Cecil & Company restaurant sold
MARBLE FALLS — Just two years after opening their seafood and steaks restaurant Cecil & Company, co-owners Richard and Saundra Wood have closed the eatery and sold their business.
The mid-September sale to husband-and-wife restauranteurs David Majoras and Sally Good means the venue will undergo another culinary makeover and re-open this fall as a dining destination called Texas Nation.
“We love this area,” said Majoras, who added that he and his wife are planning to live here as well. “We stumbled on Cecil & Company, checked it out and loved it. Plus it was so well set up already as a restaurant.”
Majoras and his wife are not newcomers to the dining industry. They already own a restaurant in Lubbock called Manna Bread and Wine.
Majoras said the local building, located at 307 Main St. in Old Oak Square, will provide a great space for serving what he calls “historic cuisine.”
Majoras said that the menu will feature food associated with Texan heritage, including southwestern-style dishes and German cuisine in addition to ranching fare that showcases steaks. He added that entree pricing will be moderate, from $10-$20, and there will be a separate lunch and dinner menu.
Another element to Texas Nation will be an extensive wine list, Majoras said.
“We’re planning to have wine flights and a very high ratio of Texas wines and beers,” he said.
Cecil & Company opened in May of 2006. Former owner Saundra Wood said she and her husband decided to sell the business after she underwent open-heart surgery earlier this summer.
“I just couldn’t do it anymore with my health,” Wood explained. “If the health thing hadn’t come up like it did, we probably would have stayed with it and been happy. (The sale) really came up pretty suddenly. Everything fell into place, and it felt like it was how it was meant to be. Under the circumstances, it answered our prayers.”
On the heels of the closing of several Marble Falls restaurants this spring and summer, the pending opening of Texas Nation might seem like an encouraging sign to local diners. In the span of just a few months, a number of local eateries have closed their doors.
In addition to Cecil & Company, The Falls Bistro and Wine Cellar, also located on Main Street, went out of business in June, citing financial woes in the wake of the flood of June 2007.
Earlier this spring, The Java Bean, a popular local coffee shop, closed its Marble Falls location and consolidated operations at a site in the CastleRock development off of FM 2147 in Cottonwood Shores.
Another longstanding local favorite, Jamin House Cafe, ceased operations at its historic building on Broadway after more than a decade in business.
Nevertheless, Wood said that as long as Marble Falls remains a tourist destination, she feels the regional economy is in good enough shape to continue to support quality restaurants.
“I don’t think that the local people always support the businesses, but the tourists do, and that’s what you rely on. I think that the tourism thing is going to continue to pick up,” she said.
Wood and her husband made extensive modifications to the building before opening in 2006, including enlarging the kitchen and enclosing an outdoor dining area. An adjacent building was renovated to allow for private banquet dining and to accommodate overflow on busy nights.
Between now and opening night for Texas Nation, the 2,800-square foot facility will once again undergo substantial renovations.
“We are looking to be open mid-November, and we’re going to change it quite a bit,” Majoras said. “We want to make it a little more intimate and change the decor. We plan to heavily overhaul the back private dining room and give it more of a lodgey, library feel.”
Majoras said that Texas Nation will be open Tuesday though Sunday and will ultimately employ between 18 and 25 people. He said that he is looking forward to his first day in business.
“We think that the location is beautiful, and we feel that it really has lots of potential,” he said.