Hawaiian restaurant finds its place in Bayview
by Jackeline Luna
After signing the lease for 4100 Third Street in the spring of 2015, Shawn Gordon got to work removing bushes, syringes, bottles and waste from the area that would later become the vegetable garden and patio. He enlisted the help of Bayview residents to beautify the neglected corner.
Now more than a year later, it is hard to picture anything else was ever there. Succulents adorn the fence of Huli Huli Hawaiian Grill and the patio area has been furnished with picnic style tables.
Hanging on the walls inside the restaurant are photographs of residents, potted plants and a large blackboard listing all the menu options. But most importantly, standing in line are familiar faces.
“I live right there, across the street,” Joyce Garrett said. “I’ve been coming since they first opened. I come twice, three times a week. Service here is wonderful, the people are nice, the food is good and the prices are right.”
Gordon knows great food and low prices keep customers coming back. And, like other places along Third Street, he has figured out that to survive, he has to become part of the neighborhood. Prices, are part of that equation.
“Nobody is going to be paying $16 for a hamburger or $7 for a cup of coffee,” Gordon said. “You get a great value for your dollar here. At the end of the day, this is a hard working community and they appreciate being able to get good food.”
The menu brings Bayview a little taste of Gordon’s Samoan-Pacific Islands roots at affordable prices. For $6.75, customers can order the loco moco. The barbecue chicken plate and the Hawaiian burger with fries both cost $7.25. The barbecue short ribs plate ($10.25) is the most expensive item on the menu.
In his 24 years he’s been living in Bayview, Jordan Declouette, has seen many restaurants come and go. As a rule, he only supports mom and pop businesses.
“It’s a lot of places that come in [to Bayview] and they end up not working[out],”Declouette said. “For them to really succeed over here, they have to become a part of the neighborhood. They have to have something new to offer. This place has great Hawaiian food and I don’t know if you can get shaved ice anywhere else in San Francisco!”
When Gordon was considering what type of restaurant to open, he wanted to do add to the diverse mix of restaurants on Third Street. There’s burgers from Sam Jordan’s Bar and Grill. Next door to Huli Huli is Constans Grocery, the place you go to if you want a great sandwich. Walking a couple of blocks down the block, there’s All Good Pizza, Radio Africa Kitchen and Auntie April’s Chicken, Waffles, & Soul Food Restaurant.
“We were trying to figure out what would be a restaurant that could really serve the neighborhood and also serve our neighbors well,” Gordon said. “We wanted to be conscious of our neighbors and not do anything that would disrupt or disturb their current business. This is a restaurant that no one else was doing in Bayview.”
Of the 20 restaurants found on Third Street today, 16 have been around for more than five years. The oldest, Sam Jordan’s, opened in 1968 and Huli Huli’s next door neighbor, Constans Grocery, opened in 1995. Gordon’s restaurant is the youngest on the block.
He intends for Huli Huli Hawaiian Grill be around for a long time. The money it generates supports the men’s home he ministers to upstairs and it provides jobs to people, just like himself, who have served time in prison and are ready to change their life around.
