The duo who rocked the kitchen of Cool River Cafe, Bob “Whoopeecat” Stephenson and his parter/pal Carlos Arevalo, left their workplace of 16 and 14 years (respectively) in July to open up their own space in the Keller Town Square. FnG Eats is their upscale eatery serving American comfort food with a modern twist, and it’s named after Arevalo (known as “Flaco”) and Stephenson, who’s been called “Gordo” for years. Even though Arevalo points to his stomach and says he’s not as flaco as he used to be, the name of Keller’s newest restaurant baby is still pretty endearing if you know that Stephenson and Arevalo have been best buds for the last 14 years. Yesterday, on FnG Eats’ first day open to the public, I traveled to Keller to take a look through my lens at some of these dishes they’re offering on the menu.
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Once you enter FnG, you can either take a seat at the bar to your right, or head straight for the sleek brown tables that line the middle. Every seat inside FnG is basically a chef’s table considering that the kitchen is completely open, which is good for OCD folks who like making sure their food is cooked in a clean environment. (It is.) The lunch menu is what you’d expect from the ex-Cool River Cafe chefs: soups, salads, sandwiches, and burgers for nothing over $12. Dinner is where it gets interesting. Stephenson and Arevalo get creative with the Gilroy roasted chicken (comes with smashed potatoes, OC greens, and chili peach glaze) and the Stella Artois fish and chips (dill tartar, rosemary slaw, and savory steak plank fries). As I was putting up the photo for the roasted California artichoke appetizer, my co-worker told me he never eats artichokes, but the one I was editing in Photoshop looked really good.
Over on the bar side, there’s an extensive list of cocktails, sparklers, and wines. “We’ve got about about 500 bottles of wine, we’re trying to meet the goal of getting a bottle of wine on every table, and make it affordable for folks,” says Stephenson.
Bob, whose “Whoopeecat” name is well-known among the poetry slam community, is planning to host some slam dinners in the future at FnG.
