Two favorites in the Fort Worth restaurant announced a new partnership that builds and grows on culinary traditions each can trace back to their childhoods.
Gigi Howell and Juan Rodriguez met working at Reata resturant in 2007. He was a sous chef who would go on to become the restaurant's executive chef. She oversaw guest services.
"She was crazy. But she was fun and very warm," Rodriguez said about the early days with Howell. "I knew that she was a person I can rely on."
"Obviously the first thing you see is the smile. So you're drawn in immediately. And then the fact that he is also very warm, very kind, very silly. And I think that we can relate on all those levels," said Howell. "In the restaurant industry, you go through it together, you're in the trenches, you know. And so you have to be able to trust everyone around you, you have to, guess you don't really have to like them. We've been fortunate enough that we love each other and our great friends."
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The friendship that started and stuck included talks about their dreams of going on their own.
"My favorite thing is to serve people and I love food as well. So those two together kind of formed the perfect stage for me," Howell said.
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"As a chef, everyone's goal is to open up their own business. And I've always wanted my own business but I wanted to prove myself," Rodriguez said.
By 2014, Rodriguez was his own boss with his own place. He and his wife Paige opened Magdelena's in honor of the grandmother who taught him to cook. It was the year after she died.
"It was a big change, not being able to call her and tell her everything," Rodriguez said.
Their full-service catering and events company and sought-after supper club grew as did their family. They had two sons along the way.
Howell also wanted a restaurant that would honor her grandparents and family.
In 2022, Howell paid tribute to her grandfather when she and a business partner opened JD's Hamburgers in his name. They set up the grill in Westland, a neighborhood in far west Fort Worth where Howell has roots and where her grandmother Allie had family lunch every Wednesday.
"When you gather around food and you're just talking and you're enjoying your food and you're enjoying conversation, I just wanted to build community within a restaurant that would pay homage to that feeling in that area," Howell said.
Two years later, the Westland Restaurant Group with Howell as operating partner and Bourke Harvey leading as the managing partner has six restaurants and each comes with a heaping side of tradition: JD'S Hamburgers, Curly’s Frozen Custard, Margie’s Italian Gardens, West Side Cafe, and Pulido’s Kitchen & Cantina.
And now, it adds Magdalena's to the family. Howell and Rodriguez are bringing their businesses together in a new partnership.
"Magdalena's is going to fall under the Westland Restaurant Group now. Super excited about that," she said, "And then Magdalena's is also going to be taking on the catering group. So we're going to grow, expand. Beautiful marriage."
Rodriguez and Magdalena's will take on the catering and events for the restaurant group under the banner of Westland Catering Company.
"This is kind of like, you know, the football team going out and getting the brand new star quarterback and, you know, put them in coach." Howell said. "Building a new division Westland Restaurant Group needs. But then us, for Magdalena's, we need more of reach and growth," added Rodriguez. "It's been Paige and I for almost 10 years. And we said, you know, one day we'll partner with someone and, you know, grow a little bigger. And it kind of happened at the right time," Rodriquez said.
With growth comes more demands but experience, age (Howell is 53. Rodriguez is 43.) and supportive families at home have helped them both put priorities in order: family, faith and a business that grows and gives opportunity to the staff who make it all happen
"We do this because we like the food industry, but I think we also do this because we really love people," Howell said as Juan joked, "Sometimes." "But when you can," Howell continued, "when you can make other people feel good, it makes you feel good. So maybe we're selfish. Maybe we're selfish for doing this."
Or maybe they're doing it because what they cook up together - good food, good service, community - is always on the menu.
