On weekend mornings at Suis, Sammy likes to tell us what he had for breakfast — hamburger steak with gravy, rice and macaroni salad, usually.

“Now I too heavy for surf,” he shouts with a grin, slapping his belly.

It’s been decades since I ate like that, but recently I started a yoga class, through whose windows we inhale deeply the aromas of fast food wafting up from Monsarrat Avenue. Feeling a bit nostalgic, I sent a group email to the Tonggs Gang, asking what surf grinds they missed from the ’60s and ’70s.

Back came a blitz of fond memories. Brian Chang wrote, “Surfing made us really hungry!”

“Donny (Mailer) and I would walk to Dairy Queen and take away a large tub of vanilla soft ice cream,” Dale Hope remembered. “And we’d go back to his apartment and serve it up with large portions of Alexander Young apple pie that his mom Sally would bring home.”

Warren Ono recalled Dairy Queen’s specials, “like four burgers for $1.”

Brian liked to drive his rebuilt Porsche to Burgerland at the corner of Monsarrat and Campbell avenues.

“Dudley (Uyehara) and I liked the teri pork; I got the teri beef or hamburger steak.”

Dudley asked whether we remembered “that place down by Coral or Cooke Street, was it Yanai’s, with big, big fast breakfast.”

“Yes, Yanai’s! What a divey place, but it was the best,” Alika Neves replied. “All the Ala Moana surfers would go there. I used to always order the luncheon meat/eggs/rice … with macaroni salad.”

Donny remembered the old concession “between the aquarium and Queen’s Surf. They had great plate lunches.”

Alika said he was glad to be old enough to have experienced it all.

“The kids nowadays don’t know how good we had it!”

Or how bad, maybe: “Beaver Grill was next to Surfline on Piikoi,” Dale added. “(I) remember the roaches in the rice.”

BURGERLAND was replaced by Diamond Head Market & Grill decades ago. So much healthier, my mom said.

“Grilled, not fried! And you can get brown rice, and the salad has romaine, not just iceberg lettuce.”

This marked the beginning of a gradual neighborhood dining renaissance. Monsarrat is now packed with casual, welcoming eateries that serve fresh-made, wholesome food, local when possible. None is part of a chain.

I stopped by Diamond Head Market & Grill the other morning to see what surfers are eating nowadays.

“I come here every time I’m done surfing Diamond Head,” said Eugene Marques, 37, who said he always orders the chicken eggplant plate for $11.

His son, Ehven, 15, was having a teriyaki chicken plate with white rice, $10.

At the surf-themed South Shore Grill, popularly known as “the fish taco place,” the burgers bear the names of nearby surf spots: Blue Holes, Cliffs, Mansions, Browns, Kaikos and Incinerators, the latter boasting Cajun seasoning, pepper jack and Frank’s red hot sauce.

The fish tacos are “always ono,” meaning the variety of fish, said owner Bruce Bryant, but the other meaning was emphasized by customer Paul Dickey. “They’re spectacular,” he said, and only $4 each.

I bicycled over to Rainbow Drive-Inn in Kapahulu for a mahi sandwich, something I hadn’t eaten for 25 years. It had vastly improved: three thick, crusty, nongreasy white fillets spilled out around the edges of the sesame bun. Plus a nice leaf of romaine lettuce. And only $4.50. Rainbow, I’ll be back.

The sandwich was filling, but I always have room for Banan, the frozen banana puree served in many local flavors at the food truck on Monsarrat. Lilikoi is in season, so I ordered a cup with a side of local chocolate for $6.50.

A NEW concession, Barefoot Bar on the Beach, opened about five years ago at Queen’s Surf on the water’s edge, perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner after surfing Publics. “Hard to beat the winter sunsets and fresh seafood,” Dale said.

Among his other contemporary favorites are Pioneer on Monsarrat.

“Great rice choices, good poke.”

I’ll have to try it; poke and poi are my favorites when the surf is up.

My son couldn’t wait to get a real poke bowl when he came back from a business trip to New York, shaking his head at the memories of the “degenerate New York poke” he’d tried at the new Pokespot near Union Square with lines going out the door.

“First, there are no poke bowls. It was made with quinoa. No rice, because nobody eats rice in New York anymore, apparently. And it was expensive, about $15 a serving.”

At Fort Ruger Market a poke bowl is $10.

“It was not very healthy in retrospect,” said Alika of Yanai’s big plates, “but it was wonderful after a day of surfing.”

In today’s unpredictable world it’s even more wonderful that some Hawaii foods stay real.

“In the Lineup” features Hawaii’s oceangoers and their regular hangouts, from the beach to the deep blue sea. Reach Mindy Pennybacker at mpennybacker@staradvertiser.com or call 529-4772.