Beleaguered ex-isle
chef rises in West
Jean-Marie Josselin, the financially beleaguered Hawaii chef, has opened a restaurant in San Diego.
808 La Jolla opened in April as the second of Josselin's mainland locations, the first being 808 Las Vegas in Caesar's Palace, opened in 2000.
Josselin says he is finally emerging from the financial and personal difficulties that have plagued him for the last three years and cost him three of the four A Pacific Cafe restaurants he once owned in the islands.
He won't discuss the roots of those problems.
"It has been a painful three years," is all he would say in a telephone interview from San Diego yesterday.
"Honestly, it's getting much better," Josselin said. "It's been a headache, but it's getting better now."
Josselin was one of Hawaii's original celebrity chefs, a high-profile, charismatic veteran of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement. He was nominated six times for the prestigious James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef of the Northwest/Hawaii.
He opened A Pacific Cafe in Kapaa, Kauai, in 1990, then expanded to Kihei and Honokawai, Maui, and to Ward Centre on Oahu. He also ran the Beach House in Poipu, Kauai, under a lease agreement.
Since 2000, though, Josselin has slowly closed all but the Kapaa location and filed for bankruptcy.
Josselin runs 808 Las Vegas under contract to Caesar's Palace, but said he is the sole owner of 808 La Jolla, having put together the start-up capital from various sources.
Both 808 restaurants -- named for Hawaii's area code -- are Asian-themed and about the same size, 110 seats. Both also carry a signature dish from the Pacific Cafe menu, Wok-Charred Mahimahi.
Josselin said he plans to keep his Kapaa restaurant open and hopes to open a new Hawaii location within a year.
"I still want to have a presence in Hawaii, definitely," he said.
