For some, living under pandemic conditions has felt like time wasted in limbo. For others it’s been a time of reflection and redirection, a catalyst for change that may have taken longer to realize in less volatile times.

As the new owner of Zia’s Caffe in Kaneohe, Micah Suderman knows the nearly 20-year-old institution has to evolve if it is to survive the next 20 years.

Suderman, a certified sommelier and the director of restaurants and bars at the Royal Hawaiian resort, completed the restaurant purchase on Jan. 1, and had intended to keep working at the hotel while his wife, Sophany, managed Zia’s.

The arrival of COVID-19 put him into survival mode. He was furloughed from the resort and took over the kitchen at Zia’s after his chef’s departure for the mainland.

In Honolulu, meanwhile, chef Keith Endo had been with the DK Restaurants group for 22 years — for 14 years at Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar — and was looking for new challenges. This led him to launch an underground dinner series at Vino last year.

Fate brought them together last month.

Endo posted to Facebook that he was in Windward Oahu and simply asked, “Who’s out?”

Suderman responded with an invitation to stop by for lunch at Zia’s. Endo took him up on the offer a few days later, when they did some friendly catching up. Before COVID struck, Suderman had been a frequent visitor to Vino. He had no idea Endo was sizing him up and was shocked when a few days later Endo called to ask if there was a place for him in Zia’s kitchen.

“I was like, ‘What? Why would you want to do that?’ To me, Vino is the greatest Italian restaurant in Hawaii. Zia’s is much simpler, country-style. I always wanted guests to leave feeling like they’d just eaten at tutu’s house. To me, that’s the epitome of hospitality.”

ENDO SAID he fell in love with the casual, family vibe of the restaurant that reminded him of restaurants he’d visited in Italy.

For Suderman, ownership of Zia’s was a sentimental pursuit.

“It’s where I got my start when I was 14. I had a hand in renovating it from when the space was a Pizza Hut. I started by stocking the fridge and taking out the trash. I worked every job from dish washer to general manager.”

Zia’s owner, Don Dymond, who also owned Kalapawai Market, died in 2014. His son Lindsey, who had his hands full with the expansion of Kalapawai, put Zia’s up for sale in 2017 and asked Suderman if he was interested. “Zia’s was a brand he wanted to continue but didn’t have time for,” Suderman said.

By that time, though, Suderman had moved on to establish his wine credentials as a certified sommelier. He worked at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits before becoming a hospitality industry restaurant and bar specialist, and while restaurant ownership had been a dream in his youth, he was happy with what he was doing.

Eventually, he decided he could make it financially as a restaurant owner, as long as he kept his day job. But when COVID struck, business tanked. Through summer, the restaurant was doing 50% the volume of normal times.

Endo started work three days before the second dining-room shutdown began, but he’s been busy creating new specials that have enticed people from the other side of the island to make the drive for takeout. His meals include housemade porchetta, red wine-braised short ribs, and pan-seared Bristol Bay scallops with basil beurre blanc and bacon-red pepper relish.

“It’s been very well received by so many people,” Suderman said. “It brings such a sense of relief, because I always wanted to elevate (the menu) without shocking people.”

Even with COVID restrictions in place they are thrilled to reopen for in-house dining again, “because it’s hard to put our personalities in a bento box,” Endo said.

LAST THURSDAY they launched a new dinner menu that includes old favorites such as gnocchi with Italian sausage, mushroom, onion and sun-dried tomato cream sauce, and beef and pork lasagna, alongside a handful of Endo’s specialties. Prices of the classic dishes have not changed. For now lunch remains the same, with the omission of a soup of the day.

On Sept. 22, Suderman and Endo hosted a virtual wine dinner via Zoom, sharing photos and stories of their individual travels through Italy and to wineries. Guests dined along with dinners picked up from the restaurant in advance. More such dinners, whether virtual or in-house, are planned.

And Suderman, who felt trapped by restaurant ownership when the pandemic struck, said, “It turned out to be the thing that saved me. I would have been out of work, but this has kept me busy. Even though it’s been a lot of work, it’s been worth it.”

ZIA’S CAFFE

45-620 Kamehameha Highway in Kaneohe; 235-9427

Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.