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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Duke’s baby sister
moves into WaikikiMaui-based TS Restaurants, owners of Duke's Canoe Club Waikiki and 11 other restaurants in Hawaii and California, is expanding its Waikiki presence.
Hula Grill will open above Duke's, a landmark eatery and watering hole and portal to one of the world's most famous beaches. Hula Grill will have an elevated and cooler view of said beach.
A lushly carpeted, wide stairway by Duke's entrance leads up to the 6,400-square-foot, 170-seat Hula Grill.
The $1.8 million build-out in the upper lobby of the Outrigger Waikiki is "kind of a lot for the end of a lobby, but we never skimp," said David Allaire, senior vice president and director of TS Restaurants in Hawaii.
David Allaire, senior vice president and director of Hawaii operations for TS Restaurants, pointed out some architectural features in the main dining area at Hula Grill.
Gone are the glassed-in walls of the former Sunset Terrace, which Hula Grill is replacing. The design resembles an oceanfront, 1930s-era Hawaiian-style plantation home. Nearly 20 original art pieces have been commissioned for Hula Grill. A koa canoe from the Dowsett Foundation will hang in the 60-seat bar area.The standard, boring aluminum railing just wouldn't do for the verandah of a plantation home, so Outrigger replaced it with a taro-leaf-patterned, teak-topped railing around the entire public portion of the second floor. Eaves hang over the outside edge of part of the restaurant, and awnings and see-through, roll-down screens will shield diners from the hot sun when needed.
Hula Grill will specialize in seafood, Hawaii Regional Cuisine-style, on a menu overseen by Executive Chef Mark Kwalkowski, a Culinary Institute of America graduate.
Duke's took over Outrigger Waikiki's room-service operations when Sunset Terrace closed, but Hula Grill will take over when it opens, said Allaire and Kimberly Agas, vice president of Outrigger Waikiki and Outrigger Reef.
"Duke's has been very gracious. It's not something they're used to doing," she said. Hula Grill also will service the hotel's banquet facilities and meeting rooms, adding that island feel not just to the menu, but to the hotel's food and beverage service, said Agas.
There was concern Duke's might lose customers when the Cheesecake Factory opened nearby in December, "but we're doing more dinners than last year," Allaire said.
Duke's takes in "way north of $18 million a year," he beamed. That's up from the $5.7 million of its first year in 1992, that went up to $7 million, $9 million, "and we just kept marching."
Allaire expects Duke's and Hula Grill will share customers. The tank-top-and-shorts-wearing couple at Duke's one night, might go upstairs for a dressier meal the next night. Hula Grill is tentatively set to open for dinner June 22, with breakfast and lunch service to roll out thereafter.
The average dinner check for Duke's is $25, where at Hula Grill it will be $35, he said.
Hiring for Hula Grill Waikiki is 90 percent done; its 130 employees will join the 1,000-member TS work force.
Use of the words, "you guys" in serving customers, particularly women, is prohibited, said Allaire, addressing one of your columnist's pet peeves. "Just don't say it," they're told. Employees are "ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen."
TS Restaurants was named a top multiconcept operator by "Restaurants & Institutions" magazine, with its Kimo's, Jake's, Leilani's on the Beach, Keoki's Paradise, Sunnyside Resort, Duke's Canoe Club, La Quinta Cliffhouse, and Hula Grill restaurants. TS's first Hula Grill restaurant opened 10 years ago to the month in Kaanapali.
"We only have about three ideas," Allaire laughed, prompting a "Shh!" from a publicist concerned about him saying the right thing. "We never take ourselves too seriously ... never believe our own press," he said.
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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, 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
