Summer’s here and with case counts trending in our favor (knock wood), eaters in a mood to celebrate are returning to restaurants in force. In ordinary times that would be good news right there, but at eateries dealing with unprecedented worker shortages and government-mandated capacity restrictions, that can mean long lines and wait times.
There are simple ways eaters can ease the experience not just for themselves, but for other diners and maxed-out restaurants. We polled owners and managers around Honolulu for their best win-win advice.
Call orders in early
Lots of my customers call their order in around 9 or 10 a.m. for pickup at 11 or after. If it’s really busy and you walk in, there could be 10 to 15 tickets ahead of you and I will honestly tell my walk-ins it’s probably a 45-minute to one-hour wait. The smaller the establishment, the smaller the crew. For us it’s just three pairs of hands going as fast as we can.
Hawaiian Ingredients and Big-City Flair Make Kapa Hale One of Hawai i s Most Exciting New Restaurants
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Mothers of Reinvention
From the moment Honolulu shut down in early March 2020, restaurants and bars have valiantly swiveled to counteract the pandemic’s effects. We have had a dazzling choice of takeout (with spots such as Senia turning it into a high art), chef kits (Pai Honolulu had a creative series), and premium produce (MW Restaurant sold farmer friends’ goods). But some are reinventing the integral idea of what a restaurant is. Alejandro “Aker” Briceño, the former Nobu Honolulu pastry chef who was part of the pioneering eateries V Lounge (where he introduced the city to Neapolitan pies and Caputo flour) and Prima, returned to Honolulu in 2019 after five years with Nobu Malibu expressly to open a V Lounge 2.0 with then-partner Chris Kajioka. They were negotiating a lease when the pandemic hit. “It changed everything. Financially it didn’t make sense,” Briceño says.
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Mitzi Toro, better known as The Maui Cookie Lady, started out small in 2013, baking cookies out of her home and selling them at once-a-month farmers markets. Over time, the reputation of her brand grew, helped by shout-outs from celebrities like The Rock and Ludacris, appearances on QVC and by national media attention.
She was ready to open her first storefront two years ago, but in Maui’s then-booming economy, she simply could not find a suitable commercial real estate space. Through 2020, two things happened as Maui bore the brunt of Hawaii closing itself off to visitors. Her online sales grew as people who couldn’t travel to Maui sought out Maui treats as a substitute. And, as businesses began to close, spaces opened up. The Maui Cookie Lady shop, opened in Makawao last month.
We Pick Our Top 5 Lobster Rolls on O‘ahu
It was a difficult job, but we had to do it.
January 18, 2021
The lobster roll at Jolene’s Market made our list of top five places on O‘ahu. Photo: Kelli Shiroma Braiotta
What makes a good lobster roll? If you’re an East Coast diehard, you’d look for cold Maine lobster meat mixed with mayonnaise, celery or scallions and tarragon piled onto a New England bun. You’ll find some of this in Hawai‘i, but local variations can get pretty significant.
I ranked O‘ahu’s lobster rolls based on amount of lobster, the bun, bread-to-filling ratio and overall taste. Besides the restaurants below, I tried lobster rolls from The Espresso Bar at Neiman Marcus Hawai‘i, Merriman’s Honolulu, Fat Cheeks Hawai‘i and Chocolate + Vanilla Bakery’s Savory Saturdays.
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