WE'RE CRAVING: HAWAIIAN FOOD

DA HAWAIIAN STOP

Da Hawaiian Stop, which opened last year in the old home of Rada's Piroshki, offers Hawaiian plate lunches that are so 'ono, you'll think your own Auntie Mary was cooking there. All the food is made from scratch, not mass produced and frozen.

Da Hawaiian Stop, 1146 Fort Street Mall, 354-0630

HELENA'S HAWAIIAN FOOD

With about 12 tables, this place is always buzzing. The trademark short ribs arrive hot from the frying pan, cut into bite-size pieces and glistening with fat — chewy and delicious. And Helena's kalua pig is imu-cooked by Pat's Piggery in Wai'anae. Fried butterfish collar with stew gravy and kalua pork and cabbage are the kinds of grinds that put you right back in Grandma's kitchen.

Helena's Hawaiian Food, 1240 N. School St., 845-8044

ONO HAWAIIAN FOOD

Cramped and always busy, Ono gets lots of tourist business, but maintains a strong local following, too. You know it's really Hawaiian because the combo plates come with a small cup of raw onion and 'alaea salt. The bambucha laulau are worth the inevitable time you spend waiting on the bench outside. The chicken long rice and tripe stew are saltily addictive. When the poi is two-day, they tell you. The lomi salmon is chunky and crisp, not watery, and the kalua pig from HPC Foods is imu-cooked.

Ono Hawaiian Food, 726 Kapahulu Ave., 737-2275

PEOPLE'S CAFE

For serious laulau lovers ... People's Cafe rocks. There's hardly any fat, and the laulau is stuffed with juicy pork and fish. The kalua pig and poi are great to add to a combo plate. If you want to stray from basic Hawaiian, go for the salted meats, like saltmeat with watercress, salt butterfish or fried salted butterfish. Basically, you can't go wrong with anything here.

People's Cafe, 1300 Pali Highway, 536-5789

FOOD NEWS

Fifteen years after Indigo (521-2900, indigo-hawaii.com) restaurant signed its first lease with the Hawai'i Theatre Center, the popular Downtown eatery signed another 10-year lease with HTC early this month. The signing of the long-term contract will allow Indigo owner and chef Glenn Chu to go ahead with a $300,000 renovation of the restaurant's interior. Restaurant chef Dave Cruz has also overhauled the menu.

The following restaurants are offering special Father's Day meals:

3660 On the Rise is offering a Father's Day dinner buffet ($48, $19 children ages 3-10, 737-1177) from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday that will include a tempura station, an 'ahi katsu station, poke, fried chicken with gravy, prime rib and a bananas foster station.

Chef Harold Beltran of Kani Ka Pila Grille (Outrigger Reef on the Beach Hotel, 924-4990) will be throwing all kinds of meat on the grill between 4:30 and 8:30 p.m. Sunday, including rack of lamb, ribs, lobster tail and beef kabobs. Brother Noland will provide the soundtrack.

The Hawaii Kai Lion's Club is at it again, cooking up 3,500 pancake breakfasts for Father's Day. Breakfast will be served from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the Kaiser High School cafeteria. Tickets are $6 at the door. For more details, visit www.hawaiikailions.org.

OLD-TIMEY COMFORT

Kaimuki has a lot going for it as far as food options go, but one thing the neighborhood doesn't have many of is sports bars. But the list is getting longer with the addition of Kaimuki Grill, a sports and karaoke bar that offers a full menu of local comfort food favorites, like garlic chicken, teri shortribs, pork chops and super 'ono shoyu hot dogs. The new bar takes the place of Japanese eatery Momotarou, replacing the sushi bar with a regular bar, and adding to the small room formica-topped tables and orange vinyl banquettes dotted with gold nickel-sized rivets. The back-in-the-day decor gives it a we've-always-been-here feel, and it's actually kind of comforting in a 1978 sports bar kind of way.

KAIMUKI GRILL

1108 12th Ave.

732-2292

11 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Friday, 2 p.m.-midnight Saturday (kitchen closes at 9:30 p.m.)

SMALL BITES

FRYING HIGH

From under a nameless tent at various farmers markets around the island come these deep-fried balls of mozzarella-stuffed risotto croquettes, also known as arancini ($3 for two). The tent, which has become a staple at the KCC and Kailua farmers markets, doesn't get points for being healthy — everything they offer, including beignets and lumpia, is fried — but it wins big for flavor.