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‘Tween Waters eateries guided by learned leaders

By Staff | Jun 25, 2009

If you’ve made any recent trips to ‘Tween Waters’ Crow’s Nest Lounge or Old Captiva House, you might have noticed a fresh new face darting about the establishment.

His name is Paul Minoui, and he’s the latest addition to the ‘Tween Waters Inn restaurant staff.

“I love it. It’s just a great place [and] it’s a good atmosphere to work in,” said Minoui, who came to Southwest Florida from New Jersey in 1999 to open a restaurant, The Village Cafe, which is now Cantina Captiva.

A husband and father of two little girls that attend The Sanibel School, has been in the restaurant business since he was 18 years old.

“When I saw that there was a position available at ‘Tween Waters I jumped on it right away. I definitely wanted to be here,” Minoui said.

“It’s not a bad place to be working, if you have to be in the restaurant business. I don’t think there’s a better place to be working. How can I complain about this commute compared to Newark, New Jersey?” he said.

Minoui joined Mike Schwartz, assistant food and beverage director, in February and both now act as evening managers for the Old Captiva House and the Crow’s Nest.

Schwartz will hit his two-year ‘Tween Waters anniversary in October.

A husband and father to a 4-year-old and a soon-to-be 2-year-old, he got his start in the restaurant business at South Seas, where he worked for 13 years.

“I came down here in 1985 with a degree in Criminology, so you can see that took me far,” Schwartz joked.

Schwartz says he was inspired to come to the area after his brother and friend moved down in January of 1985.

“I was tired of calling down here from Pittsburgh during the winter and being told how beautiful it was, and my criminology wasn’t really going very far up there, so I just packed up the car, drove down here and started working at South Seas,” he recalled.

After working at South Seas, helping to open Traders on Sanibel and working at various area country clubs, Schwartz decided it was time for something new – or familiar, as the case may be.

“When I found out the [‘Tween Waters Inn] job was open, I just came out and interviewed. It reminds me of the way South Seas was when I first started out there 25 years ago. When I came back it was kind of a little eerie because I’ve been working around this area for about 25 years,” Schwartz said.

The Old Captiva House is open from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. and the Crow’s Nest is open from 5 to 10 p.m., with bar service usually into the early hours.

For more information or to make a reservation, call 472-5161.

‘Tween Waters is located at 15951 Captiva Drive.