The newly renovated Grove Café at the Waimea Brewing Company is honoring Hawai’i’s plantation era history while embarking on a new path with their cuisine, handcrafted beers and incorporating Kaua‘i’s community into the establishment. The key to uniting past and
The newly renovated Grove Café at the Waimea Brewing Company is honoring Hawai’i’s plantation era history while embarking on a new path with their cuisine, handcrafted beers and incorporating Kaua‘i’s community into the establishment. The key to uniting past and future is through tradition, culture, and of course, food.
“It’s sort of reminiscent of the South in that era because they had plantations with the working class and the managers, but unlike the South, here they shared meals together,” Executive Chef Richard Diaz said. “It was the blending of the cultures that was a real Eurasian creation.”
In creating The Grove Café menu, Diaz wanted to keep the recipes of the plantation days. Diaz said the foods that often defined one’s status-shrimp cocktail for the managers, hamburger steak for the workers-became blended until “you couldn’t tell who was ordering what” and thus birthed recipes like Korean chicken, pipikaula short ribs and much more.
“In coming here I didn’t want to create a new cuisine,” Diaz said. “The food they had was traditional, and it’s become nostalgic.” Diaz may not have created a new cuisine, but he created an impressive menu that captures the broad breadth of the Waimea Plantation: the island’s only brewery, a diverse restaurant and bar, a destination for luxury weddings and events, and a historic landmark on Kaua‘i with cottages complete with authentic tin sinks.
A few of The Grove Café’s bestsellers with locals and visitors alike are the towering Nui Nachos with kalua pork, the Portobello Mushroom Spring Rolls (in rice paper, not fried) with a Thai peanut dipping sauce, or the Pipikaula Short Ribs served over a bed of julienned beets and carrots. And that’s just for starters.
The prime rib meets the high expectations of the Westside town, plated with a colorful balance of asparagus and a whole grilled tomato, with sides of au jus and spicy horseradish sauce. There’s The Wedge salad that’s big enough for two or three people, with big chunks of iceberg lettuce, blue cheese, bacon and bay shrimp.
Not to be forgotten, however, is Kaua‘i’s only brewery (and the ‘world’s westernmost,’ as their sign states) on site. The hand-crafted brews, at least eight different choices at all times ranging from a light Lilikoi Ale to the Pakala Porter, have found their way into the food menu, such as the Wai’ale’ale Ale as the main ingredient in the batter for the fish and chips. The Grove Café has ‘Brewers Dinners’ in the works as well: a five to seven course dinner paired with a sampler of the beers, and each dish you nosh on has the paired beer as one of the ingredients.
The beer sampler is a must when at The Grove Café. You have to find your favorite. And once you do, buy a 64 ounce ‘Growler’ and have it filled up and capped to take home. It’s the best invention since stainless steel water bottles.
“We are very proud of our relationship with the exclusive brewery,” said Stephanie Iona, the gracious general manager of the Waimea Plantation Cottages. Iona and her team have been re-structuring and renovating the property, as she said the owners were “not happy” with the way it was run in the past. Iona said she and Diaz have been working together for 40 years on island, and are thrilled to now be steering the ship of the iconic establishment.
The site hosts weddings, seminars, banquets and many community events, such as the PMRF’s formal officer’s dinner last week.
“We have a strong sense of blending our community into this property,” Iona said. She explained that they can tailor their prices and services from “platinum” for say, the weddings or other special events, to “inexpensive” to serve their kupuna in the community who are on a budget.
Iona explained how they expanded their restaurant area for guests to sit outside on the front or back lanais, in the restaurant, at the bar or in the quieter dining room beyond the main eating area. Iona said the Waimea Plantation Cottages hosts a lot of weddings and are intent on “keeping the Plantation theme” with their lodging and property. However, having Kaua‘i’s residents feel at home there is important.
“We’ve opened up the doors … our mission is to service this community,” Iona said, smiling.
