A local's guide to Honolulu, Hawaii

LUNCH

Helena’s Hawaiian Food

Join the line (don’t worry, it moves fast) at Helena’s, a no-frills, fluorescent-lit joint where the walls are peppered with awards from publications and the James Beard Foundation, as well as photos of the founder, Helen Chock, who started the restaurant in 1946. Her grandson, Craig Katsuyoshi, now runs it and serves the same menu of Hawaiian staples: poi, kalua pig, laulau. The restaurant’s most famous item, though, is the pipikaula, soy sauce marinated short ribs air dried and then fried in cast-iron pans. Everything comes in little melamine plates and bowls alongside dishes of sliced raw onion, coarse salt and haupia (coconut pudding), the entire spread like tapas, Hawaiian style.

BTW: Order Menu D, which comes with all the most popular dishes and is enough food for two, and add on the fried butterfish collar.

1240 N. School St., Honolulu, HI 96817

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