What kind-specifically the food- do you think Hawaii needs more of

Question

and narrowing it down to Honolulu. Question arises because my nephew contemplating opening a business there-local born and raised but now working in higher end NYC venues for past 4 years. Your thoughts appreciated!!!

Answer

good mexican

Answer

His pedigree will be helpful, and not only the caliber of restaurants he's worked at, but also the style of food / connection to his personal background might matter. For example, if he doesn't have much of a connection to Mexican food, it would seem kind of random for him to open a Mexican restaurant. People like to see a coherent vision, you know? If he's not Asian or if he didn't spend significant time in Asia, there may be a ceiling for his success with traditional Asian food. Andy Ricker's an exception because he spent a lot of time learning about Thai food in Thailand.

Consider also that there isn't really much of a Mexican population in Honolulu (at least to my knowledge), so that food may not connect with the locale much after a while. At the same time, he'll want to bring in something with a fresh perspective, but consider the following 2 options for a place that in my opinion has a fresh angle but can still make a connection with the locale and demographic.

1. Korean homestyle joint, focusing on lots of seasonal ever-changing banchan menu, and also specializing in comforting dishes such as yangnyeom tongdak (Korean fried chicken), kimchijeon (kimchee pancake), naengmyeon (cold noodle) etc. Don't do Korean barbecue, that's too obvious and it's done everywhere. Don't fall into the Hawaii pitfall of doing a little bit of everything, jack of all trades but master of none. With Korean fried chicken, it's familiar enough to the population - which is largely Asian or has a good general familiarity with Asian flavors, and Hawaii LOVES fried food. I'd love to see a place focused on lots of varieties of banchan. With his higher-end NYC experience, I'm sure he can think of interesting fermentation and vegetable-focused ways to make his banchan unique. Incorporate different kinds of fermentation for the banchan, and go beyond regular ingredients - try escarole, that works great with kimchee, and keep it changing all the time. Ground it traditionally but leverage the produce and fermentation focus likely gleaned at his tenure at high-end NYC establishments. Pair things with interesting beers (e.g. lambics) that match well with the pickled flavors in Korean cuisine. Interesting homemade sodas, too, using Asian ingredients, or even drinks like Koso kind of probiotic drinks. Why do I keep mentioning banchan and fermented stuff? Because what could be better in Summer weather (it's always Summer in Hawaii) than a refreshing meal of cold noodles, lots of banchan, and cold beer? At night, Korean fried chicken, kimchee pancake, etc. that goes great with beer. Of course he'd have to provide a few free banchan with the meal - that's expected - but go beyond the standard few and charge for a tasting of many other types, maybe premium types of banchan (I'm thinking of the raw marinated blue crab banchan at Park's in LA). Keep it fresh but comforting. I'm assuming he's somewhat young so to have that kind of semi gastro-pub kind of atmosphere, even a popup once a month dedicated to a particular Korean region or Korean dish, could be fresh. There's a lot of money to be made here, in my opinion, because you could connect wit the population but show them another, fresh angle of Korean food that works well with the climate and culinary zeitgeist.

2. A Central &/or South-American inflected Japanese seafood restaurant a la "Bajapon" (as we call it in Southern California) by the water, focusing on ceviche/aguachile and fresh seafood in Latin-American styles mixed with Asian ingredients. Ceviches, aguachiles, etc. again these can be akin to new style sashimi but with a refreshing take. At the risk of being lumped into Nobu, Morimoto esque kind of upper-middle class tier Japanese restaurants with "new style sashimi," really focus in on specializing and don't do a full kitchen of every kind of Japanese food...be a fish specialist, and don't do bento boxes to go. Do not do sushi. Naturally, this kind of restaurant makes sense by the water. There's a lot to be explored between Hawaii's tropical produce and Japanese sashimi / Italian crudo / Peruvian aguachile-esque dishes. I mean pineapple juice sounds like a great substitute for lime juice in a ceviche/aguachile/crudo dish; it has enough acidity but nice sweetness to it. Keep it local (w/ local ingredients/produce, local farms, etc.), Japanese, and fresh with something pretty rare for Hawaii like South American. 

Here's 3 sample dishes I made up off the top of my head: 
1. Wild yellowtail (hiramasa) "aguachile" with pineapple juice, sage, jalapeno, sudachi zest, and pineapple sage flower garnish; 
2. Horse mackarel (aji) "aguachile" with passionfruit juice, coconut oil, shiso, Peruvian aji amarillo (the dish can be a pun on "aji de maracuya"). 
3. Hokkaido scallop ceviche marinated in sudachi and kabosu juice, with Hamakua Springs tomatoes, cucumber, shiso, jalapeno, and served with thin baked satsumaimo (sweet potato) chips (instead of plantain chips).

They have a tropical/Hawaiian element to them with the fruit to bring some acidity to the dishes instead of lime juice from South American styles. They also have a Japanese element to them, and for sure each of those dishes would be $15 a pop. Have a good 6-10 selections of local-style sashimi/crudo/aguachile, a nice bar program with Japanese-esque cocktails (use shochu, sake, muddled shiso instead of mint, yuzu zest instead of lemon, kuromitsu instead of regular sugar, etc.), good views by the beach and some bossa nova playing and damn you have a sexy place by the water.

But bottom line: he should do what is most natural to him, what makes most sense with his style of cooking / culinary experience, and he'll likely be successful. But the above two suggestions I think could make some quite good business.

Answer

I'm with macsak, good Mexican and Italian (even decent of either would do).

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What kind-specifically the food- do you think Hawaii needs more of

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