SLO County winery opens Hawaiian restaurant, complete with poke bowls and spam musubi

Chris Williams spent his senior year of high school on O’ahu, where he discovered a welcoming community overflowing with delicious food. Hawaiians treat everyone like family, Williams said, an ethos he aimed to carry into his adult life.

Williams and his wife, Ayako, opened Kula Hawaiian Kitchen at La Plaza in downtown Atascadero on Aug. 16. They wish to share their favorite recipes from the island with the community, he said.

“We really want to offer a very inviting and friendly atmosphere and treat everyone that comes in, not just as a customer, but as a part of our family,” he said. “We try to offer that Aloha spirit.”

The restaurant offers plenty of seating in a high-ceiling space with two roll-up doors that open the dining room to the outside.

The restaurant includes a tasting room for the couple’s original business: Kula Vineyards and Winery.

“We wanted to give our wine a platform,” Chris said. “We wanted to provide a menu where we think we could make our wine shine and ultimately give customers a great experience.”

Kula Vineyards and Winery opens a restaurant

The Williamses first purchased a vineyard in Templeton in 2014. Neighbors and local vintners taught them how to tend to the grapes, and the couple eventually formed Kula Winery in 2016.

The Williamses wanted to name the vineyard and winery for their golden retrievers, so they selected the name “Kula,” which means “gold” in Hawaiian.

As their wine grew more popular, the Williamses opened a tasting room in Atascadero in 2019.

After a day at work, the couple often craved their favorite comfort foods from Japan, Korea and Hawaii — which is difficult cuisine to find in Atascadero.

“You can find lots of pizza, lots of Mexican food, but after closing the tasting room at 8:30, 9 o’clock, we don’t really feel like cooking at home, and we don’t have a place we feel like is a comfort food,” Ayako said.

This inspired them to open a Hawaiian restaurant. There, they could enjoy their favorite foods and share them with the community, the couple said.

“We really loved it, we missed it,” Chris said of Hawaiian food. “I just felt that it was be something that would resonate with people and that they would really enjoy.”

Hawaiian recipes, local wine on the menu

The top-selling item on the menu is the Mochiko Chicken for $25, Ayako said.

The chicken is deep fried in mochi flour, which “makes the outside crunchy and inside juicy,” she said. The meal is served with two sauces, a spicy aioli and sweet miso sauce.

The restaurant makes all of its sauces and salad dressings in-house. Meanwhile, the mochiko and teriyaki chicken are marinated overnight to deepen their flavors.

“A lot of the items on the menu, although they appear simple, they take a lot of preparation,” Chris said.

Fans of poke can enjoy a version featuring ahi tuna or salmon tossed in a house-made sauce and served with Hawaiian coleslaw, kinpira shredded carrots and rice for $27.

Another popular dish on the menu is spam musubi, which features a slice of grilled spam, sweetened egg and rice wrapped in nori seaweed, for $12.

“A spam musubi, you can get that anywhere in Hawaii. You can get it at the gas station when you fill your car — it’s available ubiquitously,” Chris said. “But I think we deliver it as a great appetizer.”

Entrée prices range from $20 to $27, according to the menu.

Ayako collaborated with a Hawaiian chef, born and trained in Maui, to develop the recipes, she said.

“We’re taking the Hawaiian comfort food — the things that people that grow up on and so forth in Hawaii — and we’re just trying to elevate it and then deliver it in a relaxed but beautiful environment that people can bring a spouse or a date or their family,” Chris said.

Both the restaurant and the tasting room offer rosé, red and white wines from Kula Vineyards, Chris said.

One of the couple’s favorite wines is the Golden Blend, named in honor of their late golden retriever, Ehime. The 2021 blend was made with grenache blanc, Roussanne, Picpoul blanc and viognier grapes, Chris said.

Eventually, the restaurant will also serve beer brewed on site, he said.

Located in the La Plaza building at 6200 El Camino Real, the restaurant is open Tuesday to Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m. The attached tasting room is open on the same days from 3 to 8 p.m.

For more information, visit its website at order.kulahawaiiankitchen.com or call 805-296-7765.