Roy Yamaguchi’s new restaurant at Turtle Bay Resort will be his first on the beach, his first with a takeout window, his first to serve hot dogs.
Already operating 28 restaurants in Hawaii, the mainland, Japan and Guam, Yamaguchi opens Roy’s Beach House in July in the former Ola location right on the sand. “I always wanted a restaurant on the beach,” he said.
Yamaguchi gave a tour of the site and a preview of the menu May 25 as part of events in the Hawaii Food &Wine Festival’s spring Culinary Journey.
The Beach House is the first of four restaurants Yamaguchi will open in 2016. A location in the new International Marketplace in Waikiki opens in August, a Kapolei restaurant in October and a Maui Roy’s in December. The Waikiki and Kapolei locations are planned under Yamaguchi’s Eating House 1849 concept, launched on Kauai last year with a menu inspired by Hawaii’s plantation-era cuisine. Maui’s will be a new concept, Humble Market Kitchin.
Conrad Aquino, Turtle Bay’s executive chef, awaits Yamaguchi’s arrival with both anticipation and trepidation. “I’m a little nervous because he’s like a god. He’s, like, the man.”
Such high-profile competition right on the property has prompted him to up his game, Aquino said. In mid-April a revamped menu was introduced at the resort’s North Shore Kula Grille, with more changes to follow at the higher-end Pa‘akai restaurant next month. Both aim to present lighter, more healthful choices, much of the menu centered on produce grown on farms right across the street from the resort.
Is he worried?
“Lots of people ask me about that,” Aquino said, “but I just think positive.”
He envisions collaboration among the restaurants, perhaps working together with vendors on deliveries, since the resort is so far from town.
To that end he opened the hotel’s kitchens to Yamaguchi’s staff for Wednesday’s event, a dinner for 35, as the Beach House kitchen doesn’t even have appliances in place yet. “Being a chef is a brotherhood, no matter what.”
Yamaguchi’s Beach House will seat 90 in an open-air dining area with sliding doors that can be closed if it rains or gets windy. A patio will accommodate 50 to 60 more, and the restaurant will extend to lounge chairs on the sand.
A takeout window behind the kitchen will serve “our famous Roy’s to go,” the chef said. “Famous starting in July.”
Much of the menu is still in the thinking stage, under development with Beach House’s executive chef, Roy’s veteran Gordon Hopkins. Yamaguchi said it will combine some of Roy’s classic dishes with new items suited to a “beachy environment.”
He describes salads, crudos, burgers and hot dogs — “a cross between comfort food and Roy’s … Roy’s new modern.”
Certain American classics are in the design stage, among them a Roy’s version of a hot dog, Reuben sandwich, shrimp Louie and a Cobb salad made with slow-roasted turkey.
“It would be nice if when you’re eating here you go take a stroll on the beach, then come back and have another dish,” Yamaguchi said. “Just don’t do it during busy hours.”