Business & Tech
Surfs Up! Seasonal Flat Waves Diner Reopens With New Beachside Service
Now in its second year, the successful seasonal Flat Waves restaurant, a Hawaiian plate diner on Aquidneck Avenue, has added a new mobile service this year.
Surfs up, Aquidneck Island! , a funky and friendly beach style diner in Middletown has re-opened its doors. What’s more, the local favorite has expanded with a new surfside mobile food service to be found throughout the summer at Second Beach.
Known for its Hawaiian plates, the story behind Flat Waves goes that owner Will Burgess from Portsmouth went on a 10-day surfing trip to Hawaii with his family and just couldn’t get enough of the Hawaiian flavors he left behind. So Burgess brought a bit of Hawaii to Middletown last summer and took a big chance on local palates when he first opened Flat Waves' doors.
“Hawaii has similar beach atmosphere as here, so I wanted to see if the local community would be interested in Hawaiian plate style food,” said Burgess, who graduated from Grove City College in Pennsylvania just last month.
The community is not only interested—fans are flat out stoked. “It’s awesome!” said Lisa Graham, a ninth grade student from Newport who came out to lunch during a festive opening day in early June.
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“It’s a good change, it’s different from other places,” added brother Jeff, a sophomore.
So what’s all the hype?
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Hawaiian plate dishes typically include a meat—either chicken, meat or pork—over a plate of steaming white rice.
Flat Wave’s signature dish, a Hawaiian tradition, is “Loco Moco.”
With that you get a one-third pound fresh ground hamburger served over rice smothered in brown gravy.
Burgess said they only use fresh ingredients. He does a lot of the cooking himself.
This summer, there are now a couple of ways to “catch the Wave.”
Flat Waves has set up a new mobile food cart at Surfer’s End on Second Beach. As of this last weekend, the truck will serve food daily at the beach, weather permitting.
Like all good surfers who pride themselves on not stealing others’ good waves, Burgess said he’ll leave Flat Wave’s over-sized shaved ice drinks back at the diner so as not to compete with the Del’s Lemonade truck also parked at Surfer’s End daily.
Stop in and say “Aloha” to Burgess and the crew at 1130 Aquidneck Ave or at Second Beach throughout the summer.
Check out more from the Flat Wave menu here.
