Restaurateurs and chefs Brooke Williamson and Nick Roberts continue to dominate the South Bay dining scene with the debut of their fourth restaurant, Da Kikokiko, a casual, neighborhood-friendly Hawaiian concept opening today in Los Angeles. Located in Playa Vista, the restaurant reinforces Brooke and Nick’s laid-back, beachside lifestyle that’s echoed throughout all of their hospitality group’s Company for Dinner concepts (Hudson House, The Tripel, Playa Provisions, and the culinary boutique Tripli-Kit). Celebrating the island’s biggest street foods, Da Kikokiko features three main menu items: poké, shave ice, and musubi.
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 like a grain blend and seaweed and bean thread noodle salad, Lomi-Lomi salmon, octopus, sweet fermented chili shoyu and yuzu kosho sauces, crushed wasabi peas, tobiko (flying fish roe) and sweet pickled Shiitake mushrooms.
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 Playa Provisions.
Designed by local designer Jill Stevens with Dust & Co., Da Kikokiko embodies vintage island vibes with contemporary touches and an overall color palette reminiscent of Pacific Ocean hues like ivory, clover, turquoise, and Prussian blue. The home-like feeling of the residential-style kitchen continues between the outdoor-inspired dining area that seats 30, featuring a pitched oak-paneled ceiling that embodies the exterior roof of a mid-century Hawaiian home. Custom walnut and oak communal tables suspend from the wall, with bench seating and a custom cushion design showcasing a modern take on the Hawaiian textile art, Kapa.
