Long-standing restaurant closes its doors | News

Evans spoke fondly of the restaurant after learning that owners Lin and Stacie Biar had decided to close the business following the damage brought ashore by Hurricane Beryl on July 8 and the heavy rains in the days that followed.

The restaurant was 25 centimeters under water.

“It is with the deepest regret that we must announce that the Red Snapper Inn will not be reopening,” Lin and Stacie Biar said in a statement posted on Facebook Monday morning. “Words cannot express the gratitude for all the guests, staff, family and friends who have supported our efforts to establish one of the finest seafood restaurants on the Texas Gulf Coast.”

Lin Biar evaluates the restaurant at the end of each summer season, he said, and the damage caused by Beryl has brought forward his retirement date.

“I’m sad,” said Biar. “We have been part of many people’s lives over the years. Our locals have always been very supportive after a storm.”

Damage to the restaurant this year includes loss of equipment, much of the restaurant’s food supplies, and water damage to walls and floors.

Beryl is the eighth major storm in the 37 years the Red Snapper Inn has been open, he said. Many of those have been tropical storms, but Hurricanes Nicholas in 2021 and Ike in 2008 have also hit the restaurant hard.

Nicholas sent a three-inch flood of saltwater into the restaurant at 402 Bluewater Highway, while Ike caused enough damage, with 2 feet of water and a torn-off canopy, that forced the restaurant to close for nearly two months.

“It usually takes about three years to get out of debt after a storm,” Biar said. “I basically just got out of debt because of Nicholas and didn’t want to take on any more debt.”

The Red Snapper Inn opened in 1987 when Ivan Stathopoulos – Lin Biar’s father-in-law – moved from Houston and opened the restaurant as a seasonal tourist destination.

In 1991, Lin Biar “brought his favorite Louisiana-style seafood dish to an up-and-coming, year-round restaurant serving some of the best seafood on the Texas Gulf Coast,” the restaurant’s menu states. “Since opening, Red Snapper Inn has sourced fresh ingredients and relied on local commercial fishermen and shrimpers to supply all fresh Gulf seafood that is filleted and processed in-house.”

Longtime waitress Isabel Gauna said she was sad to hear the restaurant would not reopen.

“I’ve been there for almost 33 years,” she said. “I loved it.”

She enjoyed working with Stathopoulos and Biar as well as the restaurant’s staff and customers.

“The food and the guests were very good,” said Gauna. “I was happy there.”

Visiting the Red Snapper Inn always had a “family feeling,” said longtime guest Jimmy Brown.

“I think the best memories I have are of the family meals during the celebrations,” Brown said.

With the restaurant closing, Biar plans to retire, but he wants to keep his eyes and mind open to new chapters and opportunities, he said.

“Right now, I’m looking forward to finalizing the insurance deal,” he said.

Still, the closure is bittersweet, he said.

“Sometimes God works mysterious ways, and sometimes you just know it’s time to move on,” Biar said.

The Red Snapper Inn has been the scene of many memories over the years, Evans said. When he and his wife, Julie, got married, they held their reception dinner at the restaurant; when his youngest daughter got married, her rehearsal dinner was held there.

“We will miss you terribly,” Evans said.