As the owner and chef of Red Onion Company on the Square, it is not in Joey Ashton’s nature to sit still. Even during peak hours at the downtown Conroe eatery—when county employees come in for lunch and Ashton is the only chef in the kitchen—he said he still is not stressed.
Although the restaurant industry is high-intensity, Ashton said it pales in comparison to his former job as a criminal investigator for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office. However, the methodology of discovering and connecting missing information for felony cases did assist him in his passion for cooking, he said.
“When it comes down to cooking food, it is the same thing—it takes all these puzzle pieces to come together to make a very dynamic, really nice dish,” Ashton said.
The only thing Ashton has ever known is being a public servant, he said. He worked in other public service positions before becoming an investigator, including working as a fingerprint supervisor, serving in the military and working as a firefighter.
In his spare time, Ashton’s passion for food—which was born from his grandmother’s Southern cooking—pushed him to learn to cook various cuisines, enter food competitions and eventually open Red Onion Catering, a catering business, in 2013.
A month after Ashton retired from the county in May 2017, he opened Red Onion Company on the Square. The restaurant serves homemade Southern comfort food, including half-pound burgers, chicken-fried steak and sandwiches made with hand-smoked meats.
The restaurant’s atmosphere is reflective of the history of Conroe, with memorabilia and photos covering the walls and the motto “Welcome to the family” painted on the front window.
Now that he is retired, Ashton only serves breakfast and lunch at Red Onion, save for special events. When the restaurant is closed on weekends, he keeps busy by running his catering company, working as a sergeant for Precinct 1 Constable’s Office and spending time with his wife and two daughters.
“There were a lot of times [in my career] when I couldn’t make it to an assembly or a play, so I told them [Red Onion Company] is not going to interfere with that,” Ashton said. “I made a promise when I retired that I’d be there to get them off the bus every day … and I’m not going to break [that] promise.”
Red Onion Company on the Square
330 N. Main St., Conroe
936-521-1121
www.facebook.com/feedingtheworldroc
Hours: 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Mon.-Fri., closed Saturdays and Sundays
