The former Oscar’s Pizza and Ice Cream at 6251 Perkins Road has new owners and a new name. Businessman Trey Matassa and his fiancée, Holly Hatzis, acquired the restaurant and recipes earlier this year from chef Elton Hyndman and are rebranding the eatery as Souga.
“Souga is an Italian red sauce my grandmother used to make,” Matassa says. “When I was little I would help her in the kitchen so that’s where the name came from.”
Souga will not be very different than Oscar’s but Matassa hopes to put his own stamp on the establishment. He also plans to introduce some new menu items, including his grandmother’s signature pasta sauce, and a Sunday brunch.
Hyndman, who also owns Nino’s on Bluebonnet, bought Oscar’s in 2011 from its original owners, John and George Kilpatrick, and for the past four years he and his wife, Randee, have juggled duties running two popular eateries. He says he decided to sell to Matassa because the offer was good and the timing was right.
“It was an experiment to see if we could do it and we’re real proud of what we did,” Hyndman says. “But we felt we built it up about as much as we could and it came down to timing more than anything else.”
For Matassa—who for nearly two decades owned a litigation support business, Copydoc, that he recently sold to his brother—Souga will be his first foray into the restaurant industry. He says Hatzis always wanted to own her own restaurant and he thought it would be fun. Though he concedes she’s a little intimidated by the prospect, he says his prior career has prepared him well.
“What I did before was in the service industry, though before it was paper and this is food,” he says. “Besides, clients here are much nicer than lawyers. This is much easier and fun. I’m looking to have fun in my second part of life.”
—Stephanie Riegel
