Texas Tony's Rib & BrewHouse

TEXAS TONY’s

Tony Phelan may live in Florida, but he’s still very much a Texan.

Phelan grew up in the Lone Star state, met his wife Kathleen while working in the restaurant business and soon after, they and their two sons found themselves owning and operating five restaurants in Wichita Falls, Texas.

But the allure of trying something different remained strong and in 1987, Phelan packed up the family and moved to Southwest Florida. Before long, Phelan would open his first Florida based restaurant — Pinchers in Bonita Springs. After a highly-successful first year, Phelan set his sights on adding more.

One restaurant with six employees eventually grew to locations from Tampa to Key West with more than 500 employed. And while business at Pinchers continues to grow, Phelan’s desire to do more hasn’t waned.

The origins of his latest endeavor, Texas Tony’s Rib House, happened by chance. Phelan hired an arborist to take down an orange tree at his home. When the arborist was finished, he asked Tony if he could take some of the wood so that he could use it in his smoker. Inspiration struck again and Tony began experimenting. “Orange wood results in a very mild, delicious smoked flavor – not bitter like mesquite or overpowering like oak,” he concluded.

A unique flavor was born. The only thing left to decide was what the menu would look like and how to bring this new flavor to the masses. The menu was the easy part. All Tony had to do was recall those Texas barbecue