lists Domingo Hernandez as owner and Emily Hernandez as marketing manager, and shows the business operating as a limited liability company under the alternate name Jones Food Company, LLC.
A Restaurant That Has Changed Hands Before
Castaways itself has a long ownership history predating the Hernandez family. Danny Danglade opened the restaurant in 1993, and Jay Jones bought it from him in 2005, per the same portasouthjetty.com account. The restaurant’s own website lays out the full timeline: the Danglade family owned it from 1993 to 2005, the Jones family from 2005 to 2021, and the Hernandez family has run it since 2021, according to Castaway’s Seafood & Grill…