Episode 152 CORY VIDINHA ( Owner Whiskey Smoke 808 )

What happens when pandemic isolation meets a lifetime passion for cooking and a community built on genuine aloha? For Cory Vidinha, it sparked the birth of Whiskey Smoke 808, a barbecue restaurant that's become much more than a place to eat—it's a testament to family, faith, and the enduring spirit of old Hawaii.

Growing up in a family where men were exceptional cooks and processing their own meat was tradition, Vidinha always dreamed of owning a butcher shop. But life took him in countless directions—commercial diving, carpentry, truck driving—as he raised four sons with his wife, whom he met when they were just teenagers. When COVID shut down Hawaii, the enforced idleness sparked depression in a man who'd never known anything but hard work.

The turning point came when Cory and his sons built a massive stainless-steel smoker. What began as a way to keep busy evolved into making food for struggling friends, which then blossomed into a booming backyard business with cars lining his street. "I didn't even understand social media," Vidinha laughs, recalling how friends helped him create an Instagram account that would launch his business.

Whiskey Smoke's journey from backyard to brick-and-mortar showcases the best of Hawaii's community spirit. When Cory couldn't afford the deposit on his current location (the former Fresh Catch building), the local family who owned it gave him three months rent-free to renovate and start earning. At the grand opening, strangers helped carry in tables and joined the family's prayer circle—a chicken-skin moment that epitomizes why this restaurant feels different.

Beyond exceptional barbecue, Vidinha brings another passion to the table—his 15-year career as bassist for hardcore band 13th Legion, which has toured Japan and beyond. This artistic outlet complements his approach to food: "What you're tasting is our love—for the food, for people."

Come experience barbecue created with genuine aloha, where communal tables invite strangers to become friends and every bite reminds us that even in our darkest moments, community can help us create something beautiful.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Aloha, welcome to another edition of the Above the
Bridge podcast.
I'm your host, thaddeus Park.
I apologize for the last threeweeks of no episodes.
I've been in the mainland formy daughter's volleyball
tournament, had a tournament incalifornia that we got to go to
disneyland after, and then lastweek I was fortunate enough to

(00:30):
go watch my favorite band,metallica, play at 49er stadium.
So from here on out we shouldbe all right.
I will take a break next monthfor my wedding and I'll probably
take a week off, but other thanthat I should be smooth sailing
for a while.
So I appreciate you guys beingpatient.
If this is your first timelogging into our show, thank you

(00:53):
.
You can find us wherever youget your podcast.
You can find us on Spotify,apple pod.
Honestly, wherever you get yourpodcast or YouTube channel,
please like, subscribe and leavea comment.
It matters and I appreciate youfor taking time out and
checking out our show.
Aloha, okay, this week my guestis somebody I met through one of

(01:15):
my other guests, stephen Kino,who did a pop-up shop at his
restaurant in Kaneohe.
I got a chance to talk a littlebit with him and he kind of
inspired me a lot and I reallywanted to get this guy on my
show, corey Vindina.
What's up, man?
He owns Whiskey Smoke Right on.

(01:36):
Hey, thank you for coming on myshow.
I got a small chance to talk toyou when Stefan was at your
place, bro.
Bro, you guys saw that thing.
Oh, I was.
I was so impressed.
I drove by the first time and Iwas like, okay, I'm gonna come
back because that line was pastthe bus stop yeah, but it was
crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Right, that was.
That was a crazy day.
Um, yeah, but stefan was, wassuper stoked.
We were stoked to do it withhim.
You know it was.
It was funny.
Like, leading up to it he waskind of nervous.
He was kind of like, hey, bro,what you think?
Bro, you think people gonnashow up for that?
I guarantee you're gonna showup.
And he's like, well, maybe like, maybe like 100 people, 150

(02:18):
people.
I was like, cousin, that's it'ssaturday, bro, like for us, like
150 people, 150 people, likethat's a slow Saturday.
So, bro, this place is going tobe packed.
And like he was like, no way,bro.
I told him because, for real,like choke, people want to see
you, choke, people want to tryyour food, you know.

(02:39):
So, yeah, bro, and then when,like things was banging, like he
was trying to, he was trying tohide in the kitchen, almost
he's like what you guys need,but you need help, I was like,
no, bro, all these people arehere for you, dude, like go out
there and meet people, takepictures, sign autographs.
They're all, all here to seeyou.

(03:00):
It was crazy, though.
It was like, yeah, I had hadtwo lines, one up to the top of
the block by cohipa and theother.
Oh, wow, like, yeah, down down,almost to like like yogi
building oh wow, because I saidI'm gonna give it.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
About a hour and a half before I even go check it
out, I drove down and the linewas past the bus stop.
I was like, okay, I'm gonna gohome and I'll come back in a
little bit.
That was the benefits of livingin Kaneohe.
But more power to him.
That guy is one of the mosthumblest guys I've met and very
appreciative.
And yeah, it was cool to seethe support not only for him but

(03:40):
for your restaurant as well.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, no, we, we absolutely love stephan, but
he's such a beautiful humanbeing by him, his, his wife,
just I mean I can't say enoughgood stuff about them, brother,
just unreal beautiful people.
So humble, appreciative, youknow, but I mean like that was a
couple months ago and and andhe, he still hits me up all the
time.
He's like bro, I appreciate you, I love you.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, he's like yeah, bro, you know, that's just what
we do, you know yep, that's the, that's the vibe, that's that's
what uh, hawaii is built on,and to see it.
That's pretty cool.
I think it's super cool and,because of him coming on my show
, I went to go see him in personand I got to meet you and, bro,

(04:34):
your story just tripped me outand made me feel really good.
It made me super happy thatthose kind of situations happen
in Kaneohe, where, where I'mfrom, where I grew up and yeah,
you don't hear about stuff likethat too often at least I don't
and I really wanted to get youon to have you share your

(04:55):
journey, your story, and havepeople hear all the great things
that's been happening with yourhard work and effort, with you
and your family and your andyour restaurant yeah, bro, I
mean I can go super far back,man, like um, I like to say it

(05:16):
kind of almost started when Iwas a little kid.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
You know about, like um, you know just the whole
butcher shop thing.
Like, for some reason, when Iwas a kid I wanted a butcher
shop.
You know my family, we all huntfarm like that.
You know where we process ourown meat and all this, and I

(05:39):
just I always wanted a butchershop.
And then you know, fast forwarda bunch of years.
You know school, and then youknow I had kids pretty young.
My wife and I were very young,I was 16.

(06:00):
She was 15.
You know, yeah, bro, so kind ofhad to put all those things
aside, you know, and like,through through the years I I
still thought about it toobecause I was working a lot.
I was, um, I went through the,the psychological battles too.

(06:23):
I guess, like, just, you know,I'm, I'm young, I guess I'm
young, I'm supposed to be doingthis, that and everything, but
I'm cracking my ass working,trying to do school and whatever
.
I'll go back a little bit.
I remember there was this classin school.

(06:47):
It must have been in the eighthgrade or seventh grade or
something.
It was like this vocationalthing where, where, where you
took this test and and they,they run it through the computer
, this or whatever.
Then and they tell you what,what you're probably going to
end up doing when you grow upyou know what I mean and like
mine was like entrepreneur,business owner.

(07:09):
I was like what is that, youknow?
But then, like going throughlife, you know, we had our first
son when, like we was 15, likethat, when, like it was 15, like
that um, and then four yearslater we had, we had one more um

(07:31):
, and like I always thoughtabout that.
I always thought about that,like I wonder if, if that thing
was real.
And if it's real, like when isthis gonna happen?
Yeah, like when can I, wherecan I like stop working, you
know?
But and I found out quicklythat that's not the truth, but
anyway, so yeah, bro, like justjust grinding, but it's working.

(07:56):
You know, I I've had otherbusinesses try different things.
You know, some, some of themwas pretty successful, but um it
I I didn't feel like it wasreally what I wanted to be doing
, you know, so kind of sold thebusiness or just shut it down or
whatever.
Plus, I wasn't.
I wasn't very good at running abusiness either, I was just

(08:18):
winging it, you know so kind ofhad had troubles with the IRS oh
okay, yeah, I've been therebefore.
Yeah, bro, like what is this GEtax?
What are you talking about?
But I was young, you know.
So, yeah, I was working,working we had our four kids,

(08:49):
know, my wife and I, um, andthen we had our our so first
grandchild, her grandson zachary, and like that got me thinking
a lot like man, like what am Idoing?
You know what I mean.
But I was, I was kind of stuckbecause where I was working, I
was working at this like thislittle, like this poke shop deli

(09:11):
type of situation it was.
It was pretty cool, but I Ikind of, I kind of I kind of hit
like my ceiling, I guess, likethere was no more room for
growth for me over there.
Hit my ceiling, I guess therewas no more room for growth for
me over there.
I've worked in many differentkinds of kitchens, many genres
of food.
I've also done all kinds.

(09:33):
I was a commercial diver, I wasa high-rise window cleaner,
carpenter, mason, I drove trucks.
I did so much stuff in my lifejust trying to find my thing, I
guess you know, and at the sametime just trying to trying to
feed my family, you know, um.

(09:54):
But yeah, so I was, I wasworking there and I.
I I liked the job, but I wasn'thappy because there wasn't any
more growth for me.
I didn't see me climbing theladder.
I was at the top of that ladderand I didn't like it, but I

(10:15):
couldn't leave because of mycustomers.
Basically, I'd have kids come inoh, uncle, uncle, how you, yeah
, yeah, pick up this today andthese kids, like I saw them when
, when it was in their mom'sbelly, kind, you know, and it's

(10:36):
like how do you, how do you walkaway from that?
You know, I mean you, you like,you know, form, form
relationships with people andlike, yeah, you know it would
benefit me financially andothers if I, I walked away and
found something better, but thenI'd be walking away from all

(10:57):
these relationships.
You know, understandable, yeah,and then, I think,
understandable.
And then COVID happened, youknow, and like I've never not
worked.
You know, I've always worked.
I've always been doingsomething.
I was raised very strict, veryhardworking parents, very strict

(11:28):
, very hardworking parents.
You know, my, my, my pop wouldwake us up early to take care of
stuff before school.
You know, we, we, we farmed andstuff as well, so we had to
take care of the animals and allthis.
And so I grew up working, youknow, and then when COVID hit
and everything shut down, therewas no more work and at first I

(11:48):
was like, cool, I can take abreak.
Yeah, bro, can hang out alittle while, cruise on a couch,
even the whole thing beingyoung parents and struggling.
I don't know if I want to callit struggling.
You know, like my, my, myparents was there for us.

(12:11):
My family was there for us bigtime.
But still, like you know, we, wehad to go through the young
parent stuff and you know, we,we, we got our own apartments
and try to do our thing forourselves.
We'd fail, we'd go back home tomom and dad's house.
They'd go try again.
You know what, um, like I, I, Iwasn't, I wasn't there for my

(12:36):
sons as much as I wanted to be,you know, I mean because I was
always working, hunting, doingwhatever you know, and then
there was music as well.
But so, okay, cool, I'll gohome, hang out at the college
watch TV cruise with the boys,you know, and whatever.

(12:59):
That lasted a couple weeks andI started getting grumpy because
, like, I can't sit on the couch, I don't know, I don't know how
to sit on the couch and justwatch tv.
You know what I mean it's like.
After a while you watchedeverything on netflix and you
know, tiger king at that timethere was stuff.

(13:22):
I don't even know what I waswatching.
It was just like just staringat the idiot box just because
there's nothing else to do, youknow yeah, um but yeah.
So then, like I started gettinggrumpy and stuff and I you know
, and like my, my, my wifepointed out she was like you
know, I like I, I think you'regoing through some stuff, I

(13:43):
think you're kind of depressed alittle bit.
I was like no way you know I'm aguy, I'm rough and tough.
You know I don't go throughdepression, I'm a dude, you know
.
But yeah, no, I was totally was.
I was getting like emotional.
So you know it was like, yeah,like you know, I have to work, I

(14:05):
have to cook.
You know we was like, yeah,like you know, I have to work, I
have to cook.
You know, I built a huge garden, because that's what you people
do when you're going through apandemic.
I guess you know we had ourchickens and stuff, but still it
wasn't enough.
I had to cook.
Like I've always loved cooking.
All the jobs I've done in mylife, I always went back to the
kitchen, you know, um, so my, myboys and I decided we was going

(14:31):
to build this big smoker.
It was this big cabinet smoker,I think.
I think that they mentioned itwas.
It was all stainless steel.
There's a long story behindthat, though.
I don't want to get into what,um, but I'm gonna.
My, my brother was gonna buildthis outdoor bathroom, like, I

(14:52):
guess, for camping.
Like he got all this box tubing, every duty and he wanted to
build like this outdoor showerthing or something, and then he
gave up.
He gave up on.
He's like, bro, you want thisthing.
I was like, yeah, I'll take it.
So took it.
It was like seven feet tall,maybe three feet wide by four,

(15:13):
four foot deep.
Brought it home.
He's like we're gonna make asmoker out of it.
It's gonna be the biggestsmoker we'll ever need.
So, yeah, bro, it was we, we,we spent I don't know a couple
weeks maybe just working on it.
I had, I, I had stainless steelsheets, cut all the stainless

(15:35):
steel, put it up, sealedeverything off, made racks, all
this, yeah, but it was prettyepic.
In fact, I, I still have it.
It's still at the restaurant,like we, we, we keep it around
just to kind of remind us wherewe're the roots yeah yeah, bro,
for real, you know um.
So yeah, bro, and then it waslike okay, cool, we got this big

(15:58):
smoker and like we're high,high-fiving, you know
high-fiving you know gruntingand growling dude stuff.
You know man shit, yeah.
And then it's like, well, nowwhat are we gonna do with it?
Like um, we're not gonna cookdinner you know, feed the block

(16:18):
down yeah.
So it was like okay, um, afriend of ours had a bunch of
venison, a bunch of excess therefrom Monokai, oh nice, so you
know.
So we were kind but we, likeyou know, started doing sausages
and stuff it just, I mean I'vealways smoked meat, always made

(16:44):
sausages, my family always, wealways got together, together,
you know, but we made smokedmeat, make, make sausage like my
whole family thing.
Yeah, bro, we, I, I grew updoing all that stuff.
Not a lot of the stuff I'mdoing now I wasn't doing then,

(17:04):
you know, it was more localstyle country style you know, uh
, we, we, like you know, hunt,catch pig, make, make sausage,
make smoked meat, you know.
So, yeah, but we started makingsausage, you know, and just keep
giving away whatever guys guyslike buy it Cool, giving away

(17:30):
whatever guys like buy it cool,we sell you a sausage 10 bucks,
whatever, um, and then, like youknow, but we start started
doing like ribs, we got all thissmoker, we gotta fill, you know
, yeah, there's nothing else todo, so, yeah.
So then, you know, but we was,was making pork ribs and
whatever.
And then at that one point Iwas like, hey bro, let's, let's
put you on party, like I know,we're not even partying more,

(17:53):
we're get together just friends,because you know we're on
lockdown.
I haven't seen my friends, Ihaven't hung out like, hey bro,
I have a big backyard but I justmade this smoker.
Uh, come over by, we grab somebeers, that's just great.
So you know, friends, come over,my brother guys and we, you

(18:16):
know I would, I would make somepork ribs, make some briskets
and stuff.
And he'd hang out and was kindof becoming like like a normal
thing.
And I was telling him, like youknow, like I, I knew people
that, not that I was rich, I hadall kinds of money or nothing,
but I was doing all right, youknow, um.
But I had friends that likethey were struggling before

(18:40):
covid, you know, and, um, andlike they, they were struggling
even worse during COVID.
So they called me right, maybeI'd come over party, grind that
out, you know, and like some ofthem was all like, uh, I don't
have anything to bring, but I'llbring that.
I get everything, you know.
So, just, you know, I I have, Ihave all this meat and I need

(19:02):
people for eating and like Ineed, I need, I need to be
around people too you know, tokind of keep my sanity, but so
yeah people start, yeah, likegod, over our word.
We're, like you know, packcreatures, but, like we, we need
our act.
We need our yeah, our, ourpeople around us, you know I

(19:25):
agree so yeah.
So like then, like you know, ourguys, like you know, started
telling me like hey, right, youshould sell this food, dude, you
know, because I I startedmaking all the briskets and pork
butts and all this stuff and itwas, it was growing, but I was
doing, you know, one, first acouple butts, maybe three, four

(19:46):
racks of ribs, some beans, allthat, yeah, but it's like every
every week, sometimes twice aweek, and then, like I would, I
would tell my friends like hey,do you guys know anybody that
that's struggling, that thatthat could use a nice big free
meal once a week?
You know, come over, grind,take home food.

(20:08):
You know, just like that's you,that's kind of like me trading
you.
I'm going to trade you food tocome hang out with me.
That's super cool.
I need people.
So then, yeah, these guys islike he's like, bro, you should
sell your food Coming fromrestaurants automatically.

(20:29):
I'm like hold on, I'm not goingto open one restaurant.
I'm crazy.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
I'm getting away from that.

Speaker 1 (20:36):
Everything is shut down.
Dude, I went to my own spotthat nobody can go because
everything is shut down.
It was, it was all like no, butyou, you, you get Instagram.
You post some Instagram.
What is that Cause?
I don't, I don't do computersor social media.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Like back then I, I, I didn't even know what it was
like.
I, I, I, I knew what facebookwas, you know, like I didn't
even do the myspace thing backin school probably.
Yeah, all my friends intomyspace and, like god I'm going.
I wouldn't be in a mountain, bro, I'm gonna be surfing that's
your space, yeah bro you know,so yeah, yeah, they're all like

(21:26):
no, bro, if you just make avideo, you take pictures,
whatever you tell people, hey,I'm going to be making this and
you can buy them on this day,this time, and they will come,
like what it's crazy.
So yeah, bro, life you're justcrazy.
So yeah, but they did, they'dhelp me out.
Um, made, made the made thepage asked me but like what you

(21:51):
like part of your business?
I was like I don't know, Ididn't even see it as a business
.
You know, it was more of ahustle.
Um, so, like you know, I, I, Ihad, I had whiskey barrels.
I had all these old whiskeybarrels that couldn't use
anymore.
That was kind of kind of likepast their prime.

(22:14):
So, like I would, I would breakthem down and actually throw
the staves into my fire when Iwas smoking meat.
You know, I mean, it changesflavor a little bit, but it was
just more of a means of into myfire when I was smoking meat.
It changed the flavor a littlebit, but it was just more of a
means of just getting rid of thebarrels.
Dad and I loved whiskey so Iwas like let's call it Whiskey

(22:37):
Smoke, it's a good name.
We were doing Whiskey Smoke 808.
They built them and everything.
Yeah, like it was that easy.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
The name came to be I was gonna ask you how you came
up with the name yeah, it wasjust one of those things, right,
just it just worked, I guessyou know.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
Um, yeah, you know, I , I like, I like whiskey, I like
smoking meats and I wasthrowing my old staves into the
fire.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
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(23:30):
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Aloha.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
So, yeah, right, we did that and like bro, like my
street was like lines of cars,bro, for real.
Yeah, bro, it was nuts.
Yeah bro, we'm on a road, bro,in the back of a, and like my

(24:05):
neighbors, they'd be like, hey,what's going on.
I was like they're selling food, I'll give them food and all
that sort of stuff.
And then it started growing so Iwent into like restaurant

(24:25):
mentality I was like, okay, Itell my wife, look, we have to
get some refrigeration, we need,we need freezers, we need this,
we need that.
So we started ordering all thisstuff amazon, you know,
whatever and um, yeah right,kept growing and growing.
It was like crazy and I'm likedoing all these stupid videos.

(24:46):
You know, I don't know how todo videos, but I'll just, you
know, make make some food videoon my phone and post it.
Yeah, it was like nuts and likeevery week it was growing,
getting bigger and bigger.
And then it got to a pointwhere I told my wife I was like,
hey, like this kitchen tablegotta go because I need some

(25:07):
more refrigeration.
She was like no, bro, likeyou're done, like no, but you're
going too far.
Like you know, like I'm losingfurniture in my house because
you know, and I didn'tunderstand my house because you
know and I didn't, I didn'tunderstand what the problem was.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
So I'm making money and I'm doing something fun yeah
.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
So then the kind, well, my, my, my best best
friend, this guy, mike, was alsothe singer in my band, like the
kind, but we used to drinktogether a lot before.
Yeah, he called me.
He's like, hey, Bob's hadclosed down.
I was like what do you mean?
Bob's closed down?
No, bob's down in the bar.

(26:00):
So I was like, oh, bro, bro,that sucks.
And he was like, no, bro, theyhad closed down and there's a
full kitchen in that building.
I was like, oh see where you'regoing yeah I was like, okay, so

(26:20):
they going closed or they closed?
And he was like I'm pretty surethey closed and I thought that
they owned the building, youknow so.
So yeah, but I actually I wentdown there and I told the owner.
I was like, hey, bro, like Ihear you had closed your
business, and said, yeah, I waslike hold on, like this is what

(26:44):
I'm doing and I, I think, myfood, like beer and barbecue.
You know, hand in hand.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yep definitely.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
So I was kind of like what if you help me get my
business growing and I help yousecure?
And like at first he was likeuh, I was like you know, here's
this tramp food man, try, takes.

(27:17):
Yeah, bro, he took a bite oftheir brisket.
He was like bro, when you wantto get started?
I was like okay so.
So first I gotta get legal.
I was, I was a legal, I wasn'ta legal business, yet you know.
So, like we had to, had to gothrough all that stuff and

(27:38):
everything llc and the tradeyeah yeah yeah yeah, bro, like
luckily, like, like my, my, uh,my uh, so good, good buddy's
wife, like this, this, this guy,this uh, uh, it's called joe
flores.
Joe flores, like he's my, mylike hunting partner, he's like

(28:03):
my like spiritual guide, like if, if I'm going through through
stuff, um, like I, I call him,you know brad, and like we like
kind of actually go overscripture together oh nice like
try to try to try to figure outStrengthen each other yeah.

(28:28):
It's easier to go to somebodythat's on the same walk.
You know what I mean when youhave these problems, because
other people they either won'tunderstand or they'll look at
things in more of a worldly way.
Eh.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
So, yeah, so.
But his wife, like that's whatshe does, like she went to
college to do all this businessstuff.
So, yeah, we went to theirhouse Like hey, this is what we
want to do, and she dreweverything up for us and set
everything up and that wasbasically the birth of, like,

(29:12):
whiskey Smoke 808 LLC.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
That's awesome.
I didn't realize it was birthedout of COVID.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
That's kind of a cool story coming out of covid yeah,
no, but I mean like really, andit like, um, I, I I almost feel
bad saying it, but like kovidwas, was kind of good to me,
it's kind of good for me, youknow, and I mean a lot of people

(29:45):
died.
I got family and friends thatin fact the, the, the person
that pushed me the most, likebro, you gotta sell your food.
But kelly, kelly olamala, he,he used to own own talk about it
with his wife.
Yeah, bro, he freaking passedaway COVID, you know.

(30:08):
Yeah, so like that was anotherbig thing too, because he kind
of got to the point where Idon't want to say he was
irritating me, but he was kindof irritating me.
He would call me.

(30:30):
He would call me like 2, 3, 4times a week.
He's like so what bro, youstart your business here, or
what?
So what bro, you going to beselling food, or what it's like?
I don't know bro leave me alone.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
He's like bro, your food is so good.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
I don't know about like you know for real.
Yeah, he always tell me he'slike bro, your food is so good.
Bro, I love you, bro, I fuckingbelieve in you and I know that
if you do this you're going togo far.
But you're going to make a lotof money, bro, you'll be, you'll
be happy because I mean, I seeyou happy whenever you're
cooking.
I see you happy whenever you'resmoking meat, you know he's like

(31:05):
bro, I don't know what you'regoing to do after everything
reopens, but I hope it's this.
So, yeah, bro, so like he waskind of the one pushing me to do
everything, and then when hedied, it was kind of like shit.

(31:30):
Now, like I, kind of, I, I, I,I have to go all the way with
this, like for him, because he,he, believes in me so much, you
know.
So, like his, his, his, his,his picture has always been in
our kitchen.
Right now there's a picture ofhim in our kitchen and a picture

(31:50):
of him in our dining room.
Nice, and, like you know, mylike boys, like every morning
they go in, they'll open up and,bro, it's always high five the
picture.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Hey, uncle, good morning, you know that's super
awesome, but sometimes it justtakes someone to believe in you
to spark.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Spark that fire for sure yeah, you know it's, it's
and it's.
It's not like um, not like I.
I didn't believe in myself orsomething like that, but it was
just.
It's like I have a family, Ihave, you know, four sons and I

(32:34):
have a grandkid.
Now, like we don't know what'sgonna happen, the world is shut
down.
Yeah, you know, like, do Ireally wanna, wanna take a
chance like that?
You know, you know, butespecially with, with, with,

(32:56):
with food, like um, if you wantto fail, if you want to lose a
lot of money, get into therestaurant business, I mean
before too.
Yeah, bro, it's, it's, um, it's,it's, it's.

(33:18):
It's a hard business to make itin, you know, um, like you, you
have to stand out and you gottaalways be in people's faces,
you gotta you know it's, it's.
It's so easy to fail.
Yeah, in the the.

(33:39):
Uh, you know food business,yeah yeah, well, you start.
So you started out at Bob'scommercially once you had your
LLC yeah, yeah, and then thatthat lasted um about a year year

(34:01):
and something maybe, but um, umlot a year year and something
maybe, but um, um, I'm not gonnaget too much into it, but it
was it, it, it didn't end yeah,very good, yeah, there was
dramas and stuff, um, but also,like you know it's, it's a, it's

(34:25):
a bar.
You know I, I don't, I don't, Idon't really drink no more.
You know I, I used to drink alot years ago and I just um,
basically stopped.
You know um, although I, youknow, do, I do have you wherever
, but I got less of whiskeyevery now and then or something,
but you know I don't like throwit out and party.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
Yeah, you don't get lit, but you drink a little bit
of whiskey now and then, just tokeep the name relevant.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yeah, I mean, the thing is is I love whiskey.
I genuinely love whiskey.
This is going to sound horrible, but I've been drinking whiskey
probably since I was like 10years old, like 9, 10 years old.
You know, that's just how myfamily was.
I think most local families arelike that, but more with beer

(35:22):
and stuff.
Yeah, my dad was like hey, hey,hey boy, grab me a beer, you
grab beer.
Oh boy, dad, I can sit theretake a seat you know my, my papa
, great grandfather, like he, heloved his whiskey.
So there's always a whole top100 and I just I, I liked it, I

(35:43):
just liked it.
So, just being there, like withall the the bar shenanigans
especially a bar like that withits reputation that plays quite
a reputation like I was watchingmy family not be so happy

(36:09):
because of all the drama, thefights and whatever, just bar
shenanigans.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
So, yeah, man, I started hitting a point where
it's like, yeah, we need toeither get our own spot or shut
this down because, like, I'm notgonna continue doing this if,
if, like, if, like my, my, mywife and kids, you know, aren't

(36:40):
happy.
Yeah, you know one because, andmost importantly because
they're not happy, I want themto be happy.
But secondly, because, if, ifthey're not like they, they were
, my staff, basically, you know,call them that like it was
legit.
Just my, my, my wife, my threeboys, you know, their

(37:05):
girlfriends, that's it, you know.
And if they're not happy,they're not going to put out
good food.
You know, the food, our, like Ipride myself on our like, I, I

(37:26):
pride myself on, like our food.
You know, people ask me how isthis so good, how is your food
so good?
And first it's like, oh, thankyou, I'm super glad you feel
that way.
But I tell them you, you know,whatever glad you feel that way.
But I tell him, but you know,you know why, like for real,

(37:47):
because because I I didn't love,love you, you know, but I like,
and they're like, huh, like,yeah, bro, I love you, cause I
don't, I don't even know yourname, but you know, hey, bro, my
name's Carter.
Okay, now we know each other,but I still love you, you know.
You know about what you tastingis like.

(38:08):
Is like our love, my likefamily, love for the food, love
for people.
You know, that's what youtasting, you know about when
like we're creating recipes andwe're cooking and all this like
we genuinely love what we'redoing, we love where we're doing

(38:32):
it, we love who we're doing itwith and we love who we're doing
it for.
You know, even those, sometimesyou get those assholes coming
always, always gonna have yeaheverybody's got their ting.

(38:53):
maybe they was just having a badday, come in just wanna be a
jackass or whatever, and it'scool, but we try to be
understanding.
Andass or whatever, and it'scool, but we try to be
understanding and try to, youknow, send them off after they
eat.
If there's something positive,maybe we can brighten their day

(39:13):
a little bit.
I don't know, but like so, yeah, like that's, like that's what
the goal was and still is, andit just like I, I, I wasn't, I I
wasn't seeing that over there,because, because my family
wasn't happy, yeah, you know andit's a bad element, like being

(39:37):
around alcohol and all that.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
And yeah, like you said, it's a that that bar
initially had a, had areputation and yeah, you know, I
mean like too, like, even mebro, like like at at.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
At one point I got got kind of caught up in it too,
you know like yeah you knowthey're, they're like you know
we would like we, like you know,be, be, be parties, be like you
know wherever, about pub, pubcrawls, like you know wherever
pub crawls.
So, like you know, I would likeactually do like a special
finger food menu.
Just, you know, bar food menu.
You know the place was packedLike, say, like I remember one

(40:19):
like night where the place waspacked.
It was crazy, pack was crazy.
And my daughter-in-law, myyoungest son's wife, she all
crying in the kitchen.
I was like, oh girl, what's up?
And she was like somebody hadtouched me.
I was like what you mean?

(40:39):
Like what you mean you know,and you know I mean she was
hysterically crying.
But she was like, yeah, likewhenever you hear that she
serves somebody in the sky,freaking, grope me.
And like I pushed him away andaway and he had like walked out
the door and I guess, um, myyounger years had kicked in,

(41:10):
like I'm too old for that shit,bro, I've, I've been through
enough in my life to know better, you know.
So, yeah, bro, like I tell myboys close that window, bro,
we're going for a walk, we goClosing, bro, I could have
killed that guy Like I was, Iwas.
I had, I had catch him, you know, bro, and I was seeing great,

(41:34):
oh.
But but I had, I had, you know,kept catch, catch myself as
well.
It's like well, I'm agrandfather, you know, I'm a.
I'm a grandfather.
I'm standing here with this guy.
I'm about to smash his face allover the place.
I got my sons behind me.
I'm their role model, you knowwhat behind me, I'm your role

(41:58):
role model, yeah, I mean.
And then on top of that is likeour business is a family
business.
We're known as a familybusiness, we're known as a good,
loving family, and I'm going tosmash this guy's face and it's
going to be all over instagramoh, guarantee all over the town
you know like that and that'snot the town.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
You, that's not the town either, kailua, yeah you
know.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
So yeah, I said grab my own cousin.
You know like you should gohome, like you should like.
Don't do that.
You know what I mean it's like.
Because if, if, like I, I everhear of you doing it on on
oklahoma's up back, I promiseyou that you know wherever you
started crying and stuff.

(42:42):
Yeah.
So like at that point was likelike I'm turning into like that
person that that I've worked sohard to not be anymore you know,
and then, and then my, my like,my like, you know, family's not
happy anymore.
It's one of those.
If you like wake up in in themorning, like yeah, but I can't

(43:06):
wait to go in, and like, yeah,you know, start cooking, like
that's the right place for you.
If you wake up and it's like,ah, I gotta go, maybe you
shouldn't be doing it, you knowyeah um, so yeah, but we was
actually kind of kind ofdisgusting.
Like you know, should, should wecontinue on?
Because you know, I, I don't, Idon't want to have have, have

(43:29):
you guys here, if you guys, I'mhappy.
You know where the food, thefood going to suffer, the
customer service is going todefinitely suffer, you know, and
then one day, I want to takethis time to shout out our

(43:49):
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(44:12):
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Speaker 1 (44:24):
Reno had called me Fresh cats.
Fresh cats he needed something.
I don't know what it was, but Ihad heard that their there,
that there a new building waswas almost, almost ready yeah,
yeah so, yeah, I was talking tohim.

(44:44):
I was like, hey, bro, so what?
But a new building, but prettysoon?
He's like, yeah, I have.
I probably probably a couplemonths, three months or that.
I was like, so, what about theold building?
He's like, what's up, do youlike them?
I'm like, yeah, I like them.
He's like, yeah, shoot, bro, Ican go talk to the owners and

(45:06):
the realtor and everything andwhatever.
I'm like, yeah, shoot, I'lltalk to them.
And he's telling me he's like,okay, the thing is, shoot, I'm
going to talk to them.
And he was telling me he waslike, okay, the thing is, brian,
I talked to them, make sure youget the money.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
I'm like, yeah, I get the money, I don't have the
money.
Right, I get it, but I don'thave it yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
I mean, like I was halfway like yeah, he's not
going to talk to them, you know,whatever.
But like me, like not even, noteven a week, maybe just just
over a week, I don't know.
Bro, the realtor contact me,right, it's like, hey, yeah, I
was like, oh, okay, you know.

(45:53):
So, yeah, bro, we went down,met, met, met with them, you
know, you know where?
The uh uh realtor was supernice, he was cool.
Um, the, the family that ownsthat building, it's the connery
family, old connery family,super beautiful people, super
solid, you know.

(46:14):
So, yeah, but, um, apparently Ithink popeyes wanted that
building oh, okay and and likealready I was like there's no
way they're gonna give me thebuilding I mean popeyes and then
you could take a chance on thisguy.

(46:36):
You know what I mean.
Like one like small familybusiness that's only been legit
for like like a year and a half,you know, or whatever, two, two
years, whatever.
It was like no way.
So, yeah, we, we, we likeactually met again and they said
, yeah, you know what, like likethe kind of, uh, us guys really

(46:58):
love that, like your, your likefamily business, you'd be like
man, you, your wife, the kids,you guys, you know good, good
people, we love you guys.
So, yeah, but you guys can, canyou know, uh, have the building
, have the building, yeah.
But we were about to cry outand all of them Cry out.

(47:20):
So then it was time to, likeyou know, sign papers, put down
the deposit.
I was like, oh yeah, about themoney, like you know.
Got to sell one kidney, gotgotta sell a kidney or something

(47:41):
.
I was.
I was full on like first I wasembarrassed, you know, it's kind
of shame, you know.
But at the same time was like,wow, it was just all happy,
crying and everything.
And then now we're gonna tellthem that I don't have money and
then I didn't like they'regonna tell us no, you know, get

(48:01):
out of here.
Yeah, that family by the familywas like you know what, don't
worry about it, you guys move in, you guys do whatever you gotta
do, set up your equipment andfix up whatever you got to fix
up all this stuff and thenactually get rolling.
Bro, they gave us like threemonths.

(48:21):
Oh yeah, dude, that's unheardof.
You know there's like a lot ofwork you guys got to do.
We know it.
A lot of cleaning you guys gotto do.
We know a lot of cleaning andrenovating and all this stuff.
So they said, yeah, like youknow, renovate, do whatever you

(48:45):
do, put in your stove, yourkitchen, everything.
If you guys can get done quick,probably just start serving
food already and just save upthe money and then, like after
the three months, and then weactually get the lease started.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
Oh, wow, you know, I was like yeah, bro.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
Like who does that?

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Especially when they had one corporate guarantee with
Popeyes.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
Yeah, bro, and it's, it's um, it's Connie over, it's
just local.
You know old-school localtricking, take care of each
other, you know, um.
So yeah, like the guy we uhactually took, took our money

(49:36):
and, like my, my boys, they,they cracked their butts for a
few years.
But I was working on shoddyequipment.
You know, day in, day out, hotkids by the kitchen that we was
in.
There was no ventilation at all, was like the walls melting

(49:56):
kind of hot, and they justpowered through.
They did it.
So when, when, like, we gotthis, this kitchen, I told my
wife I don't care how much itcosts, if we gotta get one loan
or whatever, let's get one loan.
I want to buy them top-notch,beautiful, brand new equipment,
everything, the whole kitchen.
And just to just to thank them,like, just to like tell, to

(50:20):
tell my sons, like, bro, youguys deserve this, you know, but
you, you like guys, went, wentthrough hell all this time in
this shoddy kitchen.
Now here's, here's thisbeautiful kitchen so yeah but we
actually did, did that.
Uh, we totally, totally strippedthe building, cleaned it up uh,

(50:44):
getting the smell of fish outof there was, I didn't even
think of that because all it waswas fish yeah yeah, but it was
like it was bad.
It was like you know, likeafter a while, like just
cleaning, cleaning, cleaning,and we can see it smell fish, I

(51:05):
was beginning to wonder, likedoes the place really still
smell like fish, or is just thatsmell?
I'm used to it?
It's ingrained, bro.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
That's the first thing you smell when you go to
Fresh Cash.
That's like their advertisementFresh fish.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
You're like, okay, yeah, bro, it was pretty nuts.
But yeah, like I mean, we justevery day took us about a month
and a half Every day, dark todark, choke, bleach.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
Choke bleach, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:43):
I mean dark to dark.
We just, we like tore the wallsdown, tore everything out,
scrub everything redo, and wejust you know, then, yeah, we
like actually got got thingsgoing you know, we like had our,
our, our target open date.
Um, we didn't make that datebecause we was we was waiting on

(52:08):
on equipment that we had tohave, you know.
So, yeah, I came late.
And then the following week,you know, I came in but like we
was like still missing somestuff.
But we was at a point where itwas like we got to open because
we're out of money.

Speaker 2 (52:30):
We got to make some of this back.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
Yeah, bro take some of this back, like we're out of,
we're like in more debt thanI've ever been in my life, and,
you know, scary, but oh, yeah,so, so yeah, but we was all like
, okay, but we're gonna open onon, like this, this day we don't

(52:52):
have this piece of equipment orthat piece of equipment, we
don't have tables and chairs.
We're just going to do just,you know, take, take out only
because we have to make money.
And like, as, as we weregetting closer, I started
thinking, like trick, but like,this is a new chapter and

(53:12):
whiskey smokes, life and ourlife and we're going to open
half-assed, you know.
So, yeah, we opted not to, sowe pushed it back again, um,
until finally all the actualequipment came in.
A good good, good brother ofmine was making our our, our

(53:34):
tables and benches and stuff andall this and like everything
lined up is okay, this is thefor real date, you know.
So, yeah, like we, going openon this day was, uh, 22nd and

(53:55):
yeah, like it, everything was inplace.
We didn't have our tables andbenches yet but, it was like
sure, let's just open.
I called my friend like bro, weopen in two hours, I need my

(54:15):
tables.
And he was like, yeah, bro, I'mon my way, I'm loading them up
right now.
Go into the truck, they'recoming.
It's like, oh, they're out,yeah, so kind of a testament to
to Kaneohe people you know, andlike like old school Hawaii.

(54:36):
Yeah, bro, like the place, theparking lot filled up an hour
before we opened.
Next door filled up, cross thestreet filled up.
It was line forming and we'relike oh no, this is going to be
a disaster.
You know, like we don't have atable and chairs and all this

(54:58):
stuff.
Bro, my buddy pull up and he'sgot the tables and stuff in like
two, three, three trucks.
We're like, okay, we better gosign and bring in the tables,
right, like if like peoplewaiting in line, no, go and help
carry tables and benches andhelp us set up the restaurant

(55:21):
and all this stuff.
I never met these people in mylife.
Maybe we walked across eachother.
You know food land, I don'tknow, but like it was, it was a
lot of hat and it oh this meancool right on the hollow, you
know.
So then, before we opened, itwas okay, we have to pray.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
You know.
So you know me, my like wife,the boys, you know, and like our
like staff, then like we, youknow, like our, our like staff,
then like we, you know, we hadkids that like we, we like you
know, help helped out.
You know parents not around ondrugs or it's probably take them

(56:08):
in, feed them whatever, employthem.
So you know, but we had them.
Okay, everybody come out, Standin a circle, let's pray real
quick and then it's open.
So we stand in a circle prayingBro.
I look outside and everybodyoutside is holding hands.

(56:30):
They're praying Mean bro, Likechicken skin kind, so the kind I
tell my wife I was likenobody's going to pay today.
Oh, shit.
Yeah, we're going to give allthis food away you know, and
she's like what are you talkingabout?
You never see what justhappened.

(56:52):
Like these people was helpingus and carrying all our tables
and stuff.
And then we're like praying andall these people are joining us
in prayer.
But my wife Chinese she was alllike like yeah, no.

(57:13):
I know where you're coming from, but we broke.
These people came here with thefull intention of buying food
from us, and that's what theywould do you know.
Don't rob them of that but yeah,bro, and like, and our, our

(57:34):
plan was to open Saturday,sunday, close Monday, tuesday,
to kind of regroup, assess.
Okay, how did service go?
How was everything?
We, we made enough food forlike what we thought was like

(57:54):
three days.
So two solid days, with some incase, was crazy.
Yeah, bro, we know, just aboutrun out of food on saturday was
mental, bro, we was doing likethousand dollar hours, fifteen
hundred dollar hours, bro, likeeverybody just came out.

(58:16):
That's just a part.
It was unreal, that'sdefinitely.
Yeah, that's kind of funny, bro.
And like, sunday, we, we, wemade sunday happen, but by three
o'clock, four, four o'clock, wegot a food.
We got people like, well, can Ijust make you something?

(58:41):
Just something.
I was like well, we can, but wedon't have this component to
put this together for you orthat component to put this, this
, it goes this way.
It's like, no, just makesomething.
So, yeah, but we just started,we just started cooking, bro,
like just unscripted, unscriptedoff the menu, just cooking, bro

(59:02):
, like the kind of work I don't,I don't even know what I'm
going to charge you for this.
So, just whatever you likebuying for, if you like, throw
money in the jar, throw money inthe jar and it was like that.
It was unreal.
Um.
So yeah, about monday mondaywith the family, kind of she got

(59:24):
together somewhere crying butit was just so happy you know,
and then.
But that's just kept rollingfrom from then.
And even after that, like theactual owners of the building
came both days Saturday, sundayand they bought food and like,

(59:49):
uh, they was like, hey, I was soproud of you guys, you're so
happy.
Like, look at what you guys did, you know.
It was like, oh, thank you, youknow.
It's like hey, we're going toget you your money.
And it was like no, you knowwhat, go take one other month,
just make your money.
Look at them, like like youguys you kidding me or what like

(01:00:12):
, but like don't, don't tell meyou wouldn't come by next, next
week and tell me we gotta getout, because normally, like,
good stuff gonna, you know,don't necessarily happen without
some kind of a catch, you knowyeah and and until this day they
still come in, they order food,they eat talk story.

(01:00:36):
You know us guys always tell no,no, no, just take the food, not
gonna charge you, like no, butif you guys don't charge us,
we're not gonna come back yeah,the best thing you can do for uh
friends and family is supportbro, like that's what I always
believe, like, you know, that'sthe, that's the best Aloha.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
You know what I mean and I've, fortunate enough, I
went the first time to yourrestaurant with my dad and my
dad is a food critic Like, ifone thing wrong, that's it.
Like, and we had um, I hadbrisket.
I forget what he had, but Iknow the sauce and he just kept

(01:01:18):
raving about it and I was like,bro, this is on spot and I think
, being in Kaneohe with thatvibe you explained, and I always
say, like, food is art and arttranscends people, it brings
people together, any kind of artmusic, storytelling and food,

(01:01:41):
like food, anything that tastesgood, I don't care if you
chinese, japanese, korean, haole, whatever.
If it tastes good, it gonnataste good, no matter what you
know.
I mean, and it, yeah, your,your food is good and thank you,
man.
It is what connects people.
And I watched one of yourvideos and it hit and it hit me

(01:02:06):
because of what you said is likewe're not selling smoked meat,
we're selling passion and love.
And I was like and it's family,you're, guys, family, it.
It's different.
It's not like, oh, I'm justmaking money and and and all
that.
It's right, you're putting thatpassion into what you're doing,

(01:02:29):
the love and allah and yourfamily.
It's probably why those peopleblessed you guys with the
location you're at and that kindof stuff is the good vibes and
aloha that Hawaii needs.
And I was telling you like, thispast weekend I got to see

(01:02:51):
Metallica play and I love theirmusic.
I grew up listening to theirmusic.
But what got me so obsessedwith them, with watching them?
I was watching the passion theyhad for playing in front of
people and, like I said, that'sart, that's music.
That passion is what was superattractive about the, the

(01:03:14):
concert I went to this weekend,and that's the same kind of
passion you guys have for yourfood.
It's like it doesn't matter,it's going to be the same If you
making them at home for yourfamily or are you making them
for hundreds of people at yourrestaurant, that is the same.
You know what I mean?
It's it's cool.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
It's cool to see and taste now this, this, this
business, though like um, Idon't know how to put it, I
don't, I don't know how toexplain it, but it's um, it's
super nice for us, um, in someways it's easy, because we can

(01:03:57):
be ourselves Like we can.
We can be who we are.
Like you know about, I've I'vedone a lot of things in my life.
I've I've wore a lot ofdifferent hats, and you have to
be that certain person that'swearing that certain hat.

(01:04:19):
When you're wearing your hat,you know, um, you know, and like
I mean music, I actually play,play as well.
I you know, play, play musicand like, when, like you're,
you're on on stage, you kind ofgot to be this certain person.
You have to look like thiscertain person or whatever.

(01:04:41):
But our restaurant it's afamily business and we're like
mom and dad with their boys andnieces and nephews and whatnot,
just hanging out, just having agreat time.

Speaker 2 (01:04:57):
Easy bro Easy.

Speaker 1 (01:04:59):
You know, and then like too, man, the whole
bringing people together thing,like full on, like, and I think
about this a lot, like you know,like God gave me this skill,
you skill, this passion for food.
I've always cooked myself, myfamily, everybody cooks.

(01:05:25):
The men in my family areexceptional cooks but he gave me
this skill to use as a tool tobring people together, because
that's what food does.
You know our dining room.
We don't have a whole lot oftables, but we do have a few

(01:05:47):
tables that are really long, andthat was done on purpose,
because when the actual smallertables fill up and there's like
a top table it actually shouldbe an eight top and there's like
, say, there were two or threepeople on it, and there's like

(01:06:08):
folks that come in and tell mewell, can you actually sit down
over there, introduce yourselfand make some whatever friends
and whatever friends bro.
And they kind of look at uslike nah, they're like eating.
It's like, yeah, bro, go breakbread with them.
And it's cool to see likepeople locals and tourists or

(01:06:30):
whatever like sitting at thesame table, don't know each
other, never met before.
Just eating together andtalking, sir, that's barbecue
yeah, that's barbecue.

Speaker 2 (01:06:42):
That's the vibe you was creating at your house
during covid yeah, yeah for real.
That's awesome, bro.
And one thing I did noticebefore I knew any of your story,
knew who you guys were oranything was when I went with my
dad, the customer service.
It was so on point, full ofaloha, full of I was like they

(01:07:06):
got something good going overhere.
They get good food, goodcustomer service and it was just
welcoming and, oh, thanks forcoming.
This is your order and audit.
They bring them to your thingor what kind.
You want to try the sauce, likeI was, like bruh, this, this is
just good vibes.
I didn't realize.
You guys have a.

(01:07:27):
You guys do a lot of baking too, right, you guys have some.
You guys have sweets and stuffover there.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
Yeah, well, like everything there is is is made
by us, Everything is made in inhouse.
So our, our, our bread, ourbuns, all all this, like
everything is made in house.
We don't you know, buy it.
Um, we, we actually our, our,our baker also owns her her own

(01:07:58):
business.
Mabel's makes, like she, youknow she does little cakes and
stuff Her.
Her desserts are justincredible.
But yeah, so then, like we, weuh actually also sell her her
products there as well.

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
Nice.
So in your opinion?
Oh, your beans are amazing too,by the way, I forgot this.
Yeah, that's actually mom'sbeans.
That's actual, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
That's actually my mother's recipe.
Like everybody, always lovesmom's beans.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
Oh, okay, gotta be Alright, that makes sense.
Say your first time coming in,what would you probably suggest
to your first timer to try?
Because the brisket melts Idon't know how you guys do that,
but that's full of greatness.
The ribs, I don't know whatwould.
What would be like?
Hey guys, if you see your firsttime, you gotta have this.

(01:08:57):
What a pork belly too is fire.

Speaker 1 (01:09:00):
yeah that's a hard, you know what, bro, like a lot
of people ask me that question.
It's hard because not to youknow, brag, but everything's
good.
I usually tell people if youdon't know what you want, grab
the all-meat plate with a coupleof the sides.

(01:09:23):
All-meat plate is it's got thebrisket, the pulled pork, ribs
and chicken.
It's like a sampler, then yeah,yeah, then you ribs and chicken.
Oh, it's like a sampler, thenKind of, yeah, yeah, you know,
and then you kind of go fromthere, because we also do combo
plates too.
You know Two choices.

(01:09:43):
We have this one called themenu.
The menu is basically a sheetpan with the menu on it.
It's actually meant to feed sixpeople.
It's quite a deal as well theprice on that.

(01:10:11):
My thing is I like, I like, Ilike seeing families sitting
down together eating off off thesame plate that's kind of cool.
Yeah, bro, I mean it's there,there's nothing.
I mean like, even even evenhere, like us, bro, you know,
yeah, and at home, like yeah,we'll actually grill up steaks

(01:10:34):
or something and just cut it upon the board.
Nobody has plates, we all justeat straight from the board, we
all just kind of surround theboard.

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
You know, to me that's like family, that's how
that's how also my dad I myselfincluded really like, uh, the
coleslaw, and you don't likethink about like coleslaw, it's
just coleslaw.

Speaker 1 (01:11:04):
But oh, it's like.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
Oh, this is action, some, some something different.
But uh, you startedimplementing one of Stephen
Kina's dishes too, out ofPalusami yeah, bro, that thing.

Speaker 1 (01:11:23):
So, like how I met Stephen, like you know, bro, I
actually saw his videos andstuff, right, because how could
you not?
He was all over the place, yeah, but um, um, yeah, like,

(01:11:43):
probably friends of mine,customers and stuff, right, but
those guys be sending me hisvideos.
Hey check this check this guyout and he goes.
Yeah, but you're like the 20thperson that sent me this video.
That means see good, as it gotheard, so like so like after a

(01:12:06):
while I was like, okay, you know, I'm going to check this guy
out, you know, but I like kindof go through his page, go to
his page and say, hey, thisguy's from Hawaii.
Okay, so I kind of researchmore and then one day he posted
this picture of him in aairplane.

(01:12:30):
The picture was basically, youknow, that pocket behind the
seat with the magazines yeahyeah, yeah, it was.
It was that, look.
I was like yeah, it looks likehawaiian airlines, so I shoot.
So I shoot a message.
I was like hey, well, you stay,but you're coming, you know,

(01:12:50):
home.
Right, instant answer is likeyeah, but bro, it's your home.
I was like hey, you don't knowme, I don't know you, but let's
hook up, bro, let's go lunch orsomething, bro, check it out.
You know Talk story, talk aboutsmokers, I don't know.
And that's kind of how that allstarted.

(01:13:14):
And then we did our collabthing and everybody was like bro
, you're going to be doing thatagain, brother polo sami
whatever and I had it.
I was like, yeah, yeah bro, thatthing is fire bro oh brah,
that's dangerous.
I know like yeah, like I do it.

(01:13:34):
I don't have to ask Stefanbecause, I mean, paul Osami is
not his creation, but out of outof like respect for him,
because he's the one thatactually brought that kind with
like one whole brisket and allthis.
So, yeah, I ask him.
Hey, because you know what.
I get people bugging me andthey're kind of I have to do it,

(01:13:59):
but I just want your, yourblessing, and like just step in
me.
It's like, yeah, bro, go for it, but do it okay, right on,
shoot, you know.
And so, yeah, like like no,even still, but we sell so much
of that, you know yeah, it'sgood bro and like, yeah, shout
out to stefan with me too.

Speaker 2 (01:14:20):
I shot my shot.
I was like, bro, I see yourvideos, you're.
You seem amazing.
Would you be on my show?
Hit me right back.
Yup, let me know when, bro andhe's in um montana, you stay up
late just to be on my show.
I was like, bro, when you come,I'll be there, I guarantee it,
I'll be there.

Speaker 1 (01:14:39):
And I was like super, that guy doesn't sleep.
Yeah, he doesn't.
I mean like I'll be at hometalking to him.
I mean, you know, I don't thinkat first, like, oh, it's like
two o'clock in the morningexactly I know after I was like,
hey, what time is it?

(01:14:59):
He's like oh no, I already hada nap and I'll have to go and do
this super solid brother yeah,and I hope you guys do some
collabs in the future.

Speaker 2 (01:15:15):
and it was cool, um, to have met you through through
him and you live in kaneo andand it was.
It was a blessing to know yourbackstory and I was like you.
You gotta share this becausefor me, growing up in Kaneohe, I
love that, those kind ofstories, and it doesn't happen

(01:15:37):
often and that makes me feellike Aloha is not dying.
Aloha is in Kaneohe and it'sstill thriving and people do
care about each other.
Like you said, they're helpingyou bring the tables in, they
pray with you.
Like you said, they're helpingyou bring the tables in, they
pray with you.
Like that's what Hawaii is about, that's what Aloha is about,

(01:15:57):
that's what our community, ourculture, our what sets us
different from the mainland orother other situations.
It makes us unique and that'sthat can't die, bro, that kind
of stuff.
And it's like like there's somuch negativity on social media

(01:16:18):
now, like I get sucked in it.
You can watch a couple guysbeefing and then you watch the
next one and the next one islike I rather see that ring of
hands and people praying.
I rather see oh look these guysputting in the tables.
And that's the feel-good stuff,that's my clickbait, that's the
kind of stuff I like seeing.

(01:16:38):
To hear that kind of storymakes me proud.
It makes me proud that I'm fromHawaii, I'm from Kaneohe, and
that stuff still exists and it'sstrong and to hear you talk
about it makes me feel good asmuch as you are feeling good
talking about it.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:16:57):
Yeah, well, I mean, people just got to like slow
down, I guess, slow down, yeah,and just love each other and
just be patient with each other.
Everybody's got their thing youknow about and like I mean like
to me, like even the worst guyaround, just pilau guy, like

(01:17:21):
that, he wasn't born, like thatyou know, so something between
then and I'll judge or something.
Just just be patient with them,you know um and just support
each other.
But I, I catch, I catchnegative stuff all the time.
You know um on like my, my,like real, in fact, the, the

(01:17:44):
whole thing.
The guy's like oh bro, oh bro,you guys gotta uh, you know,
let's study your food and belike more informed.
I know that's lupulu.
I know that's lupulu but haveyou, thaddeus, ever heard of
lupulu?
Nope, but you know whatpalusami is right, yeah,

(01:18:06):
palusami.
No more meat inside you know,but the Tongan, the Tongan
version, lupulu get meat, butjust Stephan called it Palo
Stame.
Everybody know what Palo Stame,so we call him Palo Stame.
The guy's like relax, relax,you know what I mean.

(01:18:29):
It's not that big a deal yeah,bro, it's like I mean go go, go
outside, go move and stuff, youknow, go go risk chickens play
with your kids smile go be yeahI mean, they're kind of there
too.
I I like you know I like it, Iget, I get, I get some all like

(01:18:50):
my, my, my reels, working thisreal honest, and like my thing
is at at the, the beginning,which is the end, but it's kind
of our, our catch thing.
Oh, I would like.
I would like bite the you knowfood, the food.
I may take a big bite out of itall.
Barbecue sauce and whatever areyou guys all like?
Oh no, can even wear gloves, oh, have you ever heard of gloves.

(01:19:14):
It's like cousin bro, you neversee me eat the food.
What, bro?
You wear the gloves when youmake yourself a sandwich.

Speaker 2 (01:19:21):
It's my food, bro.
I'm not serving this one to you.

Speaker 1 (01:19:28):
It's like you order this.
Trust me, you don't wear gloves.
I'm making myself lunch.
You know what I mean.
This is my lunch, yeah, andlike I can fully envision some
guy just bored, just maybe hisgirlfriend, and cheat on him, I
don't know, and just looking,looking at the phone, like I got

(01:19:50):
you, you know come on.

Speaker 2 (01:19:52):
It's like brad.
I always say that you're doingsomething right, because if you
get haters, you're doingsomething right yeah and I used
to freaking engage and then Irealized, like brad, there's
probably some dude at his mom'shouse with his cheeto fingers,
or, like I said, I cannot bringmyself down to that.

(01:20:13):
And, brad, I just with aloha.
Like brad, I get bullshitmessage to me all the time.
I say, oh, right on, thanks foryour input, brad, hope you have
a great day.

Speaker 1 (01:20:25):
I do the same thing like dude kill him with kindness
bro, you can be as negative asyou want.
I'm gonna tell you because Ilove you.
But yeah, you know, roger willsee you.
You know exactly.
And that always shuts them upbecause they don't handle that
kind.
Maybe nobody told him that,that did you know they?

(01:20:46):
They like love him and they'relike well, I don't know.
Yeah, yeah, but just then thenegativity, like it's, yeah
smiling leave right on gloves,roger gloves when I eat my lunch
.

Speaker 2 (01:20:59):
Okay, I'll try that out bro, thank you yeah, but,
like I said, you're doingsomething right once you get
people hated on it, so it's likemore the better, it's all good,
but I want to take this time toshout out our sponsors.
It's a our medicinal mushroomcompany is medicinal mushrooms

(01:21:22):
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They're a locally basedmedicinal mushroom company here
in hawaii and right now theyhave a bunch of mushrooms that I
take religiously.
They have lion's mane, turkeytail, red reishi and also the
chaga mushrooms and the brandnewest one to the family they're
just coming out with cordycepsand I am extremely excited for

(01:21:45):
this mushroom.
This mushroom is known toincrease energy, oxygen supply
and overall health.
I'm excited to take this beforeI work out, and I did a
baseline on my blood rightbefore I'm starting to take this
, so I'm going to see theeffects this has on me.
I've been waiting for this oneto come out for a while.

(01:22:06):
I'm really excited about this.
But go visit them on theirwebsite, med
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check out, you'll get 45% offyour first tincture of extracted
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And make sure it's all capitals, atbpodupon, check out all

(01:22:27):
capitals.
But go check out the cordycepsBrand new, brand new.
Go check them out.
Aloha the cordyceps brand new,brand new.
Go check them out.
Aloha, what, what?
I didn't realize until today,until you told me, and then I
did a small dive into it.
But you're a metalhead,hardcore bass player, freaking
musician oh, I do something.

Speaker 1 (01:22:50):
They put this thing on me, that's got strings on it,
and I bashed on it andapparently, people like what I
do.

Speaker 2 (01:22:56):
Honestly, you match your look matches.
I've seen videos and I broughtit up to you real quick If you
knew my friend who used to bethe producer of this show Boy
band, john John Wong, and shoutout to him and his 808 scene,
because he's been pushing thathardcore scene for years and and

(01:23:17):
I can't wait to tell him that I, that I know you and yeah, he's
, he's a unique dude and andhe's definitely passionate about
that scene and he kind of he'sa great great guy.
Yeah, Great guy and to know thatyou're a musician and play on
stage and everything like that'ssuper cool.

(01:23:38):
To to hear man and bro, Ididn't, I had no idea yeah, no,
like I, I do I right.

Speaker 1 (01:23:48):
Anybody that knows me knows that I'm.
I've got my hands in on so manydifferent things.
You know, like I've done a lotof stuff, but my one constant
has always been music.

(01:24:09):
You know, it's my escape, likesometimes life gets a little bit
stressful, you know, but whenI'm on stage for whatever 45
minutes, hour, hour and a half,whatever it is, nothing exists
my bills, my worries, mystresses, nothing.

(01:24:31):
For that moment in time, um, I'ma rock star, if you will.
You know there's there's,there's just people that came to
see us play and they're like,oh my god, you know, and it's
like all the stuff that I wasthinking about two hours ago,
not thinking about the thingsthat I'll be thinking about

(01:24:53):
again, probably in the morning,because when I get home I'm like
still writing that.
You know, live performance, youknow like all goes away and I
think every man needs that.
You know, every father husband,whatever.
You know you need that escape.

(01:25:13):
You know every father husband,whatever.
You know you need that escape.
You know, as long as it'ssomething positive, you know
that's like not not going tocause harm to anyone, or or, or
think, but, yeah, bro, like I've, I've, I've been playing music
I don't even know how long, likemany years this band.

(01:25:37):
We've been together for like 15years or something now.

Speaker 2 (01:25:42):
What's the name of the band?

Speaker 1 (01:25:44):
13th Legion.
It's kind of yeah, we Actuallytour and everything.
We go to Japan, hawkeye Vegas,it's fun.

Speaker 2 (01:25:54):
I like to we actually tour and everything.

Speaker 1 (01:25:55):
but we go to Japan, hawkeye, vegas.
That's super cool, it's fun,you know, and I do like our band
.
Well, like the singer and I,we've known each other since we
were very young.
Like we're're like best friendsforever.

(01:26:17):
He's my brother.
We've been playing musictogether since probably 93, 94.
Oh, wow, yeah, it's been a long, long time.
I won't do it without him.
But yeah, this is kind of like,like, almost like oh, it's been

(01:26:42):
said to us before like guys,bowling night, you know,
rehearsal, rehearsal nights, youknow, we all meet up, hang out
out, we'll talk, story, maybepractice a few songs, write a
couple things, whatever.
But the, the, the like.
Last few years we've beenpushing kind of hard, you know,

(01:27:05):
touring and all this stuff,recording and everything.

Speaker 2 (01:27:08):
Because we're getting .

Speaker 1 (01:27:10):
we're getting old, you know, I'm not sure how long.

Speaker 2 (01:27:14):
Hey, metallica is 60, .
Bro, those guys didn't miss abeat.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:27:22):
They've also been huge since, like 86.

Speaker 2 (01:27:26):
You know what I mean.
They don't need to do any ofthis anymore.
You know what I mean.
I mean yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:27:33):
I mean I mean yeah, so, like, I mean music, not only
is it a release for me, is it ahuge positive thing that helps
me keep my mind straight andeverything, but it's also taking
places that I wouldn't havegone to otherwise, you know.

(01:27:54):
I mean Japan.
I japan so much, we go to japanso much and I love it so much,
but I, I would have never goneto, I would have never seen
japan if, if not for this, thisband, they just, I don't know,
just never, I don't, I don'treally travel without a purpose.

(01:28:14):
You know what I mean.
Like I don't, I'm, I'm not, I'mnot one that you know.
Yeah, I mean I'm like going togo to california just because,
or like I'm going to go to vegasto go gamble.
I just, I just don't, you know.
But you know, um, touring, yeah, we're going on tour.
So we're going to go see thisspot and it's going to be epic.

(01:28:35):
We're going to have a greattime.
You know, in November I'll bein Texas with Steppen Kina.

Speaker 2 (01:28:47):
Oh nice.

Speaker 1 (01:28:49):
Yeah, there's this like huge, huge event.
It's an open fire meetup inHondo, texas, so then Mari and I
is going to be flying up thereto, you know, cook with stuff

(01:29:12):
and it's like.
It's just like huge event thing.
It's gonna be epic.
But yeah, like I don't justtravel, I, I, I never, I never
really have it's just I'd ratherwork or do stuff here that's
super cool.

Speaker 2 (01:29:30):
but playing music that's like you said is a good
release and the kind of musicguarantee is a good release.

Speaker 1 (01:29:36):
Oh, yeah, man, yeah, like full on.
I mean playing like hardhardcore punk, like we.
We we've always been classifiedas as like, as like hardcore.
Like you know, east East coasthardcore we always been
classified as as like, as ahardcore.

(01:29:58):
Like you know, east Coasthardcore.
We, we tend to call ourselvesmore, like you know, hard
hardcore rock and roll.
I know, good good brother ofours, hassett yeah, warren
Hassett, who likes to call usOikor, you know.
But yeah, it's just, I mean Ilike, I like playing hard, hard

(01:30:24):
music because you can be onstage, you can be full
professional doing your thing,you can show off whatever or you
could act a total fool andnobody will will view you very
differently, you know yeah yeah,man that's super cool.

Speaker 2 (01:30:40):
Well shoot, we've been well over an hour and I
definitely could probably talkstory with you for another two
hours.

Speaker 1 (01:30:46):
So, um shoot, bro come by the house, bro.
We're gonna be grilling prettysoon.

Speaker 2 (01:30:53):
I gotta take, I got to take my wife out to dinner
because I just went on a dudetrip for the weekend Watch
Metallica.
She was stuck home doing allthis stuff because we're getting
my wife to be we're gettingmarried in a few weeks, so I got
to make it up to her.
So going to sadio's, but I'd besuper down to come your house

(01:31:17):
and barbecue with you, or eatyour barbecue, I don't know,
anytime you like, bro, just callme man, we'll freaking, that'll
be super, we'll just cruise,bro, throw down up there.

Speaker 1 (01:31:29):
Yeah, I got girls and smokers and flat pops and stuff
out of the yard.
Yeah, yeah, but we, we, we, wefreaking definitely throw down
there I'd be down, I super bedown I definitely would want
neighbors to stomp yeah I Idefinitely would want you back
on my show.

Speaker 2 (01:31:49):
And oh, before we cut out, I wanted to know what
would be one of your futuregoals.
Like, what do you see forfuture wise like where you want
to take whiskey smoke?

Speaker 1 (01:32:01):
My future goals for for the business.
Yeah, Um well, a couple more.
A couple more locations,Definitely maybe Westside, Kauai
, Big Island, Kauai.

Speaker 2 (01:32:23):
Big Island.

Speaker 1 (01:32:25):
That's actually where the family's from Kauai.
My family is all in Kauai.
We've discussed this way earlyon.
You know, like I, I kind ofwanted to set things up where,
like, one son has his restaurant, the other son has his

(01:32:47):
restaurant and all this, andthen, when it it came time to
actually get the actual secondspot, we almost opened a spot on
the website.
Oh wow, and we like ran into anissue where, like you know, our
boys was like oh, so what?
We're not going to be workingtogether anymore.
Oh, no because, like, you'regoing to be like that was the

(01:33:10):
goal, dude, like, and they'relike, oh, but you, you know it's
my brother, so you know mycousin, come on.

Speaker 2 (01:33:22):
oh, that's super cool to hear, though that must mean
you proud, though that must havemade you yeah, no, bro, they're
, they're tight, they're supertight.
It's all of them, it's all ofthem.
Great Social media wise.
Where can people find you?
And also, where can people findyour restaurant?

Speaker 1 (01:33:44):
We're in Coney Island , the old Fresh Cats building
next to the Taco Bell Pizza Hutjust before Coney Heap Whiskey
Smoke underscore 808, and theTaco Bell Pizza Hut just before
Cajipa Whiskey Smoke underscore808.
And my personal is BBQunderscore PMP 13.
And your?

Speaker 2 (01:34:07):
band's one 13th Legion.

Speaker 1 (01:34:11):
Hi, I believe, is what it is.
Check it out we're.
We don't plan on playing anyshows anytime soon because we
have a new drummer, but we'resupposed to be playing Florida
in a few months and then we'reprobably going to start touring
again after that yeah, that'ssuper cool and, as always, you

(01:34:34):
can find us on the above thebridge podcast on instagram,
youtube, our website isatbpodcom and my personal
instagram is thaddydaddyhi.

Speaker 2 (01:34:48):
Well, I appreciate you taking time out and coming
on.
I am very super stoked that yougot to share that story and I
I'm so happy that happened inkaneo, because I need it.
I need to hear more good stuffcoming on.
All I hear is that, oh,somebody got jacked at the mall
or these guys are beefing byking or brada.

(01:35:11):
My friend he's a security guardin by mcdonald's castle kids
was trying to scrap with him andall this stuff yeah, it's like,
oh, I need, I needed to hearsomething like this, and, uh,
I'm.
I wish you guys all the best andI feel like, because, because
you guys put god first, thisplan for you guys is working and

(01:35:34):
and your family dynamic issuper strong and that's the kind
of stuff that I hope to buildwith my new family now and I'm
super stoked to hear it, see itand also taste your food.
Bro, I got to go back theresoon.
My wife doesn't like barbecue.
That's the only thing, bro.

(01:35:55):
It's like okay, what?
has she has she tried our food?
She never.
She never the two times I wentthe two, three times I went was
with my dad, and then when Iwent to visit um you guys,
because stefan was there, yeahbring her by we'll uh yeah, turn
that around for you all rightbecause date night should be

(01:36:17):
there, you know?
okay, right on, bro.
Well, I hope to talk to yousoon, man, and I appreciate you
and thank you again, bro.
I wish you all this success inthe world thank you, brother,
appreciate you.
Right on Shaka's for thecameras.

Speaker 1 (01:36:36):
Aloha.

Speaker 2 (01:36:37):
We're out.
Shout out to the Artist GroupNetwork Aloha.
Thank you.