The Curb’s Cookies and Toasts Are Worth A Drive to Kaimukī
Jonny Kimbro, a former chef at Senia and The Pig & The Lady, makes chewy chocolate chip cookies that are a must.
Editor’s note: Jonny Kimbro left The Curb and as of March 2025 is popping up on his own at Fishcake.
Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
More Than Chocolate Chips
Jonny Kimbro came to The Curb’s tiny kitchen after cooking at Senia, The Pig & The Lady and Kapa Hale. So his chewy chocolate chip cookies—flecked with crystallized Maldon salt and rippling with mostly dark Valrhona chunks—are memorable. So are the miso brown butter buckwheat cookies and a rotating selection that might include late-summer corn cookies or toothsome kinako amaretti.
Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
More Than Avocado
The Curb’s toasts are, well, a slice above. Take the kaya toast: Local pandan leaves flavor a barely sweet pandan-coconut custard that’s piped atop creamy Plugra European-style butter, finished with Maldon salt and served on Breadshop brioche. Coming menu additions include a house-made char siu sandwich and Kimbro’s yogurt and granola with charred and crack seed-style li hing fruit.
SEE ALSO: Sweet Treats: Cookies Infused with Love, Joy and Asian Flavors
Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
That Tinned Fish …
And Chocolate Tinned fish is having a moment, so it was a matter of time before this staple of trendy wine bars found its way to trendy Kaimukī. The Curb’s small selection sits next to four shelves of chocolate bars from Southeast Asia’s Fossa and Marou to Mirzam in Dubai—the beginnings of a retail section that will one day include the shop’s own confections.
Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
Mocktails-Plus
Monthly signature beverages in mocktail and alcoholic versions returned in June after a pandemic hiatus. Baristas take turns inventing caffeine-forward creations like corn-infused milk with condensed milk, espresso and cornflakes; or a clarified drink of Ethiopian coffee, coconut milk, mango and thyme syrups and citrus notes smoked with oak. “It’s all about building an experience that’s more than Starbucks,” says Ross Uehara-Tilton, who owns The Curb with husband Devin Uehara-Tilton.
Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
More Than Just Wine
Like the coffee bean selection, natural wines change frequently but focus on “smaller, unique producers,” Ross Uehara-Tilton says. Recent bottles have ranged from California’s Purity, with only eight vintages, to Greg Brewer’s Diatom, as well as French, Spanish and Italian wines. For a corkage fee, baristas will break out glasses so you can drink your bottle on the spot.
3408 Wai‘alae Ave., Suite 103, thecurbkaimuki.com, @thecurbkaimuki
