Tré Vione’s bringing Louisiana to the table in Jasper

Seemingly out of nowhere, a new sign appeared on the former Hosty’s restaurant announcing a new restaurant opening this week. But behind the scenes, it’s taken a bit to get here.

Tré Vione’s is a new restaurant featuring George Banks’ version of the Louisiana recipes he grew up with. “My grandmother, when she made gumbo, it tasted a certain way. When my mom made gumbo, it tasted a certain way,” the New Orleans native said. “I took all these recipes and what I like out of both of them and put it together. It isn’t my mom’s or my grandmother’s, but it derives from that.”

So, whether it’s the gumbo, Jambalaya, étouffée (a uniquely classic Louisianna stew), fried chicken or red beans and rice, these all contain Banks’ favorite flavors combined from the share recipes of his childhood and 200 years of Southern culinary roots. All made from scratch, nothing frozen or premade.

According to the online reviews and loyal customers, the recipes featured in his restaurants seem to have people returning time and time again. It is one of the reasons he is opening his newest location in Jasper this Friday at noon.

Before a returning customer mentioned he should expand to from Tell City into Jasper, Banks hadn’t really heard of the city. But he has plans for growing Tre Vione’s to a franchise spreading across the country. “We are always looking to expand, but I don’t know anything about Jasper,” he remembered.

However, before this loyal fan of his Tell City restaurant returned home that day, she drove by the vacant location on Third Avenue and captured a quick picture to send back to Banks. Intrigued, he called about the building.

He liked the spot and the building, but it wasn’t as simple as just signing a lease, making some renovations, slapping a menu on the wall and an open sign on the door. “That man, Gene Hostetter, phenomenal guy,” Banks laughed. “He screened everybody that was interested. He came to our other restaurants to screen the food.”

Banks learned it wasn’t about Mr. Hostetter putting another tenant in the building; it was about putting a tenant in the building that would bring something to Jasper.

“It wasn’t about him. It was about the city,” he explained.

That level of community concern and support impressed him, so Banks decided to make an incognito trip to Jasper. “I just walked around the city. Nobody knew me from Adam,” he said, “and everybody I came in contact with was loving and kind. I mean, everybody; not some of them, everybody.”

The decision was made. “I want to be part of the community. We want to create a place the city can be proud of,” he explained. “If it is adding jobs or bringing new people to the city, we want to be part of it.”

Banks is a retired U.S. Army Intelligence Officer — a captain — that found himself attempting to begin a second career when serendipity stepped in and put him in the restaurant industry. While he remained in Kentucky near Fort Knox, his last duty station, he was drawn up to Indiana by his brother. He wanted to open a restaurant in Columbus, Indiana and asked Banks, who had started several computer stores, to join him in the endeavor.

Unfortunately, come opening day, Banks ended up invested in a restaurant and operating it all by himself. The MBA-holding retired captain decided to put the culinary part of his education to work and opened the restaurant on his own. “I took that plus some of the recipes that I have from New Orleans,” Banks said. “I opened up, and I made more money in that one location than all my other stores.”

This changed his plans for continued entrepreneurship. He decided to focus on entrees instead of electronics.

He launched another pilot location featuring his unique ideas and recipes in Hawesville, Kentucky and kept moving forward from there. Covid crippled plans for an Owensboro expansion but launched him into Tell City. Though that location is closing over issues with the property owner, he is simultaneously opening the Jasper location with a new Rockport restaurant and working with a company to begin franchising Tre Vione’s.

By the way, Tré Vione’s is named after his 13-year-old son, TréVioné. When he was born, Banks was holding his yet-named son when the newborn decided to latch onto his father’s index finger. As George’s finger turned blue, he began to pull it away from his son, but the doctor stopped him.

“I said, “Doc, it hurts!'” George explained. “Doc said, ‘That’s a good grip.’ And I said, ‘No, that’s better than good (or tré vione).'”

He plans on being personally involved with the first ten new franchises to ensure they are up and running to his standards while creating a standard operating procedure for continuing to expand. In Jasper, the location will be operated by franchise manager Mike Calloway.

It’s Creole cooking, but that doesn’t mean everything is spicy. “I wish I could tell people to stop saying all Cajun food is spicy. All Creole food is spicy,” George said. “Just think about that. Take 20 seconds and think about that. In the whole state of Louisiana, everything is spicy. Like, think about that, right? That doesn’t even sound right.”

There are options for those with a spicier palate, but there are plenty of options for those just seeking some authentic flavors from the Gulf without the sting. If you’ve never had any food from Louisiana, George recommends a couple of dishes to try. If you like spicy, go for the jambalaya. Period. If it’s wintertime, gumbo. If you don’t like a lot of spice, go for the red beans and rice or étouffée — a shrimp, alligator, or crawfish stew featuring onion, celery and green pepper in a roux.

Barbecue ribs, three different burgers and some great desserts are also featured on the menu. Something for everyone. George wants you to understand he hopes everything he brings to the table is tré vione, better than good.

“I love the food,” George said. “I really love that people enjoy it, that I can put a smile on somebody’s face. To have my grandmother, my mom, my great-grandmother recipes and people are enjoying the food. That means so much to me.”

Tré Viones opens up on Friday and Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. for a soft opening and will close Monday and Tuesday to assess how the soft opening went. Then he will operate Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 10 p.m until the end of May.

On June 1, George and family will hold a grand opening and begin new full-time hours seven days a week. For options regarding setting up reservations or applying for a job, contact the company by phone at 888-454-1006. You can also find a menu online at treviones.com and on Facebook.

He’s looking for help and ready to hire but until then, according to Banks, if their last name’s Banks, they are helping out at the new locations.

For some time we have been searching for a new tenant at the location of our property (Hosty’s) at 124 3rd Ave. in Jasper and have had several opportunities to lease the property. However, for a variety of personal reasons, we declined their offers.

We were then contacted by George Banks several weeks ago in his efforts to find a suitable location in Jasper to open their restaurant (Tre”VIONE’S) here. George met with us and shared his intent to lease the restaurant to serve a variety of Seafood and Cajun Dishes similar to what you may find in the New Orleans, LA area where George was born. He also will be serving his finest Fried Chicken recipe, which he has personally developed, plus an assortment of other foods.

Our next move was for my wife and I, along with some of our children, to visit his restaurant in Tell City, IN. We found their restaurant to be very clean, the service to be great, and the food to be excellent. These reasons, plus the fact that the Cajun taste was not now available in Jasper, has made our decision to lease our property to George and his family.

When leasing this property a great deal in making the decision is the fact that our next door neighbor is THE LIBRARY AND CULTURAL CENTER where many families, and their children, visit. We want this area to be safe, secure, and very clean. Gene Hostetter