Frank Sabatini Jr. | Restaurant Review
It’s a wish come true. Everything that I dislike about Hawaiian plate lunches — the grizzly beef, the waterlogged macaroni salad and the overcooked rice — are exactly the dishes that rise to perfection at Chris’ Ono Grinds Island Grill.
Owner Chris Wriston opened the casual eatery in North Park earlier this year as an offshoot to his successful Mission Valley location. Born and raised in Hawaii, he rightly incorporated “ono grinds” into the name, which is island slang for “delicious food.”
Musubi rolls encasing steamy, starchy rice and a slice of either Spam or Portuguese sausage was our first clue that the kitchen favors authentic scratch-made sauces in lieu of plain ole commercial soy sauce. The rolls were moistened with wisps of huli huli, a classic muddling of soy sauce, ginger, garlic and brown sugar that later charmed a piling of chicken on one of our combo plates.
The roll with Spam was our favorite as the saltiness of the infamous canned pork product jazzed up the rice and meshed with the sweet tang of the sauce.
I suspect that the charbroiled “Waimea wings” taste very good even without their particular sauce options, given their smoky skins and juicy innards. We chose guava barbecue, a semi-sweet glaze that clung perfectly to the wings without the glueyness you encounter from bottled brands. Other sauce choices include Buffalo, huli huli and “lava.”
Red pepper bisque spiked generously with cayenne pepper was the soup of the day. Given its spiciness, my companion took only a few spoonfuls. How does this relate to Hawaiian cuisine? Without detecting any curry or coconut milk in the recipe, it really doesn’t, but I blissfully lapped it up anyhow.
Wriston takes creative license with a guava barbecued pork bowl, tossing in house-made pineapple salsa and bacon to “make it our own thing.” At the Mission Valley location, he gives a twist to the traditional elements of kalua pork and huli huli chicken by using them in tacos, which he’s considering adding to the North Park menu.
Full, mini and combo plates return you squarely back to the Aloha State. They come with a choice of meats and sides. The two combo entrees we ordered yielded a few pounds of food.
My companion vowed a return visit after tasting the huli huli chicken. The thigh meat is marinated overnight and charbroiled to order. This is chicken at its best.
The “teri” skirt steak presented a bigger surprise, ranking as the tenderest, least fatty beef that I’ve ever encountered in Hawaiian eateries. It too was beautifully charred and undergoes marinating, though for a shorter amount of time compared to the chicken.
Pulled kalua pork on one of our plates offered a slow-roasted flavor aided likely by salt and liquid smoke. In Hawaii, the meat is often cooked in pits, but the oven fared equally well here. Even after sitting overnight in my fridge, the leftovers sprang back to life with all its juices.
Our lineup also included Korean-style kalbi beef ribs, which are cut perpendicular to the bone in thin strips. Though tender and tasty, their quantity is superceded by the other meat options.
Among our accompaniments, the macaroni salad was light and tangy, with the mayo factor staying well below the detrimental limit. Baked beans were cooked down to a soft consistency, although the sweet potato medallions delivered the most exciting sideshow.
The spuds are oven-baked and then sautéed in butter and onions. If these were white potatoes, the dish would send you to Germany rather Hawaii. Good stuff.
Hawaiian-style coconut pudding resembling the smooth, jiggly consistency of panna cotta concluded our meal. Known as haupia, it receives extra-special treatment here with the addition of macadamia-cut crust underneath and guava drizzle on top.
The only missing element at Ono Grinds is cold Hapa and other Hawaiian brews, which Wriston says are coming “any day now” when his beer and wine license materializes. An empty chalkboard shaped like a surfboard near the kitchen proves he’s ready, as it will spell out the beer list in colorful island style.
