Photograph by Sybilka Storie
On June 1, Vincente “Vinny” Benedett and his wife, Elena, and cousin, Keawe Miller—owners of the popular Hawaiian restaurant Onolicious on Walnut Street—will expand their tropical-themed food empire when they open 10th Island Tiki Bar & Grill in Over-the-Rhine.
The name is a nod to what the Benedetts and Miller see building in their adopted hometown. There are eight official Hawaii islands while Las Vegas is often informally referred to as the “ninth island” because of its large Hawaiian community. With restaurants like Onolicious, Poke Hut in Over-the-Rhine, and KeAloha’s Kitchen in Covington, and food trucks like Dine-In Hawaiian, the Queen City is developing its own taste for different aspects of Hawaiian cuisine. And that’s where 10th Island comes in.
“There’s so many different cultures that have made Hawaiian cuisine what it is,” Vinny Benedett says. “We always do Filipino things, Japanese things, Portuguese things, or Puerto Rican dishes. It is always going to be Hawaiian in concept, but that doesn’t mean it’s just lau lau [pork and butterfish wrapped in lu’au leaves and ti leaves]. It’s a lot of different things.”
Asian and European influences in Hawaiian food come from immigrants worked on plantations in Hawaii in the early 1900s.
“When they would sit down for lunch, they’d all have different types of food,” Benedett says. “You’d have Japanese, Korean, Pue’to Rican, and Portuguese people, and they would basically trade food—that’s how the mixed plate started.”
The new restaurant will focus on light bites, burgers, and seafood, in addition to Hawaiian classics, including shaved ice. The plan is to remain open until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. on the weekends, which is sure to draw the hungry late-night bar crowds trolling Main Street.
Adjacent to Ziegler Park and its community pool, 10th Island will be the third business in the space at 213 Woodward Street in the past few years, following the Mexican-themed Yoli’s Pool House in 2023 and dive bar Ziggy’s in 2024.
“Yoli’s was kind of designed around the pool,” Benedett explains. “When you don’t have the pool anymore, people aren’t going there. We’re trying to not gear around the pool at all. We’re really going for more, ‘How do we get people there in the wintertime?’ I think it’s a nice, cozy intimate setting, and we can build a customer base with that as opposed to just focusing on being by a pool. But the fact that you can be by a pool is a plus.”
Photograph by Sybilka Storie
If you’re looking for Hawaiian cuisine here, you should expect more than just spam or pineapple, Benedett notes.
“The biggest misconception that we always have a problem with is pineapples,” he adds. “People will put a little pineapple on something and call it Hawaiian, which is not what it is. We love pineapple, but pineapple and ham on a pizza doesn’t make it Hawaiian. But if you put pineapple and kalua pig [pulled pork shoulder] on a pizza, that’s Hawaiian.”
Before settling downtown, Onolicious was a food stall inside of the now-defunct Oakley Kitchen Food Hall.
“We found a lot of success there with a lot of loyal supporters who would come all the time,” Benedett says. “3CDC offered us this awesome opportunity on Court Street [Plaza] and it all worked out. I never would’ve thought this is what I’d be doing.”
His future branding plans include bottling and selling several of Onolicious’s sauces, such as the huli huli (Hawaiian barbecue sauce) and teriyaki sauces. “A real big goal is getting our sauces into the stores so more people can familiarize themselves with our logo, our surfer guy,” he says. “It’s going to really help selling the sauces in the store.”
On June 15, Benedett will host a luau at Ziegler Park, which will entail a hulu show, fire dancers, live music, and an all-you-can-eat buffet.
“We want our luau to be a huge festival, kind of like Asian Food Fest has become,” he says. “We want it to be a festival where people expect it every year and definitely plan on coming.”
10th Island Tiki Bar & Grill, 213 Woodward St., Over-the-Rhine
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