Beloved plate lunches disappear as Diners closes Waimalu location

The last vestige of a 51-year-old Oahu restaurant chain closed on New Year’s Eve, taking along with it generations’ worth of local favorites, including teri pork plates, deluxe saimin, Wingdings and Wingzings (mild and spicy chicken wings, respectively).

The Diners Drive-In location in Waimalu was the last of several plate luncheries established by Kiyo­shi Sugai, his wife, Betsy, and his brother Masaru in 1965.

The company eventually passed to a series of new owners, including Anna Nakamura, who bought it from her brother Danny Hwang 12 years ago.

“My brother had it for 13 years, I had it for 12, so for 25 years we ran the business,” Nakamura said. She expanded to Waipahu, but that store was open for only 18 months.

Nakamura wanted to keep the Waimalu operation running, but she couldn’t secure a renewed lease. She said she wanted to sell the restaurant’s equipment to the next tenant, but the leasing agent told her he didn’t know who would be taking the space.

The leasing company did not respond to requests for comment.

Nakamura informed her customers of the closure plans via a Dec. 28 post on Facebook.

In its heyday, Diners’ Keeaumoku Street location, on the block where Wal-Mart now stands, was bustling, run by Kiyoshi Sugai, said Cecilia Sen, who worked part time at the restaurant from 1979 through 1981, while in high school.

“Mr. Sugai, he was young. He was strict, but he was fair,” Sen said. Sugai and his brother would alternate monitoring the crew’s work from behind one-way glass, she said.

“I had one customer one year; he was so — I guess you would call him rude and demanding. I was trying to get his order correct,” she said. “The full-timers would pass him to me.”

When the customer continued to give Sen a hard time, “I jumped (over the counter) and grabbed that guy and said, ‘Make up your mind.’”

Sugai pulled her into his office. “I thought he was going to yell at me,” but he told her to “just sit there and be quiet,” she said. “And then he told me I have to go out there and look like I got yelled at.”

Knowing she was planning to undertake culinary studies after high school graduation, “he let me work in the back, cook the food on the fast line, making chicken katsu, teriyaki chicken …” Sen said. She went on to work in kitchens including at the Sheraton Waikiki.

Under the Sugais, the business grew to multiple locations, both through company expansion and franchising.

Among Diners’ operators was late Hawaii entertainer Iva Kinimaka, who took over the Kalihi location after retiring from his music career.

“Diners was my very first experience with local food; for the first time ever I had a teriyaki sandwich, and I was hooked,” said Janet Scheffer, founder and president of Mana Means Communications.

Scheffer recalled eating at Diners regularly for 10 years. “It was always really great.”

Retired Hawaii radio executive Jeff Coelho recalled hosting a couple of live broadcasts from Diners’ North King Street location, possibly in the late 1960s. “Diners was one of my first sponsors when I was on KORL radio,” he said.

He loved the spare-rib plate lunch, with two scoops rice and extra mac salad. Diners had “the tastiest spare ribs,” he remembered.

The North King Street location now sports the name New Diners with signage touting catering and takeout by Sorabol, a Korean restaurant. Diners owner Nakamura says New Diners is not connected to her now-closed business.

Much of the kitchen equipment and cookware is up for bid through 6 p.m. Thursday in an online auction run by Oahu Auctions, oahuauctions.com.

Items may be inspected at the Diners’ location through Thursday. Nakamura must vacate the Waimalu space by Jan. 20.

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Diners traditions

These recipes from Diners’ Kalihi location were provided to Honolulu Star-Bulletin “By Request” columnist Betty Shimabukuro by operator Iva Kinimaka in 1999.

Pork Teriyaki

• 3-4 pounds boneless pork butt, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• >> Marinade:
• 1-1/2 cups water
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup sugar
• 2-1/2 teaspoons sherry
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 thick, 1-inch piece ginger, crushed

Combine marinade ingredients and pour over pork. Marinate in the refrigerator at least 24 hours. Grill in skillet or on a flat grill. Makes 8 servings, 5-1/2 to 6 ounces each.

Approximate nutritional analysis per serving, based on 3 pounds pork: 500 calories, 27 g fat, 9 g saturated fat, 110 mg cholesterol, more than 1,500 mg sodium

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Diners Macaroni Salad

• 1 pound macaroni, cooked
• 2-1/2 to 3 cups mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup watercress, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1/4 cup very finely grated onion
• 1/4 cup finely diced celery
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Combine all ingredients, mix well and refrigerate at least one hour to allow flavors to mix and mellow. Serves 10.

Approximate nutritional analysis per serving, based on 2-1/2 cups mayonnaise: 560 calories, 45 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 370 mg sodium