Bill and Teresa Lee to Open Kona Steak and Seafood in Former P.F. Chang’s

November 8, 2022 – Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Bill and Teresa Lee’s last restaurant is in the pipeline. The lease was signed yesterday.

Last as in final final. 

Not the last last restaurant (Sur in the Barnyard) or the last last before that, Lucky’s Roadside Diner.

They just can’t quit the game, which arrives as good news for the legion fans who have followed and feasted at their properties for more than four decades.

Kona Steak and Seafood—or as they call it, “number 12”—will feature the headliners in the official name paired with a welcoming island vibe inspired in large part by trips to Hawaii during their recent “mini-retirement.”

“A feeling of luau, aloha and ohana,” Teresa says. “Like you’re on a little vacation with friendly faces to greet you and delicious food.”

On the food front, Bill describes something that approximates Roy’s at Pebble Beach.

“Quality steaks and seafood, only not as pricey, where everyday guests who like to come in two or three times a week still want to come in without breaking the bank,” he says. ”Innovative styling, island-style food and interesting sauces.”

The working concept also includes a shave ice program and a Hawaiian gift shop in the spacious entry area.

Speaking of spacious, the location represents the biggest of the dozen they’ve done, by a healthy margin. 

The former P.F. Chang’s in Monterey’s Del Monte Center open air mall offers around 7,000 square feet with a kitchen that has the leadership team, chef Mario Luevano included, salivating over the sizeable and well-built kitchen.

Luevano is eager to debut his first steakhouse. “I’ve always wanted to open one,” he says. 

He adds that, “It’s gonna be a great experience,” meaning for guests, but it also applies for the longtime Sur chef himself. 

“I like the idea of Hawaiian and Asian fusion,” he says. “I’m excited.”

The Lees sound most stoked about the ribs, which was the main attraction way back for restaurant number one, 40-plus years ago. The tagline for that Billy Quon’s, in what’s now Rio Grill, was “a great place for great ribs.” 

“Mario has promised that his ribs will be better than the original,” Bill says. 

Teresa thinks diners will be most stunned by…a familiar theme. Wink wink.

“What will surprise people most? That we’re opening another one,” she says with a laugh. “OK, that won’t be shocking. But this is the real last one. Really.”

One truly different thing with this outpost will be its positioning on the Peninsula. 

Previous Lee projects occupied less central business parks, deep Carmel Valley or tucked into the Crossroads or Barnyard Carmel. 

“It’s the first time we’ve opened a place that’s easy to find,” Teresa says. “We’ve always been kinda hidden. Now you don’t have to hunt on your radar to find us.”

Conservative opening date is March 1, but that comes contingent on finalizing the transfer of their liquor license, so fingers crossed there. 

After a good decade-long drift toward comfort food Americana like the fried chicken that was a hit amid COVID restrictions, the team sounds enthused to return to island fare that was a previous standby. 

That will come with one final familiar element, which is becoming almost as reliable as the instinct to doubt this is the last best effort at another community favorite: theatrical—and volcanic—cocktails.

As Teresa says to Bill, “We’re gonna light some stuff on fire, no? We can’t not do that, right?”