Page 2 - Dining Out - Oct 3 2021

Restaurant Insider with Anne Lee
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Photos by
ANTHONY CONSILLIO
Many famous steakhouses start with an owner or family name. d.k Steakhouse is a Hawaiian region- al steakhouse that offers a version of local surf-and-turf — options for diners to order steak and sushi from owner D.K. Kodama’s popular Sansei Restaurant that’s also located at Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. His appreciation for the resort lifestyle and his passion for steak led to the opening of this restaurant in 2004. Today, he operates d.k Steakhouse, as well as Vino, and Sansei, which is set to reopen in mid-October. This week, D.K. shares what makes his namesake restaurant so special.
AL: Why did you want to open a steakhouse?
DK: When we found this location at Waiki- ki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, we knew that the space was too large for just San- sei. A friend of mine had a steakhouse in Massachusetts and I didn’t see any steak-
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houses opening up in
Hawaii. I really appreciate
the resort lifestyle, everyone
has fun and wants to eat out. That’s
why I opened my first Sansei restaurant on Maui. I also love steaks and I felt opening d.k Steakhouse would be a good comple- ment. We have included Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar to the mix as we moved from our Restaurant Row location. Now you can have Italian, sushi, seafood and dry-aged steaks under one roof.
AL: Tell me about your team at d.k Steakhouse.
DK: My executive chef Bert Balbas has been with me for over 20 years. He cuts all the meat to exact specs. Our general manager is Mark Okamoto, and we have our wine girl and assistant manager Jewels Ross, who works with Chuck Furuya to develop our wine lists. We have a great regular and reserve list of wines and an amazing re-
serve list that offers high-end California wines such as Colgin.We also have our first-world Bordeaux wines
and high-end burgundies.
AL: What is your goal to your customers?
DK: We focus on great quality and consis- tency. We want guests to leave their dining experience and remember how great it was. We guarantee our steaks. Steak costs can vary from $60 to $80, so that steak better be good. If it’s not good, like chewy, we ask that you send it back. Locals will not send it back as that is the local way, but I encourage you to send it back because of these rea- sons: it’s a lot of money, they need to have a good dining experience, and we can look at all the other steaks that were cut from this particular loin and discover if those steaks were also not the best cuts. I don’t know ex- actly how to explain a good steak, but it has to be seasoned well, broiled just right, the flavor of the meat has to come through — it
ANNE LEE
speaks with d.k. Steakhouse founder
D.K. KODAMA
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SPECIAL SECTIONS MANAGER
Nicole Monton
Phone: 808-529-4857 diningout@staradvertiser.com
SALES MANAGER
Anne Lee
Phone: 808-347-1093 alee@staradvertiser.com
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Dining Out
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