Bravo’s “Top Chef” Season 10 alum, Brooke Williamson and her husband/co-chef Nick Roberts have just debuted their 4th restaurant in Playa Vista on the Runway. It’s the fast-casual, Hawaiian-themed, street-food oriented Da Kikokiko. It’s Family-friendly, too.
“When brainstorming ideas a few years ago for our next restaurant, we knew we wanted to open a Hawaiian spot, since we love Asian flavors and felt there was a need for good, authentic Hawaiian cuisine in Los Angeles that went beyond poké,” says Brooke and Nick. “It’s why Da Kikokiko also offers musubi and shave ice, since it gives guests variety and lets us have a bit more fun in the kitchen. There’s also a casualness, yet approachability to Hawaiian food, which we strive for at all of our restaurants, and the cuisine has loads of flavor but is still fresh.”
Created by Brooke and Nick, the menu lends itself to authentic island flavors with Asian influences, and makes for an ideal lunch, dinner, or beach trip snack. Celebrating one of Hawaii’s most popular street foods, Da Kikokiko offers musubi made traditionally with grilled SPAM on top of a block of rice, and wrapped with dried nori seaweed, plus innovative twists with contemporary protein and vegetable options like teriyaki chicken, yuzu kosho salmon, and sesame miso zucchini.
Customizable poké bowls are available with a variety of base mixes, proteins, sauces, and toppings to select from.
To cap off the Hawaiian experience, guests can enjoy refreshing shave ice with housemade organic syrups like hibiscus-currant, mango-jasmine, yuzu, matcha, Kona coffee, and pineapple, along with toppings such as li hing mui (salty dried plum) powder and condensed milk. Making it extra indulgent, guests can also add a scoop of housemade vanilla and coconut ice cream, or lilikoi sorbet, from Brooke and Nick’s artisanal ice cream shop Small Batch, located inside nearby Playa Provisions.
For “Top Chef” fans please know Chef Brooke returns as an encore “Cheftestant” for Season 14 starting in early December.
Chef Brooke joins us to share the aloha spirit.
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