Uncle Bo’s heads for Kakaako with latest restaurant

Uncle Bo’s Pupu Bar & Grill is not trying so much to be the best Italian/seafood/Asian/American restaurant there is — though their menu offers everything from East to West. The owners primarily want it to be a cheery place where they would want to hang out themselves.

Co-owner Ho Suk Lee gets a charge out of seeing faces light up when he welcomes customers to the eclectic eatery, which opened 11 years ago in Kapahulu, while chef and co-owner Bo Pathammavong gives them a reason to come with dishes that tingle with spicy, tangy flavors.

Friends since their high school days in Kaneohe, the two opened a second Uncle Bo’s in Haleiwa in 2015 and, now that it’s doing well, are planning to specialize in steak and seafood at the new Keauhou Lane project in Kakaako.

The restaurant, expected to open in March or April, will be called Ya-Ya’s Chop House and Seafood, using a nickname of one of Lee’s daughters.

“My ultimate goal is making Ya-Ya’s a fun place where people come to have delicious food prepared in a unique way,” Pathammavong said. “We’ve always wanted to create original restaurants that are unique but most of all fun.”

He likes to see diners celebrating special occasions, from birthdays to first dates. “To be successful you have to be worthy of the celebration.”

The new restaurant will be in an affordable rental complex, developed by Gerding Edlen and anchored by Down to Earth grocery store and other shops geared to foodies. A new brewpub run by owners of the former Real a Gastropub will be next door to Ya-Ya’s.

The menu and other design details are still in the planning stages; construction will start soon.

In Kapahulu, Uncle Bo’s is easy to spot near Zippy’s in a quaint, old building painted mustard, accented with ketchup red trim. Pathammavong’s said his passion has always been “pushing the boundaries of flavors. I love hot and spicy, and sweet and tangy, and I like experimenting with different combinations of flavors and ingredients.”

Pathammavong, who moved to Hawaii from Laos as a child, first mastered Southeast Asian cuisine, drawing from his roots, then learned to make pasta and pizza working in an Italian restaurant. He later discovered the Pacific Rim style of cooking.

“That combination really clicked with him,” Lee said, adding that the diversity of the menu gives diners a choice of whatever they may be craving at the moment, because rarely does an entire group want the same type of food.

The chef also added American favorites, including one that has become the restaurant’s most popular. The appetizer — cheesy garlic bread with strips of prime rib, sauteed mushrooms and mozzarella cheese — wasn’t even on the menu, but was something Pathammavong concocted for himself. The restaurant staff asked him for a bite, loved it and started serving it to friends.

The dish was given the name Boca- Rota, based on the Italian word “bocca,” for mouth. Lee said it roughly translates to “broke da mouth.” Very roughly.

“That’s the fun part about having a restaurant, where you can create things and it ends up being a hit, and it’s not even a real name,” he added.

Lee, who handles the business end of the operation, lets himself boast that the restaurant is second on Trip Advisor’s list of over 1,900 reviews for moderately priced Honolulu diners.