It started with a 10-year dream of owning their own New England-style seafood restaurant.
But, it took Covid and getting furloughed from their hotel positions in and around Orlando to spur Chef Mike Rumplik, his wife, Cara, and their colleague and friend, Christine Gonzalez, to get serious about the hunt for a restaurant of their own.
“We looked everywhere. Rents were $15,000 a month,” Cara Rumplik said. Then, Mike came across the listing for The Catfish Place, an iconic Apopka restaurant that has been in business for 38 years. Well, it wasn’t quite lobster and New England seafood, but it was fish so they went up to look at it.
They met then-owners, Bob and Elaine Johnson, and fell in love with the place. It was lunch time and the place was packed with happy people enjoying the catfish and hush puppies for which the place is known.
Bob Johnson, who is now freed up to sell Harley-Davidson motorcycles (his other passion), wanted to teach the new owners everything, Cara said. They spent more than six months learning the recipes that Johnson was happy to turn over to them.
And, then, the next order of business. They bought a lobster tank and established a second menu for customers called “Chef’s Mike’s Daily Creations.” On that menu, customers can order things like lobster rolls, shrimp salad rolls, oysters and shrimp ceviche. The lobsters and seafood are fresh from Maine, Cara said. Mike, who is originally from Rhode Island and is a graduate of the culinary program at Johnson & Wales University, has many connections up there, she said.
Catfish and lobster? Kind of an odd pairing, isn’t it? “We like to call it ‘fusion,'” a delightfully cheery Cara said.
She said they will eventually change the name to the Nauti Lobstah (after the New England pronunciation of the name of the shelled creatures) but will continue to offer the catfish and other dishes that have become customer favorites at the almost four-decades-old restaurant. They just closed on the restaurant on Sept. 27, she said.
“We tell our customers the name will eventually change but your favorites will always be here,” Cara said.
