When Alan Smith, co-owner of Hasta La Pasta, was 16 years old, he worked at 2Js, a chicken and hamburger joint in Austin.
Although he went on to earn a degree in radio, television and film studies at the University of Houston, Smith said he could not get restaurants off his mind. He and his brother Jeff opened their first restaurant together in 1995.
“[Jeff] and I worked in restaurants from a young age and really enjoyed it,” Smith said. “I started off preparing chicken and hamburgers [at 2J’s], then I went next door to a Mexican restaurant and worked as a busboy, then a waiter, bartender and assistant manager. I did all of the jobs. I cooked. I washed dishes. I did everything.”
This experience prepared him for ownership, Smith said.
“When someone is out of the office for three days sometimes you can just let their stack of paperwork build up, [and] push their project [deadline] down for another week or two, but in our business if you open the doors, the customers are coming,” he said. “And they’re not concerned whether we are short- staffed or full-staffed
or overstaffed.”
He and his brother purchased Hasta La Pasta, then a restaurant in Humble, in 1999 before expanding the concept to Spring and Katy, he said.
“I tried other jobs, but we wanted to be our own boss,” Alan said. “[The restaurant business] has your typical management challenges, customer service being the No. 1 thing and food quality. Trying to maintain those is important every day.”
The Smiths opened the Spring location of Hasta La Pasta 10 years ago, hoping to create an Italian restaurant that would appeal to the Champions area.
The restaurant is known for its chicken marsala, a lightly breaded fried chicken breast topped with marsala sauce, and other dishes, such as chicken verona, which includes penne pasta topped with grilled chicken, Smith said.
Hasta La Pasta also offers three banquet rooms, a full bar with happy hour specials and a patio that helps create the environment that Smith and his brother desired.
“The concept is kind of an eclectic Italian feel with lots of grilled items and specialty sauces like our cilantro poblano cream sauce,” he said. Hasta La Pasta was the brothers’ second venture into restaurant ownership after buying Lasagna House in 1995. After closing the original Hasta La Pasta location, the duo owns four Houston-area restaurants: two Hasta La Pasta franchises and two restaurants under the Lasagna House name.
