ASD icon blue inverse lighter

ASD Staff

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

[{"text":"No need post bail, when cell phones exist in jail.","type":"text"}]

Firefly funny illustration of a bald man in prison giving advice on a cell phone 125937

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: A comedy crime saga in two parts</title>

Today's social posts come from howsdisguy: Part one and two of talking story with your roughboy philosopher relative.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: A comedy crime saga in two parts

No need post bail, when cell phones exist in jail.  

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Columnists

Government & Politics

Aloha State Daily received a press release today from a Mainland-based national interest group, U.S. Term Limits (USTL), letting us know that “2026 Hawai‘i state senate candidate, Wallyn Christian (District 13) has committed support for term limits on Congress by signing the term limits convention pledge.”

Why does this matter to that organization? “(USTL, the leader in the national, non-partisan movement to limit terms for elected officials, is gathering support from state lawmakers across the nation,” the statement says. “Its mission is to get 34 states to apply for an amendment proposal convention specific to term limits on Congress.”

Term-limiting Congress is a popular idea, and USTL cites a 

 that, “An overwhelming majority of adults (87%) favor limiting the number of terms that members of Congress are allowed to serve. This includes a majority 56% who strongly favor this proposal, just 12% are opposed.”

The idea emerges often for local politicians, as well. Civil Beat has found public support for term limits to be as high as 70% in a 2018 poll of likely voters, a stat Honolulu Civil Beat resurfaced 

 of the lawmakers themselves to see where they stand on the idea of limiting their own time in office. “Nearly half of House members and more than a third of senators say they support term limits. There are enough undecideds in both chambers to give it a good shot if they held their position for two years,” CB found.

Respectfully, all of these people are wrong. Well intentioned, but they're aiming term limits at the wrong people.

I mean, I totally understand where the frustration is coming from. We elect people, nationally and locally, then are disappointed in their results. We could end their terms ourselves by simply not reelecting these people and yet obviously a lot of the people who say they want term limits do something very odd: They seem to reelect the lousy politicians they say they want to term limit.

You want to limit someone’s term? You’re just a month away from your next opportunity to vote for someone else!

So we’ve always had the power to fire politicians with every election, but don’t, then remain convinced that what we need is more turnover in government to make it more efficient, effective and responsive. Somebodies’ terms need limiting, but who?

Easy: The workforce. The bureaucrats. See, I want term limits, too, but I want them on the people staffing all the departments and agencies that we’re perpetually frustrated with. 

Consider, to cite just one example, how many different mayors you’ve seen over the past 20 or 30 years promise to reform the departments of planning and permitting in each county. The mayors have term limits. They come and go. Have any of them succeeded at this reform?

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi has done more than any predecessor but there’s a long way still to go.

How many Hawai‘i governors — term-limited governors — have promised Hawai‘i a public education second to none? Which of them succeeded? Who is still in place, immune to reform?

What happens in real life is, candidates make bold promises of reform, we elect them, then they announce bold plans for reform and those plans run headfirst into a culture of unfirable civil servants shielded by union protections. These folks don’t even have to noisily and aggressively oppose the reform, all they have to do is … not do it. And wait. Four years later, or eight years later, their antagonist is gone, the staff remains, with its culture of job security over excellence safely intact.

[{"type":"text","text":"We, the taxpayers and voters, then sit around wondering what happened."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Two Hawai‘i’s"}]

What’s happened is simple: Since statehood, Hawai‘i’s people have steadily split into two camps, those who work for government and everybody else. The appeal of Government Hawai‘i is the security and benefits — lifelong employment, if you want it, totally protected from market forces and competition, with solid benefits like healthcare and retirement, paid for by the rest of us in Real Hawai‘i.

If you think the security and the bennies of government jobs are a trade-off to compensate for low pay, guess again. Government Hawai‘i earns more than Real Hawai‘i.

The annual average wage of a non-government job in Hawai‘i is 

 from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The average annual wage in state government? 

What does Real Hawai‘i get in return? One of the highest tax burdens in America for one thing, and then very little to brag about in high-quality government service. (

I would say that that two Hawai‘i’s have hardened into opposing camps, except that’s not exactly true. Government Hawai‘i drives an Us vs Them dynamic, that was never clearer to me than it was during Covid, when Government Hawai‘i showed us that it will shut the rest of down for years at a time given the slightest opportunity. It will also protect itself first, at the expense of the public is supposedly serves, as we see in the lingering effects of the schools closing for so long. That policy made no one safer, but it did mess up the kids. (And have you noticed ever since then, Government Hawai‘i takes the day off for even bad weather like it never did before, while the rest of us soldier on with our work?)

Out here in Real Hawai‘i, we grumble but otherwise settle for apathy (i.e., low voter turnout) or outright flight to states where it feels like a good life is more possible. I don’t know who Government Hawai‘i is going to tax when the last of us moves to Vegas.

With all that in mind, term limits on government service seem like the one revolution we haven’t tried, haven’t even discussed, but should. Say 10, 15 years max, total lifetime employment in government at any level. We want people to stay long enough to learn the ropes and finish things they’ve started, not so long that they just settle in and kill time until retirement.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The upsides:"}]

Breaks up all the pockets of resistance to change. Turnover would occur systemwide, one person at a time, as they age out. Reformers at the top have a chance building support in the workforce among newer staff.

[{"type":"text","text":"Brings in new people and new ideas in government at every level."}]

Opens up more opportunities for Government Hawai‘i and Real Hawai‘i to trade places and live in each other’s worlds. This may be the biggest upside — more of us would get a chance to feel like we had a chance to change the system from the inside and deliver the service we’ve always wanted, while more of them would be forced to realize that Real Hawai‘i is something more than subjects to be ruled and tax cows to be milked.

Forces a revolution in how government hires. Using Mayor Blangiardi again as an example, he’s talked about how it took people six months on average to get hired by the City & County of Honolulu when he assumed office. 

, he had cut that down to three months. Compared to the speed at which the private sector can hire, that’s still an eternity, and that would have to change immediately to deal with the kind of turnover we need.

(To be fair, government is not alone on this front. In my decade at Pacific Business News, I heard executives at Hawai‘i’s larger companies talk endlessly about a labor shortage. At the same time, I knew plenty of talented people who could not land great jobs. Something is seriously broken in the hiring process, and I suspect HR, especially using automated keyword-based filters on resumes, is to blame. Make Direct Hiring by Managers Great Again!)

Loss of expertise, I suppose, but we’ve seen what the accumulated expertise gets us: A chief elections officer who thought a lauhala basket suited the dignity of a Hawai‘i electoral tie-breaker and ended getting his office sued — successfully — and 

. Scott Nago has worked at the Office of Election for nearly 26 years, almost 17 of those years as its chief election officer. As Civil Beat 

, it’s just about the only place he has ever worked in his life. Well, in the private sector, you can lose your job for bungling things so badly you get sued. Under my plan, the private sector is where he would’ve been sent years ago. Had someone else, perhaps with a wider range of life experience, been at the helm, maybe that person would've made better decisions.

[{"type":"text","text":"So, OK, there are no downsides."}]

Term limits on government service. If you like this idea, spread the word. We’d be moving a mountain to make it happen. But that’s got to be better than carrying the mountain of Government Hawai‘i on our shoulders forever.

A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.

Term limits i Stock 517737402 16x9

People take time out of their lives to participate in the democratic process by testifying before committee hearings. Too often, the committee isn't there.

I Stock 1169235347

Pipikaula Corner: Invisible Legislators

It's not getting much media attention, but the private diaries of Dr. Anthony Fauci have been published online by Sen. Rand Paul in advance of his hearings this week into Fauci and Covid-19. What they reveal across thousands of pages is man in love with the adulation he received, who privately knew that many of things he said publicly about the pandemic were wild exaggerations.

Getty Images 2155919948

Pipikaula Corner: Fauci revealed as fear-mongering, fame-loving fraud

<title>Pipikaula Corner: Limiting the wrong terms</title>

It's an election year, and some people are running on the popular idea that legislators and Congress should have term limits to prevent lifers from working the system. ASD Editor in Chief A. Kam Napier argues this is a great idea, with the wrong target. What if it's actually the government workforce itself that needs a term limit?

Pipikaula Corner: Limiting the wrong terms

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Business & Tourism

Food & Dining

Honoapiilani Road, chances are, you’ll see the line for 

The business, which recently celebrated its fourth anniversary, is known for its huge, made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls. The reason for the line: customers can’t pre-order these rolls; it’s first-come, first-served only.

For some dedicated customers, that means lining up at 5 a.m., even though the bakery doesn’t officially open around 7 a.m.

What many customers may not know, though, according to Linda Escobar — wife of chef/business owner David Escobar — is that it takes about three days to make the cinnamon rolls.

“It’s a lot of hard work,” she says. “His labor that goes into it — he’s doing mixes and calculations — it has to be perfect.”

“I work seven days a week for us to be open four days a week,” adds chef David Escobar. “Everything’s about timing and waiting.”

Customers can get a whiff of those fresh-baked King David cinnamon rolls ($12) — flaky, buttery cinnamon rolls topped with housemade cream cheese glaze — even before setting foot in the bakery. David explains that pulling the cinnamon rolls out of the oven and glazing them in real-time — not having pre-glazed cinnamon rolls sitting out for customers — is essential to his business model. He recalls an “aha moment” he had while making doughnuts about 15 years ago.

“I would make apple fritters; I would pull them off the fryer and glaze them,” he says. “I would grab one while they were hot, and I would eat one right then and there. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Nobody gets an apple fritter like this right here.’ By the time we’re open, the fritters are sitting; customers are not getting it like how I just ate it.

“I took that concept that I learned 15 years ago and wanted to make this experience for people to have cinnamon rolls fresh — not glazed already and sitting for a while,” he adds. “It’s fresh out of the oven and served to you while it’s hot.”

While David has been a baker for 20 years — he started in a Safeway bakery in California — owning his own bakery wasn’t necessarily part of his plan. The Escobars moved from California to Maui in 2014; David worked at Safeway in Kihei as a baker, then moved to Monkeypod and, later, accepted a position at the Grand Wailea.

“That’s where he met his mentor,” Linda says. “He was a French pastry chef, and he mentored my husband.”

However, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, many employees, including David, were laid off. The Escobars started hosting prayer nights at their home, and David would cook for anyone who attended.

“David’s love language is feeding you,” Linda says. “He would literally cook for everyone on those nights. Pizza, cinnamon rolls, cheesecakes — everything you could think of, he was making it.”

During that time, the Escobars faced a personal loss — David’s father, known as “Papi,” died from Covid-19. In January 2021, while still being laid off, David remembers doing a 21-day fast and then caught Covid-19 himself.

“I was just going to quarantine myself and stay away from my family; I didn’t want to get everybody sick,” David says. “During that time, the Lord was ministering to me, saying he was going to use my baking gifts for ministry.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” he adds. “After I quarantined and got better, I started baking for (our church) youth group. I always baking for leadership groups and home groups, thinking that was what the Lord wanted me to do. But no, it was more than that. It’s what we’re doing now — it’s to bake under Him and to serve God’s people.”

David had already been making cinnamon rolls for about eight years. He says the French pastry chef had taught him how to make cinnamon rolls, but he added his own twist. He had the chance to perfect his cinnamon rolls during the Covid-19 pandemic, since he was doing a lot of home baking.  

“I was baking like crazy; I’d bake for my neighbors, who loved the cinnamon rolls,” David says. “My chef mentor taught me a different way of making it; it wasn’t traditional. A lot of my pastries are European inspired. I learned that the more you do it, you start creating your own deal.”

As businesses started opening back up during the pandemic aftermath, the idea of starting his own business was already on David’s heart. He knew it was time to start “stepping out in faith." He started buying equipment for a future bakery, even though he didn’t have an official space yet.

"I would put all the equipment in my front yard,” David says, noting that his family was living in Kihei. “My whole yard looked crazy. I was just collecting items, by faith, believing I would open up this business.”

At that time, David remembers looking at a facility in Kihei that was closer to their home and convenient to get to. But one day, as he was looking at Facebook Marketplace, he saw an ad about equipment for sale from a restaurant that was closing down.

“I messaged the contact and said I would love to come see the equipment that was for sale,” he recalls. “I drove to Lahaina, which was on the other side of where I was living at the time. As I got there, I remember seeing the whole facility was completely empty. It looked like it had been empty for a while.

“I tried to go back to Facebook Marketplace, but I couldn’t find the person I was communicating with anymore,” he adds. “I was like, ‘Somebody’s just messing with me.’ I remember calling my mom, telling her about it … but then saying, ‘Maybe the Lord wants me to be here to pray for Lahaina.’ I was literally praying for Lahaina the whole car ride home.”

While he was still trying to work things out with the potential Kihei venue, David talked to another realtor for restaurant rental spaces. He remembers the realtor mentioning larger venues on Front Street, but they were “all big and way out of my budget.”

“I asked, ‘Is there anything you guys have that’s smaller and more in my budget?,’” David says. “He was like, ‘There is one place in Lahaina; they’re asking for a lot, but we can give them an offer and see what they say.’ He told me where it was, it was that same place that I went to — the one that was emptied out completely.

“My first thought was, ‘It would be a long drive for me,’” he adds. “But then I was like, just go and make an offer and see what he says.”

The rest, as they say, is history. The Kihei venue ended up not working out, while the Lahaina spot accepted David’s offer.

“I didn’t even see the inside; I just saw the outside,” David says. “I had a good vibe there; there was something special about that place.

“I really feel like it was the Lord,” he adds. “I went over here just to get some equipment; I didn’t want the spaces on Front Street because they were too expensive. So now, I’m just here, baking away for Jesus.”

David signed the lease for the bakery’s current location in March 2022, and the business opened later that July. Coming up with a business name was a “no brainer” for David, who says it was natural to honor his father.

“My dad had just passed away; why wouldn’t I call it Papi’s?” he says. “He died in 2021, and all this was beginning right after he passed away.”

However, the name “Papi’s” was already taken elsewhere, according to Linda, who says that “Papi’s ʻOhana” was a natural replacement.

“‘Papi’ is ‘dad’ in Spanish — we called my father-in-law that — and ʻohana is family,” she explains. “But it’s also word play — Papi is God, our Father, and ʻohana represents our heavenly father’s family.

“When the Lord gave this to us, he had spoken to my husband, ‘Every person who walks through the doors are my children, whom I love,’” she adds. “I take that with such high responsibility; I make sure that every person has been seen and loved on the way the Lord would want them to be.”

When the business first opened, David remembers the menu was huge. It consisted of sandwiches, fresh breads and more.

“We were doing beignets, bruschetta, and all kinds of different stuff, but the cinnamon rolls just took over — the cinnamon rolls and pizza,” he says. “I was doing it all by myself — I had my nephew, my mom and my wife — but I was there for 20 hours a day sometimes, in the very beginning, during that first year (of business).

“I didn’t realize what the cinnamon rolls were going to be, but that was my favorite thing to do,” he adds. “I cut half of my menu out; I had to.”

Giving customers a high-quality product has always been crucial for the Escobars, who explain the business focuses on excellence, not volume.

“There’s no shortcuts; there’s no rushing the process,” Linda explains, saying that, sometimes, customers comment about their wait times upon entering the bakery. “We open at 7 a.m.-ish until sold out because it’s baking and it’s a science. We make sure it’s all coked in the right way. If the oven takes a drop in temperature, we’re not rushing the process to open the doors. We are representing the Lord, and patience comes along with it.”

When it comes to their line, Papi’s ʻOhana has a system down. Chairs are lined up right outside the bakery for the early risers, who sometimes get there by 4:30 a.m., according to Linda. A staff member comes outside to take coffee orders for those waiting in line, and once customers pay, their orders are brought to them, so they can enjoy beverages while they wait in line.

“We have umbrellas (when it’s hot); when it’s storming, we have ponchos for purchase,” David adds. “That’s part of learning … we just learned as we went along.”

The bakery is currently open from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. (or until sold out) on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays (closed on Wednesdays and weekends). Papi’s ʻOhana also serves pizza from 5 to 9 p.m. on the same days as the bakery, plus Saturday evenings. Customers can call the business to place pizza orders starting from 3 p.m. to reserve their preferred pick-up time.

The business features 16-inch thin-crust pizzas topped with housemade red or alfredo sauces, and fresh ingredients, according to David.

“We are using all-local farm veggies; we don’t cut corners on anything,” he says. “We’re trying to bring good-quality pizza into the community.”

Flavors range from pepperoni ($30) and Island veggie ($32) to Westside chicken ($36) — featuring roasted chicken, American bacon, creamy alfredo sauce, mozzarella and housemade garlic aioli sauce — and Papi’s all meat ($35), which includes pepperoni, sausage, Canadian bacon and American bacon.

Unique flavors include the Bella Bella ($33) — a staff favorite, comprising extra mozzarella, housemade tomato sauce, pepperoni, local oyster mushrooms and a ranch swirl — and the ʻOhana special ($36). The latter includes mozzarella, housemade tomato sauce, pepperoni, sausage, Canadian bacon, fresh jalapenos and Maui Gold pineapples, according to David.

“That one is popular,” he says. “You get sweet and spice with all the meats.”

Papi’s ʻOhana opened in July 2022; by January 2023, the lines of customers started to form. But all that came to a halt with the Lahaina fires in August 2023. The Escobars still lived in Kihei — about 45 minutes from their Lahaina shop — and remember being in “survival mode.”

“Chef just couldn’t sit still,” Linda remembers. “When we’d make our way to Lahaina, the roads were blocked — they wouldn’t let anyone in — but we had God’s favor every single time. Somehow, we were summoned to come through.

“We came through to cook for the community,” she adds. “We had no service; we were doing this all in the dark with propane — thankfully, we had a propane tank.”

For four months — from August to November — Papi’s ʻOhana fed the Lahaina community cinnamon rolls and pizzas for free, David remembers.

“Two days after the fires, we served the community four days a week — the same days we’re open now,” he says, noting that they alternated serving pizzas and cinnamon rolls on each day. “Then, people started coming back, slowly. We did a soft reopening with the bakery, but the pizzas were donation-based. We did donation-based pizzas for almost two years.

“People were affected by the fires; that problem doesn’t just go away,” he adds. “When the tourists would come, it gave them a chance to support, and we were able to bless families that were affected by the fires with free dinner.”

While Papi’s ʻOhana was trying to give back to the community, the community also helped them, David notes, saying that “everybody was donating things,” from money to ingredients.

“We hung in there to try and keep their morale and spirits up,” he says.

“Our generous ʻohana near and far helped us keep the free meals going for so long,” Linda adds.

To this day, Papi’s ʻOhana is known for being more than just a bakery, according to Linda, who says the business offers prayer, fellowship and support to all who visit. For her, the aftermath of the 2023 fires was a full-circle moment.

“What happened from our living room prayer nights during Covid-19 was happening inside our bakery,” she says. “The community was inside of our bakery — hugging, crying, laughing. That’s why Papi’s ʻOhana is so special — the people know it’s a safe place.

“People literally walk in and see how busy we are, but they will ask chef for prayer, and they know he would put down his paint brush (for the glaze),” she adds.

David remembers people asking him how long Papi’s ʻOhana would be giving away free meals following the fires.

“We were giving away food for so long,” he says. “I remember the Lord telling me, ‘Before the fires, you saw the big lines. You saw how I provided for you. Right now is a time where you’re earning Kingdom provisions. After that, when you re-open, you’re going to have double — earthly provision and kingdom provision.ʻ

“It’s pretty much manifested itself,” he says, chuckling. “Now it really is double; it’s crazy now.”

As they enter their fifth year of business, Papi’s ʻOhana already has big plans for 2027. The business is officially expanding toward Napili, according to the Escobars, who say the new space is about four times the size as their current bakery.

The bigger space will make it easier for customers to line up indoors and out of the hot Lahaina sun, according to Linda.

“We have outgrown this little spot,” she says. “We’ll have more space that we need to meet the demand. Right now, chef makes his max (for cinnamon rolls) and that’s it for the day. Sometimes, that’s at 10:30 a.m. We’ll have more space — more ovens, more electricity — so we can be more capable of providing for the demand.

“I feel bad when we sell out,” she adds. “I feel terrible because we do want to serve you.”

Linda notes that the new space is close to The Gazebo Restaurant at Napili Shores — “The Gazebo is in the back, where the beach is; our location is in the front” — but right now, the Escobars haven’t decided if that location will be the business’s new home, or an expansion.

“Everything is still up in the air,” she says, during the time of our interview in early September. “We’re trying to get our foot in the door. For 2027 — our fifth year in business — that’s our exciting news.”

Bakery is open 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. (or until sold out) Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; pizzeria hours are 5 to 9 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays to Saturdays

Papis Ohana chef David Escobar 091426

<title>At Lahaina bakery Papi's ‘Ohana, every pastry is a blessing</title>

Behind every fresh cinnamon roll is days of work and love at this family-run business. Lahaina-based Papi’s ʻOhana, known for its huge, warm cinnamon rolls, celebrated its fourth anniversary this summer. Aloha State Daily recently caught up with chef David and Linda Escobar, who tell us more about the bakery’s early days, how it got its name, and what lies ahead for 2027.

At Lahaina bakery Papi's ‘Ohana, every pastry is a blessing

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

MILILANI — The state's most dominant girls flag football program now has an HHSAA championship to show for it. 

Since the inception of girls flag football as an 

 in the Islands in 2025, Moanalua has been the 

. Na Menehune breezed through a perfect regular season in 2025 before getting shocked in the quarterfinals of the state tournament to 

In 2026, Monalaua had another perfect regular season before losing to 

Waiʻanae in the OIA championship game. Na Menehune entered the 12-team bracket needing to win four games. Using lessons from their recent setbacks, Na Menehune triumphed with a 13-6 win at Mililani on Saturday.

"Coming out of OIA was kind of like a disappointment," Moanalua head coach Ladd Mokiao said. "We had the lead and we didn't take care of business. ... Coaching is always meant for something, right? That means the team wasn't strong at certain things, so we went back in the lab, regrouped and did the things that we was weak at, so we could come out in states and have this."

Trailing host Mililani 6-0 entering the fourth quarter of Saturday's championship game, it appeared Na Menehune were headed for another disappointing loss. A 3-yard touchdown reception from Quigstinn Rose Yoshihara tied the game with 8:37 left. Then with 38 seconds left, star receiver Jodie Keo broke the tie with a sensational 25-yard catch. 

"I saw sit in the air, I was like, 'OK, I gotta lock in, and then boom,'" Keo recalled of her catch. 

Added Mokiao: "When we called the play, I told (quarterback) Breidi (Higa), I said, 'You know your reads off of this.' Now, let's get that 'wow' play. If that ball got thrown to Jodie in any area, she's gonna pull it down 99.9% of the time."

Keo, a sophomore selected to compete with the United States under-17 team this summer, remembers the feeling of not winning the state title in 2025. Keo and her teammates turned that disappointment into fuel. 

"We kept the drive that we had last year, and we just kept the losses with us too, because we won't let it define us, but we'll learn from it, and that's how we are here now," she said. 

In the Division II championship game, Kapolei made it a mission to score as many points as possible, routing Maryknoll 77-19. 

Moanalua girls flag football 051726

<title>Moanalua wins 2026 HHSAA Division I girls flag football championship</title>

Na Menehune staged a late, dramatic comeback to win its first state title in girls flag football.

Moanalua wins 2026 HHSAA Division I girls flag football championship

When coming up with a business idea and menu, Trinity Davi — one of the founders of 

 — immediately thought of chicken tenders.

“My family really loves chicken tenders, and we love a variety of sauces,” says Davi, who came up with the recipes for the business’s sauces. “Oddly enough, the chicken market is doing well — chicken nuggets and stuff.”

Located in Kahuku — close to Romy’s Kahuku Prawns and Shrimp — Chick-N-Dips opened in early July.

The biz takes its product seriously, according to Davi, who says that all chicken tenders are hand-battered to order — “they take 4 minutes and 20 seconds.”

“Here at our food truck, we try to get as many locally sourced ingredients as possible,” she says. “We use locally sourced chicken from Ludovico Farm; we use locally sourced honey in our sauce.

“We also make our own buttermilk mixture, flour mixture and all of our sauces in house,” she adds.

Choose from combs like the big dipper ($16.65) — five chicken tenders, Texas toast, two dips, fries and a drink — triple dipper ($12.35), which includes three tenders instead of five, and the duo dippers ($12.25). The latter features two chicken “handwiches” — mini slider sandwiches — a dip, fries and a drink.

[{"type":"text","text":"The big dipper is the most popular order, according to Davi."}]

If you want something with more veggies, opt for the Chick-N-Dip salad ($6.45), which is the business’s housemade Caesar salad that’s topped with two chicken tenders.

Choose from dipping sauces like UTE, Hawai

i (a sweet and savory blend), Texas barbecue, New York buffalo, and creamy Cali buttermilk ranch. Additional sauces cost 49 cents.

“All of the states of our sauces have to do with family ties, where we have family at,” Davi says. “We have another location in Utah; we opened it at the end of July, after this one.

“UTE (pronounced yoot — like Utah) is kind of like a fry sauce; it’s garlicky and peppery,” she adds. “Hawai

i is a sweet sauce; it has a slight honey mustard base. I really love our UTE and Hawai

i; those are probably my favorites. I love the UTE especially with the duo dippers; it goes with the pickles really nicely.”

Save room for the business’s Stick-N-Dip ($4.29) — vanilla ice cream bar dipped in chocolate — for dessert. The hard-shell chocolate coating is made in house, according to Davi. Customers can choose from toppings ranging from Oreo cookie crumbles to sprinkles and coconut shavings; the Oreo is the most popular

“We do a pre-coat of chocolate just so it stays frozen,” Davi explains. “It’s a mix of milk and dark chocolate.”

Indulging in the frozen treat hits the spot after the savory fried meal. The only challenge: keeping up with the melting dessert in the hot Kahuku heat.

Chick N Dips owner 083125

<title>‘Fowl’ play: New Kahuku biz specializes in chicken tenders</title>

Chick-N-Dips opened in early July. Its chicken tenders-centric menu offers combos and mini sandwiches, along with a variety of flavorful dipping sauces — and chocolate-dipped ice cream.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: A comedy crime saga in two parts

ASD Staff

Reporter

More in Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

Enter for a chance to win tickets to see Disney’s live action adaptation of the animated film ‘Moana’

Hawai‘i Scene on Social meets Hawai‘i Skies

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Neighborhood weather updates

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Island vibes

Most read

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: A comedy crime saga in two parts

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

More in Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

Enter for a chance to win tickets to see Disney’s live action adaptation of the animated film ‘Moana’

Hawai‘i Scene on Social meets Hawai‘i Skies

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Neighborhood weather updates

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Island vibes

Most read