The Pig & The Woman: The Highway Again To Kaimukī

Journey brings us the enjoyment of surprise and a recent perspective. An excellent restaurant can do the identical.

On Oct. 15, acclaimed Honolulu restaurant The Pig & The Woman softly opened its new flagship location at Civil Beat Plaza on Waiʻalae Avenue in Kaimuki. The transfer from Chinatown marks a full-circle second for the world-renowned restaurant’s, because the Le household returns to the neighborhood the place their journey started. Reservation books are already filling for the extremely anticipated grand opening this Tuesday, Oct. 21. 

“What you anticipated in Chinatown is what you may count on from us now in Kaimukī,” chef and co-owner Andrew Le stated. “I’m positive over time, organically, we’re going to begin to get influences from the Kaimukī group … however I’m assured that the model we constructed and the meals we make is one thing that’s going to be impactful in the sort of neighborhood. So we’re not going to again down from that.” 

The story of The Pig & The Woman

Hanging above a row of cubicles are three prints from native artist Lauren Trangmar, telling the story of The Pig & The Woman. The primary encompasses a bowl of phở adorned with a tiger–representing Le’s mom’s Chinese language zodiac signal. A crane carrying a child bundle flies towards the noodles, symbolizing the Le household’s arrival in Hawaiʻi in 1975.

“My mother was 9 months pregnant with my oldest brother escaping Vietnam,” Le stated. “On our familyʻs strategy to a refugee camp in Arkansas they landed in Hawaiʻi to refuel and her water broke. She needed to go to the hospital and the aircraft left. Thatʻs how we ended up right here.”

The second print captures the household’s entrepreneurial spirit, from Le’s father’s Kaimukī passion store, Toys N Joys—which opened in 1982 when Le was born—to the most recent iteration of The Pig & The Woman, now situated only one block away. The third print is an ode to Papa Le (Raymond Le), who handed away earlier than he might witness the household’s return to the outdated neighborhood.

Le, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in New York and earned his cooking chops in positive eating kitchens comparable to Wealthy Desk in San Francisco and as a sous chef at Chef Mavro in Honolulu, initially launched his restaurant as a pop-up in Kakaʻako. When it closed, he introduced the remainder of his household into the fold to prepare dinner his mom Mortgage Le’s Vietnamese household recipes on the farmers market. The farmers market stand fizzled at first, which despatched Le again to the continent in quest of himself.

Whereas visiting Vietnam, his mom suffered a stroke.  The entire household met in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis to assist nurse her again to well being. Again in Honolulu, Le stated his mother grew depressed, daunted by rehabilitation. Remembering her pleasure on the markets, Le inspired her to begin cooking with him once more within the hopes of reigniting her spirit. 

Le (“The Pig,” his zodiac signal) and his mother (“The Woman”) revived their farmers market stand, cooking her soul-warming phở and crusty-yet-squishy bánh mi sandwiches filled with slow-cooked meats and tangy greens. 

“The farmers market was the street to therapeutic for her,” Le stated in a 2020 interview. 

The Le household opened their first brick-and-mortar location on North King Avenue in 2013, shortly after native restaurateurs Jesse Cruz and Dusty Grable opened the wildly profitable Fortunate Stomach one block away on Smith Avenue. These eating places enlivened Chinatown, ushering in a brand new wave of eating places and turning it into the culinary vacation spot it’s at this time. But it surely was The Pig & The Woman that turned a world sensation. The household went on to open Piggy Smalls (now closed) in Kakaʻako in 2016 and The Pig & The Lady Tokyo in 2019. 

Reverse Trangmar’s paintings, a floor-to-ceiling tiger mural—created by Kaimukī tattoo artist Steven Lam and muralist Jeff Gress—pays homage to Mama Le.

“Each zodiac has an ally and an enemy,” Le defined. ”It simply so occurs that I’m the Yr of the Pig, and my ally is the Tiger. So in that sense, it’s meant to be, you recognize, Pig & The girl.” 

What’s on the menu on the new The Pig & The Woman?

A six-time James Beard Award nominee, Le continues to redefine Vietnamese delicacies whereas honoring his roots and incorporating international influences. Signature dishes just like the LE Fried Hen Wings—coated in floor peanuts, pickled shallots and a sticky makrut lime-spiked glaze—stay on the menu, together with a number of variations of phở and bánh mì. The brand new location additionally introduces recent dishes.

Two standout appetizers are vegan. First, a pan-seared mochi dumpling referred to as bánh ít ram, crammed with mung bean, taro and shiitake, is crunchy on the underside and tender and chewy on prime, served in tangy nước chấm (Vietnamese dipping sauce) and topped with fried shallots and scallions.

The second makes use of spent espresso from the restaurant’s Vietnamese iced espresso. Le dries the grounds and packs them round MAʻO Natural Farms beets, which roast for 5 hours. The beets are tossed in a coffee-cranberry-sherry French dressing and served with smoked eggplant purée, dukkah, cacao nibs and recent mint.

“There’s all the time a yin and yang occurring,” Le defined of his dishes. “One thing candy, one thing bitter, one thing salty, one thing spicy, one thing sizzling, one thing chilly.”

Entrées supply equal pleasure. Highlights embody the Washugyu steak with lemongrass-anchovy chili sa tế (a pungent Vietnamese chili paste) and beef jus infused with Chinese language Chiu Chow olives; koji-marinated J. Ludovico Farm rooster with chanh muối kosho (a fusion of Vietnamese preserved lime and Japanese citurs-chili paste), caramelized cipollini and croutons soaked in drippings; and the “Canh Bí Đỏ ” Epaulettes—plate-sized ravioli crammed with black truffle pork sausage and kabocha squash. On the facet, order Bắp Cải Luộc: charred cabbage topped with eggy nước chấm (suppose deconstructed deviled egg), scallion oil and fried shallot–a riff on a dish his mom all the time made at dwelling.

What The Pig & The Woman means to Honolulu

What’s the secret sauce that retains The Pig & The Woman prime of thoughts for locals and guests alike? Definitely, its the daring, revolutionary riffs on traditional Vietnamese meals. But it surely’s additionally the staffʻs infectious humorousness – the restaurantʻs Instagram page displays the familyʻs lifelong dedication to pleasure, the storytelling, the training in Vietnamese tradition and the pure delight of biting into one thing scrumptious whenever you had no thought what to anticipate. Regulars have their go-to dishes. The cooks can’t cease experimenting. The group is lively locally—at farmers markets, meals occasions and extra.

Through the years, The Pig & The Woman has grow to be as synonymous with Honolulu as Waikīkī. Regardless of the place it strikes, we are going to observe. 

“I believe all of us wish to get again to work,” Le stated the evening earlier than reopening. “I really feel that we’re previous the toughest half and now it’s the enjoyable half. Working the restaurant. That is what we stay for.”

The Pig & The Lady, open Wednesday by means of Sunday 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m for lunch and Tuesday by means of Saturday 5-9:30 p.m. for dinner, brunch coming quickly, 3650 Waiʻalae Ave, Kaimukī, Oʻahu, validation is obtainable for the parking storage onsite. Reservations on Open Table