Few chefs are as devoted to local ingredients as James Beard Award-winner Robynne Maii and Emily Iguchi, but you’d hardly know it. And that’s Fête: understated while delivering the rare Honolulu experience of great food and drinks in a casually stylish setting. The menu is slim, consisting of favorites like a spaghetti carbonara with a local touch of Portuguese sausage and veal schnitzel sauced with liliko‘i. But listen carefully to the long list of daily specials, which have included whole fried shrimp on a tomato compote and grilled lemon, and ‘ōpakapaka in a nishime broth and yaki onigiri. Fête’s strength in simplicity and relentless attention to detail shows in its rocky road ice cream, house-made down to the chewy marshmallows. I always end a meal here with at least one scoop.

$$$ | 2 N. Hotel St., Chinatown, (808) 369-1390, fetehawaii.com, @fetehawaii

In an increasingly globalized world, it’s harder to find unique experiences, which is why Mud Hen Water is such a delight. Where else can you get buttered ‘ulu, tossed with fermented black bean, or preserved akule alongside limu butter and soda crackers, or porchetta stuffed with lū‘au? Chefs Ed Kenney and Dave Caldiero blend native Hawaiian, local culture and global influences in a way that feels surprisingly natural, like a culinary form of Pidgin, resulting in dishes like biscuits and mapo tofu gravy for brunch and a fully loaded baked banana, using one of our starchier varieties of banana and burying it under curry butter, bacon, chives and chopped egg. Cocktails, too, draw on locally grown ingredients, like Vishnu’s Vice, vibrantly orange with fresh juiced ‘ōlena and dosed with gin, honey, lime and pepper. And with its outdoor patio, brunch or dinner at Mud Hen Water is one of Honolulu’s great pleasures.

$$$ |  3452 Wai‘alae Ave., Kaimukī, (808) 737-6000, mudhenwater.com, @mudhenwater

While The Pig & The Lady began as a modern Vietnamese restaurant, making a name for itself with its pho French dip and Mama Le’s regional noodle soups, chef Andrew Le’s creativity could never be confined. So there are marinated beets with pickled blueberries, further sharpened with a chile crisp vinaigrette, and then tamed just slightly with a yuzu tofu cream and shaved caramelized white chocolate. No boring avocado toast here—instead, it’s fried bread topped with avocado, aged garlic in shoyu and lightly vinegared shime saba. Flavors here are bold and sharp—in that sense, Le could never escape those Vietnamese underpinnings. The clam and rau ram sausage linguine is spiked with the funk of shrimp paste and lemon. And even the ever-changing soft serve sundae recently featured a coconut sticky rice custard swirled with mango sorbet and drizzled with fish sauce caramel.

$$$ |  83 N. King St., Chinatown, (808) 585-8255, thepigandthelady.com, @pigandthelady

On a recent evening at MW, a woman sat solo at the bar with a cocktail and truffle fries. Not the usual kind of truffle fries doused in synthetic truffle oil or even truffle salt—no, these were fries blanketed with full slices of black truffles. This is MW: the restaurant that elevates our humblest comfort foods, whether it’s fried rice fortified with lobster, shrimp and scallops, or mochi grated for a crisp crust on tofu or kampachi. After all, chef Wade Ueoka originally came from Zippy’s. That thread carries through to dessert, where Michelle Karr-Ueoka’s taste for textures results in a seasonal fruit-infused shave ice layered with sorbet, panna cotta and tapioca. Yes, the new location is above a luxury car dealership, but the space is actually more elegant and intimate than its previous location.

$$$ | 888 Kapi‘olani Blvd., Suite 201, Kaka‘ako, (808) 955-6505, mwrestaurant.com, @mwrestaurant

Over Easy

__________________

↓

In a city crowded with excellent holes-in-the-wall, tiny Ethel’s Grill shines with deft touches on local comfort food. Grated daikon and ponzu balance a hamburger steak; the famous ‘ahi tataki is finessed with shoyu-marinated paper-thin slices of garlic. The short menu expands to almost twice the size with the daily specials, which have recently included fried chicken sprinkled with ume powder and paired with shiso sauce. I miss dining in the small space, a shrine to sumo efficiently run with just Minaka Urquidi in the front and her husband, Robert, in the kitchen, but no word on when dine-in service will reopen, if ever. But takeout is a good excuse for a picnic at Moanalua Gardens.

Editor’s Note: Ethel’s Grill announced a temporary closure at the end of 2024 and will reopen somewhere new.

$ | 232 Kalihi St., (808) 847-6467, Kalihi, @ethelsgrill_kalihi

This is one of Honolulu’s most intimate—and the later it gets, boisterous—izakayas. And it is our only one offering Okinawan food, such as slippery and gooey peanut tofu; stir-fried bittermelon, Spam, tofu and egg; and house-made Okinawan soba noodles in a light pork and fish broth. At Naru, the taco rice, a result of the American military presence in Okinawa, comes in a hot stone bowl, and the taco ingredients (ground beef, cheese, lettuce, salsa) are mixed with a raw egg yolk and rice tableside. It is an exuberant melding of influences, reflective of Hawai‘i’s own cuisine. This is also the place to decide if you like awamori, distilled from rice, and at Naru, available infused with shiso, pineapple, coffee or Okinawan brown sugar.

$$ | 2700 S. King St., #D104, Mōʻiliʻili, (808) 951-0510, naru-honolulu.com

Choosing a favorite izakaya feels impossible in our city where izakaya excellence is the norm. But these lists must be made, and I choose Bozu, where cooked dishes include a tomato-y beef tongue stew topped with cheese, and a cold chawanmushi with uni. Specials have highlighted tiny firefly squid in a piquant miso; grilled pork jowls, the perfect balance of meaty, tender and fatty; and fried flounder with the bones fried crisp, a no-waste fish and chip staple of izakayas. But it’s all that combined with sashimi artistry that sends me to Bozu most often. Order the chef’s sashimi assortment that might include crunchy mirugai or lightly torched and fatty nodoguro. One night, sitting at the sushi counter, I watched chef Katsuhiro Hoshi assemble an envy-inducing parade of sashimi and sushi platters for a table with one of Hawai‘i’s most famous chefs.

$$$ |  McCully Shopping Center, #209, 1960 Kapi‘olani Blvd., (808) 955-7779, @bozu_japanese

In contrast with other Vietnamese restaurants around town, with menus sprawling to a hundred items, the choices here are streamlined: the size of your beef pho, the addition of tripe, tendon, flank or brisket, and whether you prefer the slices of rare beef in your soup or on the side. Pho to Chau feels spare and old-fashioned, with its fluorescent lights and windows fringed with red curtains, but the plates accompanying pho generously heaped with fresh herbs including sawtooth coriander, plus dishes of sliced jalapeños, lemon wedges, and chile sauce evoke a verdant abundance. Add on the spring rolls, which are made with rice paper that bubbles and crisps after a dip in the fryer. Not much appears to have changed at Pho to Chau since it opened more than 30 years ago—a visit here is like stepping into a different time and country, but the clarity of its broth restores you to the here and now.

$ |  1007 River St., Chinatown, (808) 533-4549

The sliding shoji doors at I-naba reveal a spare space, reflecting dishes with no extraneous frills and flourishes, but a simple and perfect execution of soba noodles, whether topped with uni and ikura, or served alongside chirashi. The tempura is also top-notch, crisp and light—don’t overlook the à la carte tempura menu, which includes lotus root with minced shrimp, maitake mushroom, and chicken bundled with shiso and ume. You’ll also find the less common battera sushi, pressed sushi tiled with vinegared mackerel and a translucent sheet of kombu. Really, there are no missteps at I-naba.

$$ | 1610 S. King St., McCully, (808) 953-2070, inabahonolulu.com, @inaba_honolulu

We have a number of excellent Hawaiian food spots, and certainly ones that are more accessible in hours and parking, but only Helena’s has that famous pipi kaula, one of Honolulu’s most iconic dishes. You most likely know it by now—short-ribs with chewy parchmentlike bits around the bone, the predecessor to the ubiquitous beef chips you see everywhere now. The pipi kaula is the star, though the supporting cast of beef and watercress soup, imu-cooked kālua pig, and poke with ‘opihi, when available, pull their weight.

$$ | 1240 N. School St., Kalihi, (808) 845-8044, helenashawaiianfood.com

Thank goodness Macy Khounkeo convinced her mother, Olay Somsanith, to cook the food of her native country, Laos, in addition to the safer Thai dishes she was selling at markets around town. The sai oua, or Laotian sausage, contains unabashed chunks of pig skin, spiked with lemongrass and lime leaves, while the nam khao, or crispy rice salad, tangles with fermented sausage. While the Lao dishes are the draw, don’t miss some of the Thai dishes, such as the whole fried fish with chile-lime sauce, best enjoyed in one of Honolulu’s most alluring outdoor dining spaces, fringed with ferns and palms and twinkling lights and anchored by a koi pond. Finish with the lod xong, made by an aunty of the family—pandan squiggles bathed in coconut cream and palm sugar syrup, altogether tasting like salted caramel pudding.

$$ | 66 N. Hotel St., Chinatown, (808) 536-5300, olaysthaihawaii.com, @olays_thai_lao_cuisine

Even with its move to a much larger space—and now with outdoor seating—lines form as soon as Koko Head Café opens. It’s easy to see why. By 8 a.m. on a recent weekday, it was sold out of its ‘ulu cinnamon rolls, soft and slathered with cream cheese icing. Chef Lee Anne Wong’s dishes veer maximalist, as with the lūʻau and eggs, topped with tempura onions and pressed in a cast-iron skillet that crisps the garlic rice. Simpler dishes such as the breakfast congee still have fun flourishes of cinnamon-bacon croutons, and the simplest and rarest of all is a fruit plate that showcases our diversity of local fruit rather than defaulting to the usual imported berries. It’s not an easy task, but like the notoriously difficult Koko Crater hike, the payoff of Koko Head Café’s efforts is a unique Hawai‘i point of view.

$$ |  1120 12th Ave., #100, Kaimukī, kokoheadcafe.com, @kokoheadcafe

Olive Tree tells its customers that this isn’t fast food—you’ll have to wait a bit for food made from scratch—and yet, it is arguably the most consistent restaurant in Honolulu that isn’t fast food. Savas Mojarrad came up with the first menu in 1995, and it remains the same under Steven Iida’s watchful care. There’s fish souvlaki made with fish still brought by anglers directly to the restaurant, lamb shawarma, fresh greens with the best Greek salad dressing, and baklava scented with orange blossom water. Even the daily specials rotate on the same schedule: spanakopita on Sundays and Mondays, braised lamb shank on Wednesdays.

$ |  4614 Kīlauea Ave., Kāhala, (808) 737-0303, @olivetreecafehi

Sun Noodle’s dominance (and excellence) in the noodle-verse makes it hard to stray from its strands. But Shige’s still doggedly makes its own saimin noodles with a 1950s machine from Japan the size of an office printer, producing noodles that slip and slide in saimin broth more easily than Sun’s. Make sure to order a cheeseburger, too, one of the old-school bests on the island.

$ | 70 Kukui St., Wahiawā, (808) 621-3621, @shigessaiminstand

Go ahead, call it sexy, even though SXY is an acronym for a more poetic sentiment, shǔ xiāng yuán, roughly translating to “Sichuan hometown connection.” Because the food does indeed feel sexy, warmed with cumin and hot with chiles. For the dry pot, what could have been a mundane stir-fry of beef (or other meat of your choice), turns delightful with crisp slices of lotus root, supple and crunchy wood-ear fungus, deep-fried potato chips and whole green Sichuan peppercorns, citrusy and numbing. Whole-roasted fish is dramatically presented in a silver tray, bathed in a red chile sauce that hides wide, slippery glass noodles, tofu and veggies in its depths.

$$ |  Ala Moana Center, 1450 Ala Moana Blvd., (808) 942-8885, sxyszechuan.com, @sxyszechuan

There are almost as many opinions on Korean restaurants in Honolulu as there are of kim chee recipes. Some are go-tos for Korean barbecue, others for stews, some for a certain vibe. But Korea House is my favorite, with a solid menu of meats, including my go-to kalbi, for grilling; roiling and overstuffed budachige (inexplicably only available for lunch, though); faultless naengmyeon to cool off with; and always a good assortment of banchan.

$$ | 2494 S. Beretania St., Mōʻiliʻili, (808) 944-1122

Lately, a new sushi omakase seems to pop up every month in Honolulu, but returning to Sushi ii, one of the first places to offer nigiri beyond the usual tuna-salmon-hamachi trifecta in a nonintimidating atmosphere, feels like coming home. The low-key manner of owner Garrett Wong and the other sushi chefs belies their precise knife work—witness the cuts in the squid, ruffling the surface like lace. The sushi’s delicacy is offset by a playfulness in dishes from the kitchen, such as soft eggplant spread over roasted bone marrow, the eggplant echoing the bone marrow’s jiggly velvet, and ikura pan, the fish eggs spooned over crème fraîche spread thickly on King’s Hawaiian Bread, zinged with lime zest.

$$$ |  655 Ke‘eaumoku St., #109, Ke‘eaumoku, (808) 942-5350

Daniel Leung, once the owner of Panda Cuisine, helms Asian Mix, which explains the quality of food from this strip mall takeout Chinese counter. First, there’s a roast meat counter, where you’ll find juicy roast duck and meaty honey barbecue ribs, as well as a made-to-order menu including Hong Kong style noodle soups, curry-tinged Singapore noodles, and lamb stir-fried with leeks. Where you’d expect just steam table fare, there’s instead skill and a touch of nostalgia at Leung’s erstwhile Chinese restaurant.

$ | 1234 S. Beretania St., Makiki, (808) 521-1688, hiasianmix.com

“Nice to meat you” is the tagline at Toru Ibushi’s cheery izakaya, where flames ignited by fat dripping from chicken, pork belly and beef grilling over charcoal bathe the meats in an essence of smokiness. Small plates abound—this is an izakaya, after all, and a popular one despite a lack of easy parking. As if for nutritional balance, vegetable dishes get real play, a rarity in Honolulu. Shio koji-marinated grilled chicken thighs, snappy sausages, chilled okra in ume sauce, a bowl of oxtail zosui, or fluffy Yukon gold rounds slathered with mentaiko, cheese and butter: Ibushi’s food is unabashed homey comfort. —MT

$$, 740 Kapahulu Ave., Kapahulu, (808) 738-1038, @aburiya_ibushi

Cino is a chophouse dressed to the nines, its blingy art deco motifs and zigzag tile floors dolled up with flowery banquettes. The food holds similar surprises—like a cheesy baked potato with the crispy-cloud texture of toasted marshmallows and an ‘ahi crudo whose intricate tuille frame you’re instructed to smash in with the pristine fish. On no account should meat eaters pass up the 14-day aged pork chop. The kitchen is helmed by Kalihi-born Arnold Corpuz, whose first stint back home after years in San Francisco and Las Vegas made Cino the Hale ‘Aina Awards’ Best New Restaurant of 2024. —MT

$$$, 987 Queen St., Kaka‘ako, cinohawaii.com, @cinohawaii

A second-generation Argentinian trained in kitchens in Japan and Spain, chef-owner Masa Gushiken opened El Cielo with, in his words, food from his Latin heart. It’s mostly Spanish, with dishes like pintxos of guindilla peppers and anchovies, hearty paellas and juicy, twice-grilled Iberico pork filling most of the menu. But since that menu mirrors Gushiken’s life, you’ll also find his mother’s raisin-flecked Argentinian beef empanadas, creamy uni pasta (a Japanese favorite suggested by his wife) and perfectly grilled octopus with a dab of his mother’s chimichurri. As we said, it’s food from the heart. —MC

 $$$, 346 Lewers St., Waikīkī, (808) 772-4533, elcielo-hawaii.com, @elcielo_hawaii

Time stands still at Fukuya, where OG dishes from 1939, the year it opened, still line the counter. Shiraae, bread hash, chow fun, beef teriyaki, makizushi rolls with shoyu tuna and fresh watercress—all are as close to plantation-era flavors and textures as fourth-generation owner Arrison Iwahiro can make them. Newer items like nori-wrapped chicken and sushi rolls stuffed with vienna sausages are on the menu now, drawing college students and surfers into the line of retirees and office workers that snakes out the door. A golden rule for every okazuya: Go early for the best selection. —MT

$, 2710 S. King St., Mō‘ili‘ili, (808) 946-2073, fukuyadeli.com, @fukuyadeli

HK Café became an instant hit when it opened in 2023 as one of Chinatown’s few cha chaan teng, or Hong Kong-style diners. A cup of the Hong Kong milk tea, hot or cold, is enough to power you through a lunch of look fun rice rolls, wok-fried noodles and congee. For a different take on carbs, order one of the clay pot rice dishes and savor the crispy bits. For dessert, a breakfast item of French toast oozing with peanut butter or Ovaltine and condensed milk hits the spot; for dinner, get a bowl of piquant laksa brimming with seafood. —TO

$$, Multiple locations, @hkcafehawaii

Hawai‘i Dim Sum & Seafood

__________________

↓

The place may be bigger and busier now, thanks to its James Beard American Classic award and appearances on national food shows, but the heart of Helena’s Hawaiian Food hasn’t changed in nearly 80 years. Racks of marinated pipi kaula short ribs still hang over the stove, waiting to be pan-fried to order, and lau lau, squid lū‘au, chicken long rice and pretty much everything is as founder Helen Chock cooked it. Don’t make every first-time tourist’s mistake and order just two dishes—eat as locals do and let your spoon roam between bowls of kālua pig, steaming lau lau, lomi salmon, sweet onions dipped in Hawaiian salt, poi (or rice), and back all over again. —MT

$$, 1240 N. School St., Kalihi, (808) 845-8044, helenashawaiianfood.com, @helenashawaiianfoood

A relative newcomer to an eclectic dining neighborhood, Shokudo is a solid choice for approachable Japanese food that won’t break the bank. The lunch menu centers on rice bowls as well as hot and cold soba topped with everything from luxurious uni to duck to a simple heap of fresh Sumida Farm watercress and green onions. Close your eyes, and you’ll feel like you’re in a noodle shop in Tokyo. The nighttime menu is izakaya fare, a mix of popular Japanese dishes (hello, wagyu curry), locally inspired fusion plates (like Okinawan sweet potato salad topped with ikura) and everything in between. Don’t forget the honey toast for dessert. —MC

$$, 1127 11th Ave., Kaimukī, (808) 367-0966, @kaimukishokudo

Keaka Lee’s food is often as beautiful as his commitment to local sourcing—like his Haku Lei Po‘o salad, which resembles the crownlike lei that adorns people’s heads; its ingredients come from a half-dozen farms across the Islands. The Kapa-ccio, another favorite, spells out Kapa Hale’s initials in translucent slices of fresh raw fish and nori. Entrées are hearty, like the rich, satisfying “Where’s the Beef” house-made tagliatelle and the roasted local chicken with cucumber yogurt and pickled grapes. The best parts? Lee doesn’t sacrifice flavor for creativity, and portions are generous, which makes for good value. —MC

$$$, 4614 Kīlauea Ave., Suite 102, Kāhala, (808) 888-2060, kapahale.com, @4614kapahale

Your first taste of Yosselyn De Abreu’s La Casita transports you out of its green strip mall in Waipahu to a new world of flavor. Start with her mother’s hand-formed Salvadoran pupusas stuffed with beans, cheese and loroco buds. Between bites, a side of pickled cabbage curtido lifts with acid and crunch. Also noteworthy are pastelitos, fried empanadas of seasoned ground beef whose flavor packs a punch. Carnitas plates with rice and refried beans are more familiar but also deliver on flavor and texture. This little pupuseria next to Skyline’s Pouhala station is worth seeking out. —TO

$, Tropicana Square, 94-866 Moloalo St., #34-D11A, Waipahu, (808) 676-6987, @lacasitahawaii

Lam’s brings a strong sense of authority to a core menu of thin, house-made rice noodles that shine—or rather, glisten—in stir-fried chow fun dishes and steaming noodle soups with chunks of beef and tendon. At lunch, seemingly all tables are ordering one or the other. In the morning, a bowl of congee soothes you into the day, especially with sides of youtiao doughnut sticks and look fun rolls. Despite being on the outskirts of Chinatown, Lam’s is a place where everyone and their grandma tucks in. —TO

$, 1152 Maunakea St., Chinatown, (808) 536-6222, lamskitchenhawaii.com

For many of us, banh mi sandwiches were just banh mi sandwiches until Le’s came along in 2022. That’s when Chi Lam and her husband, Min Tuan Le, turned the scene on its head. Le’s Banh Mi is an ode to their homeland, a third-floor shop where the couple bake airy Vietnamese baguettes and fill them end to end with house-crafted ingredients. The crispy pork, replete with chunky bits of fat and crispy skin, is a textural joy; the Saigon Special, with steamed pork and char siu and head cheese, has everything you want in a sandwich. Ask for Le’s hot sauce on the side. —TO

$, 808 Center, 808 Sheridan St., #306, Ala Moana, @les_banhmi

MW is an upscale restaurant with approachable food. Husband-and-wife owners Michelle Karr-Ueoka and Wade Ueoka’s recipes frequently draw on memories of foods they grew up with. Won tons of pork hash and foie gras, pressed cubes of jidori fried chicken in a garlicky soy, and miso-honey glazed butterfish are standouts at dinner, and every dessert, from elevated, seasonal shave ice to the chocolatey layers of the MW candy bar, is appropriate for a sweet ending. If Karr-Ueoka’s ice cream sandwiches make a rare appearance, make a special trip. —MC

$$$, 888 Kapiʻolani Blvd., Suite 102, Kaka‘ako, (808) 524-0499, artizenbymw.com, @artizenbymw

Miro delivers luxurious tasting menus at decent prices, with warm and attentive service. While prices vary with the season and what’s being featured, dinner generally includes fancy “snacks” and six courses for $100 to $125, with wine pairings about $60. If you’re visiting Hawai‘i, go early in your trip—people have been known to book second dinners before flying home. Supplements are worth the extra and less subject to change—the escargots are good for sharing, especially with fluffy, savory milk bread (get two). And Chris Kajioka’s ‘ahi, uni or caviar brioche—iterations of an intermezzo that’s followed him through successive restaurants—can induce bliss. —MC

$$$, 3446 Wai‘alae Ave., Kaimukī, (808) 379-0124, mirokaimuki.com, @mirokaimuki

If UH Mānoa were the brains of the valley, Morning Glass Coffee + Café would be the heart. A tight-knit crew brews perfect cups of coffee and serves up iconic baked goods and breakfast fare, all with a relaxed demeanor despite a constant line. Liliko‘i honey butter biscuits, mac and cheese pancakes, Egg-a-Muffin sandwiches—everything is worth getting out of bed for, especially on weekends when you can take your time on the shaded patio. Dinner with music and natural wines is on the horizon, a fitting progression to extend the good vibes. —TO

$, 2955 E. Mānoa Road, Mānoa, (808) 673-0065, @morningglasscoffee

For a good part of her life, Olay Somsanith cooked Thai food in other people’s restaurants. At age 63, at daughter Macy Khounkeo’s urging, she finally spotlighted the cooking of her native Laos. The Olay’s Thai-Lao menu is still mostly Thai, because we’ll always have a spot for green curry and stuffed chicken wings, but its locale amid Chinatown’s destination restaurants puts Somsanith’s Lao cooking front and center. Olay’s is where much of Honolulu got its first tastes of lemongrass-flecked pork sausages; crispy rice salads twined with herbs and raw chiles; and khao poon, Laos’ signature vermicelli curry soup. All are best eaten in the fairy-tale courtyard garden. —MT

$$, 66 N. Hotel St., Chinatown, (808) 536-5300, olaysthaihawaii.com, @olays_thai_lao_cuisine

Patê has the requisite variations of pho—what Vietnamese eatery doesn’t? Skip these in favor of a house specialty and an inconspicuous standout among the rice dishes. Bun bo hue spicy beef noodle soup accomplishes what many versions outside Vietnam don’t—a meaty broth as rich as it is spicy, with a near-overload of beef shank, beef tendon, pork hock, pork meatballs and pork loaf (unless you specify otherwise, jellified pork blood is in there, too). Patê’s grilled pork plates offer a similar next-level touch, with marinated pork riblets replacing typically thin grilled chops. Out of street view in Samsung Plaza, details make all the difference in this homey nook. —MT

$$, Samsung Plaza, 655 Ke‘eaumoku St., (808) 940-5432, patehi.com, @patehiofficial

Its spot on Chinatown’s thinly trafficked mauka side notwithstanding, Pho Que Huong packs in Vietnamese diners. Tables are loaded with family-style soups, hot pots, crispy noodles and other IYKYK staples. The menu, vast even among Vietnamese restaurants, has well over 100 options including garlicky tangles of sautéed ong choy, spareribs or catfish caramelized in clay pots, and clear, steaming soups of mustard cabbage and shrimp; with rice, these would be a workaday family dinner in Ho Chi Minh City. Goat hot pot, a rarity even in Vietnam, pairs tender chunks with kalo, fresh greens and fried tofu skins; it outshines home country versions. —MT

$, 1160 Maunakea St., Chinatown, (808) 528-3663, @phoquehuong.hi

Plate lunch through a Japanese lens was never really a thing until Pioneer Saloon showed up on Monsarrat Avenue in 2009. A cult classic from the beginning, Pioneer makes a name for itself with rather large plates of garlic ‘ahi, fried mochiko chicken and menchi katsu with shiso wakame rice and pesto macaroni salad. Fans crossed town for these plates, and before Pioneer opened a second spot in Kaka‘ako, anyone who wanted one had to jockey for parking on the slopes of Lē‘ahi. It’s still worth it. —TO

Multiple locations, pioneer-saloon.net, @pioneersaloonhawaii

Andrew Le’s ideas run wild across his menu, which is precisely the draw for Pig fans. This isn’t a Vietnamese restaurant, it’s Viet-inspired, which can mean anything from a braised brisket banh mi smeared with Thai basil chimichurri and dipped in pho broth, to Moloka‘i venison tartare with roasted pear and Laughing Cow cheese, a staple of Vietnam’s banh mi street carts. Le’s potato banh xeo of hot, creamy mash with carrot salsa and cheese in lettuce wraps was one of the best things we ate all year. Pray it stays—creativity comes with a price, and Pig diehards know their favorites may disappear with the next seasonal menu. —MT

$$$, 83 N. King St., Chinatown, (808) 585-8255, thepigandthelady.com, @pigandthelady

Pizza Mamo brings Honolulu closer to East Coast pie culture with its foldable pan pizzas—both Brooklyn-style and cheese-laden Detroit-style versions. The Detroit-style square is one of the best examples around, even outshining those of venerated Buddy’s Pizza, which created the style generations ago in the Motor City. The trick is keeping toppings like pepperoni, pesto, hot honey and pickled jalapeños simple enough to harmonize with the Wisconsin brick cheese and house-made marinara sauce, on a crust so airy it seems to defy gravity. —TO

$$, 16 N. Hotel St., Chinatown, (808) 369-2445, eatpizzamamo.com, @pizzamamo

A drive through Wahiawā is never complete without a stop at Shige’s. Whether you’re a diehard saimin and barbecue burger combo fan or you waver between the hamburger steak and the fried saimin with a side of teri beef sticks, Shige’s rarely disappoints. It’s the only saimin shop on O‘ahu that makes its own noodles, a signature thick and curly style that holds up in the clear dashi. Despite its small size and long lines, after 35 years, Shige’s is still reliably consistent. —TO

$, 70 Kukui St., Wahiawā, (808) 621-3621, @shigessaiminstand

Good Texas barbecue is difficult to come by outside of, well, Texas. So Honolulu is lucky that James Kim, who’s from Austin, decided to settle here and start a side hustle smoking meat. Now, it’s his full-time gig. After starting out with a food truck at Sunset Beach, Kim set up his smoke pit in industrial Kaka‘ako, where he turns USDA Prime brisket into jiggly lumps of black gold. His racks of pork spareribs are also masterpieces—and they take almost no effort to devour. —TO

$$, 443 Cooke St., Kaka‘ako, sunsettxbbq.com, @sunsettxbbq

Tucked away with little signage in a corner of Kilohana Square, Threadfin is Jason Kiyota’s fusion take on local, American and Asian food. Thai touches are frequent, since he studied cooking in Bangkok for a time. His three-course menus change frequently; standouts have included escargot-style abalone in cognac butter, washugyu rib-eye au poivre, and Thai crab curry pasta. The cozy eatery recently expanded into the space next door, so while the $68 menus are an amazing deal, Kiyota plans to add à la carte dishes sometime this year. —MC

$$$, Kilohana Square, 1014 Kapahulu Ave., Kapahulu, (808) 692-2562, threadfinbistro.com, @threadfinbistro

Wu Wei Chong Qing is what every Asian-facing city should have: a hole-in-the-wall whose noodle bowls deliver as much excitement as nostalgia. A rarity among Honolulu’s Cantonese-dominated Chinese restaurants, Wu Wei’s menu highlights the flavors of Lulu Sie’s hometown, until recently part of Sichuan province. On one visit, you might lose yourself in the fiery, tangy depths of Sie’s boiled fish and preserved mustard cabbage noodles; on another, in an aromatic jumble of barbecued, twice-cooked pork belly strips in a familiar black bean sauce. Wu Wei is worth repeat visits to discover more. —MT

$, 1738 S. King St., McCully, (808) 741-2297, @wuweicuisine

Yi Xin Café

__________________

↓