Angela and Marcos Ruiz are often asked, “Why ‘Hungry Coyote’?” The Lāhainā couple explains the meaning behind the name of their new Hawaiian-Mexican restaurant. “Well, Marcos’s middle name is ‘Netzahualcoyolt’, which translates to ‘Hungry Coyote’, hence the naming of the restaurant,” explains Angela, before revealing the name’s deeper historical significance. “In particular, Marco’s namesake, Nezahualcoyotl, was a great king and noble leader of the Aztec Empire. Known as the Poet King, he filled his court with philosophers, engineers, artists, and musicians; established the rule of law, scholarship, and artistry; designed some of the most famous Aztec achievements, and led his people through a golden age of peace and prosperity.”
 

“It is in this spirit,” Angela continues, “one that embraces human potential, the importance of community, and the celebration of a vibrant culture that we bring you Hungry Coyote.” Proud smiles all around, and mouth-watering scents wafting from the kitchen = a typical day in the Hungry Coyote world.
 

The large Ruiz ‘ohana, while spread far and wide, stays tight-knit through timeless connections like love, heritage, and... the love of food, of course! Angela and Marco are the proud parents of four adult children (all married), foster son Cliffton (17), and four grandchildren between the ages of 3 and 12.
Their adult children and grandchildren live on the mainland and abroad in places like Las Vegas, San Diego, Seattle, and Italy. Cliffton attends Lahainaluna and works at Maui Animal Farm. Rounding out the local Ruiz ‘ohana in Wahikuli are Angela’s mother Colleen, a retired ICU Nurse from UCLA, and two sweet rescue cats.
 

Angela explains how her partner, Marcos, became a first-class chef. “Marcos was raised in the Guadalajara area of Mexico, the youngest of a family with six children. His mother and grandfather (a chef of local resorts) taught him how to properly cook authentic Mexican dishes. Marcos loved cooking from an early age and began working in commercial kitchens over 21 years ago in Maui.”
 

Angela lists some of the biggest restaurant names on Maui Marco has worked in with an affectionate smile. “He started with Bubba Gumps and went on to learn from top chefs at Hard Rock Café, Pacific O’s, Leilani’s, Cantina, Pineapple Grill, Sea House, Fond, and Taverna. Marco eventually became a leader in training younger staff the basics from preparing foods to line cooking, to creating authentic sauces, mole, and signature dishes. Marcos enjoyed assisting his friends in the industry to open their own restaurants and learned the process in doing so. His style is authentic with a lovely Hawaiian infusion.”
 

Angela and Marcos want to expand their brand and open another restaurant with the goal of becoming a Maui household name. “We want to become a place where communities can come meet, eat, and enjoy each other’s company,” she says excitedly. Their emphasis is always on service and helping others: “We have incorporated a training program empowering those in need of job skills, who have no experience and watch them grow and flourish with endless possibilities, whether within our organization or moving them on to the dream job of their choosing,” she shares.
 

Angela invites you to pop down for a visit. “We’re open from Tuesday to Saturday; you can either enjoy Taco Tuesday with a Loud Aloha Shirt Contest, Wednesdays with family night and complimentary family dessert, or Thursday to Saturday we host local musicians from 6pm to 8pm. We are open for Brunch on Friday and Saturday from 11am–2pm with a delicious breakfast/brunch menu. BYOB and kama’aina... if you can say kama’aina!” she jokes.
Away from the restaurant side of her life, Angela has a background in public service as a program manager and director of a District Attorney Crime Victims’ Unit. “I’ve spent my whole life dealing with domestic violence, child abuse, assaults, elder abuse, and homicide cases,” she explains quietly, “...my past positions included grant writing and creating empowerment programs for women and children, establishing Camp Hope in Northern California for children exposed to abuse and fundraising to aid families in need.”
 

She now uses her experience and human skills to help children start their careers and turn around difficult childhood situations. “I’ve taken these transferrable skills and we now empower Westside families by recruiting teens ages 15+ from our local shelter for paid restaurant intern positions,” she says with obvious joy. “We start teens off learning sanitation and move through each area of the restaurant to include preparation cooking, pastry creation, and back of the house duties, with the goal of promoting them to front-of-house learning: food running, bussing, set-up, serving, cash register utilization and end of the night report running.”
And that’s not all either, the business helps them move on if the restaurant industry is not for them.
“Once they have completed this training, we assist with resume building and placement in long-term positions of their choosing. We have had 3 successful graduates in the few months that we have been open and are currently training one young man, who wants to become a stockbroker!”
When they get the chance to take a break, the Ruiz family endeavor to do spontaneous and adventurous activities. If it involves the lovely outdoors, travel, cultural delights, or delicious food - the Ruiz ‘ohana is interested. “Our hobbies include a love for traveling and visiting family on the mainland, as often as possible. We go to museums, nature reserves, see Broadway shows and enjoy swimming with manta rays at night, diving or finding zip lines in the areas we visit,” Angela says. “Being in the restaurant business, we often search for local establishments offering different types of regional cuisines, seeking new recipes and ideas to bring back home to Maui.”
Angela is happy to share a few final words about their restaurant, their mission, purpose, and style of food. It’s her passion. “Our mission is to serve our community by offering health-conscious, homemade gourmet Mexican comfort food,” she explains warmly, “inspired by tradition and created with local flavor: it’s authentic and unique.” The restaurant stands out from the crowd in her eyes (and ours, too). “We believe that our authentic recipes, lovingly brought from thousands of miles away and infused with locally sourced products create a niche unlike any other,” she adds. If the local patrons have anything to add to this opinion, it’s that the talented kitchen crew is constantly improving and creating new ideas and flavors - and they’re loving it.
“We are family-run and family-operated, and we’re dedicated to serving others! ‘Non Nobis Solum Nati Sumus’ (‘Not for alone ourselves we are born’), is our motto.”

From the crew of Hungry Coyote, we look forward to meeting and serving you soon! Mahalo.”