Daniel T. Set to Change Waimea’s Food Scene: A New Look for a Treasured Old Building
By Devany Vickery-Davidson
Any resident or visitor to Waimea has experienced the wind blowing down from the mountains on a daily basis. The winds of change are also blowing in Waimea’s food scene. Legendary chef and restaurateur Daniel Thiebaut is about to make major renovations to his restaurant’s architecture, placement of his kitchen, its banquet and catering facilities, and even the name of the restaurant. After 10 years of building a restaurant and clientele in Waimea’s Restaurant Row, he is taking things to a new level that will benefit Big Island residents and guests alike.
Daniel Thiebaut started his culinary career in Lorraine, France at the age of 14. He still shakes his head in wonder at how he ever made the decision to become a chef. His father has always had an extreme disdain for restaurant dining, much to the senior Mrs. Thiebaut’s chagrin. She, like most women, loves to have a night off from the kitchen and to dine in restaurants. To this day, the senior Mr. Thiebaut does nothing but complain in restaurants and fights going to them. One day his son came to him and announced that he wanted to be a chef. The rest is history now.
Daniel attended culinary school for three years, each summer doing apprenticeships. When he graduated, he worked in a series of hotel restaurants around France and Switzerland. One day he accepted a job at the renowned Central Hotel in Glasgow, Scotland, and a new international adventure began for him. Another journey began then too. This is where he met his wife and partner for life, Shelia. She somewhat reluctantly followed him around the world—first to the Philippines for a year, where they married, then to Aberdeen, Scotland, and finally making a move away from her family in England. With a toddler and an infant son, the Thiebaut family moved to Dallas, where Daniel worked for the Westin Hotel and opened their fine dining restaurant, Plum. It was there he says he learned his greatest lessons of customer service and team building from the general manager.
When the call came inviting him to work for the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel as their third executive chef in four years, he and Shelia decided to move their two young boys even farther from England. When at one point in his Hawaiian career he had a job offer to work on the East Coast of the U.S., he thought she would jump at the chance to be closer to her family, but this time Shelia was the one who resisted change. She had fallen in love with Hawai‘i and they decided to raise their boys on the culturally rich and diverse Hawai‘i Island.
In 1991, Daniel and a partner opened his first restaurant, The Palm Cafe in Kona. After four years, the partnership dissolved and he left the restaurant to work at the Royal Kona Resort. Finally in 1998, he decided to open his flagship restaurant, Daniel Thiebaut, in the old Chock Inn Store. His backer was convinced that the location was very special and would make a fantastic restaurant, so they set about creating a space within the rooms of the old store and Chock home.
Today many elements of the old store remain. The Chock Store’s antique safe greets you at the door and memorabilia from the store’s old days are showcased around the restaurant. The patina on the aged plank floors has seen many generations of feet walk across, some bare footed, some in slippers and others in high heels. The old counters of the store remain to add bar seating and buffet space. There are two walls full of old glass-door cabinets displaying even more collections of things from the store. What looks to be a trap door at the old entrance was actually a spring-loaded warning system. When someone would step on it, it would wiggle a wire connected to a bell in the house in the rear part of the store, calling the Chocks to the front to wait on customers. One of the most intriguing elements is the ceiling fan system that is still operational. It is run by a series of pulleys and fascinates visitors to this day.
Starting this fall, the restaurant will close briefly for renovations, at which time there will be major interior changes to the restaurant. The bar will be moved into the center of the main room and the kitchen will be moved and placed behind glass, where customers can watch food being prepared on all-new, state-of-the-art equipment. A wood-burning oven will be installed in the dining room along the same wall that has windows to the kitchen. Large, flat-screen TVs will be placed in the main dining room, but not to view the soccer game. Instead, cameras will focus on various stations in the kitchen for people to watch up close. There will still be quiet alcoves, and some dining areas will not change significantly. What is now the porch will become an enclosed waiting area with a fireplace facing the main room of the restaurant. Solar panels will be added to the structure to provide green energy. Another major improvement will be the addition of a full catering/banquet kitchen and a banquet pavilion to seat hundreds of people for special events. The restaurant kitchen will no longer be a scene of chaos when large catering events happen. The new pavilion will provide a venue for special events and private functions.
Structural changes will not be the only improvements. Menus will become much more fluid and seasonally based, changing as farmers and fishermen provide the very best local and organic ingredients from Hawai‘i. Chef Daniel currently buys mostly organic and local ingredients, and his menus and specials are based on them, but he intends to increase his dedication to those principles which drive him and to do the extra work that it takes to constantly be changing the menus. This will of course make some customers unhappy. Those who have specific menu items that they are used to may have to try new things. For the majority of diners today, this fresh approach to local seasonal and organic food will be sought out and embraced.
Chef Daniel uses purveyors such as the Sunrise Tomato Farm, the all organic Kula Kahiko Farm on the Hamakua Coast, Kekela Farms of Waimea and a variety of small farmers, like Josh of Honoka‘a, who simply drop by the kitchen and offer what their harvest of the day may be to Chef Daniel’s delight. Thiebaut is also going to have crops grown especially for the new restaurant. Waimea is in the heart of cattle country, so a ready supply of local, grass-fed beef is always available, whereas finding good, local lamb is more of a challenge, but certainly not an impossible one. Seafood is forever abundant from surrounding waters, as is incredible tropical fruit. With our growing season and abundant resources, finding local and organic foodstuff is becoming far easier for Hawai‘i Island chefs and consumers alike.
As the 10th year of Daniel Thiebaut Restaurant winds down, there is much anticipation for the new incarnation of one of Waimea’s and Hawai‘i Island’s favorite restaurants. Some people oppose change and others embrace it. John F. Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” One thing is for certain, Daniel Thiebaut is not going to miss the future of food in Hawai‘i.
And for all of those people who have struggled to spell the name Thiebaut in search engines, the name of the restaurant will be called simply, “Daniel.” ❖
Learn more at www.danielthiebaut.com.
Email Devany Vickery-Davidson at pineappleprincess@hawaii.rr.com.
