The aroma of sweet freshly baked bread filled the Hideout Coffee House on Dec. 6. It was panipopo, Samoan sweet coconut rolls doused in coconut cream sauce.
Liquid soaked into the fluffy, white dough where the edges of the roll met the coconut cream sauce in the baking pan. It’s a specialty of Joette Reyes, one of the Nipomo coffee shop’s new owners. In the glass case that greets shop patrons, pans of panipopo are next to a plate of panikeke, which looks like a round doughnut. Joette describes it as a sort of Samoan pancake.
Joette, her husband JR, and their five children took over the Hideout in November, and reopened the shop around Thanksgiving weekend. The coffee house was closed for about six weeks before the Reyeses took over.
The Calvary Chapel of Nipomo ran it for a year and a half as a Christian coffee house before turning it over to JR and Joette. The chapel wanted to focus on other things, JR said, but couldn’t find a buyer for it.
“And it came to a decision that they just blessed me and my wife with it,” JR said.
That’s right, the church handed the keys and the business title over to the Reyes’ without asking for any money in return. JR said the deal came about because he is part of a group of Nipomo-area pastors that gets together every Tuesday.
“We get together and we just [chat]; there’s no agenda, we just are who we are,” JR said. “There’re no walls.”
JR has been the pastor for Full Gospel Tabernacle of Nipomo for seven years. His father was the pastor up until he passed away, about eight years ago. The Reyes family is from American Samoa. JR said they immigrated to Los Angeles in 1999 and came up to Nipomo about 12 years ago.
JR and some Full Gospel members played music at the Hideout when Calvary Chapel ran it. The group played a combination of Christian-themed music, reggae, and hip-hop, among other things. JR said it was nice to have a venue where faith-based bands could come play, and that’s something he wants to continue at the Hideout.
He said there really isn’t anywhere else on the Central Coast where those types of acts are invited to play.
“There’s just not a place for them,” he said. “This gives them a place that they can go to.”
JR now holds services for his church at the coffee shop on Sundays and invites Christian bands to play on the weekends. There is scripture written on the menu board in chalk and bibles on a coffee table. Mixed in with that is a little bit of island flair: tables are decked out in floral print placemats, napkins, and coasters.
The coffee shop’s island flair will continue to expand as the couple’s food menu expands. JR said they will slowly add menu items from American Samoa, as they get more comfortable running the coffee shop.
One of the unique items they serve right now is Spam musubi. It’s teriyaki-fried Spam wrapped in seaweed with rice, and it’s a sweet, salty mouthful of deliciousness. Joette makes them to order.
The Hideout is located at 338 W. Teft St. in Nipomo. The shop is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Biz Spotlight was written by Staff Writer Camillia Lanham. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, e-mail, or mail.
