A family affair on South King Street
Friday - December 19, 2008
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Gulick Delicatessen has long been considered one of the best okazuyas in Hawaii. The Kalihi deli has received local and national acclaim and is a place locals and foodies alike seek out when craving home-cooked Japanese food.
So when brothers Cory Makishi and Lee Takara (sons of Gulick’s founder), along with Takara’s wife, Denise, opened a second Gulick Deli on South King Street filled with the same well-loved dishes as the original store, it didn’t take long for word to spread.
Word spread, too, about renovations on the space next door, the one occupied last by Makino Chaya. Most assumed that the renovations were for a new restaurant, and they were right. But regular customers were surprised when the owners of Kochi Restaurant turned out to be none other than the brothers themselves.
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I stopped by for a taste of Kochi and a chat with Cory, Lee and Denise, and what I found was excellent food, attractive décor and two determined brothers with a plan that’s working.
I know that your mom started the original Gulick Deli in Kalihi almost 30 years ago. Were you both brought up working in the business?
Lee: We all worked and got experience with the original restaurant in Kalihi, but I think that I was the one who really wanted to cook and to take it further.
Cory: I’m more of the logistics person. I was never that interested in the cooking. I’m interested in how everything runs.
Kochi is not what you’d expect from the people responsible for Gulick. What I mean by that is Gulick is a traditional, Japanese-style deli where you order at the counter and take out your Styrofoam box, and Kochi is sleek, sophisticated, with a very cool ambience and an intriguing menu.
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Lee: Yeah. It’s different, obviously. As far as Gulick, we’re very grateful to our customers for supporting us all these years, and we wanted to, in a way, give something back to them, to create a place where local food was served in a nice atmosphere. We wanted to make this place so people could come eat good local food and either dress up or come in just shorts and slippers and know that they are welcome.
Cory: My brother and I like to go out and kick back after work, but we didn’t really know of a place where they had local food that also looked really good. There are lots of great casual places and bars, of course, but we thought, ‘Let’s make a restaurant where we can have a nice atmosphere, families will be welcome and people like us would enjoy coming and kicking back with our drinks too.’
How’s that working?
Denise: Really well. We have different crowds. From 5 to 6 in the evening we have families and kids who come for dinner. A little later at night we have a crowd that comes for cocktails, and on weekends we have a younger, later crowd. We have everything from grandma’s birthday party to baby showers and business lunches (Kochi opens daytime for private parties and lunches). And the thing is that everyone seems to enjoy what they come for.
I notice that there is a lot of Japanese influence on the menu. From your mom?
Lee: Well, I learned directly from my mom, of course, and the base of the cooking is all from her.
The thing that sets us apart, though, is we have the Japanese flavors down. Where else can you get a teishoku with the true traditional flavors alongside a loco moco or kurobuta pork?
What’s proving most popular on the menu?
Lee: Lots of things are getting a good reception, but probably the loco moco is one of the biggest hits. That was inspired by my brother (laughs). When we were growing up he would eat the rice and the hamburger and the hash all at once, so it came from there.
Denise: Now people bring their friends and visitors from the Mainland here when they want them to try loco moco. People love the pork. You don’t need a knife with it at all, it just falls off the fork when you touch it.
Lee: What we wanted to do was to make food that people would want to eat every day. With teri chicken and steaks, furikake ahi, fresh poke and simple things like the katsu and saimin, we’re cooking food that pretty much people want to eat all the time.
I hear you’re doing a Christmas Day brunch - that’s an easy way for people to try most of your food.
Denise: From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. we’ll have made-to-order sushi, an omelet station, carving stations, mahimahi, garlic chicken and some of our best local favorites. It’s just $35.95, so yes, it’s a good way to try our food all at once!
Kochi Restaurant 1936 S. King St. 941-2835
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