Chef Ed Kenney’s New Mahina & Sun’s

OAHU, HAWAII — Chef Ed Kenney never in his wildest dreams thought he’d have a restaurant on Waikiki Beach.

The touristy scene just wasn’t his particular cup of tea. After all, his other restaurants — Town, Kaimuki Superette, and Mud Hen Water — are all mere steps from one other in the quieter, residential neighborhood of Kaimuki.

But when Aqua-Aston Hospitality got the idea for revamping an old motel in Waikiki, they wooed him for a year until he finally agreed to open Mahina & Sun’s there in the Surfjack Hotel.

When he first saw the property, it was deja vu. Kenney chuckled, remembering that he once was a regular at a punk rock club that was on the premises.

Call it fate. But Kenney’s forward-thinking, Hawaiian farm-to-table cuisine seems right at home in this super cool and funky fun space.

The 1959 motel was redone in a retro Hawaiian vibe. Its beachy-looking rooms are surprisingly moderate in price, relatively speaking for Waikiki.

The property boasts an Instagram-worthy pool with tiles at the bottom that spell out “Wish You Were Here!” At night, a projection screen over the pool shows old-school surfing movies. Board games are available to while away the hours in the artsy open-air lobby with its avocado-green chaise.

The motel definitely attracts a younger clientele, compared to other places we’ve stayed on Oahu. In fact, the two nights we stayed there, courtesy of the Hawaii Tourism Bureau, our fellow motel guests were largely young Japanese nationals either in gal groups or with their parents. In one amusing moment, one young couple, he dressed in jeans and sporting a camera, and she dolled up in a slit-to-there evening gown, did an impromptu photo shoot, with the young lady striking various poses around the pool area.

Kenney makes the rounds of all his restaurants regularly, and tries to be at Mahina & Sun’s on Tuesdays and Fridays.

The open-air restaurant sports a terrace overlooking the pool. Take a seat in one of the rattan patio chairs or at the picnic-style communal wood tables. There’s usually a jazz duo playing, including the night I was there as a guest of the restaurant. And like all of Kenney’s places, this one is all about local ingredients.

A bowl of warm, boiled peanuts topped with jalapenos arrives at the table as you look at the menu. They’re comfort food, soft to the chew, redolent of star anise and ginger, and bring out the legume-taste of what we usually consider a nut.

Skipjack tuna tartare ($15) is mounded on crispy, thin risotto cakes with a touch of balsamic. It’s a fun bite, and a different presentation than the usual tartare with taro chips at so many other places.

Grilled He’e and watercress salad ($18) is sizeable enough to be a light entree. The octopus comes in one large, super tender piece. Swipe a piece through the creamy ricotta, and be sure to get a green olive and peppery green for a perfect bite. There’s a lot going on, but it all comes together cohesively.

Kuahwi Ranch burger ($18) is impressive looking, coming out with a big steak knife plunged through its soft potato bun. It’s slathered with Russian dressing. You can add cheese and bacon for an additional $2 each. The grass-fed beef is juicy, with a lean finish.

Monchong ($28) is a mild, flaky local fish. Alongside are green beans, cherry tomatoes and cubes of fried bread fruit that remind me a little of fried plaintains in their sweet starchiness.

For dessert, I couldn’t pass up yet more butter mochi. This time it’s a dark chocolate cake ($8) made chewy-soft with sweet rice flour. Black sesame ice cream adds a deep nutty flavor. A lilt of tangy-sweetness comes from the smear of local guava jam smeared over the top.

Because the restaurant ran out of the banana butterscotch pudding ($8) that night, and I am a sucker for butterscotch pudding, we returned the next night to sit at the bar to enjoy just that with a shot of 12-year-old Macallan scotch on the rocks ($16).

It was definitely worth the return trip. If you like butterscotch pudding and banana pudding, imagine the two together with chunks of fresh banana, whole wheat graham crumbs and a fluff of bourbon whipped cream.

Like the motel itself, it’s retro in the best sense, with a dash of modern flair for good measure.

Lunch at The Pig & The Lady

OAHU, HAWAII — A lot has happened since the last time I visited The Pig & The Lady two years ago.

Chef-Owner Andrew Le has added more seats to his Chinatown eatery, trying to accommodate the hoards who make their way to his acclaimed restaurant. But don’t be surprised if you still have to wait, no matter if it’s for lunch or dinner. It’s that popular. Still.

He also opened a second restaurant, the hilariously named Piggy Smalls in the revamped Ward Village. Unfortunately, it opened two days after we left Oahu, so we didn’t get to try it.

But we did score a table for lunch at Pig & The Lady, named for Le being born in the Year of the Pig and for his mom, who still helps out in the kitchen. We paid our own tab, but the kitchen sent out a few extra dishes.

There are few restaurants that are this fun with stellar food to boot. The menu backs are imprinted with pink pig snouts. And if you look carefully around the restaurant, you’ll spot a few whimsical pig figurines.

Avocado toast has never been so refined as it is here. The Avocado Tataki on Spanish Toast ($7) announces itself in precisely cut planks of a fried baguette topped with aged garlic shoyu, avocado, smashed tomato and shiso.

Laotian Fried Chicken ($12) are crisp wings drizzled liberally with a tangy fish sauce concoction, crunchy peanuts and kaffir lime so fragrant that you want to inhale this dish not just with your mouth but your nose. The chicken is dredged in rice flour, so it’s gluten-free, too.

The P&L signature pho ($16) is topped with rare beef and marbled 12-hour roasted brisket. The fresh rice noodles are made in house, as you can tell by their not-to-perfect looking strands. The broth is an elixir of ginger, calamansi, chili pepper water, scallions and sawtooth herb. At your standard pho joint, you usually season your broth at the table to your liking. Here, you need do nothing to this broth, because it packs a real punch of complex flavors.

Hawaiian Prawns & Garlic Noodles ($17) is plenty garlicky and vibrant, tossed with shiitakes and pickled red jalapenos.

The P&L Smoked Guava Chicken ($19) is a lusty rendition of Hainan chicken. It comes with a mound of garlic rice, again quite garlicky from big slivers of garlic among the grains. The chicken is incredibly moist, and glazed with guava jam. Like all good Hainan chicken, it comes with dipping sauces — a classic green onion-ginger one, and a genius spicy sambal made with raspberries. Le has a way of tweaking dishes unexpectedly with seemingly incongruous ingredients that in his hands somehow works in perfect harmony. That’s evident in a hot sauce with the vibrant addition of fresh raspberries. He should bottle it and sell it.

A small bowl of broth came with the chicken. Again, it was deeply flavorful, redolent of rich chicken fat and briny fish sauce.

One of the desserts offered only at lunch is soft serve ($7). That day it was lilikoi sorbet swirled with buttermilk frozen custard, then sprinkled with salted feuilletine crunch. It was like a delightful tropical version of a 50/50 bar or creamsicle.

I always leave with only one regret when I dine at Pig & The Lady — that it’s not located in the Bay Area, so I can enjoy food like this more often.

More: Take Five Q&A with Graham Elliot, Lincoln Carson, Michelle Karr-Ueoka, and Rory Hermann

And: “Soaring Plates” on Maui

And: A Visit to Koko Head Cafe, Tin Roof, and the Huge Shirokiya Village Walk

And: Eating on Maui’s Kaanapali Coast

And: Basking in the Luxury of the Four Seasons Oahu