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.
That same company history recounts a rockier chapter for the restaurant's physical home. Hurricane Harvey damaged the original Castaways location on Alister Street on Aug. 25, 2017, the restaurant's website states. The business didn't stay down for long — by Aug. 25, 2018, it had reopened just across the street, and portasouthjetty.com reported the new location opened at 337 N. Alister St. in the Shops in Old Town, with Domingo Hernandez identified at the time as general manager.
Nearby Cottages Also Hit the Market
The Hernandez purchase comes as other Alister Street real estate is shifting too. Karen and Jay Jones — the same family that once owned Castaways — are now selling the historic Angler's Courts property at 409 N. Alister St., listed at $1.75 million, according to a separate portasouthjetty.com report. The Joneses purchased that property in 2020 and told the outlet they decided to sell after the tax valuation on the land doubled over the past year.
Angler's Courts sits on nearly half an acre and includes eight small buildings, most dating to the late 1930s or early 1940s, per the same report. The property originally consisted of 21 cottages when the first structures went up around 1938. While that sale is separate from the Castaways property transaction, both involve Alister Street real estate.
