The new Waikiki Beach Walk retail complex gets its first of several restaurants Feb. 11 when the California-based Yard House chain opens its Honolulu location. The 15-restaurant chain is owned by former O'ahuan Steele Platt. The Yard House concept is built around American fare, classic rock music and the world's largest selection of draft beers. In Honolulu, contemporary Hawaiian music will be added to the mix, along with a more Pacific Rim leaning.

The menu was designed by Yard House executive chef and partner Carlito Jocson, whose Filipina mother had her own catering business and taught him to cook. With no formal training beyond that, he used on-the-job training to elevate himself to best new chef of Orange County, Calif., in 1985, when he was just 19. He has earned numerous other accolades since.

DOWNTOWN

EPIC WILL BE A STYLISH GRILL WITH CULINARY DIVERSITY

Chef Anthony Vierra will be doing a lot of hoofing it up and down Pauahi Street. He'll continue as chef at his family's Grand Cafe & Bakery at 31 N. Pauahi, but on Feb. 11, he and his partners (the Changs from Little Village) will open Restaurant Epic in the old Havana Cabana location at Nu'uanu and Pauahi, just half a block away. Vierra, a California Culinary Academy graduate who cooked at San Mateo's award-winning 231 Ellsworth before moving home in 2001, calls it a "new American grill with California flair." "Classic techniques, no ethnic boundaries," he said.

On the menu: Truffled arancini (Sicilian rice balls), corn bisque with roasted pepper marmalade, and a signature sangria. The casual chic restaurant will also offer fixed-price pre-theater menus to draw in the crowds from the adjacent Hawai'i Theatre.