TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Airport area gets
export from KakaakoOpen for business only since Monday there's already a line outside Kakaako Kitchen Express in the Airport Industrial Park on Koapaka Street.
The new venture by operating manager and renowned local chef Russell Siu is the result of eight months of negotiation encompassing a forward-moving plan, Sept. 11, a change of heart and the offer of a better deal.
"Basically one of my partners has an office in the complex," and he let Siu know the space was available.
Siu's mind changed after Sept. 11. "I didn't want to do it," he said. "But (Airport Industrial Park management) came back with a better proposal."
The restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch service Monday through Friday only because there would be few clientele to serve in the area on the weekends, he said, comparing the area to downtown Honolulu. Breakfast fare is available from 6:45 to 9 a.m., limited lunch items such as salads and sandwiches are ready by 7, Siu said. "And the full lunch menu is available starting at 8 a.m."
Although in close proximity to its main competitors, including casual eateries Byron's Drive Inn and L & L Drive-Inn, word of mouth has spread and brought crowds from the industrial park and beyond. The clientele is primarily "pick up and go," he said as there is limited seating; but he plans to start delivery service in the near future.
"We're not visible at all," Siu said. "From the road you can see our window but you can't see the frontage. If we took down our sign you wouldn't know we were there at all."
Siu and his crew are getting acclimated to the new operation, which he described as "way more informal" than the flagship Kakaako Kitchen in Ward Centre.
"I call it a lunchwagon without the wheels," he said, "because everything's dished out," with few short-order grill items.
The quick-service restaurant is completely on the opposite end of the restaurant scale from the restaurant that put Siu on Hawaii's culinary map, 3660 On The Rise in Kaimuki.
Kakaako Kitchen Express is not only more casual, it's more on a comfort food level, he said, adding that the opening week's lunch specials have included pork hekka and chicken adobo.
Depending on the appetite, breakfast can range from 75 cents for one "any style" egg to $4.75 for a plate including scrambled eggs, rice and a choice of bacon, Portuguese sausage or pork sausage.
Lunch goes for $4.25 for Kakaako Kitchen Noodles to $5.95 for today's Valentine's Day special -- pot roast.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, 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