Nobu Matsuhisa is in Honolulu, whipping his crew into shape for a May 28 opening of his latest outpost at the Waikiki Parc Hotel. Local media is all lathered up about the event -- which kind of cements my suspicion that Honolulu is a weird paradox of culinary Nirvana and restaurant backwater. In New York City at the original Nobu, it's still sort of hard to get a reservation but demand has definitely slowed and the mention of the name Nobu elicits a respectful yawn from foodies who have tried the no-longer trendy Japanese fusion cuisine of this clearly innovative but now expansion-minded Japanese chef. I wonder what kind of reception he will get here in a city that already has great Japanese fusion cooking and stellar sushi, not to mention local treatments of raw fish that knock the pants of most standard sashimi preparations. Word is that Nobu Waikiki will largely hew to the signature dish list from Matsuhisa's flagship restaurants.
The Honolulu outpost of P.F. Chang's was roundly panned by the local media as being not really...Chinese. Not to mention not very good. Matsuhisu will be somewhat insulated by his Waikiki location, where tourists from markets with no exposure to his cooking can belly up. Also, the opening of such a high-end joint does add another line to the promising revival of Waikiki. Left for dead only a decade ago, this tiki-tacky resort Mecca continues to get renovation love from big hotel chains and is in the midst of a huge redevelopment boom. Alas, restaurants in Waikiki continue to lag as the two local home-grown openings (Roy's Waikiki, Holokai Grill) are both solid but from well known voices -- Roy's Restaurants and Tiki's Bar and Grill. That said, very few hotels have great signature restaurants in Waikiki. In fact, there is one (arguably three) that fit the bill -- the Halekulani being the most obvious. Adding the stylish and newly renovated Waikiki Parc to the list is great as Hawaii is still signature restaurant poor. And it will be most excellent to have a local source for Nobu's divine hamachi with jalapeno creation.
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