The Pukalani Country Club Restaurant will open a temporary eatery on the country club's property while awaiting the permanent restaurant's completion.

"The community has been waiting for us to come back, and now all I can say is we're back," said Ruth Ann DePonte, who has run the restaurant with her family since it opened more than 25 years ago.

After dealing with repairs, inspections and insurers, DePonte is hoping to reopen in time for breakfast Thursday. She said the restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and afternoon pupu daily. A private blessing will be held Wednesday at the temporary facility located across from the country club's driving range.

She stressed that the temporary facility allows the eatery to reopen until the permanent restaurant is rebuilt.

"It's back in a small sense, but be patient with us and bigger things will come," she said.

The popular restaurant, known for its local food, cream pies and family atmosphere, shut down after a fire April 14, 2006, destroyed parts of the building.

DePonte credits the restaurant's success to her mother, Ruthie DePonte, who has been the well-recognized face of the business since the family opened it in 1980.

"My mom, Ruthie, has been in business in Maui for 50 years, and she has an outstanding relationship with so many people and they just love her. It's just the way she is with people. She's so warm and welcoming."

The fire and resulting closure not only devastated customers, but it left 32 restaurant employees without a job, Ruth Ann DePonte said.

She said job offers were extended to those employees, but only a handful of them will return to work, while many others have found other jobs or moved off the island.

"It was our life. It was our everything. It was a setback for us, but we're going forward for the future," she said.

The permanent restaurant will feature more seating and an upgraded computer system, among other improvements.

The former restaurant held up to 170 people, while the new permanent facility will have a maximum capacity of around 300. It will be located on the site of the former restaurant and is expected to be completed within the next 12 to 18 months, she said.

After decades of using the "old style" of hand-written receipts, Ruth Ann DePonte said, she and other workers have been learning a new computerized restaurant management system.

"I'm used to the old way of doing things and writing the tickets, but all the girls are learning how this new system works," she said.

Still, the family insists the "basics" that made the restaurant a local favorite will remain the same.

Menu items will include familiar dishes like kalua pig, pulehu ribs, chicken long rice and poi.

"The food will be the same, and the recipes haven't changed for 25 years. And we're still going to keep it a family place," Ruthie DePonte said.

"I would say foodwise it's 90 percent the same," her daughter added.

Ruthie DePonte said she had no doubt the restaurant would be back someday, because the owners, Kobayashi Group, committed to having it rebuilt.

"I knew that sometime it would reopen. I just felt it would," she said.

Yasuo Nishida, general manager of Pukalani Country Club and Restaurant, added that the number of phone calls he has received regarding the restaurant is an indication that many customers have been eagerly awaiting the business reopening.

"Every day we receive phone calls asking when we will open, and we can finally say: Yes, we will open," he said.

Nishida said that over the past year the country club has lost business from several groups that host annual golf tournaments because there was no restaurant to host them.

"We didn't have any meals. We only had ready-made sandwiches, drinks and candy," he said.

He added that a large tent will be erected next to the temporary restaurant to accommodate large groups and golf tournaments.

News of the temporary restaurant has traveled exclusively through "word of mouth," according to Ruth Ann DePonte.

"People have been finding out, but it's all from talking to other people and spreading the word," she said.

Despite all the excitement, Ruthie DePonte admitted she's "a little stressed" about reopening the restaurant and isn't sure what to expect.

"It's like starting over again, and it's always a question of how to let our customers know you're the same and you want them back," she said. "It was such a unique place. You knew everyone and could talk to people who came in, and it was just a real family environment. In opening the new facility that's what we want to focus on."