Page 3 - Dining Out - June 5, 2022

Restaurant Insider with Anne Lee
We started as a food truck, then eventually moved to a brick-and-mortar and are constantly growing — you will see us in a new location in 2023.
AL: Everyone raves about your Crazy Rice. How did you come up with this?
MO: It’s a spicy barbecue fried rice. This was an experiment at first. How you traditionally make fried rice is adding all your left- overs and then mixing it all togeth- er. Back when we had our food truck, a customer really liked to try random things. Since we al- ways had barbecue left over, we added that in with some hot sauce and mixed it up. The response was, “Wow, this stuff is crazy!”
AL: What are some popular items?
MO: We have the Ora King Salmon ($20), which is rare to find at a plate
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lunch place. The Sashimi Bowl ($22) is only available Wednes- days-Saturdays and is a combina- tion of ora king salmon, hamachi flown in from Japan, and local ahi.
Our most popular is the BBQ Ribs ($15 mini; $18 regular). We slow-cook the ribs then grill each one before adding our special barbecue sauce. You can preor- der a half pan ($90), which feeds eight to 10. Take it home with our reheating instructions to enjoy at your celebration/event.
The Pulehu Beef Short Ribs with Garlic Shrimp ($25) is our version of surf and turf. It’s kalbi bone-in short ribs made with Hawaiian sea salt and
pepper, grilled with a slight char. We do not add butter to our garlic shrimp, it’s our own secret blend.
There are many different ways to make smoked meat. Since this is a plate lunch served with rice, we wanted it to be juicier. We marinate pork, then smoke it in our smoker for about eight hours, cut it up and finish it in a pan with onions ($12 mini; $15 regular).
Regular plate lunches come with two scoops of rice (substitute Crazy Rice for an additional $2 per scoop) and spaghetti mac salad. Minis come with one-and-a-half scoops of rice and a 1/4 less of the entrée.You can substitute spinach
salad in place of mac salad or rice for a healthier alternative.
AL: Kau Kau Grill has amazing beef jerky made in-house. Tell me more about it.
MO: We make eight different fla- vors ($15 a bag). The options vary based on ingredients. We try to al- ways have teriyaki, ponzu, garlic, the works and a spicy option. This is thin, crispy and melts in your mouth.
AL: As the head chef, tell me more about your background. RS: I have been here for seven years, right out of high school. Sometimes I bring the fish I catch to the restaurant, but most of the time we go to the fish auction and get the best fish for our customers. I met Miles and Ty at my dad’s store, Containerland, where I worked in high school. We used to talk story all the time, and they asked me to join their team. I love to cook and have a passion for fish. We wanted to elevate our sushi rice, add more flavor to our rice, Ginza-style. Miles and Ty are the meat, I’m the fish (laughs).
AL: I’m curious about what’s next for Kau Kau Grill.
MO: We are moving our location at the end of the year. We envision having a glass case where we can showcase our poke and maybe
Kau Kau Grill
852 Mapunapuna St., Honolulu 808-476-5888 Instagram: @kaukaugrill 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays; closed Sundays
desserts, as well as having grab- and-go options.
AL: Anything happening for Father’s Day?
MO: We have the barbecue half pans that we encourage you to order for pops to make sure he doesn’t have to grill on his day — just enjoy. We also have catering options. We can customize the menu and will work with you on any budget.
AL: Anything else you want to share?
MO: To avoid the line, we encour- age phone orders. For big orders, we ask you order a day before. If you know you are going to walk in and don’t want to wait, you can call 30 minutes ahead and we will have it waiting for you. If you walk in to order, we will take care of you.
1. Sashimi Bowl with Ginza sushi rice ($22) 2. Ora King Salmon ($20)
3. Pulehu Beef Short Ribs with Garlic
Shrimp ($25)
4. Smoked Meat ($15)
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Dining Out / June 5-11, 2022 / 3