Hawaii restaurateur Peter Kim will open his first five-star dining venue in the former Aaron’s Atop the Ala Moana Hotel.
Separately, he also plans to expand the beloved Liliha Bakery.
The Signature Prime Steak & Seafood restaurant will likely open at the beginning of the second quarter next year, Kim told TheBuzz.
He has long wanted to open a steakhouse "because I love steaks," he said. He has enjoyed dining at many a high-end steakhouse but knows the profit margins needn’t be quite so high.
For Signature his goal is to increase people’s accessibility to quality steak and seafood at prices that won’t break the bank — and that will allow for multiple repeat visits.
"I wanted to make it more reasonable, more sensible," he said. "I’m not really into making a big profit, rather, delivering high quality, just like other five-star dining restaurants — at an affordable price."
The same will be true of his wine list. He won’t offer the depth of selection that many high-end restaurants do, but will offer the most popular wines and charge a fraction of the markup, he said. Diners will not pay hundreds of dollars for a single bottle of wine, he said.
While the long lead time before opening and the constant fluctuation of food costs made him hesitate to reveal menu prices, he did share his plan to include side dishes with steak orders. "We’ll be offering about eight different sides, and diners can choose three sides per table," he said.
Given his time in the South playing in the Alabama Crimson Tide football program under legendary coach Bear Bryant, at least some of the sides "will have a Southern twang," and will include dishes like green bean casserole and macaroni and cheese. "Our sides are going to be just as good as the steak or even greater," he chuckled.
At his Steak & Fish Co. at Ala Moana’s Makai Market food court, "we do 8-ounce fresh choice steak … and include three sides," he said. Of course, a steakhouse experience is, or should be, the polar opposite of a food court experience, "so the (beef) quality will be prime, rather than U.S. choice," Kim said.
Architect Roy Yamamoto is working up the "contemporary classic" design for Kim’s vision.
"You know when you walk in, there’s this big wall? We’re taking the wall down," he said. Diners will enter and see a white piano atop a lighted, frosted glass platform "to make it look like a cloud," he said. The eatery is, after all, going to be on the 36th floor, and its view will be among the best in Honolulu.
Seating at the piano will allow people to enjoy beverages, eat and interact with the entertainer, all the while "looking right into the ocean," Kim said.
Benches will wrap around two columns and have low-rise cocktail tables to "represent the contemporary look, but in the dining area we’re going to have a classic look as well." The restaurant will offer as many as three private dining rooms, with movable glass walls that can partition the spaces according to clients’ needs.
"Younger-generation-type clientele" will like the color scheme, designed with them in mind, he said.
Many restaurants offer a late-night scene once the kitchen has closed, but Kim is not contemplating that at the moment.
"I want people to come in and, after they dine and are going home, think that was money well spent, that the quality was there," he said.
Long a favored destination restaurant for its view, food and be-seen scene, Aaron’s, operated by Tri-Star Restaurant Group II LLC, closed in 2009. President and Chief Executive Officer Aaron Placourakis cited the recession for the closure of the restaurant previously known as Nicholas Nickolas. "I moved to Hawaii for that place," he told the Star-Bulletin at the time.
Kim is well aware of the legacy of the space into which he is moving.
"With this type of restaurant you get one chance," he said. He will hire an experienced restaurant manager to help with the operation, for which he plans to hire in the neighborhood of 100 people, who will train for six weeks. "I’m not going to do a quick training and open and just hope everything goes OK," he said.
Kim owns 22 restaurants and is a partner with family members in 27 more. The companies’ holdings include Liliha Bakery, of which "we’re probably going to have two more," Kim intimated. The other eateries include Yummy Korean BBQ, Lahaina Chicken Co., Mama’s Spaghetti House, Cheeseburger Factory, Steak & Fish Co. and a KFC and Subway.
Countless customers have thanked him for keeping the eateries open —and that is the type of following he would like The Signature Prime Steak & Seafood restaurant to earn, he said.
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
