< Previous80 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2023 COUNTER CULTURE (Clockwise from top left) Some of Roxanna Gipson’s mother’s depression-era glass is displayed in the upper cabinets in the kitchen; Dave Hedgepeth likes to drink coffee all day, so he and Gipson designed a pull-out coffee bar in their kitchen; a pull-out drawer next to the stovetop and oven allows Gipson to have all of her utensils handy while cooking but keeps the countertop clutter-free. A matching drawer on the other side of the stovetop holds Gipson’s spices; a beverage bar with a built-in wine rack. (Opposite, clockwise from left) A walk-in pantry holds appliances and dry goods; Gipson and Hedgepeth created a dog-free zone for their cats by cutting a small, arched hole in the pantry door, which leads to the cats’ concealed litter box in the laundry room; pots and pans are neatly organized on a pot rack. COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2023 81 couple views of the water and nearby pro- tected wetlands from every corner. “I feel like I am living in a glass house,” Gipson said. “But I love that we have a view from every room.” The kitchen is anchored by a huge — 6-by-8-foot — granite island, which houses the stovetop and oven. The flowing design in the granite — browns, grays, greens — are reminiscent of earth tones and work well with the sea salt green palette for the custom glass-fronted cabinets by Wood Solutions of Galveston. “I looked at so many pieces of granite, but this one spoke to me,” Gipson said. “I love the natural colors; it almost looks like nature coming in and it is beachy, too, with the movement of the water.” The eight upper-most cabinets surround- ing the room and touching the high ceiling are lighted and hold family treasures given to them from relatives after the fire. “We had to start all over again,” she said. The couple chose to have few shelves in the room, rather installing large drawers for storage — for dishes, pot, pans and the microwave. In one corner of the kitchen are the beverage bars: a wine cooler, a built-in wine rack and cabinet full of stemware and shot glasses. And because Hedgepeth likes to drink coffee all day, they designed a pull- out coffee bar for his convenience. Gipson is firm about preventing clutter in 82 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2023 COUNTER CULTURE (Clockwise from top) Roxanna Gipson and Dave Hedgepeth had to rebuild their house from the ground up after a fire in 2020. They enlisted the help of designer Randall Bowers to come up with a plan that features an open-concept main floor, combining the kitchen with the dining and living rooms; a friend created a piece of art for Gipson and Hedgepeth with a burned, heart-shaped piece of wood salvaged from the remnants of their old home. The art piece, which hangs near the front door, is a reminder of hope and love; the couple enjoys views of the canal and Offatts Bayou from the open-concept living room and screened-in porch. COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2023 83 the kitchen. So, she designed a special appli- ance and utensil drawer next to the stove for when she’s cooking. On the other side of the stove is the spice rack, organized and hidden inside another enclosure. “I love to cook, but I hate clutter,” she said. And, to make her kitchen even more efficient, they built a huge walk-in pantry for tabletop appliances, canned foods and perishables. On the double pantry door is a small, arched entryway near the floor, just big enough for their cats to crawl into to use the nearby concealed litter box. “This is the DFZ – dog-free zone,” she said. “They can’t fit into the little opening and can’t come into the pantry. The cats like that.” The couple adopted two large dogs, plus two cats, after their furry friends perished in the fire. Hedgepeth proudly points out he selected the backless swivel bar stools, but that was the extent of his creative contribution, he said. He has a charter sailing boat, the TSC Jeanne Marie, which is usually moored near their home. He came to Galveston in the 1970s to attend the Texas Maritime Academy at Texas A&M University at Galveston. Actually, Hedgepeth had more kitchen suggestions. He agreed with the large farm sink and made sure there was a window above it. “I like to look outside when I’m at the sink,” Gipson said. “I don’t know why.” One other addition to their four-bedroom house was a large screened-in porch, with site lines to Offatts Bayou and the canal in front of their home. They spend most eve- nings in this room, relaxing and enjoying the sunsets in the evenings. The couple gets sentimental when they point out a heart-shaped burned piece of wood, rescued from the wreckage that once was their home. It’s mounted on a smoky mirror and framed in wood remnants from the house, and a constant reminder to them of hope and love. A friend created the art piece for them as a memorial to their home and the three pets they lost in the fire. “It just reminds us that everything is going to be OK,” she said. “Regardless of what has happened, it is love and hope and we are going to be OK.” 84 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2023 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2023 85 DOWN HOME ‘A LOVE OF COOKING’ A harrowing adventure on the high seas leads to pirate-themed restaurant story by MICHAEL A. SMITH photos by JENNIFER REYNOLDS W hether it involved crossing an ocean, fording a river or just appearing in a maternity ward right down the street, everybody’s got an arrival story; some more unusual than others. How Dat “Spike” Nguyen came to open a restaurant called Pirate Island Bar and Grill on the east end of Galveston’s seawall is one of those. His story parted with the usual on a beach facing the South China Sea in the city of Nha Trang on the east coast of Vietnam. It was 1979. Saigon had fallen in ‘75. The country was in chaos still as the new communist government consolidated control over the south. There was flux, fear among many and many fled, entering the U.S. lexi- con as “boat people.” For Dat Nguyen, however, life was a beach. He was 9 years old, among the youngest in a family of 10 and mostly free to roam, he recalled. “My family lived right on the beach, on the sand,” Nguyen said. “In front, just ocean, fishing boats.” The neighborhood children made a game of swimming out and trying to stow away on those boats, he said. Sometimes, they got caught and whipped with a dried sting- ray tail; sometimes they got to stay and play at being fishermen. One day, a third possibility arose as he Dat “Spike” Nguyen, who is opening Pirate Island Bar and Grill in Galveston, prepares some traditional Vietnamese and Asian-fusion dishes.86 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2023 DOWN HOME slipped over the side to swim back ashore. It was dusk. A machine gun exploded with its staccato bark; trac- er rounds arced over the boat, and in the fading light, he saw a great crowd of desperate people swarm- ing toward him. He climbed back aboard and hunkered down; others followed; the boat got underway and put out to sea. Six starving days and freezing nights later, the boat landed on an island in the Philippines, he said. Like the rest of the refugees, Nguyen waded ashore with all his worldly possessions, his name and the shorts he wore. Many of the boat people were Cath- olic, as was Nguyen’s family, and a priest met them on the beach, he said. Eventually, the priest got a telegram to Nguyen’s parents. Their reply sent his life off on another course, he said. They presumed he had died in the water, even held a funeral, and they asked the priest to contact Nguyen’s uncle in Houston and get the boy to the States. Nguyen spent two years in a refu- gee camp waiting for paperwork and government approval before arriving in Houston and moving in with his aunt and uncle, he said. In that sprawling international city, he “became American,” caught the entrepreneurial bug, picked up his nickname, learned to cook and how to, and not to, run a restaurant, he said. Among the first forays was an attempt with a teenaged friend to be- come club DJs, he said. They invested their modest startup capital in vinyl albums, mostly sound unheard. “You couldn’t preview music back then,” Nguyen said. “I saw this album cover that said ‘Spike Jones.’ I thought, cool, and bought it.” Even the dozens of people who love Spike Jones would have to admit it’s not dance club music and the friend was not amused about the wasted money, Nguyen said. “He threw the album at me and said ‘here, Spike, you can keep this one,” he said. “It hit me, and the name stuck.” Later, Nguyen and partner opened a Vietnamese food restaurant. They had two chefs. One day, one chef wielding a large knife chased the other out of the kitchen, out the door and down the street. Neither returned. “We had customers; people to feed,” Nguyen said. “So, we learned to cook.” He learned the logistics of running a restaurant, and other things, by managing a burger franchise in Sharpstown Mall, once listed among the most dangerous malls in the nation. “I learned the business there — or- dering, staffing, managing,” he said. His entrepreneurial path eventually led to Kansas, where he worked as Shaken beef with steamed rice and salad topped with Pirate Island Bar and Grill’s house dressing. COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2023 87 With a Top Producing Team, we provide you with increased efficiency, productivity, and a wider range of expertise and availability. More Than A Home, It’s A Way Of Life Providing the Elite Service that you deserve! Contact Us or Go Online TODAY! Serving the HOUSTON - GALVESTON communities Primary or Secondary Homes • Condominiums • STR Investment Properties FOUNDATION & CONSTRUCTION Specializing in all types of foundation & structural repairs • slabs • pier & beam • Historical homes • beach front homes • all masonry repairs • piling install • carpentry CALL TODAY TO GET A QUOTE 409-655-0505 “Five Star Foundation lives up to its name... Five stars from start to finish!” finance director for a Ford dealership, then opened and sold two successful restaurants, a fast-casual Vietnam- ese bistro Pho Hoa and Vietnam- ese-French iPho Tower, which now has two locations in Kansas under different ownership, he said. His vision for Galveston, in the building most recently occupied by La Peska Seafood Restaurant, 728 Seawall Blvd., is a casual eatery catering to locals and tourists just off the beach with a combination of Vietnamese dishes based on his own recipes and American fare such as burgers, fries and chicken fingers, he said. “When people come out of the wa- ter, they’re hungry, sometimes hangry,” Nguyen said. “I want to give them a place to eat without having to go shower or anything. Good food fast and a fun atmosphere. “It will be open for moving around inside, outside. We want to make it part of the scene and we want to be part of the community.” An observer will note many starts in Nguyen’s path to Galveston. But on a blue-water day in late August as he cooked Vietnamese “shaken beef” on a hotplate, Nguyen related his own notion of the beginning. “For me, it starts with a love of cooking.” PIRATE ISLAND BAR AND GRILL HOUSE SALAD DRESSING 2 cups mayonnaise 4 tablespoons miso 4 teaspoons fresh garlic ½ cup sugar ½ cup seasoned rice vinegar ½ cup mirin ½ cup soy sauce ½ cup olive oil ½ cup sake 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil Put ingredients in a blender and mix well.88 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2023 GAME ON SHEET-PAN SAUSAGE This venison dish is easy to make and can feed hungry crowds story and recipe by CAPT. NATE SKINNER I f you don’t have any deer sausage left over from last season, you’re going to want to get your hands on some to cook this sheet-pan recipe. It’s easy to make and can be tweaked to feed an army. If your typical dinnertime crowd is larger than a family of four, double up the ingredients and add a second sheet pan. Perhaps the best part about this dish is it can be prepped ahead of time to become a quick meal when the weekday gets hectic. You can cut and dice all of the veggies and sausage when time allows, store them in the refrigerator, then place them on a sheet pan and pop it in the oven later, about half an hour before you want to serve dinner. Honey, garlic and seasonings create the perfect sweet and savory combination that will make you want to add this recipe to your repertoire of household meals. Plus, everything is prepared on the same sheet pan, making after-dinner clean up a breeze. HONEY GARLIC VENISON SAUSAGE & VEGGIE SHEET PAN 4 cups red potatoes, diced 12 ounces fresh asparagus 12-15 mini bell peppers 1 pound smoked link venison sausage 2 teaspoons smoked paprika 2 teaspoons dried oregano 4 tablespoons olive oil 4 tablespoons raw honey 4 tablespoons minced garlic Salt Pepper Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a large sheet pan with aluminum foil. Dice the red potatoes and cut the asparagus into 1- to 2-inch pieces. Slice the mini bell peppers in half and remove all of the seeds and veins. Slice the venison sausage into small wheels or chunks that are ½- to 1-inch thick. Put all the vegetables and sausage in a large bowl. Pour in the olive oil, honey, minced garlic, smoked papri- ka and dried oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste. Thoroughly toss or mix everything in the bowl until it’s coated evenly and arrange in a single layer on a sheet pan. bake for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the sausage is browned and cooked thoroughly. Serve and enjoy. COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2023 89 GALVESTON 222 Kempner 409-763-4641 GALVESTON - WEST END 13680 FM 3005 409-737-1488 TEXAS CITY 905 Logan 409-948-1771 SANTA FE 13227 FM 1764 409-925-3800 FRIENDSWOOD 601 S. Friendswood Dr. #103 281-819-4280 LEAGUE CITY 2225 Phillips Road, Suite 100 281-332-3521Next >