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John Pritchett

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Tommy waters nothing burger

<title>Pritchett Cartoon: Tommy Waters court challenge</title>

Pritchett Cartoon: Tommy Waters court challenge

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Chef Kale Afong wants to make one thing very clear — his new restaurant, 

, which just soft opened in Kalihi, is not a straight-up Korean barbecue spot.

“It’s Korean barbecue- and yakiniku-inspired,” he says. “It’s Korean barbecue inspired because you take the meats and grill them on the table. It’s yakiniku-inspired because I’m putting more of a Hawaiian influence on the side dishes. There’s so many yakiniku places, and I wanted to be different. But it’s all-you-can-eat because that’s what everybody wants. Locals like all-you-can-eat; it’s kind of a Hawaiʻi thing. We wanted to match that vibe and give the people what they want.”

You have to admit, the restaurant name is pretty catchy. But Afong says he didn’t intend to be named after him.

“We were using chat GPT and Google (to think of restaurant names),” he says. “Kale’s Hale was one of the first names we came up with, but I didn’t like it. We went through hundreds of names — Hawaiian, Japanese and Greek names — we were just going through so many names. I didn’t like it, but Kale’s Hale was the best option we had.”

The new biz is located in the former space of Katsuriki BBQ House (close to Rainbow Drive-In in Kalihi).

“I love banchan; I will go to a restaurant based on the banchan,” Afong says. “This is yakiniku-inspired with a whole bunch of pūpū. About 20 pūpū dishes will be on the regular menu; we have a rotating list of specials that we have every other night.”

For the eatery’s soft opening, customers can take advantage of a discounted rate of $39.99 (regular price is $59.99). So, what does that include?

As soon as customers are seated, they can take their pick from the different featured banchan, many of which are Hawaiian-forward, according to Afong.

“We’re replacing seaweed soup with Hawaiian lūʻau soup,” he says. “I take the lūʻau leaf and we’re making a lūʻau soup. Instead of poke, we’ll have kalo poke. I have a lot of ʻulu, lūʻau leaf and kalo throughout the menu to showcase more Hawaiian food. The kalo plant is a Hawaiian staple.

“There is a difference between Hawaiian food and Hawaiʻi food,” he adds. “Hawaiʻi food is more like our lomi salmon, mac salad, and loco moco. Loco moco is Hawaiʻi food, but not Hawaiian food. The difference gets a little blurred on social media and through the world. We want to showcase some of the differences; we have a lot of products from local farmers and from Hawaiʻi.”

Of course, you’ll still find Korean barbecue-style banchan like kimchi and pickled vegetables since they’re local favorites, according to Afong.

Moving onto the main event — the meats. The selection includes pork belly, short ribs, chuck roll, marinated chicken, pork jowl and hanging tender, to name a few.

“Hanging tender is my favorite cut of steak,” Afong says. “It’s very expensive. They’re really odd cuts, but they’re a delicious, high-quality steak that tastes like a piece of filet mignon. We have all these high-quality meats, along with the pūpū — that’s our base menu.”

On top of that, Kale’s Hale has access to Kagoshima wagyu, which comes from a prefecture in south Japan, according to Afong. The high-quality wagyu is known for its marbling and tenderness. Afong says the eatery brings in whole cows, and customers will each get a wagyu sampler as part of the AYCE experience.

“The sampler is a couple ounces of wagyu, which is a lot,” he says. “It’s rich, and we’ll also have wagyu as a la carte enhancements.

“Our wagyu grade is A5 and then there’s something called the beef marbling score, also known as BMS,” he adds. “Our Kagoshima wagyu score is a BMS 12, which is the highest score you can get for BMS.”

That score means that the wagyu has an exceptional texture and boasts a rich marbling. As excited as he is to feature Kagoshima wagyu, Afong says having customers learn more about the product is equally important.

“We’re bringing the education to where the cut is coming from,” he says. “We want to show the difference between the high-end cuts and not-so-high-end cuts, and there’s a price difference. We have to do a better job communicating the differences between the cuts. The a la carte menu for our wagyu is actually super affordable; we’re selling three ounces for $35 to $40.”

While the eatery is currently only open for dinner (daily from 5 to 10 p.m., last seating is at 9 p.m.), stay tuned — lunch service will be starting soon. And that’s just the beginning for the restaurant, according to Afong.

“Once we get lunch going, I want to bring back 24-hour dining on Fridays and Saturdays,” he says. “That’s what we’re striving for. We’re also really focusing on customer service; we have nothing to do with the old restaurants (formerly in this space). We’re brand new; we want to break that stigma. Customer service is going to be our top priority — quality food that’s slightly elevated, and a great customer experience.”  

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