By CATHERINE DONNELLY
Special to the PRESS
“Welcome to Joe’s!” are the words that greet people as they enter the doors, and it makes patrons smile as if they’re at their home away from home. The regulars know they will be treated consistently with good quality fresh seafood cooked to perfection and receive exemplary service from the staff.
“I have the best team working for me,” said Joe Castillo, the restaurant’s owner, and namesake. They all work together to ensure that the customer has the best experience while they’re under my roof.”
Whether it’s from personal experience or the recommendation of others, it’s hard to find someone who needs to learn about Joe’s Oyster Bar and Gulf Seafood Market. The restaurant has been a Port Isabel institution on Maxan Street for the past 23 years, just two blocks from the historic Lighthouse Square. It’s an affordable seafood destination for locals and visitors alike. The seafood market has been around for 41 years in that exact location.
From humble beginnings, Joe Henry Castillo was born in Port Isabel, Texas, in late 1951 to Dorina and Teodocio Castillo. He is the fourth of fourteen children, one of the eight boys, and has six sisters. Ten of his siblings live, making for a huge family.
As a child, young Joe Castillo lived in Port Isabel, Laguna Heights, and Brownsville, with the family constantly moving because of their financial situation. Like many of his siblings, Joe did not finish high school but instead worked to help care for the family. At only eight, Joe Castillo started as an employee at the skating rink in Port Isabel. He swept floors and cleaned up for $5 per week ($53.32 in today’s dollars), but he could have all the sodas and chips he wanted and could skate for free.
His second job was at a nearby bakery, where he cleaned the kitchen, scrubbed pots and pans, and helped set up the display for $5/week. When school started, the owners bought all his school clothes.
By age 14, Joe Castillo had picked up a weekend job as a busboy at the Jetties Restaurant on South Padre Island. He earned $35 plus tips for three days’ work (more than $350 in today’s dollars), a significant raise in pay, but he always wanted to be a cook.
One day, he quit this job at the Jetties and walked to the other side of the island to ask the Sandy Retreat Hotel for a job in their kitchen. The hotel hired him as a cook’s helper, and being no stranger to hard work, he quickly gained the skills needed to move up to the cook position.
In 1972, he married his childhood sweetheart, Cecilia Gonzales. She was attending Texas Southmost College in Brownsville and continued to earn a master’s degree in Bilingual/Bicultural Studies from what was then Texas A&I in Kingsville, now Texas A&M. She has had a very long career in education and is currently on the school board for Point Isabel Independent School District.
The couple went on to have four children, one of whom passed away only an hour after birth. They now enjoy five grandchildren: Nathan, Caelan, Addison Sophia, Braeden, and Alisa.
After marrying Cecilia, Joe Castillo worked at the Sea Island Hotel and Restaurant for 14 years, serving as Chef for the last four years of his tenure. He never had to ask for a raise because his boss saw how dedicated he was and increased his pay accordingly. He never sat idle, and on his days off, Joe Castillo bought fresh fish from the shrimping boats to clean, freeze, and sell.
With a strong ambition to succeed, he saved money to resign from Sea Island Hotel. Following the Hotel job, he became owner/partner at the Champion Seafood and Steakhouse for two years. Joe Castillo could not accept defeat after being forced to close after those two years.
He wanted to open a seafood market and would drive by the current location on Maxan Street. It was an 80-year-old stucco building that was only 20’ x 20’ and in disrepair. A woman in Louisiana had bought the building for her daughter and son-in-law to open a coffee shop to give them something to do, but the place was usually closed as the kids had other ideas and would rather surf and be on the beach than tend a business. The woman offered to extend owner financing for ten years, though he paid it off in five.
“I made the sign of the cross in 1981 and opened Gulf Seafood Market in Port Isabel with a counter, some plastic buckets, and ice,” said Joe Castillo.
He bought fresh fish and seafood and sold it daily. He ran this business for four years, tore it down, remodeled it, and added a new section of the building. Joe Castillo then started selling hot plates of food for many years.
In 1989, a young boy named Enrique Hernandez, or Ricky, lived in some old apartments behind the restaurant. He started to come around the seafood market every day. Joe Castillo put him to work doing odd jobs like cleaning, just as business owners had done for him when he was that age. According to Joe Castillo, Ricky eventually became the manager of the business, and 35 years later, he still works there.
“When the Queen Isabella Causeway tragically collapsed in September 2001, it turned this area into a ghost town,” said Joe Castillo. I took that opportunity to stop renting out a section of the barbecue restaurant and remodel it to open Joe’s Oyster Bar. That’s when we officially started the restaurant.”
According to Joe Castillo, the new eating establishment was an instant success and is today a top locally owned restaurant and seafood market.
They never lost a day of business during the construction. According to Joe Castillo, they just hung a sign-out front to go around back, and they sold seafood plates to go from the back of the building. Years later, in March of 2020, when many restaurants were closed for COVID, Joe’s provided curbside service, returning to selling hot plates of seafood to go.
“I want to thank all of my customers over the years who have supported our business,” said Joe Castillo. “We’ve had a good run, and our business grows yearly. I plan on being in business for many years to come.”
Some of the house favorites are the handmade ceviche and the deluxe seafood platter. Many people select something from the showcases and have it cooked to order, fried, blackened, or grilled. They also make their fresh coleslaw.
Joe’s Oyster Bar has earned many certificates of excellence from online rating systems like Trip Advisor and Yelp and is a favorite locally owned eating establishment. Joe Castillo says he’s a firm believer that there’s always room for another restaurant in the neighborhood because businesses are only competing to be the best they can be.
“Be sure to congratulate Tortuga’s on being named a top restaurant,” added Cecilia Castillo. “We are very happy for them. There are plenty of blessings to go around.”
Joe Castillo’s success led him to invest in real estate properties on South Padre Island and Port Isabel. He and his son own Joe’s Oyster Bar and Grill in Rosenberg, Texas, where he also owns a second home.
Joe now loves to buy and sell properties, remodeling some to resell. His favorite things are visiting with his children and grandchildren and traveling. He also likes to gamble in Las Vegas.
According to him and his wife, Joe Castillo was vaccinated with a flu shot in 2015 and became ill. He lost his mobility and has taken to a wheelchair, but this does not stop him from doing the things that he loves. He continues to work at the market and restaurant when he isn’t traveling. He now lives in Laguna Vista with his wife, Cecilia, of 49 years.
Comments