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Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Now, let's all enjoy watching the viewing of Lady & The Tramp..."}]

Smile 26 6 5

<title>Daily Smile: Friday, June 5, 2026</title>

Now, let's all enjoy watching the viewing of Lady & The Tramp...

Daily Smile: Friday, June 5, 2026

 Now, let&#039;s all enjoy watching the viewing of Lady &amp; The Tramp...

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

, owned by chef Adam Gilbert and business partner Chris Natale, has been a project that’s been years in the making — specifically since 2019, Gilbert says. The eatery is located at the ʻEwa Villages Golf Course, which is a municipal golf course, but the restaurant is open to the public.

“There’s a big push to put local businesses to occupy concessions for the City and County,” Gilbert says. “I’ve been working on this project since 2019, and then it got put on the backburner during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

In the meantime, Gilbert sold his Kapolei-based restaurant, Plantation Tavern, in 2020 — the eatery was open for about six years — and opened Monarch Poke shop in Pearl Kai Shopping Center in 2021.

“The poke shop was really just to go back in the community and see what’s going on,” he says. “It was almost an experimental thing. We really lived on catering there.”

Fairway Tavern’s current space was vacant since 2019, according to Gilbert.

“For the last six to seven years, it was called The Ville; everybody in ʻEwa knows The Ville,” he says. “The bid (for this space) went out about two years ago and we won it.”

Since December 2024, Gilbert and Natale worked on renovating the restaurant — “We did the floor, we repainted the whole place,” Gilbert says — and the eatery’s tables and chairs came from now-closed Sansei and D.K. Steakhouse.

The eatery is called Fairway Tavern to pay homage to both, its golf course location and Gilbert’s former Plantation Tavern.

“If you look at our logo compared to Plantation Tavern, it’s very similar,” he says. “The intent is to remember — subconsciously or not — that we’re the same ownership, same business and same food.

“The whole concept of the tavern almost fits in better here than it did in Kapolei,” he adds. “You’re on the plantation here. When you pull in off Renton Road, those are all original plantation buildings.”

Gilbert sold the Monarch Poke space in Pearl Kai a few weeks ago, and announced its closing on social media.

“I was going to run them both, but at the end of the day, I couldn’t figure out how to do both,” he says.

The eatery’s grab-and-go section — open from 7 a.m. — is designed with golfers in mind, as it features musubis, croissant breakfast sandwiches, breakfast burritos and breakfast bentos, according to Gilbert.

“We have five different breakfast bentos, which have white rice, scrambled eggs, and meats like Portuguese sausage, Spam, corned beef, and Little Smokies,” Gilbert says. “We run musubis and hot dogs all day for the golfers with a fast turnaround on the ninth hole.”

The lunch menu, which is served from 11 a.m., features a similar style to Plantation Tavern, Gilbert notes. Many dishes feature larger portions, designed to be shared family-style.

“We put pride and care into what we do; we make everything from scratch,” Gilbert says. “We do a lot of upscale local food — Hawaiian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese and Korean — and we use French techniques, but not to be pretentious. It’s just to add more flavor and depth in what we do.”

Several dishes feature the same recipes from the Plantation Tavern days — including the eatery’s signature poke nachos — but some dishes are new creations.

“I tried not to do too many similar dishes because I feel like I’ve grown a lot in seven years,” Gilbert says. “At the same time, there’s stuff the community won’t accept that we don’t have.”

The poke nachos have been a longtime customer favorite, both at Plantation Tavern and at Monarch Poke. They feature a bed of crispy wonton chips topped with your choice of spicy or shoyu poke, chopped tomato and avocado; they’re drizzled with homemade unagi sauce and Sriracha aioli.

“We do spicy and shoyu poke only,” Gilbert says. “It’s the same recipe as Plantation Tavern; the first one (poke nachos) we did was in 2012.”

The sizzling sisig ($16) features crispy pork belly that’s chopped and mixed with red onions, garlic, ginger and Thai chili.

“We put a calamansi dashi aioli on it, and a fried egg,” Gilbert says. “We’ve never done that dish before; it’s super good.”

He explains that certain dishes on the menu — including miso yakitori chicken ($12), crispy chicken wings ($14 for six, $21 for 12), garlic chicken ($14) and Kochujang beef skewers ($21) — are specifically included as affordable options for golfers.

“There are some very intentionally selected items for the golf community to find value,” Gilbert says. “The chicken yakitori is new; it’s five chicken sticks with 12 ounces of chicken. You can get that for $12, you can get a scoop of rice for $2; for $14, you have a whole plate.

“Everything’s homemade,” he adds. “We cut the chicken, marinade it for three days in a miso marinade, then skewer and grill it.”

The Korean-style beef skewers are made with rib-eye and come with cucumber kimchi. Meanwhile, the garlic chicken features the same recipe from Plantation Tavern.

If you want something lighter, options range from fresh sashimi-grade ahi (market price) — “We get fish from the auction,” Gilbert says — to watercress, tofu and tomato salad ($16). The latter features watercress from Sumida Farm; the salad is topped with baked tofu and served with a slightly spicy patis (fish sauce) dressing.

The menu also features several creative dishes, each with a story behind it. The smoked crab and kimchi dip ($14) with wonton chips used to be a special at Plantation Tavern. It was also on the menu in a takeout deli container at Monarch Poke, Gilbert says. The current rendition comes in a ramekin and it’s baked.

“It’s almost like a crab artichoke dip, but it’s a smoked crab and kimchi dip,” he says. “It’s got some spice; it’s a good appetizer or shared item.”

Gilbert also explains that the scallop noodles ($17) on the menu have been a long time coming. He made a crispy garlic chili oil poke at Monarch Poke; the Fairway Tavern dish features sauteed garlic bay scallops that are seasoned with salt and pepper, and added to a garlic compote butter mixture.

“Once that (the garlic compote butter) melts down, we throw in an egg noodle and then we add the crispy garlic chili oil sauce that we used to make poke with,” Gilbert says. “It’s super addictive; I’ve been working on it for a long time.

“When I wrote the menu to open dinner at Monarch Poke — which we never pulled off — it was on the menu there,” he adds. “I was experimenting with it there, and it just never got to the table. So it’s like a two-year-in-the-making situation that’s never happened, but it’s like a three-recipe variation to make one (of these).”

Other menu items include the Tavern burger ($11), lilikoʻi barbecue kalua pork sandwich ($15) and the mahi mahi sandwich (market price). Customers can make their sandwich a combo by adding shoestring French fries or a green salad (additional $3.50). Gilbert says they’re especially proud of the Italian meatball sub ($18) and the Philly special ($18). Both are inspired by his business partner, Chris Natale.

“I’m from Philly originally, but I’ve been here for more than 31 years,” Natale says. “I’ve had people ask me for years, ‘What makes a Philly cheesesteak so good?’ To tell you the truth, 

a lot of it is the roll; 70% is the roll. There’s something about East Coast bread — the water makes really good bread; that’s what makes a good sandwich."

When looking for a good Philly cheesesteak, Natale adds that the “diced onions gotta be in there already; you shouldn’t have to ask for it” and that the cheese should be “incorporated with the meats as it’s cooked, not just put on top.”

Speaking of cheese, the business special orders Cooper Sharp Cheese from Philadelphia, along with bread from New York, to make this sandwich.

“The Cooper Sharp cheese is a thing back in Philly,” Natale says. “It has a nice bite to it; it’s really good. It’s (the bread) a good Italian roll and it helps to make the sandwich that much better.”

The meatball sub features a combination of recipes, but also pays homage to Natale’s brief gig selling meatballs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Everything was shut down, and one of my friends started selling margaritas,” he remembers. “He said, ‘You should sell something.’ I am Italian; I started selling meatballs by the dozen with my homemade sauce. It became a little business for a minute there; I stopped and people still ask me, ‘Are you doing more meatballs?’ A meatball sub is hard to find on this island.”

Gilbert encourages customers to save room for desserts like the housemade ube cheesecake with coconut cream sauce ($9) — which was featured at Plantation Tavern and Monarch Poke — banana cream pie, served with sliced bananas and crème anglaise ($7) and chocolate dobash cake with a raspberry coulis ($12).

The banana cream pie pays homage to one of the beloved desserts at former ‘Ewa plantation restaurant Tenney Tavern, according to Gilbert.

“It burned down and never reopened,” he says. “But there a lot of people in this community that still remember it. It had very specific things — it had a juke box; it was known for its veal cutlet, Green River drink and their pies. They specifically had a banana cream pie; we threw a pie back (on the menu) for that.”

In the coming months, customers can look forward to weekend brunch — before football season starts, Gilbert says — and dinner service. The eatery also offers catering and features a space for weddings, according to Gilbert, who says the eatery has around 135 seats.

“We’re going to be open for dinner, but we’re going to let the staff settle, learn the lunch menu and get a groove,” he says. “We have a bunch of catering for events coming up for graduations.

“The kitchen’s huge here; we have way more ability to do more,” he adds.

Open daily, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. (full service from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.)

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Fairway Tavern chef Adam 043026

<title>Fairway Tavern is now open at ‘Ewa Villages Golf Course</title>

The eatery is owned by chef Adam Gilbert, previously of Monarch Poke and Plantation Tavern, and business partner Chris Natale. The eatery strives to offer local-style dishes — including its signature poke nachos — at affordable prices, and also features a grab-and-go section for golfers.

Fairway Tavern is now open at ‘Ewa Villages Golf Course

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Business & Tourism

Aloha Spirit

From shave ice to rainbows, bunches of flowers, crackseed stores – and even slippers or Hawaiian Sun cans at Long’s, Steffy Simms loves a good Hawaiʻi-inspired color pallete that inspires her latest clothing designs at 

“I do love to doodle and draw. I love cute things and color,” she told Aloha State Daily.

The self-taught designer is decent with an iPad and illustrating apps Adobe and Procreate, she said. “I don’t consider myself an expert in anything, especially art because I can’t paint. I think being tenacious and industrious are two of my strengths. I pay close attention to detail, work hard and tend to jump into things headfirst.”

 leaned into her love for bright colors, and the palaka and puakenikeni prints as best sellers right now.

Simms began the paperwork for the business in late 2023, she said, while on maternity leave. Its first collection went live in June 2024, shortly after the birth of her son, Nazzy.

The name Guava Jammies is a nod to her family’s multi-generational home in Mānoa, which has a guava tree on property perfect for making “the best guava jam,” she said with a smile.

Simms, who also teaches physics and robotics at ʻIolani School, is the brand’s sole employee currently, though she said her husband of five years, Andrew, helps with photography and “provides the manpower for marketing.”

“I think the only reason I can make this happen is because of the support of my family,” she said. “Being able to watch my son grow up with his grandparents, with four adults in the house who love him, is just invaluable. My husband supports everything that I believe in and dream of.”

The company uses bamboo fabrics and non-toxic dying methods that are safe for wearers with sensitive skin, something Simms learned early on in motherhood when addressing her son’s eczema. “That’s kind of the origin story of Guava Jammies – we really wanted it rooted in safety and sustainability. ... We want you to love them hard and pass them down.

While looking around for products that would be safe for his skin, she found this health concern common among other families, too. “Plus, the hot, humid weather here really doesn’t help.” 

breathable alohawear so comfortable it felt like pajamas," was born, she recalled. As a slow fashion brand, manufacturing is limited and mindful of production standards, often exceeding U.S. Safety Standard Regulations, according to Simms. 

She added, the best place she receives feedback about her product is out in the community at pop-ups including the Merrie Monarch Festival, Made in Hawai’i Festival, and more regularly, the Mom Made Market at Kahala Mall and Mālama Hawaiʻi Makers Market at Ala Moana Center.

Upcoming pop-ups to catch Guava Jammies at:

June 14: Mālama Hawaiʻi Makers Market at Ala Moana Center
July 19: Mom Made Market at Kahala Mall 
August 15-17: Made in Hawaiʻi Festival

In addition to online sales, Guava Jammies can also be purchased in various shops across the Islands, including The Growing Keiki in Haleʻiwa, Turquoise in Waikīkī, Banana Patch Studios on Kau’i and SCP Hilo Hotel, according to Simms. She said her customers are mostly kamaʻāina, though one of her goals is to get into stores across the east and west coasts and in Japan.

“I would love to be on every island, and we are looking at hotel chains because I think Hawaiʻi authentically represented by local brands for our tourist community and global audiences is so important.

“I’m sure the Hawaiʻi brand is worth something in the billions, but when you look up the companies that are selling poke on the continent or using the word ‘aloha,’ most of those brands are not owned by 

“As a kamaaina with plantation settler roots,” Simms said she initially set out to create pieces that spoke to her. “I wanted to see and be able to pass down things from my childhood to my son and other families.”

Year-over-year, the company’s revenues have more than doubled from what she had in mind at the onset, she said. This year, she joined the fourth cohort of nonprofit 

Purple Maiʻa Foundation's accelerator Hawaiʻi FoundHer

Looking ahead, Simms is hopeful about blending Guava Jammies with her experience as a STEM educator, collaborating with other local designers and nonprofits that serve keiki, releasing a women’s collection and continuing to grow her support network.

“If the business we to close tomorrow, that would be one of the most significant fruits of all of this labor – the network of women who are raising families and building businesses and doing it all alongside each other.”

Guava Jammies

<title>Mom from Mānoa grows alohawear company for ʻohana</title>

Guava Jammies turns one this month. Small business owner Steffy Simms shares her story as a self-taught designer with an eye for color and heart for Hawaiʻi-made products. She also works full-time as a teacher and has a second child on the way.

Daily Smile: Friday, June 5, 2026

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Daily Smile: Friday, June 5, 2026

Authors

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