Yelp’s No. 1 pick on its list of Top 100 Places to Eat in the U.S. has strong local ties. And not one, but three eateries with Hawaiʻi roots were in the Top 5.
Business at Broken Mouth in Los Angeles has doubled since it made the top of the list. Menu items include local-style meat jun, spam musubi with purple rice, and garlic butter shrimp.
The creator of the Korean-Hawaiian fusion restaurant is Kamukī native and Maryknoll graduate Tim Lee. His family also owns the Korean restaurant Sorabol in Honolulu.
"Everything on my menu, essentially, is all based off of my taste. So I had to recreate and understand the ingredients that were available out here. And everything was from scratch. I took over maybe like six months about to develop my little small menu," he said.
Lee said he didn’t go to culinary school. He just wanted to make food he felt anyone could enjoy no matter where they are from.
"I love food. I love where I come from, you know, being born and raised in Hawaiʻi, and you know, being around all the cultures there. It's a huge part of who I am today," he told The Conversation. "I'm not really trying to create anything different. I just wanted to showcase to the world, what Hawaiʻi is all about — coming from Hawaiʻi, being Korean."
"I feel that through all of that, people from everywhere can understand our culture and what Hawaiʻi people are all about," Lee added.
Lee said his restaurant’s name is a play on the Hawaiian pidgin phrase “broke da mouth” — something many local folks say when a meal is exceedingly delicious.
"First-time customers come, they become regulars, you know, they essentially become family to me," he said. "All my family's in Hawaiʻi still. Kind of doing my own little family out here through food."
His favorite places to eat when he’s home in Hawaiʻi are Adela’s Country Eatery in Kāneʻohe, Tonkatsu Tamafuji in Kapahulu, and of course, his family’s restaurant, Sorabol.
Also on the Yelp list is Kaaloa’s Super Js Authentic Hawaiian on Hawaiʻi Island at No. 2, Adela's at No. 5, and Maui Bread on Maui at No. 72.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Feb. 16, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
