After meeting at a local restaurant in 2018, husband and wife, Oscar and Elaine Gonzalez, turned their shared passion for food and hospitality into a partnership that grew from a food truck in 2022 to a restaurant that opened in January.

Blending 27 years of Oscar's high-end culinary experience and Elaine's own industry background, the two operate Welcome to the Oscar’s alongside Oscar Gonzalez’s son, who is named after his father.

The backstory

While Elaine Gonzalez's background in the hospitality industry goes back to her time as a catering director at Berryhill on Market Street, Oscar Gonzalez's background goes back to 1990. Oscar Gonzalez said he started as a night cleaner at Brennan's of Houston, an upscale restaurant founded in 1967, where he worked for 10 years.

After working for several restaurants with a focus on pastries, Oscar’s dedication to the industry eventually led him to Café on the Green, where he worked as a chef for 18 years. Elaine Gonzalez said the hospitality experience they earned working at a country club is a reflection of the quality hospitality they offer at Welcome to the Oscar’s.“I think that when you work in a club business versus the public restaurant business, you learn a different aspect as far as the expectations of guest service,” Elaine Gonzalez said.

With several decades of experience, the Gonzalezes said they decided to venture off on their own and start their own business. Though the couple intended to open a full-service restaurant from the beginning, they decided to open a food truck while offering catering services.

Today, the Gonzalez family has a full-service restaurant and continues offering catering services. In addition, the couple said they plan to reopen the food truck in the north Houston area within the next year.On the menu

Although Welcome to the Oscar’s first became known for its tacos, the eatery offers a wide menu selection including seafood, pasta, tacos and desserts.

“The tacos are one of the things that put our food truck on the map,” Elaine Gonzalez said.

Among the appetizers, the JR’s Mussels, created and named by Oscar Gonzalez Jr., was a dish he created for his father on his birthday a year before opening the food truck. After Oscar Gonzalez’s first taste, he vowed to include the mussels on his menu if he had the opportunity to open his business.Another appetizer includes The Chase giant meatball, named after Chase Waites, a Lone Star College–Montgomery professor who has been the restaurant's “biggest supporter” since the beginning, Elaine Gonzalez said.

Elaine Gonzalez said the restaurant's best seller is the pecan-crusted flounder, made with Cajun seasoning, black seasoning, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, breading, panko and a toasted pecan mixture.

• 107 Old River Road, Ste. I, Montgomery
• Facebook: Welcome to the Oscar's Bistro & Catering Co.