By Matt Kyle | Assistant News Editor
Hundreds of customers came to L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, located at 300 S 6th St, for their grand reopening Sunday after being closed for several months.
The reopening celebration featured live music by the Waco Ukulele Orchestra as well as a musubi eating contest. The line was nearly out the door as customers patiently waited for their authentic Hawaiian meals while listening to chill Hawaiian music in a space meant to channel the beauty of the aloha state.
Co-owners Lucy Hao and Jonny Salas took over the restaurant from the previous owners and said they aim to be more involved in the Waco community through events like the opening celebration and offering discounts to students.
“We’re trying to cater to the students in town,” Hao said. “So introducing new spicy foods is one thing that we’ve done. Giving a 10% discount for all students of local universities as well as first responders, to show them that we’re part of the community. In general, we have a lot of things planned up.”
Hao said L&L plans to host the Baylor Hawaii Club in the future, and Salas said L&L plans to hold events called “Aloha Fridays,” which will feature live Hawaiian music and hula dancers in weekly luaus.
Salas said he was born in Guam and lived in Hawaii until he was 13, growing up with Hawaiian cuisine. Coming to Texas for high school, Salas said he never felt Hawaiian culture was properly represented, and he was homesick. He said he has always wanted to spread Hawaiian culture to create home away from home and better represent what Hawaii is about.
“That was a dream of mine, to be able to open a restaurant,” Salas said. “To have somewhere that local islanders can come to feel like they’re at home, to enjoy our meals, to listen to our music and just have a spot where we can hang out with other other people and feel like we’re represented in an accurate way, and not just used as an image of vacation.”
Salas said Hawaiian food tells a story. Salas said after Hawaii was annexed by the U.S., many local Hawaiians began to feel a loss of culture. Salas said immigrant workers from Asian countries such as Japan, China, Korea and the Philippines, as well as local Hawaiians, came together to work in sugarcane plantations.
Salas said he sees Hawaiian food as the first Asian fusion food.
“Essentially, what happened was, at the end of the work day, everybody would come together, all the cultures would come together and make their best dish,” Salas said. “It would be like a potluck barbecue and celebration for finishing the day. Really, [Hawaiian food] is just a combination of all those cultures coming together.”
Salas said his team was surprised by the crowds on opening day, but proud. He said he hopes to keep the success going through connecting with the community and putting out a great, authentic product.
“We’re happy about it,” Salas said. “My team always talks about wanting to get better. One of the keywords that we always like to use is chase perfection. They want to challenge themselves, and they want to grow for themselves, but also grow this business because they were here from the start of it, when I took over. We’ve been training and working so hard to get this down.”
