Breaking all the boundaries

There’s no logic to obsession. For every person with a passion for sports card collecting, Pokémon or K-dramas, there’s another who could not care less about the object of their fascination.

While living in San Diego, Christopher Cook was too logical to catch the beer-making bug from his three brothers-in-law, who were all obsessed with zymurgy. Examining their hobby from a practical point of view, he calculated the cost of a craft beer versus trying to make something drinkable at home, and found no reason to go the DIY route.

Instead, his interest was in photography and pursuit of a career in journalistic photography. But by the time he graduated from school and followed a girlfriend to Hawaii, journalism jobs were drying up, and the rise of digital and phone photography had turned everyone into their own photographer.

His family sent him beer-making kits, and between wedding photography jobs, he finally got hooked and has turned his 10-year hobby into a business with Broken Boundary Brewery.

After three years of planning, his grand opening was scheduled for last March 20. Hawaii’s first COVID-19 shutdown began five days later, but undaunted, he reopened for beer takeout as soon as the mandate was lifted.

At the end of the second lockdown in September, restaurants were allowed to reopen, but bars were not. Cook decided, “Well, then we’re going to be a restaurant.” With little more than a mobile kitchen that he described as a “glorified taco cart” and friends with some culinary know-how, Broken Boundary is able to offer seriously good street-style tacos and quesadillas to go with its craft brews in its warehouse-style brewery in Kalihi.

Beer and food menus are short and sweet, and though new brews are constantly being introduced, the food menu remains fairly constant.

You’ll generally be able to find six to seven brews daily, ranging from IPAs to stouts, to a more unusual German kolsch that shares qualities of an ale and lager. Some, like the Bittersweet Zymurgy, utilize far-flung ingredients such as traditional English malt and English fuggles hops that yield a spicy bitter finish, and A Detective series allows imbibers to guess mystery ingredients within a brew for a chance to win taster glasses, T-shirts and more for three to five correct guesses.

Perhaps Cook’s affinity to journalism has resulted in the wordsmithing that goes into descriptions such as that of Dancing with Miranda, that reads, “Ever have that slightly bitter feeling when you’re dancing with someone who’s a waaaaay better dancer than you? This beer is kinda like that … if you were dancing with a famous Portuguese samba dancer from Brazil who was in the habit of wearing tropical fruit in her hair. A little bitter. A lot fruity. Just the way we like it.”

I was sold and enjoyed it immensely.

The beer is available in 4-ounce drafts ranging from $3 to $4, to 32-ounce growlers ranging from about $15 to $17.50. A few stouts are available in 64-ounce growler sizes for $30.

For non-drinkers, house-made Man-Li soda with the flavors of mango and lilikoi ($3 for 10 ounces; $4 for 16 ounces) and sparkling Gatorade ($2.50/$3) are also offered.

The food roster starts with a handful of tacos that are exceptional when compared to the rote variety found at most Mexican restaurants that prefer to focus on steering diners toward pricier, more profitable dishes.

As a pork lover, I gravitated to carnitas ($3.50 each) prepared in the Michoacan style of “little meats,” that includes pork shoulder and three other cuts of pork low-boiled and rendered in traditional style in spiced lard. Don’t worry, I’ve read pork fat is high in B vitamins and minerals essential for blood cell formation, and brain and thyroid function. The tenderized pork is then shredded and seared until crispy on a grill before arriving topped with onions and cilantro and your choice of salsa verde or a spicy red hot sauce. Both sauces are delicious, but generally I opt for the green sauce with pork for a bright touch of acidic tomatillos that balances out the fat content. Underneath it all, flavorful notes of oregano, cumin and cinnamon shine through.

In street fashion, the tortillas measure about 4 inches, so you can easily polish off three or four, sampling each variety in one sitting.

I enjoyed the healthier aspect of a vegan roasted poblano taco ($3.50 each), the chopped peppers sautéed with onions and mushrooms before being spread onto the tortilla and topped with salsa fresca, cotija cheese, cilantro and spiced crema. For beef lovers there is the carne asada taco ($3.50 each) that starts with brisket wet brined for three days in pineapple juice and IPA. It’s diced, seared and topped with a house red pepper sauce, salsa fresca and guacamole.

All three options come in a larger quesadilla format ($9 each), that is sliced before serving, making it easy to share among friends. There’s more crema blanketing the quesadillas, so I find it easier to enjoy the flavors of the fillings more with the tacos. The colors of the open tacos also carry more visual impact.

If you’re good at marking things down on a calendar, every third Saturday is the most exciting day to be here, when they bust out the trompos, a vertical rotisserie used for preparing pork for tacos al pastor ($4 each).

“We try to do things legit,” says Cook, who described how Lebanese immigrants arriving in Mexico in the late 1800s adapted to their new home by swapping lamb for pork, but still slow-cooking it in shawarma style on vertical spits that allow the thin-sliced meat to be basted in its own dripping fat.

Adopting ingredients of Mexico, the meat is colored red with achiote paste and flavored with chiles and pineapple.

French fries ($5), a smash burger with tomato jam ($12) and churros ($4.50) round out the menu.

Broken Boundary Brewery

740 Moowaa St., Kalihi
Food: ****
Service: ***
Ambiance: ***
Value: ****
info@brokenboundarybrewery.com
Hours: 11 A.M.-10 P.M. Tuesdays-Fridays, Noon-10 P.M. Saturdays, Noon-7 P.M. Sundays
Prices: About $15 per person without alcohol

Nadine Kam’s restaurant visits are unannounced and paid for by Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Follow Nadine on Instagram (@nadinekam) or on YouTube (youtube.com/nadinekam).