When Sam Reynolds set her sights on opening a restaurant on Kauai about a year ago, a vacant dining room with a stunning ocean view caught her eye. But the timing wasn’t right. So she let it go. For months
When Sam Reynolds set her sights on opening a restaurant on Kauai about a year ago, a vacant dining room with a stunning ocean view caught her eye.
But the timing wasn’t right. So she let it go.
For months the South Africa native and former Santa Barbara resident hunted for the right spot, from Hanalei to Poipu, but she came up empty handed. That is, until she got another chance at leasing the place with the ocean view. This time, she snagged it.
Sam’s Ocean View is the newest addition to the Kapaa dining scene, a simple yet worldly menu in a familiar space that, for many locals, is an old favorite. Beachwalk Restaurant and Grill and, before that, Scotty’s Beachside BBQ are the former tenants.
“I was looking for a simpler life and the saturation in the Santa Barbara dining scene was off the hook, there were restaurants and bars opening and closing all the time,” said Reynolds, who has more than 20 years experience in the industry but has never owned her own restaurant before. “We came here and we felt like there was a hole in good food,” she said. “So we developed a menu of foods that we wanted when we go out.”
Reynolds formerly worked at Fresco Cafe, a landmark Santa Barbara eatery owned by Jill Petrarca, who is now Sam’s Ocean View’s general manager.
The menu at Sam’s Ocean View has Italian, Spanish and Indian influences. Everything is fresh and homemade, right down to the ranch dressing.
On the dinner menu, there’s the steak chimichurri serve with roasted rosemary red bliss potato and arugula from Kailani Organic Farm’s ($24), linguini pomodoro made with island-grown tomatoes ($16), filet mignon bites with pepper rings, house-made Jack Daniels BBQ sauce and sriracha aioli ($15) and a grilled cheese sandwich on local sour dough with sliced apple and honey drizzle ($12).
Chef Jeremy Kochan, a native of Portland, Oregon, with a penchant for travel and a philosophy degree, makes his own curry sauce from scratch.
Most of the items on the dinner menu will stay, with specials rotating in and out. The restaurant is currently only open for happy hour and dinner, but Reynolds said in mid-December it will start serving breakfast and lunch.
“We want to get known as a dinner house first,” Reynolds said. “It’s so beautiful here in the morning. The ocean just sparkles. It will be easy to get people here for breakfast.”
Sam’s Ocean View is open starting at 3:30 p.m. from Thursday through Monday.
“We want it to be a little hub here,” Reynolds said. “Nothing fancy. Really good food done well. Naturally with this view I’m going to bring in tourists, but I also want this to be a locals’ place. A regular spot for regular people.”
