The past couple of months has been a whirlwind of sticker shock as new entries into the dining scene tested the limits of how much people will pay for a meal. Maybe you know the feeling of having heart palpitations when opening a menu, then settling on the chicken. It takes the fun out of going to a restaurant.
The run of $150 to $200-for-two restaurants isn’t over, but I needed a break from the recent spate of fancy-schmancy destinations and four-hour-long dinners, so it was nice to retreat to Ige’s Restaurant & 19th Puka for local grinds and its come-as-you-are, laid-back setting. Come football season, it’s Ground Zero for watching UH games.
The Ige’s ohana has been serving Oahu for about 70 years, starting in the 1940s when owner Ron Ige’s mother, Kazuko, and her sisters Elsie, Sumie, Mary and Helen owned a small restaurant in Waipahu selling saimin, fish soup and barbecue sticks. That was followed by stints at lunch wagons and cafeterias from Aiea to Kalihi, until finally setting up a kitchen in the mid-’70s in the garage behind the family’s Aiea home, where the next generation learned all the secrets of feeding large crowds.
Being evicted in 1989 was bad news but led to formalizing the business, which now encompasses catering and cafeteria service at Mapunapuna, a catering and takeout spot at Harbor Court on Hekaha Street in Aiea, and the Waimalu restaurant, inspired by golf’s 19th puka, the watering hole where players could relax after a day on the greens.
Of course, it takes a certain kind of individual to warm to the restaurant’s charm, or perceived lack of it. Whereas new restaurants are as slick as a Prada suit, Ige’s is the bus’-up T-shirt with a few pukas, but that’s comfortable and preferable to some. It has the makeshift ambience of an at-home garage party, if you had a really big house and a couple hundred friends.
By day you can sail in and place your plate-lunch order with the cashier. In the evening there’s table service with options of sitting in the lounge or dining room. There’s little to separate the two areas, but the dining room is minimally quieter, away from the TV screens airing sports events, and the open-mic and band performances Wednesday through Saturday. There are a few booths in the dining room, but mostly it’s open seating with tables for four to 10, as they simply assume you’ll be bringing in a bunch of friends or your whole family.
Ige’s Restaurant & 19th Puka has been offering dinner for 10 years, a meat lover’s dream with several meat plates available as pupu-style appetizers or as full meals with a choice of soup or salad, plus white or brown rice, mashed potatoes or french fries.
The 12-ounce New York steak is $15.99 as a full meal or $14.99 when served pupu style with a simple sprinkling of Hawaiian salt, pepper and rosemary. The 12-ounce rib eye is $21.99 and $14.99, respectively.
Sweet shoyu pork ($13.99) is the most popular item on the catering menu, but I prefer the crunch and porkier flavor of Jerry’s Crispy Pork Belly ($9.29), served with a shoyu-vinegar dipping sauce that I found unnecessary but that others might appreciate as counterpoint to the fat.
Also on the sugary side is another of my favorite dishes here, marinated flap meat ($11.99) that ends up being more like tender jerky than typical teriyaki beef.
There’s an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink philosophy at work so that those in search of local can get just about anything they’re craving. But you have to check the calendar before heading out because to manage all those dishes, the owners have to sort them into daily specials. Mondays are for top sirloin ($11.99 salad, $13.99 pupu). Tuesdays finds fresh corned beef and cabbage ($13.99) and sweet-sour spareribs ($12.99), which are also available Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Wednesdays welcome Korean fried chicken ($12.99, also available Thursdays). Thursdays mean roast turkey ($13.99), and Fridays bring out the Hawaiians with a mixed plate ($17.99) of laulau, chicken long rice, teriyaki flap meat, lomi salmon, sweet potato, haupia and poi. Saturdays are for beef curry ($13.99) and roast pork ($14.99).
There also are burgers with a range of toppings ($11.99).
It’s all quite heavy, so I gravitate toward the lunch menu, where seafood shines. Ron Ige was an avid fisherman before becoming a restaurateur, so now he spends his time trolling the fish markets for line-caught ahi and the day’s catch that go into his daily specials.
His lightly battered and seasoned shutome (swordfish, $12) is divine, served with a creamy garlic-cilantro aioli that’s so tame I don’t even notice the cilantro. Fried ahi belly ($10) is also excellent.
If you’re down on fish-tofu patties because they tend to taste more of tofu than fish, Ige reverses the equation. It’s made from his grandmother June’s recipe with water chestnuts and green onions, and served with a sweet chili aioli sauce.
Those who like furikake will find furikake ahi ($12) that come across like crunchy fritters, sort of like of India pakoras or Middle Eastern falafels.
Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.
