ABC Stores shifts gears with Waikiki restaurant

ABC Stores will take a new tack with the opening of Duke’s Lane Market & Eatery, a 13,000-square-foot restaurant and food store in the middle of Waikiki.

The new venue, which is to open in late May or early June, will be anchored by Basalt, a 150-seat restaurant named after Hawaii’s distinctive volcanic rock. The restaurant will feature breakfast, lunch and dinner seating with locally sourced food. Menus were developed by ABC corporate chef Kelly Degala, a self-described “Kalihi boy” whose cooking style earned rave reviews at restaurants throughout the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest.

“It will be contemporary and refined, but it will be welcoming, not pretentious,” said Degala, who returned home a year ago to help ABC Stores execute its new vision. “In my eyes, food should be consistent, taste delicious, look beautiful and it should be fresh. Everything will be made on-site and sold that day.”

The center, on the ground floor of the Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach hotel, includes an in-house bakery; burger bar; poke, rice and raw bar; coffee bar; gelato and bubble tea bar; and flatbread and rotisserie station. A retail section will focus on gourmet food prepared in-house and from vendors. The seating will extend into Duke’s Lane.

Altogether the project will employ up to 200 workers and provide business for as many as 50 to 100 vendors, including local farmers, said Paul Kosasa, president and CEO of ABC Stores. Hiring will start at the end of the month, he said.

Kosasa declined to disclose the company’s development costs. Construction build-out costs alone are in excess of $8.3 million based on information provided by contractors to the city Department of Planning and Permitting

“It’s the largest investment that we’ve ever made,” Kosasa said. “It’s not an ABC Store. It’s a new stand-alone concept.”

That’s a significant claim considering that the 1,000-employee chain, which opened its first store in Waikiki in 1964, now includes 76 stores across Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Hawaii island, Las Vegas, Guam and Saipan. The typical ABC Store is about 3,500 square feet, Kosasa said.

Sparked by popularity of Food Network

The chain’s first foray into the restaurant industry is intended to take the company beyond its gourmet food brands, the Island Country Market at Ko Olina Resort and the Island Gourmet Market in Waikoloa and Wailea. Kosasa said the concept was sparked in part by the popularity of the Food Network. Plans are rooted in the realization that the multicultural food of Hawaii is a draw for visitors, who now want more than just a sun-and-surf experience, he said.

“We want to ride the wave of the food movement. Given Hawaii’s ethnic diversity and food diversity, it seemed natural to show off our different cultures through food,” said Kosasa, who admits he loves to watch Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”

Stephany Sofos, a local retail consultant, said Hawaii retail is down but food is on fire, especially in Waikiki.

“This is ambitious given the costs to open 13,000 square feet in Waikiki, but I think it will work,” Sofos said. “People aren’t spending as much on retail, but I see visitors lined up for food all over Waikiki. In Hawaii everyone is so busy that locals eat out more than people do in other parts of the nation.”

The location also is one of Waikiki’s most highly trafficked, said Mark Bratton, senior vice president of Colliers International.

“At least 15,000 people will walk by there each day in a 12-hour period,” he said. “There are lots of potential customers, many of them upscale. Kalakaua Avenue is where the fashion brands want to be; Kuhio Avenue may become the food quarter.”

Kosasa said he also was attracted to the location because it is surrounded by new hotels, shopping centers and other food venues.

“We saw that Kuhio was finally getting a much-needed upgrade, and we are pleased to be a part of it,” he said.

Rick Egged, Waikiki Improvement Association president, said the new development will play a major role in the continued revitalization of Waikiki, which goes back to 2001.

“We’re seeing this giant leap forward with the opening of the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Waikiki Beach; the International Market Place; the Hilton Garden Inn; and major renovations at the Hilton Waikiki Beach,” Egged said. “There’s a new Marriott coming, and I’m really excited about seeing another dimension of eating opportunities in Waikiki.”

Chef Degala was a natural choice

Kosasa said he recruited Degala because of his devotion to the farm-to-table movement and his ability to provide diners and shoppers with a wide diversity of food.

“We’ve got great farmers and suppliers, and with Kelly’s background I think that we’ll be able to showcase what they can provide,” Kosasa said.

Degala honed his skills working with James Beard chefs like Tom Douglas, Jeem Han Lock and Caprial Pence. He became known for innovative small plates during his run as executive chef at the Bay Area’s Va de Vi, a popular bistro and wine bar.

However, Degala was first introduced to cooking growing up in an immigrant Filipino family that fished for seafood, butchered its own meat, shredded its own coconuts and grew produce.

“I remember Sunday barbecues and coming home from college to adobo. Memories form a flavor profile on your tongue. I’m very fortunate and very grateful that I had that in my life,” Degala said. “I call my food global, with local flavors. I don’t say it’s Pacific Northwest or Pacific Rim or Hawaii Regional. We’ve done that already. We need to be the bar instead of wanting to follow the bar.”

Degala will adapt menus based on supply since his goal is to source 90 percent of his needs locally. He already has partnered with Hirabara Farms, Nalo Farms, Ma‘o Farms, Ho Farms, Mohala Farms and Koko Crater Coffee.

He expects to change Basalt’s menu monthly, but he’s known in the cooking world for his black cod marinated in kasu, the paste from the rice that is used to make sake. Another signature dish is thrice-cooked duck in huckleberry sauce with baby bok choy and a galette.

Homemade doughnuts and malasadas will be sold at 6, 7 and 8 a.m. fry times. Crab, lobster and Kauai prawns will be available at the raw bar along with poke and oysters. Breakfast bao is on the grab-and-go menu, which will also include items like garlic fried rice and adobo. Homemade spam will top the musubis, which will be sold with tomato ketchup jelly. Sandwiches at the burger bar will come on a homemade bun. Sauces and pickles will be made in-house, and the macaroni salad comes with flecks of chopped watercress.

At the hot window, homemade flatbread will be served with freshly made mozzarella and ricotta. Degala plans to serve items like Kona-coffee-spice-rub rotisserie chicken, Chinatown duck and tocino, the Filipino-style pork barbecue that he recalls from his childhood.