Father & Son’s Soul Food Seafood opens Cove location
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
Longtime Covite Alfred “AJ” Flakes Jr. has brought his entrepreneurial spirit to his hometown along with the flavors of soul food and seafood by opening Father & Son’s Soul Food Seafood.
The restaurant is located at 831 E. Bus. 190 in Copperas Cove and is open daily except for Monday. Flakes also has another location at 1310 W. Stan Schlueter Loop in Killeen.
Flakes’ story of opening not one, but two restaurants, is rooted in his deep love for cooking.
The Flakes family set down roots in Copperas Cove after his parents retired from the military, his father with 23-1/2 years of service, and his mother with more than 20 years herself.
Flakes admits he “got into some trouble” when he was younger, but ended up earning his GED and then went to school for computer networking and even became a licensed massage therapist.
“None of that was an actual love for me,” said Flakes, who calls his father his “inspiration” for diving into the culinary world. He also admits in the past he had a hard time in the working world because of his background and history, so with the support of his family decided it was time to pursue his love of making great food one plate at a time.
The first Father & Son’s Soul Food Seafood opened in January in Killeen and was followed by the Copperas Cove location earlier this month. Flakes jumped at the chance to get the prime location for his Copperas Cove restaurant.
“My father, he taught me to took. I was born into it. I tried training at Le Cordon Bleu, but it just wasn’t for me,” Flakes said. “My father, he’s a soul food cook. He’s 70-plus years old. He’s embedded with a whole bunch of knowledge, recipes, things like that for soul food. When it comes to greens, ox tails, smothered chicken and pork chops, that’s his thing.
“I’m more of a Cajun inspired chef. I like short order cooking. I like presentations, more flavors that pop.”
Flakes Sr. helps his son from time to time, and his soul food recipes are featured on the menu.
“The soul food portion of this is his. I give him that part, because it’s named Father and Son’s because it’s my inspiration.”
As for customers, Flakes said they keep coming back and that is his aim.
“I call it a four-time thing. If I can bring you back four times, I’ll have a customer,” he said, adding that he wants to gradually build up those customer relations.
He said he also does off-menu requests. “If I don’t have it, ask me about it.” Flakes also provides mobile catering services and can serve as many as 2,000-3,000 out of the large red kitchen trailer that he has. In addition to dine-in services, Flakes keeps busy with to-go orders.
Flakes said the most popular items on his menu include crab, ox tails, and all the boils, like crab and shrimp boils. Another popular dish on the menu is crab cheesy potatoes.
He said he wants to bring something different to the Copperas Cove restaurant lineup.
“I’ve been here my whole life and I’ve never seen anything seafood-oriented. I’ve not seen a good soul food place. There’s been fly-by places, but they haven’t broadcasted or make enough noise for people to come,” Flakes said.
He has been working to build up the restaurant slowly but surely with word of mouth.
“I don’t want to overrun my staff and have everyone here, and we look inconsistent. It’s more about the quality and consistency to me. As long as the food is good, that’s what I care about.”
The patio at Father & Son’s isn’t open yet, but his vision includes hosting live music on the patio and even poetry readings in the future.
Flakes’ vision also includes helping his family.
“I wanted to come back here and give my family something. My sister, she has big dreams. I wanted to come back and help them,” Flakes said. “Pretty much my whole family works with me. It means everything to have their support. I couldn’t do it without them. A supporting cast is what you need.”
Flakes updates his restaurants’ Facebook page regularly with specials at https://www.facebook.com/FatherAndSonsSoulfoodSeafood/.