Lunch can be the great pick-me-up on a workday, when you have a purpose. For about a month, my co-worker and I were on a mission to find and try out cafeterias in state, city, federal and private buildings Downtown. We would return, sometimes triumphant, and always sweaty from hoofing it several blocks.

The most interesting find was at the Board of Water Supply on Beretania. Once you get past security (bring a picture ID), head for the fourth floor for rooftop dining at BWS Cafeteria.

Top of Waikiki, this ain't. Up on the roof, you get a no-frills, no air-conditioning cafeteria with sliding screen doors that let in the cool breezes, if there are any.

Sit down on bus'-up orange or black chairs, some with serial numbers on the back, in case you thought about stealing them while going for the copper wiring.

Settle in for some local comfort food such as the $3 loco moco for breakfast or daily lunch specials that feature breaded mahimahi and grilled rib steak. There's white — and only white — rice, and a decent potato-and-spaghetti salad with bits of grated carrots and celery. As for the vegetable? Ah, yes, canned corn, just like Mom used to heat up when we were kids.

The hamburger patty has diced onions and toasted bread inside — kind of like Mom's cooking again. Back at the office, another co-worker said the beef stew tasted like her dad's. The food and the feel of the place both seem to say, "Eh, make yourself at home."

Not surprisingly, the beef stew and hamburger steak are popular specials. Also good to know: Wednesday is Hawaiian food day, so you don't have to wait until Aloha Friday to enjoy your lau lau and lomi salmon.

The Kaneshiro brothers have run BWS Cafeteria since 1982. The older one, Howard, retired earlier this year at age 69, but has come back to help because he got bored at home.

When I asked the other brother, Roy, if I could write about this place, he walked over to a pile of papers and pulled out a February 2005 article by Bob Krauss. Drat. The late "Our Honolulu" columnist had beaten me to the lunch.

The article featured Chuckie Nishimura, a regular who retired from his job at the Capitol, and who continued to drive to town to eat at BWS. Roy pointed to a guy sitting in front of us. There was Chuckie, making good work of the Thursday special: oxtail soup, rice and cucumber kim chee ($7).

Customers raved about the soup's flavor and price. But I had already gorged on the salty chili con carne with two pieces of baked chicken ($5.50), so I decided to return the next week. I'm glad I did. This is the dish to order, with meaty oxtail everywhere.

"We try to learn the secret of the oxtail soup," said Alika Irvine of Kane'ohe, who works at the Board of Water Supply. "We always watch when (Howard) is cooking. ... He takes things out of brown bags, and we go, 'What the hell is that?' "

I asked Howard what the heck that is, and he said, "The oxtail soup has onion, celery, won bok, peanuts, parsley, green onions, ginger; the rest I cannot tell you."

You'll just have to go there and guess.

Starting with parents Takahisa and Florence (now 94 years old), the Kaneshiro family has satisfied local appetites for years. When the Lurline sailed the ocean blue, the Kaneshiros fed the hungry crew at their Pier 8 Lunch Room, where Aloha Tower Marketplace is today. Their customers also included stevedores, lei sellers and entertainers.

Howard ran the restaurant after his dad retired. When he learned that the Board of Water Supply was looking for someone to take over its cafeteria, he moved in and eventually closed Pier 8.

Twenty-five years later, the BWS Cafeteria continues to draw an easy-going crowd. Soon, you're talking — and sitting! — with fellow diners as if you'd known them all your life.

That's how it felt when, on a return visit, I joined retired siblings James Kawasaki (with wife Sadie), Helen Murata and Alice Inouye as they were finishing up breakfast. Every week, they meet, eat and catch up with one another because their late father stressed the importance of family.

They showed me their laminated list of top eating spots — places with good food and where you can talk for two hours without feeling pressured to leave. BWS was on the list, along with Like Like Drive Inn, Flamingo and Violet's Grill.

When I asked about the cafeteria's ambience, they pointed out that the tables weren't matching. Helen added, "Don't expect decorations or flowers or things. It's just plain."

And that's appealing? "It reminds us of home, where we grew up," explained Alice. "Those things don't bother us so much. Maybe, the younger people, everything gotta be up-to-date. Maybe we're yearning for the good ol' days."

They've come to the right place.

Lisa Sekiya works in The Advertiser's marketing department and periodically reports on cheap eats.

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