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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Breakfast choices to expand in Temple Valley
Times Coffee Shop will move out of its stand-alone space in Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center to relocate to Koolau Center in Temple Valley.
"We lost our lease," and have operated on a month-to-month basis since June, said co-owner Sharon DiPrete.
Signs indicate the almost six-year-old eatery will close at month's end. "We'll take April to move furniture and set up over there and our target date to open is May first," she said.
The Koolau Center space is about 2,200 square feet, according to David Yamada, of property management company GMR LLC.
At about 6,000 square feet, the Kaneohe Bay space could at times appear cavernous. "It might have been a little too big for weekdays, but on the weekends, we packed 'em in," she said, adding, "I am going to utilize every inch of space," in the new location.
The eight employees will move to the new spot, formerly Hawaiian Island Meals, at the theater end of the Center.
The move has no effect on Times Coffee Shop in Kailua, which has been on Hamakua Drive since about 1996 or '97, DiPrete said.
Times is famous for its fried rice, the recipe for which DiPrete and her siblings bought along with the business, in 1982.
The original Oneawa Street location, which had been operating since 1959, stayed open when the second Kailua location opened, but closed with the opening of the Kaneohe store in 2002.
The restaurants have the same owners, but different corporate parents, which is why a gift certificate for one cannot be used at the other.
No plans have been announced for the Kaneohe Bay location, which had also housed Koolau Ranch House and Honey's, named for the late Don Ho's mother.
A close shave
All four Hawaii-based semifinalists got shaved off the James Beard Foundation list of possible 2008 award winners.
Finalists were revealed yesterday morning in New York, minus the local names.
Alan Wong had been nominated for Outstanding Chef for a second time; chef-restaurateurs Bev Gannon and Peter Merriman were semifinalists for Best Chef, Pacific region; and the semifinalists for Rising Star Chef had included Enrique Tariga of Seascape Ma'laea Restaurant at the Maui Ocean Center.
Hawaii connections remain among the nominees. Former KHNL-TV anchors Vince Gerasole and Heidi Umbhau, as well as their daughters, Olivia and Isabella, are nominated for separate media awards.
Other Hawaii links may be a bit of a stretch. Wolfgang Puck, whose empire owns Spago, on Maui, is a finalist for Outstanding Restaurateur. Also, Dale DeGroff Co. of New York, led by Halekulani's chief mixologist, is up for Wine and Spirits Professional.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com