A Hawaiian wave goodbye to Bella Luna

Jenny Marder

A Hawaiian restaurant is slated to take the place of Italian eatery

Bella Luna, which was planned for Downtown but has crumbled under

financial strains and charges of shoddy management.

The restaurant, No Ka Oi, will occupy a prime spot on Main Street,

between the Sugar Shack and the Longboard Restaurant and Pub,

formerly home to the Champagne Bakery. The building was to house

Bella Luna, which never got off the ground, partly because of

problems associated with former Huntington Beach mayor and convicted

felon Dave Garofalo, one of the lead partners of the failed venture.

Now, the property’s landlord, Dennis Boggeln is ready to turn his

back on pasta primavera and face a future of prime steaks, Hawaiian

fish and baby back ribs.

Boggeln likened No Ka Oi to an upscale version of the Downtown

sushi joint Tuna Town. It will target a slightly older crowd. Plans

call for a full bar, front and back patios and a tropical decor. A

sweet, full-bodied coffee brewed from Boggeln’s own coffee plantation

in Hawaii will be served, and partners are looking to recruit a chef

who lived and worked in the tropical island state for a least 10

years.”I feel good about it,” Boggeln said. “It’s a good location, we

plan on serving some good food, and I think our liquor license will

go through. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t have opened six months

ago, because we missed the summer. Fortunately though, we’re getting

to the holidays, and Huntington Beach is getting to the point where

there’s going to be some more winter business in coming years.”

Six months ago, Boggeln’s sights were set on Bella Luna, which its

partners had hoped would be a chic Italian restaurant that served

steaks and seafood in addition to pasta.

Boggeln is partnering with Ron Quick, a landscape contractor, and

Tony Zazula, manager of a local Starbucks, to open No Ka Oi. The

threesome is two down from the team of Bella Luna investors. Garofalo

and Joe Carchio, owner of Jersey Joe’s an Italian deli in Huntington

Beach, have dropped out.

Carchio attributed Bella Luna’s demise to inadequate funding,

delayed construction and personality conflicts.

“It was just too many partners. A few guys just couldn’t get

along,” he said. “They were underfinanced, and they didn’t think they

would need as much money as they did. Construction slowed down, and

before you knew it, money was gobbled up in rent.”

Unlike the other partners in the Bella Luna venture, Carchio never

invested financially, but he agreed to contribute his chefs, his menu

and his business savvy. He used to run a restaurant with the same

name on Warner Avenue and Springdale Street.

The new Bella Luna would have been “the same thing, but with a

different twist,” Carchio said.

Zazula, Quick and Boggeln all sank at least $25,000 into the idea,

and Garofalo, who said it would take $105,000 to start up,

contributed $15,000, Boggeln said.

But as construction dragged on and investors found their cash flow

to be insufficient, other problems began to arise.

To bypass a regulation that says a convicted felon cannot own more

than 10% of a business, Garofalo tried to split his share among

himself and two of his children. Despite this, his partners feared

that the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverages Control would

refuse to grant the restaurant a liquor license because of Garofalo’s

felony conviction, which prohibits him from getting one.

In the meantime, tension between the partners was growing, and

much of it was because of the personality of the former mayor,

partners say. He was a difficult man to work with because he was

always trying to seize control, Boggeln said.

“Dave hired the contractor, he basically negotiated the lease, and

he put his name on the checking account,” Boggeln said. “He told

everybody how it was going to be done. He didn’t consult others with

more experience.

“We were butting heads a lot,” he said. “There were a lot of

disagreements, things didn’t run smoothly. And when it seemed obvious

that things weren’t going to happen, they progressively got worse.”

Garofalo had other financial problems that started emerging as

time progressed; he had credit problems and liens on his house, and

he owed money to the IRS.

“When it began, he was like a little teddy, but when it got

rolling, his personality became an issue,” Boggeln said. “He didn’t

discuss things with people, he didn’t give much input, he kind of

flew by the seat of his pants.”

Garofalo denied that personality conflicts existed. Conflicts, he

said, “are in the hearts and minds of those that have them.”

“If I knew why it didn’t work, I would share it with you,”

Garofalo said. “Five guys got together and had a good idea, and we

tried to make it work, and it didn’t. It happens every day.”

Carchio backed out of the plan about a month ago, when he noticed

money and interest in the project starting to dwindle, he said.

“It’s hard enough being married to one person, let alone five,”

Carchio said. “It was nobody’s fault, everybody tried. ... It’s

unfortunate, but the only people who are really going to suffer are

the people of Huntington Beach. It would have been a real nice

place.”

Now, the three remaining partners are having a difficult time

distancing themselves from their former affiliation with Garofalo.

“It leaves a stain,” Quick said. “We’re finding that it kinds of

permeates everything in the aftermath.”

Boggeln has high hopes for the Hawaiian restaurant, which is

already running more smoothly than Bella Luna ever did.

And with new high-end shops opening in Downtown Huntington Beach,

such as those at the proposed Strand project and the new Hyatt

Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa, he sees a shift from a younger

to a more mature crowd that he thinks the restaurant will attract.

“Property values are increasing, and the city is cleaning things

up Downtown,” Boggeln said. “It’s all positive. The only way things

can go is up.”