Foodflash: Encore Saloon to Close After Almost 8 Years in Chinatown

Encore co-owners Danny Ka‘aiali‘i and Jonny Vasquez. Photo: Olivier Koning

When Encore Saloon opened in the fall of 2016, HONOLULU’s then-dining editor Catherine Toth Fox and I went for a first look. We fell in love immediately, returning time and time again for house-made nachos, the most addictive esquites-style corn, boozy slushies and good company.

“It’s definitely bittersweet, closing this chapter but I’m very excited about some upcoming projects,” co-owner Danny Ka‘aiali‘i emailed in response to my questions. “I chose to close it because quite frankly I didn’t have the bandwidth. With all the challenges that everyone is facing now in staffing, cost of goods, cost of labor, etc. it just made the decision easier.”

Encore was my go-to spot: lunch with my former boss to see how he was doing at his new job, Friendsgiving dinner the night before a four-day weekend, Taco Tuesdays and Cinco de Mayo upstairs above the crowds. I lost count of how many birthdays my friends and I celebrated here.

One time, our rowdy group had taken over a large table for hours, and it had been a while since we’d ordered anything. The staff let us borrow a knife to cut into a homemade pie anyway, and when I was sure they were about to ask us to leave (it was a busy night), they simply asked us to relocate to a smaller table. Ka‘aiali‘i was so apologetic about it that he sent over a free round of shots.

On another visit, after the restaurant changed its corn to a more well-known elote style, Cat half-jokingly gave Ka‘aiali‘i a hard time about it. The next time I went, the bowl of kernels was back on the menu.

That’s what I’ll miss most about Encore. Yes, the food was so killer we couldn’t help awarding the restaurant back-to-back Best of HONOLULU awards for its nachos in 2017 and Baja fish tacos in 2018. But it was the feeling that the party didn’t have to stop, that we’d be taken care of as long as we stayed in the sanctuary of its courtyard, that made this place home.

The HONOLULU and Frolic team welcomed editorial director Diane Seo in 2022 at Encore Saloon. Photo: Melissa Chang

When friends who’d moved away came back for a visit, Encore was always top of the list. It’s where we welcomed new colleagues and said goodbye to old ones. We held meetings at its spacious outdoor tables or sat at the bar for drinks, talking with friends about heartbreak and EMDR therapy. It made our list of favorite places for extroverts to dine alone. Its success led to the opening of Ka‘aiali‘i and business partner Jonny Vasquez’s burger joint The Daley and Pizza Mamo, both during the pandemic and only a few doors away, garnering the co-owners the Restaurateurs of the Year title in the 2021 Hale ‘Aina Awards.

Photo: Olivier Koning

It’s been a while since I’ve gone to Encore Saloon. I don’t work from the office daily any more, so gone are the days of grabbing a mezcalrita on First Fridays. The last time I ran into Ka‘aiali‘i, we were both sitting at the bar at Brick Fire Tavern in Kaimukī. Dressed as an elf (me, not him), I felt a little ridiculous, having come straight from a volunteer activity followed by a Christmas bar, but it was exciting to learn a little more about his next venture, the new Onda Pasta & Provisions store opening next door this month. At the time, I had no idea Encore would be closing.

SEE ALSO: Onda Pasta & Provisions Store Opens Saturday in Kaimukī

“The other big factor [in the decision to close] was we sold the business to the right team,” Ka‘aiali‘i wrote in his email. “It’s a couple who are going to do some really cool things. If they didn’t buy the business we would have kept it going. We love our neighbors and the Chinatown community so who we passed the torch to was very important to us. I can’t wait to see how they reimagine the space and what comes to life there.”

Encore’s final day will be Friday, March 29. That’s just a few days after my birthday, which I’ll be celebrating out of town this year. I almost wish I wasn’t. I’ll try my hardest to make it in for one more round, so if you see me crying in the corner, come and join me in celebrating one last time.

10 N. Hotel St., encoresaloon.com, @eatdrinkencore