Sistah act

Glorious, golden-hued tater tot nachos loaded with chopped bacon, jalapeños, cheddar cheese, house-made cilantro crema and pico de gallo are currently my favorite thing from Sistah at Beer Lab HI. According to co-owner Eunju Jo, however, this new menu item was a happy mistake.

“I was supposed to buy crinkle cut fries, but I bought tater tots by accident,” she explains. “We came up with a twist on Mexican-style nachos. We put it on our specials menu and now customers always want it.”

These tots are just the beginning of the insanely addictive dishes you’ll find at Sistah, located within Beer Lab HI at Pearlridge Center. Sistah specializes in Korean-Hawaiian fusion and is the brainchild of business owners — and best friends — Jo and Mila Bang. Friends since middle school in South Korea, they started Sistah as a food truck in 2016.

“We’re basically family, so that’s how we came up with the name ‘Sister’ (for our business), but ‘Sistah,’ so it’s more local,” Jo says.

Sistah’s yellow truck used to rotate between downtown Honolulu (usually on Punchbowl Street) and the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus.

The menu catered to hungry students and office workers, and featured a variety of plate lunches. But once the pandemic hit last year, the Sistahs knew they needed to switch things up.

“Business was good (at UH) but during the pandemic, it got slow because no students were coming,” Jo says.

While they had a space at UH Manoa, Sistah participated in a few events with Beer Lab HI and became good friends with the owners. Last fall, the locally owned beer company asked Jo if she and Bang would serve food in the business’s space within the mall. It was an easy decision for Jo and Bang, who saw this as a good opportunity.

Sistah moved into Beer Lab HI’s space last September and originally kept the same menu from the food truck, which featured individual-sized plate lunch entrées like wagyu loco moco and huli huli chicken. Now, the menu emphasizes smaller plates that are ideal for sharing.

“Our food truck was geared toward office workers, and our menu was designed to serve individuals,” Jo says. “Our current menu is designed for people to share so they can try more dishes. Our food also goes well with beer.”

Not to worry, pupu-style doesn’t mean small portions. If the tater tot nachos are any indication, the shared plates feature generous helpings. Pupu-style steak features 8 ounces of striploin with salad or crinkle cut fries, and it’s served with Sistah’s addictive peppercorn cream sauce and gochujang aioli. The kalbi plate was a popular dish on Sistah’s truck lunch menu; it now comes with garlic butter rice and a variety of toppings.

“We marinate strips of kalbi overnight in our house-made sauce, then it’s topped with sautéed kimchi and togarashi and served with gochujang and furikake aioli,” Jo says.

“The kalbi is my favorite,” Bang adds. “We might eat more of it than we sell.”

The wagyu cheeseburger with crinkle cut fries is another customer favorite. Burgers feature one-third-pound wagyu hamburger patties topped with sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and a melted blend of Tillamook medium cheddar and Muenster cheeses between soft La Tour Café buns. Jo also recommends the spicy pork “Bao Wow,” which features three soft buns stuffed with sliced pork and pickled vegetables.

“When we had a food truck, we had only one menu because we had to keep things simple,” she says, “but I love to cook and I want to offer our customers a lot of dishes. Here at Beer Lab, we have the space to do so.”

The Sistahs strive to feature weekly specials, but their current menu items are so popular that they promised to “keep them until custom ers are tired of it.”

“We won’t stop creating new dishes,” Jo says. “We appreciate our customers and friends, and we’re so thankful for Beer Lab.”

Sistah at Beer Lab HI
Pearlridge Center
98-1005 Moanalua Road, Aiea
11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays
Instagram: @sistahtruck
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