KC Drive Inn is on a nostalgia tour that has lasted for 13 years and counting, starring its famous waffle dog.
Dayton Asato, third generation of the Asato family that made the waffle hot dog part of Hawaii’s all-time greatest grinds list, is the traveling one-man band keeping the 84-year-old business humming. It lives on even though the restaurant closed their doors for good in Kapahulu in 2005.
Huh?
Yes, KC Drive Inn may have shut down, but its iconic KC waffle dog is still going strong, along with their classic Ono Ono shakes with signature peanut butter blends.
“I just really felt I had to keep it going. It’s an institution,” said Asato, a grandson of the owners.
CLAIM TO FAME
When the restaurant closed, Asato, who had been working at KC off and on since he was 13 years old, realized “I was going to be suddenly unemployed.” He was 42 years old at the time.
“I needed something to do,” he said, so his plan was to sell waffle dogs at fundraisers and bon dances as a way to thank everyone for being loyal customers. The waffle dogs have become a popular draw at these events, and he supplies about two or three a week. Sometimes he cooks, but usually he’s there just to supervise fundraising volunteers, who sell up to 1,000 dogs per day.
Clearly there are enough old-timers around who want a bite of nostalgia that reminds them of “what they were doing, whether it was a date they went on, or celebrating an anniversary. We were fortunate doing business at a time when people going out to eat was a thrill, an event, it was a good time,” Asato said.
Nowadays people pick up fast food all the time and prefer drive-through takeouts, he added.
THE FAMILY
His late grandparents, Jiro and Agnes Asato, bought Hawaii’s first drive-in in 1934 from founders George Knapp and Elwood Christensen (hence the KC), who started the restaurant in the late 1920s. It was located at the corner of Ala Wai Boulevard and Kalakaua Avenue.
At various times, the family ran KC Coffee Shop and KC Annex in Moiliili, KC Snack Shop on Kaheka Street, and two Wisteria restaurants in town and Kaneohe.
The flagship was KC Drive Inn, known for its plate lunches and car hop service. It moved from Waikiki in 1981 to the corner of Kapahulu and Harding avenues. It closed in 2005 when business slowed down and the second generation — Dayton’s father, James, his Uncle Roy and aunties Elsie, Mildred and Helen — decided to retire and sell the property.
In a Star-Bulletin article dated April 23, 2006, family members recalled working 16-hour days and not taking any holidays off. The family did everything from prep work to cleaning.
Roy became company president and sisters Elsie and Mildred worked until the 1990s. Helen and James had each married and moved to California, but after their father died in 1960, they came back to Oahu to keep the business going.
Two of Dayton Asato’s cousins each put in about 30 years alongside him. He said all his cousins learned at an early age how to make the waffle dogs and do everything else — “It was part of growing up.”
WHAT’S NEW
Since 2015, KC Waffle Dog has been one of four franchises under the umbrella restaurant Hawaii’s Favorite Kitchens, which includes Shimazu Shave Ice, Poke Stop and Mike’s Huli Huli Chicken.
It’s right behind another favorite landmark, Rainbow Drive-In on Kapahulu Avenue, owner of the conglomeration and mastermind behind “the genius of this idea, to bring back old-style places,” said Asato.
Pointing to a group of teens having shave ice around 6:30 p.m., Asato said Hawaii’s Favorite Kitchens has become “like a comfort station, you could have (a regular) dinner but you might feel more like having several snacks for dinner. Anything goes!”
He attributes the waffle dog’s enduring popularity to nostalgia, but also because it’s easy to eat, and it’s the perfect blend of salty and sweet. Ketchup, mustard and relish can be used as condiments, but he’s never heard of anyone dipping it in maple syrup, despite the trending chicken ‘n’ waffles craze.
Asato personally makes the batter to keep the family recipe a secret, though the ingredients are common enough to all waffles.
“There’s a certain way I make the batter. I have a style of making it that’s different from any other, that’s what I keep secret!” he said. However, he readily shares that he uses Bar S hot dogs because they don’t split under the pressure of the waffle irons.
Asato accompanies his waffle irons to all the events where they’re rented out. He makes sure volunteers using his old-fashioned machines treat them carefully.
“This machine is over 40 years old. They don’t make them anymore. I worry about them wearing out — we’ve gone through many,” he said. Certain mechanical parts can be replaced, but that’s not the case for the molds that give the waffle dogs their shape.
(Incidentally, if you see a traditional checkerboard pattern on the dough encasing a hot dog, it’s not a KC Waffle Dog. Asato said his waffle irons don’t have the little squares.)
It takes only 3 minutes and 30 seconds to make six waffles at a time, but if a customer wants them extra crispy, they’re left on the iron a bit longer. The crispy edges that overflow the molds are kept on the waffle dog because people like that part, he added.
At fundraisers he charges the sponsors $2 a dog; they make it and sell it for $4 — “I make it easy for them!”
WHERE TO BUY
Hawaii’s Favorite Kitchens is at 3111 Castle St. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Call 744-0465. Follow KC Waffle Dog on Facebook to learn about the next special event.
“Old Friends” catches up with longtime local food producers. It runs on the third week of each month. Email suggestions to crave@staradvertiser.com or call Pat Gee at 529-4749.
