For the most part, driving along I-10 in Channelview, Texas, means seeing a regular stream of Mexican restaurants, taquerias, panaderias, and the occasional asadero. There’s one restaurant, however, that always catches my eye: Captain Tom’s Seafood & Oyster Bar.
It’s the shape of a boat.
There aren’t many boat restaurants in Houston besides Captain Tom’s and Captain Benny’s. Both captains have steered fairly clear of one another, both in proximity and in their way of doing things. Captain Tom’s carries all the swagger of a fish stand on the way to the beach: no website, no social media, no menus, no tables, and no pretentiousness.
The history of Captain Tom’s is somewhat murky. According to a 2000 Houston Chronicle article, Tom Makdisi opened his first Captain Tom’s restaurant in the 1990s at 9651 FM 1960 West in northwest Houston (It moved less than a mile away to 10501 FM 1960). Makdisi later opened locations in Katy and Channelview…