My initial response to The Grove was a feeling of disconnect. Where some of the most popular neighborhood restaurants are winning hearts through moderately priced, good eats, here is a Kailua neighborhood bar and grill with resort prices. And, night after night, it’s packed.
Then I remembered. When I moved from Kailua in 2005, it was already well on its way to becoming the Kahala of the Windward side as beachfront homes and near-beachfront homes were selling for $1 million plus. Development upgrades throughout Kailua town followed suit. All that’s missing are the resort accommodations, unless you consider all the bed-and-breakfast operations and vacation rentals, legal or not. I looked to my right, and there they were, a group of seven or eight tourists eagerly snapping photos of each other, cocktail glasses raised, as well as pointing 35 mms and iPhones at their whole deep-fried Kona kampachi, sitting like a sculpture festooned with floral garnish. And it all came clear.
The Grove is the latest project of chef Fred DeAngelo, who first caught our attention as executive chef at Palomino Eurobistro before opening Tiki’s Bar & Grill, then becoming executive chef and owner of OLA at Turtle Bay Resort.
This time around, the project is even more personal as The Grove turns out to be a family affair, with a menu reflecting the varied ethnic backgrounds of his extended ohana, from Italian to Greek. His family pooled resources to open the restaurant in the vacuum left after Lucy’s Grill & Bar vacated the premises. The result is a globally inspired menu, still with DeAngelo’s strong commitment to island ingredients.
For the price, what’s on the menu isn’t fine, froufrou fare, but it’s not intended to be. As befitting Kailua’s casual but well-heeled vibe, the upscale comfort cuisine encompasses everything from meatball sliders to kiawe-grilled New York strip steak with classic béarnaise sauce.
Lunch service is just beginning, with a menu that looks quite similar to the evening menu, though at reduced prices. It’s also the only time you can get the Big Island grass-fed beef burger ($11) with Hamakua mushrooms, Parmesan, red onion and herb sun-dried tomato cream cheese.
The layout of the restaurant doesn’t seem to have changed since it was Lucy’s. The bar is still front and center, where you can enjoy libations and small plates.
In the evening, when I visited, some of those small plates would fill you up as easily as an entree. Such were the Big Island beef and pancetta meatball sliders ($9), a pair sandwiched between Agnes Portuguese Bake Shop’s soft, sweet rolls with regular french fries billed as pomme frites, which raises expectations of fresh, hand-cut fries.
The meatballs are topped with a light tomato sauce. For more flavor, roll them in the olive oil and sun-dried tomato that accompanies the restaurant’s complimentary bread offering, a pizza-flavored foccaccia.
In health-minded Kailua, it’s great that DeAngelo put effort into salads and vegan options. I appreciated the attention lavished on a vegetable terrine ($8), with its layers of kiawe-grilled eggplant, zucchini and bell peppers, accented with Hauula tomatoes and basil. The terrine was the centerpiece of a plate that also offered smears of kabocha and Okinawan sweet potato purées, all strewn with Kahuku sea asparagus.
Also excellent were the grilled Hamakua mushroom salad ($9 half, $13 full) and warm Brussels sprout salad ($8/$11). In both cases the half salad is enough to share if you’re having appetizers and entrees. In the former, mesclun is tossed with portabellini, shiitake, Hamakua alii and enoki mushrooms, sprinkled with chopped macadamia nuts and gorgonzola, then drizzled with Dean’s Waimanalo honey and balsamic vinaigrette.
The Brussels sprouts in the latter salad are not presented in round form, but have been peeled away, reduced to individual leaves tossed with bits of pancetta, Brazil nuts, dried cranberries and chevre, and finished with Dean’s Waimanalo honey dijon vinaigrette.
Adobo-braised pork ribs appear twice on the menu, first as an $11 starter and again as a $25 entree served with rice. The ribs themselves carry the single astringent note of vinegary adobo but come alive when combined with the sweet notes of accompanying mango chutney.
A seafood paella tasted more of tomatoes than saffron but for rice eaters still offered a satisfying combination of meaty shrimp, fresh fish, chorizo and pork. Clams in the dish had a more visual than gustatory impact, with clam meat that was pinkie-nail size.
Seared fresh fish (monchong when I visited, $27) tempted with its inclusion of lup cheong, but the soupy shiitake mushroom nage with baby bok choy and watercress is geared more toward the health crowd than hedonists, who will find more satisfaction in the cedar-plank, fatty New Zealand king salmon ($28). This is a dish DeAngelo has been preparing since the days of Palomino, so he’s perfected its crisp crust and melty interior. The dish is sprinkled with a pinch of salt that perks the taste buds.
DeAngelo covers all bases with a braised short rib trio ($29), one piece painted in gochujang, served with watercress and bean sprout namul; one pinot noir-glazed with pancetta, seated on a Kahuku corn risotto cake; and the last, kiawe-smoked with alae and colored purple with Okinawan sweet potato purée.
After all that I had no room for dessert, but options include calamansi pie ($6), a macadamia nut tart ($6) and Tahitian vanilla creme brûlée ($6).
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Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.
