The Prime Rib Club Is My New Favorite (Supper) Club

As someone in his mid-thirties, there hasn’t been a club I’ve been more excited about than a new pop-up coming to The Lei Stand in Chinatown. The Prime Rib Club isn’t your standard bar-type club, nor is it membership-based. What started as a fun way to entertain by four friends who met while working at Vintage Cave Club is now their dream prime rib service: a three-course prix fixe dinner for $128, including tax, tip and ticketing fees.

The four—David Lukela, Sang Mun, Neale Asato and Sean Walsh—all have deep backgrounds in the local food and beverage industry, which may have something to do with why tickets for their first pop-up dinner in August sold out within minutes (two more are scheduled for September). While the price may change depending on the venue, the pop-ups at The Lei Stand will have a limited beverage menu of a couple of wines, cocktails and beers that range from $11 to $20. To match the Mad Men vibes, I order their take on a Manhattan ($20).

Waipoli greens salad. Photo: Thomas Obungen

Our hosted media preview starts with Lukela wheeling out a service cart. On it is a steel bowl of baby Waipoli greens, which he tosses with an alluring house-made shallot and papaya seed dressing. No matter how rudimentary, tableside preparations are rare, and with Lukela explaining the components of each course, the service and face time give the Prime Rib Club a personal feel.

Carving cart. Photo: Thomas Obungen

You’ll want to get your cameras ready when Lukela and Mun wheel out the main event. The roast, coated with herbs and salt and cured for three days to let the flavors soak in, is cooked low and slow at 250 degrees for three hours before it’s broiled at 500 degrees to form the crust. Inside the gorgeous crusty bark, the roast is cooked to a juicy pink.

The full plate. Photo: Thomas Obungen

Next to the prime rib are a buttery potato purée, classic creamed spinach and hurricane corn, a local spin on creamed corn with furikake and bubu arare. You can add au jus and creamy horseradish (and you really should), and you get a house-made shokupan bun to soak up every drop.

Photo: Thomas Obungen

While all this adds up to more than a pound of food, it’s more than the sum of its parts. This is the type of meal you treat yourself to as a reward for living another year or earning that promotion.

Frozen custard sundae. Photo: Thomas Obungen

As rewarding is Asato’s frozen custard sundae. Inspired by an Old Fashioned, his Asato Family frozen custard gets a quenelle of orange-scented whipped cream, “Old Fashioned” 10-year Knob Creek whiskey caramel, crunchy toffee bits and a maraschino cherry. If the meal wasn’t decadent enough, this finale puts you over the edge.

SEE ALSO: Affordable Splurge: Basalt’s $50 3-Course Prix Fixe

Lukela has led the kitchens of the Beachhouse at the Moana and ‘Alohilani Resort and taught culinary classes at Kapi‘olani Community College; now, he helps manage HB Baking, his wife Heather’s dessert shop. Mun was a certified sommelier at Basalt at Duke’s Lane and serves wine on call at The Pacific Club. Walsh worked under chefs including Alan Wong before becoming executive sous chef at Top of Waikīkī. He helped open Mister Jiu’s in San Francisco and works part-time at Hamada General Store.

The four plan to expand the offerings at future dinners with supplemental items to add to your plate or different choices of sides, and possibly a dessert cart in collaboration with Heather Lukela.

The next time my parents are in town, I’ll take them to the Prime Rib Club. It will require some vigilance: According to its social media, both seatings for the Aug. 18 pop-up sold out in two minutes. The team announces when tickets will go on sale on their website, so follow them on social media or sign up for email announcements for the best chance at getting seats. Either way, you’ll have to be quick.

Next dates Aug. 18 (sold out), Sept. 1 and Sept. 15. 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. 1115 Bethel St., theprimeribclub.com, @theprimeribclub