Hawaiian-inspired restaurant opening next week

 A healthy Hawaiian-inspired restaurant already popular with students is opening a location in Gainesville.

Big Island Bowls, a stationary food truck from St. Augustine, will open next week at 5408 Northwest Ave., said co-owner Kelly Hazouri.

The restaurant — set to open by Oct. 12 — will primarily offer acai bowls, which are layered dishes with acai berries, homemade granola, honey and locally sourced fruits, she said, adding that fruit smoothies and ahi tuna poke bowls will also be on the menu.

Hazouri and co-owner Brendan Schneck came up with the idea to open the restaurant while working in Hawaii at Pacific Quest, a working-therapy farm for at-risk youth, she said. After seeing how much locally grown produce positively affected their students, the St. Augustine natives knew they had to bring a little bit of the island lifestyle back to Florida, Hazouri said.

“Health and happiness definitely go hand in hand,” she said. “Practicing good self care, eating good food, manifesting a healthy life for yourself is so important. It’s hard to have a positive outlook on life when your body feels terrible.”

At the St. Augustine location, Hazouri said she started noticing that groups of UF students would often order 10 or more to-go bowls at a time, bringing them back to Gainesville in ice-filled coolers for a week’s worth of lunches. Seeing that kind of demand from students solidified the owners’ decision to expand to Gainesville.

“We’re excited to be in Gator country,” she said.

Meghan Abernathy, a Santa Fe College English senior, said she and her boyfriend visit new restaurants every week for date nights. The 22-year-old said she doesn’t know of any other Hawaiian restaurants, which tend to offer mixtures of savory, fruity dishes.

With how the town is expanding, Gainesville needs more healthy options, she said.

“That would be a really unique date night out, instead of wings and pizza,” Abernathy said.