CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Owner Paul Masuoka lined the walls of Masu's Massive Plate Lunch with memorabilia from his 34 years in business. Draped in a dried maile lei is a photograph of his late mother, Yoshiko, and the 1998 proclamation marking her 87th birthday, signed by Gov. Ben Cayetano. Masuoka is closing Masu's for good today. CLICK FOR LARGE
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MASSIVE aloha
Paul "Massive" Masuoka is calling it quits today after 34 years
IF YOUR MEAL IDEAL is a massive plate from Masu's, you have a few hours to get over there and secure one last giant laulau. Or one last heavy scoop of teriyaki chicken. Or maybe one last 3-pound plate of teri chicken, laulau, kalua pork -- with a shoyu hot dog and fried Spam on the side. For $6.95.
Masu's Massive Plate Lunch normally closes at 7 p.m., but owner Paul Masuoka figures today he'll probably run out of food sooner, and when it's gone, he's done. For good.
Friends and customers have been in mourning since word came out last month that Finance Factors -- the new owners of the building at the corner of Liliha and Kuakini streets -- would be turning it into a bank branch.
Masuoka is taking the opportunity to call it quits after 34 years of showing up in the kitchen at 3 a.m. He's 63 and ready for semiretirement, but people have been downright funereal about the approaching loss.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COMOwner Paul Masuoka says he needs a break from the long hours of restaurant work. In fact, he says he'll never take a job in a kitchen again. CLICK FOR LARGE
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"I say, 'Hey, I'm not going to die.'"
He does plan to find part-time work, although not in anyone's kitchen. "Definitely I will not be doing cooking. After 34 years, I don't even cook my own dinner. I go to Costco and buy the chicken bakes -- anything that goes in the microwave."
Masuoka plans to spend his last day out front, thanking his customers for the long run. He'll pass out lucky numbers, with the prizes being memorabilia off the walls -- including a huge Best Plate Lunch trophy from 1990.
"When the time really comes, it's a funny feeling. The main chapter in your life is pau," he says. "I don't know how I'm supposed to feel -- be happy or sad. I'll really miss the people."
