Closed for nearly a year to make way for high-rise development, California Beach Rock n’ Sushi, a Ward Avenue fixture for some 20 years, has reopened in Aiea.
“Last night, for the first time, we opened our doors,” co-owner Reid Tamayose said Thursday.
With a new staff and a new layout, “we just turned the sign on … and a lot of our regular customers were happy for us to reopen,” he said.
The food and bar menus remain the same, as does the phone number (597-8000), and the phone has been ringing off the hook since photos started cropping up on social media announcing the restaurant’s return, he said.
The restaurant is in Pearlridge East at 98-151 Pali Momi St. in the former Verbano space.
Hours are 5 to 9 p.m. daily, but they eventually will be expanded to 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 9:30 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturdays, and 4 to 9 p.m. Sundays.
Just as the Ward Avenue restaurant served the Blaisdell Center concert crowd, Tamayose anticipates serving University of Hawaii football fans and other stadium-goers.
CHAIN MARKS 40 YEARS
The home of Kimo’s Original Hula Pie, the 13-unit T S Restaurants, is marking its 40th anniversary in business this year.
Established on Maui in March 1977 with the creation of Kimo’s, the company was founded by Rob Thibaut and Sandy Saxten, both now deceased. The two met in college and became friends after Thibaut went to work for Saxten at his first restaurant in Northern California in 1969.
The multiconcept chain now spans Hawaii and California.
Hula Pie is T S Restaurants’ most famous dessert, a chocolate cookie- crusted macadamia-nut ice cream pie topped with chocolate fudge and whipped cream, and garnished with additional macadamia nuts. The pie is served at many of its locations, including Duke’s and Hula Grill in Waikiki.
The pie recently was featured on “Beach Bites with Katie Lee” on the Cooking Channel. An estimated 7 million have been sold over the company’s 40-year history, including 341,000 just last year.
Jackie Reed, the company’s CEO since March 2016, joined the company as a hostess at Leilani’s on the Beach in Kaanapali, Maui, and it was her intention that it would be a temporary job.
But the longer she stayed in various positions, T S became “not just a career, it’s become my family,” she said.
Beyond serving customers and providing a work environment that breeds longevity, “we strongly believe in serving our community,” Reed said. “We’re involved in volunteer efforts and hosting events for different local charitable efforts.”
At Duke’s Waikiki, William Bruhl has been promoted to executive chef from sous chef, adding to his own 40 years of culinary experience.
Before joining T S in 2011, Bruhl worked in various capacities for Restaurants Unlimited, at Ryan’s Grill, Kincaid’s and Palomino Euro Bistro. He also was executive chef and owner of the former BluWater Grill in Hawaii Kai, as well as the old Pizza in the Raw, a take-and-bake concept in Kaimuki.
WONG’S FORMER EXTERN TAKES TOP JOB AT PER SE
Chef/restaurateur Thomas Keller has promoted former Alan Wong’s chef Corey Chow to chef de cuisine at Per Se in New York, one of Keller’s two restaurants with three Michelin stars, the travel guide’s top ranking.
Chow, from California, succeeds Eli Kaimeh in the position, which is the highest title in the restaurant. He joined Per Se in 2007 from Alan Wong’s in Honolulu.
Chow could not be reached, but Wong said he was an extern from the California Culinary Academy.
“Corey was very diligent,” Wong said. “Even at that young stage of his career, he was disciplined … I think he knew what he wanted to do. He was there to learn and improve himself and grow.”
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