**** The La Mesa location has closed and Nelson is currently only doing catering
**** Da Kine's has reopened in La Mesa. You can find a post here.
First off, before I get started on this post; I want to extend some major Mahalos to "Kerri" who sent me an email telling me Nelson Ishii and Da' Kine's is back in business. Kerri mentioned the address in the email and I instantly knew where this was; it's almost in my 'hood at the old Kona Kakes location in Linda Vista. Man, being out of town for two weekends in a row really prevented my from going "holoholo". But, once I was back in town, I quickly headed over to the strip mall on Linda Vista Road, and there it was!
Da Kine's la' dat
There's been a bit of shuffling of the configuration of the place from the time it was Kona Kakes, but the color scheme remains the same.
I placed my order and went to have a seat. And guess what? Nelson came over and started chatting with me…..the most I'd ever got out of him in the "old days", was "uh…..". It seems he's mellowed a bit over the years. While I waited we talked about what happened to Da Kine's, why he gave the restaurants to employees and went to catering, and why he's now back. Some of it seemed quite personal, so I'll leave it for folks to ask him yourself. I will say that Da Kine's was the first place I had a plate lunch at in San Diego when I was doing consulting work here in the late 90's. By the time we'd moved to San Diego in the "oughts", things seemed a bit shakey. By the time I did my post in 2005; Da Kine's had definitely slipped. So much so; like I mentioned in my Mira Mesa location post in 2007, a person identifying himself as the Manager of the PB location started his email with "Wow, yoso-harsh…..". And then all the locations started closing. The National City location became Nani Moku and the Liberty Station location closed soon after.
I ordered the Loco Moco, which hadn't done too well in my Loco Moco comparison in 2005. So, how would it fare fourteen years down the line?
Well, let's go back in time and pull out my "Modified Rubio Scale" inspired by James Rubio who used to have a wonderful food blog; Big Island Grinds. There's still a remnant of it here if you're interested.
So let's get on with it, eh?
BURGER: Two good sized patties with a nice char. A bit over-charred for my taste though. Moist and tender. Nicely seasoned, perhaps edging on too salty. 3.0
RICE: Back in the day; Da Kine's used to always serve rather mushy rice; but this was decent, not overly mushy, not hard. 3.0
GRAVY: Dark, but not gluey, somewhat beefy, no lumps, not overly salty. And guess what? They have Tabasco! 3.0
EGGS: Now this was weird. It's sunny side up, not over easy. It's also only slightly runny as the bottom portion is solid. Would also appreciate some crisp edges and seasoning. Also, you can tell it went from the pan on top of things because there's a pool of oil around the gravy. Still, not horrible. 2.5
STUFFS: Man, look at that bombucha scoop of mac salad. And it's not just mayo and macaroni. Perfectly chilled, well seasoned, much different than what I used to get at Da Kine's before. Did I mention the Tabasco? 3.5
Wow, that's a 15??? Pretty good, huh?
A few days later travelling between meetings I went and got take-out. I got the Chicken Katsu and an Ala Carte Kalua Pig and Cabbage.
The katsu was still fairly crisp, moist, and tender when I got to the office. Notice something missing? There was no katsu sauce…..soft opening missives I guess. Luckily, I have a bottle of Bull Dog Tonkatsu Sauce in my desk drawer….but pitty folks who got their katsu this way and don't. The mac salad was still cool when I consumed it, the rice was a bit dry.
I only had a couple of bites of the kalua pork and cabbage, which edged on almost being too salty and was really smoky. Also, it was almost three-fourth's pork. The way it should be. This was a drier version, but was not bad. In fact, I gave most of it to "AG" and Calvin, who both really enjoyed it.
This past Sunday, I went to work for a few hours, then decided to head down to Da Kine's to reward myself for lunch. I'd heard they had Laulau on Sundays. I cracked up when I saw Calvin waiting for a take-out order when I arrived. It was really good to see Lynn, his wife, and his little girl as well.
I ordered my Laulau plate and had a seat. Soon, several groups of people arrived…..many of them asking "where's Uncle Nelson?" From what I overheard, they had only made thirty laulau, and I'm sure they soon sold-out. But I did get mine.
And with some poi to boot. It's been a while since I've had poi. This was thick, smooth, innocuous. Looks like they've got the mac salad down as it was as good as the previous two times.
The laulau was moist and meaty, no salt fish though. The meat wasn't overly fatty (I do like some good chunks of fat in my laulau). I also like a good layer of luau leaf, this one only had one single layer, so there wasn't much of that bitter-sweet collard green like flavor I enjoy. I also thought the meat could have used a bit more salt.
The chicken long rice was the best version I've had in years; perfectly seasoned, great chicken flavor, the long rice wasn't mushy, and just enough ginger.
It was nice to see a couple of multi-generational families come in….I haven't seen this many people from Hawaii in one place on the Mainland in a while. "Uncle Nelson" is indeed beloved. And he's done quite a bit over the years for the Ex-pat Kama'aina community in San Diego. I actually went to that Kalapana Concert in 1999 partially sponsored by Da' Kine's. I was consulting here and stayed the weekend. Kalapana, along with C&K and Olomana defines what contemporary local music was to me when I was growing up back in the 70's. My friends brother sneaked us into Top Ada Shoppe to hear Kalapana and then later Summer play. I felt sad at that concert in 1999 because it was the year that Mackey Feary committed suicide. RIP Malani Bilyeu who passed away at the end of 2018.
It was great looking at the photos lining he walls….heck everybody now knows BJ Penn, but do you remember Mosi Tatupu?
I hope Da Kine's does well. It's fairly close to home for me; so I'll drop in once in a while for my plate lunch fix. And also to look at those photos and posters……
Da Kine's Plate Lunches
5401 Linda Vista Rd. #402
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours (as of 09/09/2019)
Tues – Sun 11am – 5pm
And thanks so much for thinking of us Kerri!
Sadly, I did get confirmation that they're last day will be on Sunday, August 16th. They had a sheet at the take-out table where you could list your name and email for updates.
