Leave a Comment | Posted by Alex O'Neal on October 9, 2008
Verde’s Mexican Grill
Posted in: Miscellaneous
On Thursday Oct 9th we had Joel and Aubrey in from Verde’s Mexican Grill. The restaurant is on Hamilton Pool Road about 2 miles from HWY 71.They have a pretty cool story:
Joel- The last 13 years i was with Carrabba’s Italian Grill. When I was 20 they offered me a kitchen manager position which i held for 3 years. I then was promoted to Food Tech for the Texas region which i held for 3 1/2 years. My job was to oversee all kitchen operations for Texas. I had 12 restaurants. I also was kitchen coordinator which consisted of putting teams of 13 trainers from around the country and flying them out to new locations that were going to open up. We would stay 2-3 weeks and train the new staff. i opened about 10 to 12 restaurants. At these openings were in charge off all operations.
Aubrey- She was with Carrabba’s for 9 years. She became the service tech for Texas. She was in charge of service operations for the same 12 restaurants. She held that position for 2 years. She was the promoted to national service tech where she oversaw 180 restaurants. she held that position for 2 years. Her biggest position and most proud is being mom for the last 3 1/2 years.We got married in April of 2002 and now have to boys. Caden is 3 1/2 and Hudson is 15 months.
With all of our experience in kitchen and service we were confident that we could put our own restaurant together. One of our biggest decision to do this was to be able to control our family life. understanding that this would be a great undertaking we decided to do it now that the kids are young. I want us to have the opportunity to have time later when they have all there school activities. Work hard now and hopefully create more time for the future.
At the start of this venture we were going to do tex mex. 2 months before we opened, we went a different direction. Our family has always loved to grill, the company i worked for was a grill. We decided to do a parrilla.
Why a Mexican grill, well we wanted to be different and unique. We wanted to create a restaurant with an atmosphere that would be family friendly. We envisioned a huge green lawn where it was safe for kids to and parents to relax. This is where Verde’s came from (green).
We have a very relaxed feel to our patio with a lounge and patio seating. Kids are free to throw a football or kick a soccer ball a around.inside the decor is subtle and nice. You can have a casual dinner or anniversary dinner.
I hired 2 chefs Cody Kidwell and John Mceachern. I wrote the menu and w went to work on the recipes. Between all three of us we put together the menu in 2 months. Our food is all fresh ingredients and commit to haven’t the freshest produce, seafood and meats.
Here’s what they brought in today:
Chipotle Glazed Pork Chop
Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
Pollo Palomino – Grilled chicken breast topped with a roasted poblano, Monterey jack, avocado, and poblano cream sauce.
Carne Asada-
Petite tender topped with a tequila peppercorn sauce
Cilantro lime rice
Mexican rice
Roasted aioli corn
And it was delicious!!!!
