While COVID-positive numbers and hospitalizations are in decline, I feel as though restaurants stepped up to make the current restrictions less painful, with abundant options for all.
Although I love the dine-in experience, enjoying service free from the chore of cleaning up, in the meantime, I do have a couple of go-tos for satisfying poke and seafood takeout.
Kona Abalone
415 Kapahulu Ave.
Kona Abalone has come a long way from its founding in 1998 as a premium producer and distributor of canned abalone raised in Kona from the Japanese Ezo abalone strain.
To promote the shellfish locally, the company started selling fresh garlic- and butter-grilled abalone at the Kapiolani Community College farmers market and opened a small shop in Ala Moana Center’s Makai Food Court so its newfound fans could pick up abalone throughout the week. After a run at Market City Shopping Center, they’ve moved their takeout operation to Kapahulu with a small menu that’s expanded beyond abalone to poke and Japanese curry.
Abalone is still the star of the show and you can pick up a five-piece pack of small grilled abalone, approximately 1 1/2-inch shell size, in several flavors. Plain grilled abalone is $14.99. Add $1.99 for butter garlic or miso garlic; add $2.99 for ginger sauce, herb butter or “Kilauea,” a sweet-spicy kabayaki sauce. The butter garlic is still my favorite, followed by the ginger, then Kilauea, which is also dressed with tobiko and green onions. Next would be the herb butter, trailed by the miso garlic that I found overly sweet. If you eat a lot of sugar, this may be the most pleasing to your palate. You can also get an ahi, salmon or kampachi poke bowl for $12.99 each and go luxe by adding a portion of sliced abalone to the bowl for $2 more.
I loved sides of a mentaiko (spicy cod roe) potato salad ($9.99) that comes topped with smoked salmon and clean-tasting minestrone soup ($6.49) full of veggies and the smoky accent of bacon.
But most exciting for me has been a move away from local flavors and into Mediterranean territory with the offering of steamed abalone marinated in olive oil pesto with feta ($14.99), olive oil and dried tomatoes ($14.99), and my favorite of spicy herb with a sprinkling of chopped macadamia nuts ($14.99).
Also worth trying is their curry, with the addition of another Kona product, Kona coffee, which adds depth and addictive coffee characteristics to the curry. You can get it with abalone ($12.49) and without ($8.49). Those prices include rice; without rice it’s $9.99 and $5.99, respectively.
It will be interesting to see what new recipes they come up with as it’s a learning experience for all who love this shellfish that is still relatively unknown to most of the world.
Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays and Sun-days. Call 808-941-4120.
Jucci Lucci
567 Kapahulu Ave.
I’m not that good at remembering names and faces, a condition exacerbated by a line of work that involves meeting a lot of people. So I was taken aback when standing in Lucie Kaanoi’s shop and she blurted out, “I know you from somewhere.”
Blank response until I spotted a small yellowed newspaper brief with my byline and realized that “somewhere” happened to be the Waimanalo Market Co-op in 2016, back when she and her husband Lance Kaanoi ran Hale Ia. I had casually strolled in after eating lunch next door, and found the couple serving up what I thought was the best poke ever, so fresh and clean tasting, respecting the integrity of the fish and not mucking it up with a lot of sauce or shoyu. It was a place poke purists could appreciate. Then, it was only after I went home that I realized we’d also crossed paths in 2019 when she briefly operated a pop-up within Little Seoul II in Puck’s Alley. The restaurant opened evenings only, which allowed her to serve lunches by day, just in time for when my Saturday dance classes at a nearby studio ended and I was hungry for something healthy like her vegan bibimbap.
The couple recently moved into Kapahulu, still serving up great poke plus banchan items such as taegu ($3.99), TKG (salmonella-free) egg salad ($3.99) and kimchi tuna dip ($5.99).
Her current poke flavors are Hawaiian-style ahi with plenty of limu kohu, Hawaiian tako, salmon Gangnam, tuna Gangnam and spicy garlic-mayo tuna (not that spicy).
The best place to start is with the Jucci Lucci Poke Box ($21.99) a plate lunch comprising Korean purple rice with sampler portions of each house poke, a small salad with a choice of gochujang or turmeric ranch dressing, and a side of the day’s kimchi plus a single piece of shrimp tempura.
From there, you can figure out your favorite poke, or it might backfire and you’ll end up loving all five and having to get the box each time. I would have a hard time deciding from among the tako tossed with briny limu kohu, sliced onions and sea asparagus, and the Gangnam-style offerings, red with Korean chiles and blanketed with toasted sesame seeds.
You can always opt for a combination box with two choices of poke for $12.99, and three choices for $17.99.
Lately, she’s expanding into entrée specials because people who come in for poke every day they’re open have been requesting more diversity. You may find specials of onaga pesto fillets, Kahuku shrimp scampi or pig’s feet soup.
Regulars have also complained about not being able to pick up dinner due to short hours, so Lucie is open to pickups up to 5 p.m. with advance notice.
Lucie believes this move to Kapahulu will be permanent, and I hope so, because each time I’ve found her has been by serendipitous accident.
Open 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays to Fridays.
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).
