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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Italian food at Sansei,
and more wineDiners at Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar at Restaurant Row will be able to choose an Italian menu instead or as well.
Sansei chef-owner D.K. Kodama and master sommelier Chuck Furuya will open Little Vino, a wine bar, July 14. Little Vino is a 60-seat, sort of restaurant-within-a-restaurant, modeled after Vino on Maui, a restaurant in which Kodama and Furuya are partners.
Kodama was hesitant to let the Star-Bulletin photograph Little Vino, as it is a work in progress.
"We're using Sansei tables in there," he complained. They're still waiting for a key component for the bar, he protested. But, being a nice guy, he relented. The Tuscany-inspired murals, sky-ceiling painted by Clark Takashima and Gary Godina and other features are ready and quite lovely.
Kodama loves Italian food, which is why Vino came to be in Kapalua. It was recently named the only "Hot Table" in Hawaii by Conde Nast Traveler magazine.
Italian foods by corporate Chef Tom Selman, served tapas-style in small portions, will include Tuscan skirt steak with baby arugula; crab and fresh pasta tossed in a fortified truffle broth; and grilled Ligurian shrimp.
Furuya's heavy lifting includes equipping the wine bar -- both he and Kodama insist on wines that won't drain diners' wallets.
The two also are collaborating on the expansion of Sansei into Waikiki and establishment Kodama's first steak house, both in the Waikiki Beach Marriott. The separate restaurants with a shared bar are to open in the fall.
Little Vino inside Sansei Seafood Restaurant at Restaurant Row is set to open in mid-July.
Hilo Hattie redirects
Three mainland Hilo Hattie stores have closed because they did not pass the litmus test of location, location, location.The Nashville store closed more than a year ago, the Tempe, Ariz. store closed in April and the Miami, Fla. store was just closed, said Paul deVille, president of parent company Pomare Ltd.
Their tenure ranged from two to four years and while deVille did not divulge the number of employees affected, he said they were operating minimally. "We could see very clearly that these stores, which this management team inherited, were in the wrong demographic for our customers," deVille said.
"It's also important for the locations to be in what are rather popular tourist destinations," with year-round warm weather, he said.
While the Florida store was in Miami, "we were next to the airport, in an industrial area." A new Miami location was not chosen.
Expansion is a priority, first in Hawaii, then California, prioritizing the area between the City of Orange and San Diego. Store clustering gives the company certain advantages in advertising, distribution, management and what deVille referred to as "other synergies."
So, how do you strike the balance between synergies and oversaturation?
"Boy when you find the answer to that, would you give me a call?" he laughed. "Seriously, the answer lies in a lot of research."
The increasing popularity of aloha wear has boosted business for Hilo Hattie, but also for non-Hawaii competitors, such as the high-end Tommy Bahama.
"We compete very well because we're delivering equal or better quality at 20 or 30 percent less," said deVille. HiloHattie.com is also heavily promoted, especially in markets where the company has no bricks-and-mortar outlets.
New at the commissary
Shoppers at Hawaii's military commissaries will soon have 112 new local product choices.Following a Friday food fair, four Hawaii companies are joining the commissary family for the first time.
Malolo Beverages & Supplies Ltd., Columbia Inn, Aloha Gourmet Products Inc. and Govinda's Fresh Juices were selected at the 7th annual American Logistics Association Food Show at the J. W. Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa.
The new products will take 30 to 45 days to show up as contracts are drawn up with the Defense Commissary Agency, said Richard Page, Western Pacific Region director.
Veteran vendors' new products will only take two or three weeks to add and some reflect diet fads, such as low-carb tortillas by Sinaloa, and sugar-free candies by Hawaiian Host Inc. and Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp.
Others scream "local," such as the poke bento by Diamond Head Seafood. "It's a half-pound of poke and a half-pound of white rice," Page said. It will be prepared on-site "so it will be really, really fresh."
TheBuzz caught up with Page Friday right after some treadmill time, working off food show calories. The former Hawaii zone commissary manager was seriously considering more sampling for himself, his Pearl City High School-graduate wife and his daughter at this weekend's Taste of Honolulu event at Honolulu Hale.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
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
