Bluewater Seafood

Bluewater offers a wide array of fried, grilled and boiled seafood selections with a Cajun flavor, serving everything from etouffee to fried alligator. Although the restaurant has a number of customer favorites, Aplin said crawfish are still Bluewater’s top seller between February and June.

“That’s when we do the bulk of our business,” he said.

In the ’90s, Aplin said he was looking to get out of commercial fishing, a dangerous profession that has taken the lives of five of his family members. He and his friend Vincent Mai set out to find a location the two poor commercial fishermen could afford and found the FM 1960 site.

Mai dropped out of the venture, but Aplin and his wife, Ping, stuck with the business. Nearly 20 years later, Aplin’s gamble seems to have paid off.

Renovations on the FM 2920 location were completed in September after Aplin purchased the site back from his mother, Irene Snellgrove.

“[Customers] love the new renovations,” Manager Victor Tapia said. “They love how [we] treat them here, and the food quality is a lot better.”

Aplin said he is looking for a fourth site somewhere in Sugar Land and is considering adding more salads and grilled dishes to the menu. However one thing that is not likely to change is the family-friendly atmosphere at Bluewater, where the owner knows the vast majority of his customers.

“I want people to feel like they’ve come home when they eat [here] or [are] going to a friend’s house to eat,” he said.

Bluewater Seafood

6107 FM 1960 West, Houston 281-895-9222 4921 FM 2920, Spring 281-288-9222 www.bluewaterseafoodonline.com Hours: Sun.-Thu. 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m.