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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Former local boy and girl snag national TV time
A MOLOKAI-BORN Hawaiian who used to be one MTL bus drivah and his Kaneohe-born wife could soon be hearing, "Eh, you some
body, yeah?"
Bobby and Diane Nakihei will appear on national television with Guy Fieri, the tattooed, spiky-bleached-blonde-haired, new Food Network star in about 30 to 45 days.
The crew of Fieri's "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" will be shooting at Bobby's Hawaiian Style Restaurant in Everett, Wash., tomorrow and Friday for a yet-to-be-determined air date.
Bobby's opened in 2000, because of Bible studies he hosted.
Along with studying there was also Bobby's cooking. "You know Hawaiians," he laughed. "There was one guy who loved my food. He wanted to start his own business," but a restaurant space he'd seen was too big for him, so he referred the Nakiheis to a real estate agent. They met with the Realtor "and it was pretty much a turnkey operation."
Bobby's menu is right and proper for a plate lunch place, including all-kine Hawaiian food, local-style barbecue chicken, loco moco and saimin wit' Spam.
"The teriyaki chicken, that's my big seller, plus the kal-bi -- and the haoles up here tell me my mochiko chicken is better than KFC," he chuckled.
He has no trouble sourcing Hawaiian ingredients. "I have someone that ships up the poi every week," and the taro-raising Wong family of Kaneohe turned him on to a distributor for taro leaves, he said.
In the Seattle area, "there are seven different Hawaiian restaurants now," he said, including four L&L Hawaiian Barbecue locations.
The producer told him Bobby's was selected for the show by viewers who voted via the "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" page on the Food Network Web site.
If that's not a humaaangous hint for loyal fans of Hawaii's best eateries, we can't imagine what would be.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com