By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor
Naturally, when there's a poi shortage, poi will become the one food you crave.
Wondering how O'ahu's Hawaiian restaurants were doing, with the Islands' one-time staple food in limited supply, I spent a series of lunch hours recently savoring the mea 'ai 'ono (good things to eat) around town. Kala mai — sorry — if I didn't hit your favorite. I had to quit before I grew out of my roomiest holoku!
I found that poi may be scarce in the grocery store but you can still enjoy it — in generous portions, even — in Hawaiian restaurants. I found that pipikaula can mean anything from cold beef jerky to warm smoked spareribs. And I found that everybody has their little quirks and specialties.
(I also found, to my sorrow, that Leong's Café in Kalihi is closing this month because of spiraling rent costs and a lack of parking that was depressing business. I'll miss the pipikaula, the squid lu'au and the akubone.)
Today, we'll be visiting the two main schools of Hawaiian restaurants:
The rather grungy storefront with faded celebrity pictures and other artwork on the walls, Melmac dishes, gossipy servers and too few seats. Among these are Ono Hawaiian Foods, Helena's Hawaiian Food and People's Cafe.
The Hawaiian takeout spot masquerading as a fish shop. In this category are Young's Fish Market and Yama's Fish Market.
The restaurants are universally low-budget, many take cash or checks only, all are small and tend to be slammed at peak hours, and none takes reservations. Some have odd or early hours; call ahead. Expect to wait and be pleasant about it.
Central to these menus are combination plates (usually laulau or kalua pig, lomi salmon, choice or poi or rice and something extra — pipikaula, sweet potato, haupia or some other specialty of the house), ranging from a little over $6 to a much as $11. More authentic places offer numerous small sides of the stuff only people in the know order: lu'au (taro leaf and a group of stews made with taro leaf), na'au (intestine stew), limu (seaweed), dried 'opae (shrimp), 'opihi (raw limpets) and raw crab.
Here's a look, in alphabetical order:
Helena's Hawaiian Food — This family-owned shop in Kalihi earned a James Beard Award as a regional treasure. Octogenarian Helen Chock is at the cash register rather than the stove now, but grandson Craig Katsuyoshi continues the tradition of smoking pipikaula-style spareribs above the cooktop. Even at midafternoon on a weekday and despite the fact that it's bigger than many such restaurants, with about 12 tables, this place is buzzing, the constantly ringing phone unanswered and a huddle of people at the door jealously waiting to pounce. Hard-to-find 'opihi ($2.75) is on the menu. Chock's trademark short ribs arrive hot from the frying pan, cut into bite-size pieces, molasses colored and glistening with fat; chewy but delicious ($3.50). Fried butterfish collar with stew gravy ($3.80) and kalua pork and cabbage ($2.75) are the kinds of dishes that put you right back in Grandma's (or Tutu's or Popo's) kitchen. The food here is just plain good.
1240 N. School St., Kalihi. 845-8044. Parking: Difficult, minimal spaces out front; try in the neighborhood.
Ono Hawaiian Food — Cramped and always busy, Ono is in all the guides and gets lots of tourist business but manages to maintain a strong local following, too. You know it's really Hawaiian because the combo plates come with a small cup of raw onion and 'alaea salt. The bamboocha (really big) laulau here are worth the inevitable time you spend waiting on the bench outside. These laulau (ti leaf-wrapped steamed bundles) are not only full of meat but also properly outfitted with that all-important little chunk of fat and more lu'au leaf than you usually get. The chicken long rice and tripe stew are saltily addictive. When the poi is two-day, they tell you (I prefer it that way). They served the best lomi salmon of the lot — chunky and crisp, not watery.
726 Kapahulu Ave., Honolulu. 737-2775. Parking: Difficult; nothing to do but circle and pray.
People's Cafe — Marked by a bright red neon sign that flashes in the corner of your eye as you roll by on Pali Highway, this pleasant spot is relatively roomy, with a dozen or so yellow booths and spotlessly clean tables. The welcoming staffers wear bright green T-shirts advertising "Lava Rock — 2 scoop rice, laulau covered with stew gravy and small lomi salmon" — but this combo isn't on the menu. Several Hawaiian plate combos are, from $6.95 for minis to $11.25 for a full spread. Salted meats are a specialty, including saltmeat with watercress ($6); salt butterfish ($6.80); and fried salted butterfish ($6.55). The saltmeat with watercress is a sort of salt-water soup, with a large piece of fork-tender beef and emerald watercress floating in clear broth. The laulau and kalua were both delicious and the poi serving generous, but the teri beef, another specialty, lacked flavor. An odd side on some combos is kim chee.
1300 Pali Highway (just makai of Pali Longs parking lot). 536-5789. Parking: A few spots behind or on-street.
Yama's Fish Market — This is one of those quintessentially local places that, if you don't know about, nobody's going to tell you. Although they do sell fish, Yama's ("Where It's Always Aloha Friday") is really about combination plates (hovering around $8) and party foods (boiled peanuts, poke, sashimi, etc.). There are about a dozen Hawaiian plate combos, plus dishes like mochiko chicken and daily specials. You can get pork or chicken kalua or laulau; choose a green salad in place of mac salad; order rice or poi. Polite counter workers, a well-organized operation and cleanliness add to Yama's appeal but my kalua/ laulau/rice/lomi combo plate ($8.40) wasn't particularly remarkable (watery lomi, smallish laulau, OK kalua). Squid lu'au ($2.35 for a 6-ounce serving) lacked the sweet-creamy-salty-chewy balance of the great ones. Mostly takeout; three small tables out front.
2332 Young St., Mo'ili'ili. 941-9994. Parking: Easy; an actual lot!
Young's Fish Market: This clean, well-lighted place in an obscure shopping mall between Dillingham and Nimitz has a handful of booths and a couple of larger tables. These are served by a cafeteria-style counter operation offering combination Hawaiian plates (and mini-plates), daily specials and side orders. Okinawan sweet potato comes with the combo plates ($7.30-$11.10, depending on contents). Young's served the best kalua pork of the bunch; it really tasted like it had been in an imu — that nexus of smoke and moistness ($8.50 for kalua plate with lomi, pipikaula, sweet potato, poi or rice). The staff here is particularly welcoming. Young's also specializes in Hawaiian food by the pound for parties, takes phone orders and ships frozen laulau to the Mainland. The menu is expansive. And they take credit cards.
City Square Shopping Center, 1286 Kalani St. (off Dillingham), Kalihi. 841-4885. Parking: Easy, it's a mall.
My ideal meal? Pork laulau and lomi salmon from Ono's; chicken long rice and squid lu'au from Helena's; kalua pork from Young's; saltmeat with watercress from People's Cafe; and poke from Yama's. Then bring on the lomilomi master to help me digest it all!
