Ryan Kalei Tsuji will get to sleep in until, say, 6 a.m. after his last morning shift at KITV on Friday.
For the past two years, Tsuji has risen at 1:30 or 2 a.m. for the weekday morning news show, which he does alongside his 9-to-5 gig as a staffer for state Sen. David Ige (D, Pearl Harbor-Pearl City-Aiea).
That’s in addition to his work at Oceanic Time Warner Cable’s OC16 Sports and, lately, a documentary film project and the Rizen Foundation, a new nonprofit foundation he co-founded with James Chan.
It all became a bit unsustainable, he said, adding that "leaving KITV is very bittersweet."
Going forward, he will concentrate on the other aspects of his work life, including the documentary "Rise of the Wahine." It aims to tell the story of Donnis Thompson, former women’s athletic director at the University of Hawaii, U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink and others in the birth of Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program or activity that receives federal funding.
Tsuji, a Waiakea High graduate, held various jobs, including assistant coach, with the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team from 2001 to 2008.
Director-producer Dean Kaneshiro, Tsuji and others are working to get the film better funded, and in the meantime, "we have some more interviews before we head into post-production," Tsuji said.
"There’s also a possibility that this project will evolve beyond a documentary," Tsuji said. "People are interested in a movie version" for theatrical release.
Tsuji and Chan’s Rizen Foundation advocates for children’s causes by partnering with various organizations, similar to a project it just did with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu Inc.
While Tsuji’s legislative duties for Ige "are more on the Capitol side," he imagines he will be involved in some aspects of Ige’s gubernatorial campaign, announced over the summer.
In the meantime, Tsuji looks forward to "not having to wake up at 2 a.m. and getting back to normal sleep."
One thing his burning-the-candle-at-both-ends existence has contributed to his life is that "I was able to learn how to manage time," Tsuji laughed.
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On the Net:
» www.riseofthewahine.com
Holoholo Bar & Grill opens
Day by day, new menu items are being rolled out at the newly opened Holoholo Bar & Grill at 2494 S. Beretania St. in the former site of Dish Go and Yakiniku Camellia II. "By the end of this week, everything will be on the menu," said owner Jill Owens.
Usually when you read about restaurant openings in this space, the interviewee is male, as the restaurant business remains male-dominated.
Owens has wanted her own restaurant for years after running Bistro on the Go Inc., her catering business, since 2008.
Family-style dining occupies the front of the 3,600-square-foot Holoholo Bar & Grill, while the bar is in the back, with seating for about 50 in each half.
"Because the kitchen is in the middle, we have a long hallway with benches and chairs, so it’s like a lounge" where people can enjoy cocktails while awaiting a table, Owens said.
Food is served family style, but because huge portions limit diners’ choices, Holoholo Bar & Grill offers two different sizes to encourage sharing.
"I want to be able to serve two people and have them order four different things," she said.
The unusual dishes she offers along with the tried-and-true pique the curiosity.
Finding poutine on a Hawaii menu used to be impossible. Then it was a rarity. It still is an oddity. The Canadian-born dish of french fries topped with gravy and cheese sounds like heart attack in a bowl, yet writers at this very newspaper have sung poutine’s praises. It is served at Holoholo.
Tofu is smoked using what is called a smoking gun (how amusing is that?). The smoking gun also will be used by the in-house baker to prepare salt for a smoked-salt caramel dessert.
Friends questioned the nomenclature of her fried-rice dish, called "Local Style Fly Lice," but Owens is part-Japanese, laughs easily and shrugs off any notion that local people will be offended.
Owens worked for years for Centerplate, the Connecticut-based hospitality company that handles food service at hundreds of sports, entertainment and convention venues around the world, including Aloha Stadium.
She was put in charge of the Pacific Aviation Museum food concession for a year and took operations from red to black "because … I know how to control food costs and labor … (and) I make everything from scratch," she said.
As much as her passion is "being on the hot line," she has long been looking for restaurant space of her own and got a long-term lease from Kamehameha Schools.
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On the Net:
» holoholobarandgrill.com
» http://blogs.starbulletin.com/takeabite/?p=511
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
