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“It’s hard to conceive of a better primer on modern Hawaiian foodways

Published 7:00 am Monday, October 29, 2012

Saimin Says, 6621 S. 211th St., Kent, (425)656-5979, saiminsays.com.
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Saimin Says, 6621 S. 211th St., Kent, (425)656-5979, saiminsays.com.
Saimin Says, 6621 S. 211th St., Kent, (425)656-5979, saiminsays.com.
Dishes that glanced the high bar, the prim blocks of Spam musubi.
Loco moco. The greaseless, rich brown gravy—which blankets the mounded moco plates of rice, meat and egg—is extraordinarily smooth and aromatic, and thick enough to eat with a fork.
Anywhere else, the beef would be labeled as teriyaki. But the owner of the teriyaki shop next door wanted to maintain his immediate monopoly on the genre, so Saimin Says renamed its thinly-sliced grilled beef. WhateÆ’ver it's called, the tender beef brims with brown sugar, soy sauce and garlic in such impeccable proportion that when I nicked a sample from a takeout box, it immediately occurred to me that if I quickly polished off the entire plate, none of the people I'd promised to feed would ever know I'd ordered it.
Papa Jim.
The saimin broth is lip-swellingly salty, and grows more so as matchsticks of Spam, scrawls of darkly-roasted pork, and strips of fish cake wallow in it. The Papa Jim Min, perhaps the best saimin on a list of a dozen different preparations, scores texture points with creamy patches of scrambled egg and a flurry of crisp green onions. The soup needs nothing.
Mac salad.
Keene makes a dazzling, sunshiny hot sauce that would be silly to ignore.
The banded pink and white cushion, which a culinary historian might slip beneath his haunches while meditating on the breathtaking adaptations and accommodations that define Pacific island cookery, now leans against the restaurant's cash register. A note directing patrons to use cash or debit cards for purchases under $10 is package taped to its midsection.
Accompanied by Keene, an Idaho native who'd mastered Hawaiian cooking during his island stay. aEœYou know you've got something when the fried rice is better than your mom's,aE Shoda says. The pair married the following year. They've since separated, but remain business partners (and agreeable ones, according to Shoda.)
"It's hard to conceive of a better primer on modern Hawaiian foodways
aEœI remember going to Albertsons and ordering a dozen cans of Spam; I'd feel so awkward,aE Shoda says of the restaurant's early years. aEœNow I go to Costco and fill up a flat.aE
It's a family affair; it's a family affair.
Disappointments are rare at Saimin Says.

“It’s hard to conceive of a better primer on modern Hawaiian foodways than Saimin Says. Granted, any restaurant working in the Hawaiian idiom has a significant head start in the likability race, since the island’s collective recipe box is crammed with dishes devised to comfort communities far from home.”Read the rest of Hanna Raskin’s review here.Photos by Joshua Huston.Published on September 12, 2012

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