In a bright, airy restaurant off Santa Maria Way, dining hours are posted on a yellow surfboard, palm trees bloom on the walls, and the mingling scents of teriyaki beef and chicken katsu make mouths water. This is Zoe’s Hawaiian BBQ and Catering, a friendly eatery and dream come true for its owner, Chef Rex Matsunaga.
Matsunaga opened Zoe’s Hawaiian BBQ a little more than a year ago and proudly serves “ono kine food,” which roughly translates to “the best, most delicious Hawaiian-style dishes this side of the Pacific Ocean.” After years spent working in other chef’s kitchens, Matsunaga is finally his own boss.
“I’m born and raised on Oahu,” Matsunaga said, a trace of island patois coloring his speech. “I always wanted to have a fried chicken place, because I love fried chicken, but I looked around to see what was not in this area, and the food that I missed was the Hawaiian barbecue. In Hawaii, we call it a drive-in, a plate-lunch place.”
The menu at Zoe’s Hawaiian BBQ reads like a gastronomical travelogue through the islands. Dishes with names like Loco Moco, Kalbi BBQ Short ribs, Kalua Pork, and Surfside (mahi mahi and fried shrimp) come with generous scoops of white rice and creamy macaroni salad, while the classic Joe Moco pairs grilled linguiça with eggs and rice “drowning in gravy.”
The Pearl City Plate includes slices of the iconic island favorite, SPAM, as do the wonderfully portable musubies, which resemble giant onigiris, complete with rice and a nori (seaweed) wrapping.
Chef Matsunaga also prepares burgers made with katsu chicken dressed with a savory/sweet sauce, teriyaki beef, mahi mahi (grilled or deep fried), or char broiled angus beef, as well as sandwiches, salads, and soups, including won ton min and saimin (noodles and broth). He makes a stand-out veggie burger by freshly grilling eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper, and sliced red onions, combining it with lettuce, tomato, and pesto mayonnaise, serving it on a whole wheat kaiser roll.
“We use good quality, fresh chicken, beef, vegetables,” Matsunaga explained. “I don’t buy pre-breaded or pre-processed shrimp or chicken. I have a special seasoning that’s made for me, and we bread everything by hand. We use a light tempura style batter, so there’s not too much batter and more fish.
“What I do with teriyaki beef, chicken, and short ribs,” he continued, “is I marinate everything a minimum of three days, so the flavor’s all inside. Then we sear it in on the charbroiler, so you don’t need the teriyaki sauce. People use that for their rice.”
Zoe’s Hawaiian BBQ boasts a fun, family atmosphere, where regulars greet the chef’s 7-year-old daughter, Zoe, by name and often bus their own tables. On Friday nights, performers affiliated with a hula halau (a hula school) dance, while others sing and play Hawaiian music.
“This group, they do a very nice show,” Matsunaga said. “I pass out free appetizers, while customers are waiting for dinner or hanging out and listening to music. With the nice weather, we’ll open the doors, so people
can eat in here or trickle outside into the courtyard.”
After spending years in Oahu trying to make ends meet as a commercial fisherman, Matsunaga and his wife, Nadine, came to California in the early 2000s. The chef honed his culinary skills at Blacklake Golf Resort Bar and Grill for three years and then at the local Holiday Inn for nearly two.
When the Chumash Casino segued from a complex of giant tent-like buildings to a luxurious resort in 2004, he worked in the café and main kitchen, before being promoted to sous chef, a position he held for three years.
“After that, I wanted to go out on my own,” Matsunaga said. “I was at Sunset Ridge Golf Course and I did freelance catering in conjunction with the kitchen there. It was Zoe’s Catering and I was doing everything, all cuisines: Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Italian, American, and regular barbecue, too.”
Matsunaga left the golf course in January 2009 and opened his restaurant a short time later. He hired staffers from a group attending culinary classes at Allan Hancock College and more recently, two friends from Blacklake days, Nicky and Stephanie, who run the front of the house with grace and good cheer.
“Come and try us,” Chef Matsunaga smiled. “If you don’t like the food, I won’t make you pay for it!
“The whole atmosphere I wanted to create,” he added, “is a place where you can relax, have a leisurely dinner. You don’t have to dress up, it’s not gonna cost you an arm and a leg, and I pretty much can say, anyone who eats here won’t go home hungry.”
K. Reka Badger is about to open a fresh tin of SPAM. Contact her at rekabadger@hotmail.com.
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 3, 2010.