Agave in Lewes nearing reopen as owner plans for the future

The temperature was in the low-60s and rain had started falling, beginning a steady shower Monday afternoon in Lewes.

Chris McKeown hadn’t slept the night before and was on the roof, working. The owner and operator of one of Delaware’s best and busiest restaurants, Agave Mexican Restaurant, expertly discharged himself from the apex of his construction site and climbed down a ladder.

If it looks like he’s in charge of the construction that’s been going on at his restaurant since December, it’s because he is.

Restaurant owner, Mexican food lover, tequila fanatic and, now, general contractor.

Why the new title?

“I’m not going to pay somebody to just ask me the questions that all of these people are asking that person,” McKeown said. “They’re all going to come back to me anyway. I got to be here almost all day everyday, so why am I going to pay somebody to do it?”

McKeown’s project site is running a bit behind schedule, he lamented, but his sleepless nights and long days of construction on Second Street in Lewes will continue a bit longer. He’s targeting a June 5 opening to the expanded space — Agave consumed the vacated space at Habersham Peddler Interiors — that has added about 40 more seats in an effort to keep waiting times down.

But don’t write that date down, said the general contractor whose construction experience also includes Agave’s last expansion in 2011 and some construction on his house.

It may be longer.

His reasoning for not hiring a general contractor wasn’t just because he would be the one answering questions anyway or because he wanted to save money — the delay, he said, may be costing him money. McKeown is undergoing a learning process he hopes will guide him into the future.

He has bigger plans.

While he won’t give away any locations or many details, McKeown has plans for another Agave in Sussex County and has a location picked for another concept, as well.

Those are on the back burner, though, as his focus is on getting reopened and getting through the first few months of the summer.

McKeown says he didn’t really have a true target date, but the restaurant’s Facebook page mentioned a “three-month long hibernation/renovation.” That timeline is likely to double.

In February, the restaurant posted on Facebook that they planned on opening April 10. A post on April 2 extended that timeline to May 1.

Locals and vacationers, the ones who are used to Agave’s sometimes two-hour waits, have grown frustrated. Many replies on the restaurant’s Facebook page have asked for updates on opening. Some have mentioned rumors of permanent closing. Others have solicited help in finishing the project.

McKeown says he gets about 20 or more questions per day on when he’s reopening. He’s not annoyed by it, mostly just frustrated it’s not complete.

“I didn’t know the project I was getting into,” he said. “I knew it was going to be a lot, but I was thinking the beginning of May. I thought I could be open in the beginning of May. So, really, I’m about a month off. I got a little carried away with the buildout. I completely gutted the entire space. I didn’t leave one wire, one light bulb, one wall. Every piece of drywall came down. It was just crazy.

“I could have done it a little more efficiently, a little faster, but it wouldn’t have been the proper thing to do.”

While construction is nearing a finish, McKeown is now preparing to teach a staff — most of the front-of-house staff has been retained — an entire new restaurant. Nothing is where it was before. Every piece of equipment in the kitchen has been replaced. The restaurant has new point-of-sale systems. Agave, McKeown says, will have increased productivity and efficiency.

McKeown is doubling his staff size, he said, while adding 60 percent more seating. Agave will add two tables big enough to accommodate parties of 10. The goal is to get wait times under two hours and not have larger parties slowing down service. In an effort to keep things simpler, the restaurant isn’t adding any different food to the menu, just a few drinks and desserts.

How quickly the newer staff members get trained and up to speed will help determine when Agave opens.

“I tell people different dates,” McKeown said. “I don’t necessarily tell them all it’s June 5 because I don’t want the floodgates to open and slam us. Because I’m not having a soft opening. I’m going to open and I’m not going to really tell anybody. It might not be June 5. It might be the week after. We’re just going to kind of open and work out the kinks as we go.”

McKeown, who will work doubles every day cooking in the kitchen, flashed back to 2008, when he was first opening the restaurant. The upstairs office couch doubled as his bed.

“Now I’m thinking about it again and I’m like… I’m going to have to do it again,” he said. “It’s been 10 years and I’m putting myself back in the same hole.”

A hole that he probably dug himself.

But it seems like he wouldn’t have it any other way. In an era when owners sometimes take a step back and let the people they hire do the things they do, McKeown is literally building his future.

And his skills with power tools?

“Not that great,” he said with a smile. “But I’m learning.”

jneiburg@delmarvanow.com