Being a corporate chef is worlds away from building and running your own restaurant, which the chefs behind Burgers and Things learned the hard way late last summer.
The burger joint was supposed to open in a two-room space at 1989 and 1991 Pauoa Road, just Diamond Head of a Pali Highway overpass in Nuuanu, around Aug. 1.
Ernesto Limcaco, former corporate chef at Y. Hata & Co.; Rob McDaniel, former corporate chef at Macy’s; and Kara Shimamura, former chef coordinator at the Sullivan Family Kitchens, were working hard toward their goal. However, months of work by the partners and early hires came to a ground-beef-grinding halt when they were informed they needed building permits.
Even to replace “an existing sink” and “a beat-down air conditioner, I needed a permit,” Limcaco said.
Some seven months after hiring a building permit expediter, the trio has permits in hand and will open the double space under a slightly different concept, Limcaco told TheBuzz.
The new concept will be called Yummy Tummy Tum, and the chefs hope to open by the end of this month.
“We’re really crossing our fingers that we’ll be open at the end of the month,” Limcaco said.
It will have many of the same menu items as the planned Burgers and Things, including a signature burger, dunked in house-made au jus so tasty you want a separate bowl of it for slurping, and a sauce-dipped teriyaki burger. The restaurant’s Facebook page pledges that the burgers are “dripping-down-your-elbows good.”
They will also offer flavored french fries, escargot served in garlic butter, French dip sandwiches, prime rib and other dishes, which are presented as specials.
Shimamura served as Limcaco’s intern while he was at Y. Hata & Co., and she has a double degree in pastry arts and in hotel and restaurant management from KCC, so there could also be something to satisfy sweet-seekers in the area.
While waiting to open their Pauoa location, the partners urgently needed to generate revenue.
They struck up a deal with Cafe Bronco to use the Kalihi-Palama bar and restaurant’s certified commercial kitchen.
“We started serving (out of Cafe Bronco) Oct. 15,” Limcaco said. “We have a good relationship with the bar owner … and we plan to keep (operating from) this place and do all the catering and heavy-duty cooking” on-site.
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
