Roy Yamaguchi is opening two restaurants next month — one about 15 miles from the original Roy’s in Hawaii Kai, the other 4,800 miles away.
Starting from the farthest: Eating House 1503 opens Nov. 7 in the Cayman Islands, a 20-hour plane flight from Hawaii.
The restaurant and its menu are modeled on Yamaguchi’s Eating House 1849 restaurants, named for the year the first commercial dining establishment opened in Hawaii. The 1503 in the new restaurant’s name marks the year Christopher Columbus sighted the Caymans, Yamaguchi said last week.
The chef had just returned from New York, where he attended a board meeting of the Culinary Institute of America, and was headed for Kona for the opening event of the Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival, which he co-chairs with chef Alan Wong.
Monday he flew to the Caymans, to return a week later, in time for Food & Wine events on Maui (festival events on Oahu start Oct. 24, so those are also on his plate).
At least his other new restaurant is close to home: Goen Dining + Bar opens Nov. 17 in Lau Hala Shops (the former Macy’s space) in Kailua.
Goen is named for the Japanese 5-yen coin, which Yamaguchi said represents friendship, and includes a graphic element signifying agriculture. Both are concepts he hopes to embody in the farm-to-table restaurant.
Dishes are still being developed, but Yamaguchi said the restaurant will be Asian-inspired, in between the more casual Eating Houses and the upscale Roy’s restaurants, with many dishes served in bowls as a mark of comfort.
The Cayman Island menu will mirror that of the three Hawaii Eating Houses, based on plantation- style home cooking.
He plans to add dishes that reflect Cayman ingredients and cooking techniques, starting with jerk seasoning that he’d like to use in chicken, pork and possibly even poke.
Why the Caymans? The location was suggested to Yamaguchi by a former associate at the Roy’s restaurant on Guam, he said.
A visit to the site in the Margaritaville Beach Resort proved fortuitous — anchored in the bay he could see an MSC Cruises ship. Aboard that ship? Another Yamaguchi restaurant, Asian Market Kitchen.
