I was talking to my neighbor Ivan Young this week. He told me he used to work at Lyn’s Delicatessen at Ala Moana Center with 18-year-old John Gotanda, who’s now president of Hawaii Pacific University.
Lyn’s had the best hot pastrami sandwiches (with coleslaw and a pickle). Their “Little Sicily” pizza was pretty good, too, Ivan remembered. I also loved the lemon chicken at its sister restaurant, Patti’s Chinese Kitchen, sold only on Saturdays.
There are a lot restaurants I wish were still around. When I was going to the University of Hawaii in the 1970s, Mr. Sub opened at 1035 University Ave. in Puck’s Alley. I don’t know how they made them so good, but I loved those subs and ate there two to three times a week.
Interestingly, Gilbert Sakaguchi opened a Magoo’s Breakfast, Steak, Pasta restaurant in 1999 in the very same spot as Mr. Sub, 20 years later.
The food was amazing. The portions were huge and the prices affordable. We went there all the time. A 1-pound top sirloin teriyaki steak with pasta and salad was $9.95.
They also had clam linguine ($9.95), chicken with roasted red peppers ($10.95) and shrimp scampi ($7.95). It was so good!
I asked readers what their favorite places to dine were, in days gone by, and what they wish they could still order today. Here’s a few of their submissions.
Swiss Inn
Jack Davis said he had many delicious dinners at the Swiss Inn in sleepy Niu Valley until it closed in 2000. “With Martin Wyss in the kitchen and his wife, Jeanie, and her sister, Sharon Fujii, running the dining room, we had the perfect restaurant for any occasion.
“A couple we often saw dining there was Arthur and Kathryn Murray, who obviously enjoyed great food as well as great dancing.
“We were delighted to find the Swiss Hibiscus restaurant in Portland, Ore. It’s run by Martin and Jeanie’s daughter, Jennie, and her partner, Tammy, with Jennie reprising her father’s role in the kitchen and Tammy handling the dining room as well as Jeanie did.
“The recipes are Martin’s, and the food is just as good as I remembered it. They even serve and sell the salad dressing Martin created.”
Ken Fujii fondly remembers Swiss Inn as well. “I don’t know how they did it, but Jeanie and her sister, Sharon, would always greet us by name when we entered the restaurant. And we visited only once or twice a year. How did they remember us? That made a big difference in our affection for the restaurant and the staff.
“I always ended my meal with their peach melba dessert (named after opera singer Nellie Melba). It was served in classic French style in stemmed glassware.”
Waikiki Sands
Bill Souza said “the Waikiki Sands was a popular place to eat in the 1950s, where the police station is today, next to the Moana, on Waikiki Beach. My dad took us there after he got paid. Friday’s all-you-can-eat buffet and the fresh mahi were onolicious.
“A young busboy, Danny Kaleikini, sang impromptu at the diners’ tables. Kalakaua was two-way traffic and had free on-street parking. If Dad could not find parking within two blocks, he told my mom, ‘Let’s go home; too far to walk.’”
“The Waikiki Sands had a great buffet,” Alan Okamura said, “and as surfers with not a lot of money, we saved our nickels and dimes to eat there when we had enough. It was a great place to go and fill up. They also made the best kimchi.”
The Waikiki Sands closed in 1960.
Like Like Drive Inn
Wayne Shiohira fondly remembers Like Like Drive Inn. “Although they’ve closed only recently, my favorite restaurant of the past was Like Like Drive Inn. In the 1960s and ’70s, whether it was going to a sporting event at the HIC or Civic Auditorium, or getting a late-night meal after a movie, our go-to place was always Like Like.”
James and Alice Nako opened Like Like Drive Inn in 1953 on Keeaumoku Street. “It had lots of parking, good food, friendly waitresses, and most of all was open 24 hours.
“Their beef tenderloin cutlet was made from real cuts of tenderloin, not formed patties, and the home-style brown gravy all over was ‘broke the mouth’ ono.
“The fried rice with Portuguese sausage and fried egg, or saimin with dashi prepared from scratch, made a delicious meal any time of the day. We’d go there after Christmas Eve services, with no problem to accommodate six or eight of us at a table.
“I tried working there part time on weekends as a short-order cook. I was assigned to the saimin station from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. The people I worked with were great, and so were the free meals, but I lasted only a week.
“When I realized that sometimes I had to put out over 400 saimin in three hours, I decided that it wasn’t the job for me. I preferred being on the other side of the counter, eating, instead of making it.”
Kelly’s Coffee Shop
Wendy Tolleson said, “What I really miss are the hot fudge sundaes at Kelly’s Coffee Shop on Nimitz Highway and Lagoon Drive (Cycle City is there today). When I was playing with (the musical group) Brandywine, we worked a lot of military clubs at Pearl Harbor and Hickam.
“After 1 a.m., tired, on our way home, we would stop at Kelly’s to hear our friend Jerry sing and play guitar in the Bronco Bar and then get a hot fudge sundae in the diner. God, I miss those!
“Nobody made them better than Spencecliff, and Kelly’s Coffee Shop made the best, although Coco’s was also good. And Coco’s had the best Roquefort dressing. Do you know how hard it is to get blue cheese, or Roquefort dressing in this town? I don’t think anyone serves it anymore.”
C&C Pasta
“C&C Pasta on Waialae Avenue prepared their homemade pasta to perfection for this Italian from NYC,” John Votsis said. “Today that perfection in Italian cooking can be found at La Cucina Ristorante Italiano.”
Votsis also fondly remembers the Waimanalo restaurant Bueno Nalo, because “the food was fantastic.” It opened in 1981.
“On my first visit to what I was told was a rough neighborhood, I had an Audi with New York license plates and thought, ‘I’m likely to get beaten up for being a New Yorker.’ I couldn’t be more wrong and have come to love and respect Waimanalo and its residents.”
Torii’s Lunchroom
Milt Yamamoto jumped in with “places I really miss”:
>> Torii’s Lunchroom on Sheridan Street or Iwilei Road, 1960-70. Great plate lunches with spaghetti salad, Japanese pickled turnip — ‘ko-ko’ — and a single entree or mix of two every day.
>> KauKau Jr., 735 N. Nimitz Highway, next to Hilo Hattie’s. Hamburgers with “yellow mustard mayonnaise sauce.”
>> Wimpy Burgers (where the Blood Bank on Dillingham is now). Simple but “ono” burgers.
“I really miss these places!”
Tin Tin Chop Suey
Dennis Long said: “I remember back in the 1970s when good friend Dexter Au and I would often drop by for a late-night bowl of noodles in soup at Tin Tin Chop Suey.
“It was a seedy, hole-in-the-wall, tiny dive but the best place for Chinese food after UH games, movies in town, clubbing in Waikiki or after cruising around Chinatown with friends.
“At Tin Tin, on any given Saturday night, while slurping down your bowl of hot noodles, you could look around at the other cramped booths and see foot-patrol cops, families on the way home from a football game, young college couples on dates, local guys from a nearby pool hall, female Filipino taxi dancers on break from their dance hall, transvestites from The Glade nightclub and hookers from Hotel Street, all chowing down beside you! A true heterogeneous, visual feast!”
Tin Tin opened in 1950 and closed in 1985. It was at 1110 Maunakea St. between Pauahi and Hotel streets. It was good, cheap and open late, until 2 a.m. weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends.
Readers, which Hawaii restaurants do you really miss, and what would you order if it was still open today?
———
Bob Sigall is the author of the five “Companies We Keep” books. Send him your questions or suggestions at Sigall@Yahoo.com.
