Eat Healthy

By Anni Caporuscio

Kimchi Burger. To my surprise, this was as satisfying and filling as a meat burger, busting the idea that I need a snack on the way home from a vegan cafe. The Beyond Burger patty is rolled in cornmeal and sesame seeds to bring more body and to set it apart from your usual meatless burger. Housemade kimchi and housemate dill dressing and local greens round this meal out.

After eating almost every meal at home for three months, eating in a restaurant is an unbelievable treat. My restaurant-deprived lifestyle is quite possibly over-expressive about the experience, and I will not apologize.

A friend and I luxuriously ate at Eat Healthy, the coziest outdoor café ever. The eclectic décor with tiles and paintings inside opens up to an enviable backyard setting with all the good parts — paint, greenery, comfy hip tables and chairs, edible plants, festoon lighting and sweet people delivering delicious food.

Owner PJ Nagaya served us bright drinks and came back with a scramble platter loaded with veggies and protein, and a breakfast bowl composed primarily of fruits from his yard and a house-made granola. Then, he brought by a kimchi burger with chipotle cream sauce on a thick taro wheat bun and the brightest green salad. My friend and I ate until we were full, enjoyed good company and felt like people who do fashionable things “in town,” you know, like we used to do.

Here’s the thing about Eat Healthy: it’s all vegan. Don’t be turned off by the word vegan. We ate a full and dynamic meal that happened to be vegan. The scramble was a tofu scramble, firm and egg-like, containing mixed veggies and seitan, which is a wheat gluten sausage with a spicy zing. The burger: a thick-pattied Beyond Burger that he rolls in cornmeal for more body, filling in the right ways. Also featured on the menu are curries, nori wraps, sandwiches and pastas. It’s real food that real people eat, Eat Healthy version.

Papaya Dream Bowl. They had me with the presentation and it’s all the things I want to eat in the morning. Bananas and papayas blended with homemade coconut milk and dates to make a cold, thick smoothie topped with island macnuts and homemade granola.

PJ Nagaya is from Japan and spent 30 years in New York as a clothing designer before radically changing his career and life to move to Kaua‘i and take over the old Café Coco location and infuse it with his creativity. His philosophy is to educate people on how it is possible to eat healthier daily and consume less meat-heavy meals. He says — and I agree — that a typical vegan restaurant tries too hard to be creative and keep the diner engaged that the effort takes away from the food itself. Nagaya wants to offer very simply, very nutritious “comfort food made vegan.” It’s entry-level healthy eating.

I asked how he has changed his vision for his restaurant since COVID-19 arrived. He first opened for takeout, then for adequately spaced outdoor covered seating. His focus shifted from away from entertaining tourists and towards local clients. What do residents enjoy? He focused on affordable filling items based on local cuisine and flavors, looking to hook working people and residents that may have never tried good vegan food. He was creative enough to be flexible with food to suit the mood by changing his menu. And oddly enough, the menu grew.

Hibiscus Iced Tea and Green Goddess smoothie. The tartness of Hibiscus tea is softened by a dose of green tea for a balanced and gorgeous drink. Green Goddess has all the green stuff plus dates and pineapples for sweetness and all the goodness moringa brings.

Of note from the breakfast portion of the menu is a Build-Your-Own Tofu Scramble Burrito or Platter, that you can customize on a scale of light-to-hearty, and give yourself the opportunity to try some of the proteins that vegan food offers. Also try from Eat Healthy’s collection of Specialty Bowls which play with the popular Açaí Bowl concept into works of fruitful art.

All potential diet modifications are indicated: gluten free, containing soy or nuts. Nagaya makes every sauce, dressing, garnish, tea, and cookie. Oh, yeah — vegan chocolate chip cookie! What he doesn’t make himself he sources from local bakeries (VIP Treats & Sweets and Ya Quddus Bagelry) and produce comes from Kailani Farms, Rainbow Garden and Donna of Ohana Farms. You can pass raised bed gardens on the way in.

I arrived at Eat Healthy intrigued, and a bit skeptical, and I left satisfied, and very importantly, I left full. And I felt great.

Eat Healthy is just off the highway in Wailua at 4-369 Kuhio Hwy. Call 822-7990 with questions or for takeout. Checkout their social media on Facebook and Instagram for announcements, specials and lovely photos of bright meals.

• Anni Caporuscio is a food, coffee and book lover. She can be found walking her dog Wilson at the Kapa‘a Bike Path, or crushing enemies at the Kapa‘a Hockey Rink during roller derby season.

PJ Nagaya, owner, operator, chef, and chief educator for vegan cuisine at Eat Healthy. PJ is passionate about educating the island a out vegan food. ‘Just because we are a vegan restaurant, don’t be scared of the word vegan. Try it. We serve really delicious food that happens to be vegan.’

Tofu Scramble. It looks like eggs and kind of tastes like eggs, but this complete breakfast is entirely vegan. It’s warm, crisp, slightly spicy and leaves you feeling full and good.

Kimchi Burger. To my surprise, this was as satisfying and filling as a meat burger, busting the idea that I need a snack on the way home from a vegan cafe. The Beyond Burger patty is rolled in cornmeal and sesame seeds to bring more body and to set it apart from your usual meatless burger. Housemade kimchi and housemate dill dressing and local greens round this meal out.