Bumpy road
Caswell had married his second wife, Jennifer Caswell, in 2014 in his parents' backyard, serenading her with "I Want to Know What Love Is." The Caswells lived in the historical Avondale neighborhood, in a two-story house, one of the oldest in the city. Their blended family included four children, three dogs and four chickens. Together they operated Bryan Caswell Concepts as well as the nonprofit Southern Salt Foundation.
While still working to get Reef back open, Bryan and Jennifer were hired to open a ground-floor restaurant and rooftop bar at the new Le Meridien Houston hotel in downtown.
Oxbow 7, hailed for its "elevated bayou cuisine," was a coup for the Caswells and an opportunity for the chef to redefine his brand of Gulf Coast cuisine while Reef was one the mend. But their relationship with Le Meridien soured almost immediately, and they were released from their contract in January 2018, not even four months after the project opened. At the time, Le Meridien management declined to comment on the factors that led to the Caswells' contract termination. The Caswells said the hotel management did not act in good faith.
The new year also brought the dissolution of Caswell's partnership with Floyd. Floyd was still a partner at Reef when Harvey hit, but by that time, he had largely moved on to other projects that did not involve the Caswells.
In the split, Floyd took Jackson Street BBQ. He is no longer associated with Reef or El Real in Montrose, he said, but he maintains an interest in the El Real outpost in Terminal B at George Bush International Airport and 3rd Bar Eating House in the same terminal. Floyd also partners in Monarch Hospitality Group.
REVIEW: See what critic Alison Cook thought of the old Reef, only on HoustonChronicle.com
"We were very successful partners for 10 years. We wouldn't have been able to do the things we did without Bill," Caswell said of his partnership. "He's the hardest-working man I've seen in my life. He's one of the last hard-core restaurant professionals around."
A week after his partnership with Floyd dissolved, another blow came, Caswell said. On July 6, lightning struck the Caswell home in Montrose during a storm. There were no injuries, but the home caught fire and was badly damaged. It is still being repaired.
That, more than the hurricane, was debilitating," Caswell said. "The fire burned through the roof."
Before Reef officially reopened, Bryan and Jennifer Caswell split. They are now divorcing, he said.
Jennifer Caswell, who worked on the business end of Reef in marketing and public relations, said she was terminated from Reef operations more than a month ago. "Bryan fired me. It's that simple," she said.
When asked on what grounds, she said, "I don't know, he never told me."
She called her husband "a brilliant chef" and added that she, for the most part, is proud of her association with Reef.
"I was up there working my butt off every single day," she said. "I was proud of most of it. There were some things I wish I could have done different. I wish my voice was heard more. I was not heard a lot of the time."
Passion for the Gulf
Bryan Caswell's friends know two indisputable truths about him. He loves his Astros (he wears an Astros cap more often than not), and his passion for fishing is intense.
The Gulf waters off the Surfside Marina in Freeport where his family keeps a boat is the spot Caswell has been fishing all his life. Snapper, cobia, dorado, tripletail amberjack they're the fish Caswell has hooked since he was a boy and the fish he's featured on his menu as a chef.
"When I get in a boat, it's the only place in the world where I'm not worried about everything else going on in my life," he said. "My history of fishing drives my passion for what I'm doing."
At 46, Caswell is back working in the open kitchen at the restaurant that has brought him culinary acclaim.
"There's nothing that's the same on the menu from Reef. Everything's different," he said. "These are the things that have been in my head and wanted to come out of me for years."
Not only has he created a new menu, he's added a dining concept within Reef called Weedline, a chef's table of 12 seats facing the open kitchen. He'll soon offer an omakase-like service of six to 10 dishes prepared from market-fresh fish and seafood by Caswell and his three sous chefs.
Weedline takes its name from a zone of water with significant weed growth where fish congregate.
"It's a pop-up for fish a full ecosystem," he said of fishing the weedline. "Everything is feeding under this weedline."
Caswell's eyes light up when he talks about fishing, the Gulf, the Weedline and its endless seafood possibilities. He has filled the restaurant's walls with framed maps of the Gulf and Galveston waterways and with artwork inspired by the Coastal Conservation Association.
In the restaurant's private dining room, now dubbed "the boardroom," he shows off the table that will seat eight for elegant dinners secluded behind the restaurant's glass-fronted wine room. The table was the working desk his father, Michael Caswell, a successful wildcatter and petroleum engineer, used for work in the Caswell home. He describes it as the desk where family decisions were made.
"It's where I went to beg him to let me go to culinary school," Caswell said.
Although Caswell has weathered ups and downs since Reef closed, it feels good to start anew, he said.
"I feel better than I've ever felt in my life. There's nothing bad about what's going on," he said. "I'm more excited about coming to work than I ever have been."
Caswell had married his second wife, Jennifer Caswell, in 2014 in his parents' backyard, serenading her with "I Want to Know What Love Is." The Caswells lived in the historical Avondale neighborhood, in a two-story house, one of the oldest in the city. Their blended family included four children, three dogs and four chickens. Together they operated Bryan Caswell Concepts as well as the nonprofit Southern Salt Foundation.
While still working to get Reef back open, Bryan and Jennifer were hired to open a ground-floor restaurant and rooftop bar at the new Le Meridien Houston hotel in downtown.
Oxbow 7, hailed for its "elevated bayou cuisine," was a coup for the Caswells and an opportunity for the chef to redefine his brand of Gulf Coast cuisine while Reef was one the mend. But their relationship with Le Meridien soured almost immediately, and they were released from their contract in January 2018, not even four months after the project opened. At the time, Le Meridien management declined to comment on the factors that led to the Caswells' contract termination. The Caswells said the hotel management did not act in good faith.
The new year also brought the dissolution of Caswell's partnership with Floyd. Floyd was still a partner at Reef when Harvey hit, but by that time, he had largely moved on to other projects that did not involve the Caswells.
In the split, Floyd took Jackson Street BBQ. He is no longer associated with Reef or El Real in Montrose, he said, but he maintains an interest in the El Real outpost in Terminal B at George Bush International Airport and 3rd Bar Eating House in the same terminal. Floyd also partners in Monarch Hospitality Group.
REVIEW: See what critic Alison Cook thought of the old Reef, only on HoustonChronicle.com
"We were very successful partners for 10 years. We wouldn't have been able to do the things we did without Bill," Caswell said of his partnership. "He's the hardest-working man I've seen in my life. He's one of the last hard-core restaurant professionals around."
A week after his partnership with Floyd dissolved, another blow came, Caswell said. On July 6, lightning struck the Caswell home in Montrose during a storm. There were no injuries, but the home caught fire and was badly damaged. It is still being repaired.
That, more than the hurricane, was debilitating," Caswell said. "The fire burned through the roof."
Before Reef officially reopened, Bryan and Jennifer Caswell split. They are now divorcing, he said.
Jennifer Caswell, who worked on the business end of Reef in marketing and public relations, said she was terminated from Reef operations more than a month ago. "Bryan fired me. It's that simple," she said.
When asked on what grounds, she said, "I don't know, he never told me."
She called her husband "a brilliant chef" and added that she, for the most part, is proud of her association with Reef.
"I was up there working my butt off every single day," she said. "I was proud of most of it. There were some things I wish I could have done different. I wish my voice was heard more. I was not heard a lot of the time."
Passion for the Gulf
Bryan Caswell's friends know two indisputable truths about him. He loves his Astros (he wears an Astros cap more often than not), and his passion for fishing is intense.
The Gulf waters off the Surfside Marina in Freeport where his family keeps a boat is the spot Caswell has been fishing all his life. Snapper, cobia, dorado, tripletail amberjack they're the fish Caswell has hooked since he was a boy and the fish he's featured on his menu as a chef.
"When I get in a boat, it's the only place in the world where I'm not worried about everything else going on in my life," he said. "My history of fishing drives my passion for what I'm doing."
At 46, Caswell is back working in the open kitchen at the restaurant that has brought him culinary acclaim.
"There's nothing that's the same on the menu from Reef. Everything's different," he said. "These are the things that have been in my head and wanted to come out of me for years."
Not only has he created a new menu, he's added a dining concept within Reef called Weedline, a chef's table of 12 seats facing the open kitchen. He'll soon offer an omakase-like service of six to 10 dishes prepared from market-fresh fish and seafood by Caswell and his three sous chefs.
Weedline takes its name from a zone of water with significant weed growth where fish congregate.
"It's a pop-up for fish a full ecosystem," he said of fishing the weedline. "Everything is feeding under this weedline."
Caswell's eyes light up when he talks about fishing, the Gulf, the Weedline and its endless seafood possibilities. He has filled the restaurant's walls with framed maps of the Gulf and Galveston waterways and with artwork inspired by the Coastal Conservation Association.
In the restaurant's private dining room, now dubbed "the boardroom," he shows off the table that will seat eight for elegant dinners secluded behind the restaurant's glass-fronted wine room. The table was the working desk his father, Michael Caswell, a successful wildcatter and petroleum engineer, used for work in the Caswell home. He describes it as the desk where family decisions were made.
"It's where I went to beg him to let me go to culinary school," Caswell said.
Although Caswell has weathered ups and downs since Reef closed, it feels good to start anew, he said.
"I feel better than I've ever felt in my life. There's nothing bad about what's going on," he said. "I'm more excited about coming to work than I ever have been."
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always."
Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
