There are not a lot of healthy dining options on the Westside. But now, diners have a choice. You can still order local favorites such as Hawaiian chili peppa fried chicken with fried saimin and white rice ($10), but if
There are not a lot of healthy dining options on the Westside.
But now, diners have a choice. You can still order local favorites such as Hawaiian chili peppa fried chicken with fried saimin and white rice ($10), but if you enjoy vegetarian entrees, MCS Grill is worth the trip.
Located just off Kaumualii Highway in Hanapepe, the family owned restaurant came together because of a mother’s last wish.
When founder Macklin Valenciano lost his wife to cancer, he promised to honor her request to secure their daughter Shaylin Parker-Valenciano’s future. As a self-taught cook who owned Kauai Smokehouse in the 1980s, Macklin knew he needed help. He hired Chimes Lauama, the daughter of a longtime friend.
Shaylin and Chimes are Native Hawaiians who were born and raised on the Westside. Because Shaylin lost her mother to cancer and Chimes lost her 26-year-old brother to leukemia, the restaurant donates money for cancer research. Besides having a booth at Relay for Life on May 3, the restaurant also gives money from food sold during Hanapepe Art Night.
“My mom’s really good at making vegetarian food and you don’t even know it’s vegetarian,” says Lauama, a partner and general manager.
Lauama’s mother contributed the vegetarian recipes from her family collection as well as delicious desserts such as the Tropical Chiffon Cream Cheese Square ($5). Served on a shortbread crust, the flavors rotate based on the seasons. On the day I go, it’s tangy passion fruit with puffs of whipped cream.
The Vegetarian Trio ($9), an appetizer that’s large enough for a meal, includes crispy tofu sushi rolls, Asian bulgur meatballs and curried brown rice and diced red bell peppers loaded into lettuce cups.
The letters MCS represent the name of the owners, but because everything is made from scratch, it could stand for Major Cooking Skills.
On Mondays, Macklin serves Oxtail Soup ($11.95). A knobby bone loaded with succulent chunks of meat floats in a star anise flavored house-made broth; tendon and connective tissue are rendered tender and creamy. Tips of canned bamboo shoots were boiled twice and thinly sliced before they were added along with shittake mushrooms, cabbage and rice noodles.
Local ingredients are used whenever possible, even in homemade, non-alcoholic drink specials ($5 with free refills), which include a fizzy P.O.G Spritzer with ginger syrup and fresh rosemary. Other specials include Malaysian lime, ginger, longan, lychee or passion fruit.
Grass-fed beef, from the Westside’s Makaweli Meat Company, is used in the cheeseburger ($9), mushroom and swiss burger ($11) teri burger ($11) and loco moco ($10), which is served with homemade gravy. Plate lunch comes with a choice of white or brown rice and a tossed green or mac and potato salad.
Heads and tails are left on Kauai shrimp scampi ($15). Six Kekaha-raised shrimp are seared and fanned across a pile of fettuccine pasta that’s flecked with mushrooms and drenched in cream. Thai salad ($14) piles strips of grilled sirloin or pan-seared tofu on a bed of greens that are dressed with a tangy, homemade peanut sauce.
“We’re trying to offer vegetarian and healthy options without taking away from the locals,” says Shaylin. “You can still get your pulehu steak and your cheeseburger and your healthy wife can have a grilled mahi salad with our homemade passion fruit vinaigrette!”
MCS Grill, 1-3529 Kaumualii Highway in Hanapepe is open from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.
Info: 431-4645.
