New Ono Hawaiian owners maintain tasty traditions

It’s sad when any long-standing kamaaina restaurant closes, but the loss of Ono Hawaiian Foods late last summer hit many especially hard because it had been a fixture in Kapahulu for 57 years.

It’s a particularly difficult loss when, in the birthplace of laulau, kalua pork and pipikaula, there are so few dedicated Hawaiian restaurants.

But a bright spot came in November when Square Barrels and Leahi Concept Kitchen both hosted pop-ups that featured the return of Ono’s 25-year head chef and co-owner, Vivian Lee. Here was a way to bring back favorite Ono’s dishes without the demand of maintaining a rigorous restaurant schedule.

I didn’t know it at the time, but another family was about to bring back Ono’s in their own way, in the same Kapahulu location.

Gone are the wall-to-wall photos of celebrities and regular diners who passed through the restaurant in the course of its long tenure, in favor of a spare, muted green paint job. After two months of renovations, sisters Leah Park Kim and Joanna Park, and Joanna’s husband, Nolan Uehara (former owner of Champions Sports Bar & Grill), reopened as Da Ono Hawaiian Food, with Auntie Vivian’s blessing.

Like so many people who had appreciated Ono’s food over the years, they had gone to the restaurant to enjoy several last suppers before it closed.

It so happens that the sisters hail from an entrepreneurial family that had run several businesses over the past 30 years. Their sister Pok Hui owned Marukin market in Liliha when it specialized in Hawaiian food, and Joanna had run restaurants, bars and retail stores.

So, while savoring the last bites at Ono’s, Uehara said he watched his wife “turn on her palate” to dissect and memorize the flavors.

“We were supposed to retire and travel, but she saw this and wanted to revive it.”

The new restaurant honors the past while looking ahead. If the food tastes familiar, it’s because the family was able to hire Ono’s cooks, who trained them to reproduce the familiar dishes. Lee herself can sometimes be found helping out in the kitchen on weekends.

I have to admit I was a little skeptical when I walked in one night and was told the Ono’s cooks were on vacation. Uh-oh.

It turns out the Park sisters are quick studies, and the dishes are 100 percent on point — some would say even better — from the beloved salt meat watercress ($19.90) to laulau ($6.90) made Auntie Vivian’s way, with no added fat and no butterfish. I miss those extras that everyone else seems to offer, but Uehara said, “This is the way we make it because this is how Ono’s made it. Vivian said no need the butterfish and fat. As long as you wrap it right and steam it right, it comes out good.”

Otherwise, the fat and fish can be viewed as crutches, moistening meat that is too dry, and boosting flavor with extra salt.

I felt a sense of sticker shock when I first opened the menu to see complete meals running $18.90 to $29.90. I guess I am now officially old, because I can remember when a Hawaiian plate was $10 or $12. It’s hard to imagine paying more for what we think of as casual plate-lunch or backyard fare.

The truth is that making Hawaiian food is a laborious process that also requires nonmainstream ingredients that can be hard to come by, including the basics of poi and luau leaves.

With the recent cold weather and heavy rain, the wetland taro leaves that the restaurant uses are even more scarce. Hopefully, enough will be found to continue producing chicken luau ($6.90) and squid luau ($7.90). The latter is one of the best I’ve had, made with less coconut milk to reduce the sweetness, letting the fresh flavor of the verdant luau come through. A dash of baking soda keeps it exceptionally green rather than muddy-looking.

On the lower-cost end, the complete meals offer single entrees such as kalua pig, laulau and pipikaula with side dishes of lomi salmon, haupia, rice, pipikaula or poi (75 cents extra).

Larger combinations of kalua pig and laulau, kalua pig and short-rib pipikaula, or short-rib pipikaula and laulau can feed two light eaters with all of the same sides, plus chicken long rice.

If you don’t need all the sides, it’s more affordable to dine a la carte. A single serving of kalua pork is $7.50; smoky, pastramilike pipikaula is $7.50; and a small order of short-rib pipikaula is $10.90.

The short-rib pipikaula is new to Da Ono, joining a few other additions that reflect some of the new owners’ favorites. These include fried mandoo ($10.90) and lechon kawali ($12.90) — a no-brainer because people love the crisp-skin pork belly, and Uehara said it required no extra ingredient sourcing. “We figured the pork is sitting on the same ingredients (tomatoes and onions) that go into our lomi salmon.”

I don’t get to eat Hawaiian food often, but every bite of the slick, slippery chicken long rice and squid luau was a joy that brought me straight back to my childhood, when this was the stuff of celebration, instead of buckets of convenience foods.

I’m glad someone was here to pick up the duty and continue the Ono saga.

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.