New eatery fuses French, Latin cuisine

Owners Jenny Grondin and David Segarra and chef Andrew Pressler, all recent veterans of the New York City-based, highly popular Fatty Crab and Fatty ‘Cue family of restaurants, have opened a new dining establishment at 62 N. Hotel St. in Chinatown, on the ground floor of the historic Mendonca building.

The 40-seat restaurant fuses French and Latin-American culinary traditions, drawn from the family backgrounds of Grondin (French) and Segarra (Ecuadorean).

Menu items include cassoulet, a classic French bean stew, and prawn ceviche made spicy with house-made "ketchup" and Serrano chilies. Entree prices range from $18 for a vegan ragu to $32 for steak frites.

The restaurant also has a small bar with seating. Wine by the glass and beers, ranging from Coors Lite ($5) to Hita­chino Nest White Ale ($12) and cocktails ($6 to $11) are available.

The restaurant opened quietly March 31, serving dinner only, 5 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.

Lunch, brunch and late-night service are pending, and a children’s menu will be added soon.

No grand-opening festivities have been announced yet, as the owners said they want to give the restaurant time to catch on at the location.

"Once everyone finds out about us, we’ll be ready," Grondin said.

The site, which did not include a kitchen, but did offer high ceilings, tall windows and an exposed brick wall, was secured almost exactly a year before the restaurant opened, on April 1, 2013.

Working alongside Pressler and sous-chef Jen Klepper, also a New York transplant, Grondin and Segarra contributed labor to the setup, painting, laying tile and shaping table tops and serving platters from reclaimed wood.

While the partners had hoped to open by the end of 2013, Grondin’s pregnancy pushed the date back — Grondin and Segarra now have a daughter, born in December.

Segarra and Grondin met at the now-closed 5 Ninth restaurant in New York’s Meatpacking District, helmed by Fatty Crab’s founding chef, Zak Pelaccio. Segarra worked at 5 Ninth, and Grondin then worked at the Tracy Williams Ltd. gallery in Chelsea.

Segarra was a founding owner of the original Fatty ‘Cue restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (also now closed), and remains an investor in the restaurants, which specialize in spicy, indulgent Southeast Asian/Malaysian food made with contemporary techniques.

GRONDIN FRENCH-LATIN KITCHEN » Where: 62 N. Hotel St. » Phone: 566-6768 » Website: fb.com/grondinHI

The couple have worked together to open five different restaurants with the Fatty Crew since 2009, most recently with a Fatty Crab restaurant in St. John, Virgin Islands, outfitting and staffing the restaurant.

After completing that mission, the partners decided to "keep moving," Segarra said, and spent several months on Maui while planning to open their own restaurant.

"We only had a few openings left in us," Segarra said. "They take everything out of you."

While on Maui they scouted Hawaii locations, and Segarra took on a temporary assignment with a restaurant startup. Early last year they settled on Chinatown as a location, optimistic that Hono­lulu could be receptive to a "new and interesting" menu of French and Latin dishes.

"Everything that we need is definitely here," said Klepper, who does much of the kitchen’s sourcing.

Pressler, who designed the Grondin kitchen and also set up the kitchen for Brooklyn’s Fatty ‘Cue, said Grondin’s equipment allows for contemporary methods that produce remarkable results.

Grondin has installed a controlled vapor technology ("c-vap") oven, providing consistency for braised or roasted meats and also allowing Pressler to make his own ham and confits.

The kitchen also has an immersion circulator and vacuum sealer for sous vide cooking.

"I look forward to exploring all the local foods that are available," Pressler said.

Segarra compares restaurant conditions in Hono­lulu’s Chinatown favorably to those in New York’s Meatpacking District as it began to become a destination for adventurous diners, saying Chinatown seems "poised for blossoming," with the expansion of Hawaii Pacific University housing at Aloha Tower pending and a growing number of restaurants and boutiques nearby.

In comparison with New York, Segarra said, permitting and startup costs weren’t onerous. Costly items included the expense of a required restaurant grease trap and wastewater taxes.

The partners declined to give the overall cost of the opening.