This year marks two milestones for Peter Merriman: the 30th anniversary of his first restaurant, Merriman’s Waimea, and the opening of the first Merriman’s in Honolulu.
“I think it was $180,000 we built that whole restaurant for,” Merriman recalls of his first project in that sleepy Big Island town. This one, in the sleek Anaha complex in Ward Villages, will cost more than 10 times that much, he said. The kitchen equipment alone is triple Waimea’s total.
Thirty years ago, Merriman served as cook, bartender, dishwasher … and answered phones. Some days were so slow, he said, “I would tell all the employees, ‘Go move your cars out front,’ so it would look like we had customers.”
This time he’s in Kakaako, the epicenter of upscale development on Oahu. Merriman’s Honolulu, opening in June, will have a staff of 120 under executive chef Jon Matsubara.
That’s the difference three decades and a whole lotta success will bring.
Merriman, one of the original Hawaii Regional Cuisine chefs, has his name on seven restaurants on four islands. The new restaurant will be his eighth and the first in Honolulu directly owned by Merriman (his more casual Monkeypod Kitchen and Moku Kitchen are partnerships with Handcrafted Restaurants).
The restaurant is still a construction zone, but Merriman took time for a tour, and to talk about what’s to come.
THE BASICS
Merriman’s Honolulu is about 6,000 square feet, equal to Merriman’s Kapalua on Maui, bigger than the original Waimea restaurant, but smaller than Monkeypod. It will seat close to 200, half inside and half out.
THE DECOR
The interior has been designed to reflect the Ward area through time, Merriman said, representing the waterfront region from its Hawaiian roots, to plantation times, to industrial, to today’s high-rise ambiance. “It’s a collision between traditional and modern, between the agricultural and the industrial.”
For example: “We found this really cool picture of King Kalakaua having dinner with Robert Louis Stevenson at his boathouse, which was right …” he turns makai and points “… there.”
A reproduction of that photograph, found at the Bishop Museum, will cover one wall.
An area behind the bar will reflect a different era, picking up a distinctive design element from the IBM Building down the street — the sun-blocking grille, known as a “brise-soleil.”
FANCY OR NOT FANCY?
Both. On one side will be wood floors and banquettes with tablecloths, set formally. Along the 14-seat bar, expect tile flooring and booths, more like a bistro.
“No tablecloths over here,” he said, “we assume this will be people having a lot less formal experience.”
Same food, though.
“Some people want to have an expensive steak in 20 minutes and some people want an expensive steak and an expensive bottle of wine in an hour and a half.”
THE MENU
A few Merriman’s all-stars, such as New York steak with a Sichuan peppercorn rub, wok-charred ahi, Caesar salad with fried green tomato croutons, ahi-ginger poke, pineapple bread pudding and the Waialua Molten Chocolate Purse. Honolulu-specific dishes are in development. As with all Merriman’s, the kitchen here will make ice cream and have “an extensive bread program.”
Matsubara, a veteran chef who has opened three high-end Honolulu restaurants, will bring “more of an Asian aesthetic,” Merriman said, and his influence on the menu will grow with time. These things evolve, Merriman said.
“When chefs work with chefs, there’s a dance you gotta do, right?”
