Two prominent Oahu restaurants are ready to reenter the dining scene

COURTESY OLIVIER KONING
Chart House Waikiki reopens with a menu featuring a new shrimp scampi, top, a revamped ahi poke and a classic filet mignon.

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COURTESY OLIVIER KONING

Chart House Waikiki reopens with a menu featuring a new shrimp scampi, top, a revamped ahi poke and a classic filet mignon.

COURTESY KALENA KIMURA
Yuzu cheesecake from MW Restaurant.

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COURTESY KALENA KIMURA

Yuzu cheesecake from MW Restaurant.

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COURTESY KALENA KIMURA

Chef Wade Ueoka’s crabcake, made with jumbo lump crabmeat, is on the new appetizer menu at MW Restaurant.

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MW Restaurant

Velocity Honolulu, 888 Kapiolani Blvd.; 955-6505. Reopens Tuesday. Online: mwrestaurant.com.

“We haven’t plated on china in a year,” chef Wade Ueoka said last week while previewing the menu at the new MW Restaurant.

Yes, it’s been 12 months of making meals look good in takeout containers, so it’s a relief for Ueoka and his wife, pastry chef Michelle Karr-Ueoka, to once again be able to serve with full restaurant panache.

MW reopens for dining-in on Tuesday, having moved a short distance from its original home near Ala Moana Center into the luxury car dealership Velocity Honolulu.

The Ueokas’ casual outlet, Artizen, opened several weeks ago downstairs in the same building, after five years at the Hawaii State Art Museum.

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Ueoka said he’s added a half-dozen items and tweaked some menu favorites — his mochi-crusted fish, for example, and soy-braised short rib. One new bite: Malaysian-inspired chile-braised beef bao buns.

Karr-Ueoka, on the other hand, has kept only two of her 14 desserts. New treats: Kau coffee cake with chocolate consomme and lilikoi semifreddo with meringue and tropical fruits, to name just two.

Hours: 5 to 9 p.m. daily. Happy hour and lunch service start April 20.

Chart House Waikiki

Ilikai Marina, 1765 Ala Moana Blvd; 941-6669. Reopens Thursday. Online: charthousewaikiki.com.

If you don’t already have a reservation for Chart House Waikiki, well, get in line. Tables for reopening day, Thursday, have been a hot ticket, but if you work fast, the weekend is still available.

Chart House closed in August after more than 50 years in the same location. But now the owner, surf legend Joey Cabell, has a new partner in AG Capital Partners. The restaurant has been spiffed up, with new equipment ready to go, and a menu updated by consulting chef Adam Tabura.

The menu remains focused on classic steaks and seafood, with many old favorites returning: prime rib, oysters Rockefeller and whole lobster, for example. The owner’s top picks are clustered on the Joey’s Triple Crown three-course tasting menu ($145), including a pair of lobster tails and an 8-ounce bison tenderloin with a marinade by Cabell’s wife, Yana.

Tabura has upped the pasta game with shrimp scampi and chicken piccata, as well as spicing up the house poke.

Hours: 2 p.m. to midnight daily (last call for food 10:15 p.m.); happy hour 2 to 5:30 p.m. Live music daily.