LIHU‘E — Tiano’s island cuisine hopes to have its doors open as early as Thursday, owner Joel Navasca said Monday. “We just had the inspectors do their walk-through, and we should be cleared by Wednesday,” he said. “We hope to
LIHU‘E — Tiano’s island cuisine hopes to have its doors open as early as Thursday, owner Joel Navasca said Monday.
“We just had the inspectors do their walk-through, and we should be cleared by Wednesday,” he said. “We hope to be open by Thursday and for sure, by this weekend. We already had our blessing, Saturday.”
Joel and Mira Navasco are the owners of the new island restaurant and Cleo Kanai is the assistant manager at the location formerly occupied by Oki Diner in the Haleko Village complex in Lihu‘e.
In addition to the restaurant, which will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to midnight, Joel said Tiano’s will feature a 24-hour bakery that will employ at least 10 people.
“That provides for three shifts in the day,” Joel Navasco said. “Overall, Tiano’s will employ between 30 and 40 people.”
Kanai said applications for positions in the new restaurant have been brisk since people started finding out about the opening, and even as inspectors worked through the facility, applicants were interviewing with Kanai and Mira.
Navasco, who operates a successful water purification sales operation on Kaua‘i, said he was motivated to enter the restaurant business after discovering there were limited places to eat on Sundays.
“I love this island,” Navasco said. “But when I had to be here on Sundays, there were very few places to eat. If I was lucky, Dani’s would be open, and I already know the whole menu at Tip Top.”
Drawing on his 27 years in the restaurant business, Navasco describes the five-page menu offering as a collection of best-sellers from the different places he worked.
“I started out with Spencecliff Restaurants before moving to Perry Boy Smorgy’s, and the Wong family’s Byron Restaurant Group,” Navasco said, noting these are what he described as mid-market eating places offering value in good food at affordable prices.
“From there, I went to the American Classic Cruise lines with the Voyager and Independence. When that closed, I went to the Stuart Anderson Cattle Company and finally worked with Big City Diner to open their last three restaurants.”
This culinary experience is reflected in the menu offering which spans breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as some late-night dining until midnight.
One of the highlights is an extensive keiki menu covering breakfast, lunch and dinner with a keiki pricetag as well.
“We’ll also be offering four or five Filipino specialties each day which will be added into the menu as pull-outs,” Navasco said.
“Kaua‘i has a large Filipino population and for some, there are limited places they can get popular Filipino dishes. Our Tiano’s offering will be appealing to a wide range of Filipinos, and not regionalized.”
Navasco said Kaua‘i diners can expect consistent quality and service with an attention to detail from the Tiano’s staff which, in addition to Kanai, includes Johnny Saguied as executive chef and Charito Lontoc as the pastry chef.
“Tiano’s is going to provide Kaua‘i people with what they can find when they go to Honolulu, or in some of the fine hotels, but without the high pricetag or hassles,” Navasco said.
During the weekends, Joel said Tiano’s will be offering a buffet with meat carving stations and desserts from its bakery.
Breakfast will be served from 7 to 11 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with dinner being served from 5 to 10 p.m. followed by the late-night service from 10 p.m. until closing.
All of this is done in an open kitchen, one of the eatery’s highlights where people can see how their food is prepared, Navasco said.
“This is not about what we do, but what the people of Kaua‘i want,” he said.
