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.
Mō‘ili‘ili’s New Pizza and Hoagie Shop Opens on Beretania
The team behind V-Lounge and Prima return with ‘Ili‘ili Cash and Carry, a hipster bodega with killer pizzas.
February 5, 2021
My walking route runs along Beretania directly past ‘Ili‘ili Cash and Carry, making it way too easy to drop in regularly. That’s just what Aker Briceno and Keola Rapozo envisioned when they scoped out the former Watanabe Bakery space next to Mini Garden last year. They signed a lease and today the shop opens at 11 a.m. with 18-inch pizza pies, square slices and loaded hoagie sandwiches on house-baked bread.