Earls Kitchen + Bar is celebrating its grand opening today, Oct. 8, and is officially open to the public at 4 p.m.
Located on Kalākaua Avenue — between Duke’s Lane and Seaside Avenue — this new restaurant makrs the brand’s first Hawaiʻi location. The new eatery spans almost 13,000 square feet, with seating for more than 300 customers.
We got a sneak peek at the new space at last night’s preview.
The event included passed appetizers and several food stations, giving attendees a taste of the eatery’s modern, American-style cuisine with global influences.
The charred corn and avocado tostadas featured crispy corn tortillas topped with Chipotle aioli, Tajin and feta.
This is one of the featured appetizers on the eatery’s dinner menu. Other shareable dishes include truffle fries, sticky Korean ribs, Szechuan shrimp and pork dumplings, and jumbo lump crab cake.
The sushi station featured four options — aburi (flame-seared) salmon press, wagyu beef press, spicy California roll and crispy rice sushi with salmon or tuna. The aburi salmon press was our favorite; the torched dashi salmon had a nice, smoky flavor. The washu beef oshi press also boasted an umami flavor, thanks to the flame-torched beef and truffle soy glaze.
The raw bar consisted of shrimp cocktail and oysters on the half shell. The raw bar selection on the eatery’s dinner menu also includes seafood towers.
We got a taste of the eatery’s three tacos — pollo, carne and locally caught fish.
Carne consisted of chargrilled sirloin steak, charred corn, smashed avocado, pickled onions, chipotle crema, cabbage, cilantro and crumbled feta. Pollo featured many of the same ingredients, but with grilled chicken.
Of the three, the locally caught fish tacos were our favorite. The crispy beer-battered mahi mahi was served with chipotle crema, local cabbage, and Oʻahu pineapple jalapeno salsa.
The eatery’s entrees range from spicy Calabrian pasta and miso-glazed Chilean sea bass to tomahawk maple-glazed pork chops, steak frites and more. Customers can also feast on Earls classic burger and Nashville crispy chicken sandwich.
The preview also featured drinks like the Earls Mai Tai, martini and margarita stations, and the zero-proof coconut mango cooler.
Happy hour is offered twice a day — in the afternoon and late night — and brunch is on Saturdays and Sundays.
CONTACT
Earls Kitchen + Bar
2280 Kalākaua Ave., Honolulu
808-751-2299
Earlsrestaurants.com/location/earls-waikiki
Open 11 a.m. to midnight Mondays-Thursdays, and Sundays; 11 a.m.-1 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays; weekend brunch served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
