Shimogawa Scoops

Wahlburgers, founded by the chef brother of movie and pop star brothers, Mark and Donnie Wahlberg, is opening its first Hawaii restaurant in the former Cafe Lani space at Honolulu’s Ala Moana Center, Shimogawa Scoops has learned. The new restaurant will be located on the mall’s Level 2 in the Ewa Wing near Longs Drugs and Shabuya, and led by California-based OneTeam Restaurant Group. Wahlburgers, which has about 35 locations around the world, mainly in the U.S., filed a building permit Friday for its new restaurant and bar at Hawaii’s largest mall, and also filed other public records regarding its Honolulu eatery including registering its trade name. The casual dining burger restaurant was also featured in a TV series that aired on A&E for several seasons.  Wahlburgers will join Olive Garden, another well-known restaurant that recently opened its first location in the Islands at Ala Moana Center.

Von’s Chicken, the hugely popular Korean fried chicken restaurant chain, is expanding to East Oahu with a location opening in Kaimuki, public records show. Von’s is opening its sixth location at a small retail strip center at   3036 Waialae Ave., which is across from AutoZone.  The chicken chain has been on a fast-moving expansion plan on Oahu with more on the way including expanding to West Oahu.  Its tasty chicken wings has captured quite the following. Von’s started out with just one location inside the Palama Supermarket in the Ala Moana area but already has five locations. 

  Olive Garden, one of the most popular restaurants that does not have a presence in Hawaii yet, is planning to open its second location in Kapolei in West Oahu at the Ka Makana Alii shopping Center, according to public records. Olive Garden plans to open its first eatery in the state at Hawaii’s largest shopping mall – Ala Moana Center in Honolulu in the former space of Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. On Friday, Olive Garden filed a $25,000 building permit with the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting for a new restaurant at the Debartolo Development-owned shopping center. Both DeBartolo and Olive Garden’s parent company are based in Florida. Ka Makana Alii, which opened a few years ago under a long-term ground lease with the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, already includes a variety of well-known national brands including Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Cheesecake Factory, Johnny Rockets, Jollibee, Wendy’s and Panda Express. Olive Garden has b...

  Legendary rock star Carlos Santana continued his real estate buying spree on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai’s North Shore with his third purchase in less than two years, according to public records. Earlier this month, the 73-year-old iconic American-Mexican guitarist purchased a 4,386-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom home that sits on a 13,187-square-foot parcel of land in the Princeville at Hanalei luxury master-planned community on Kauai. Santana paid $3.8 million for the property, which has a total assessed value of about $3.7 million. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has been busy buying properties on the Garden Isle, first purchasing a 1.48-acre estate for $2.7 million in February 2019 and then another 3.02-acre estate a year later for $8 million, public records show. Santana, who has already put his 2019 purchase on the market for just under $3 million, has earned 10 Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards for his unique style and sound.

The daughter of the late Japanese billionaire Hideki Yokoi, who has ties to President Donald Trump and one of New York City’s most famous landmarks - the Empire State Building - has recently purchased a residential unit at the ultra-luxury Park Lane Ala Moana condominium in Honolulu, public records show. KNR Park Lane LLC, which is managed by Kiiko Nakahara-Renoir, paid $8.8 million for the 3,353-square-foot, 3-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom unit, which has sweeping views of the ocean and is built atop Hawaii’s largest shopping mall, Ala Moana Center. Built a few years ago, it is known as one of the most luxurious condo projects ever built in Hawaii. The Park Lane unit has a total assessed value of about $6.5 million and was developed by Honolulu’s Kobayashi Group, The MacNaughton Group and General Growth Properties, the former owner of the Honolulu mall. Interestingly, Park Lane Ala Moana was named after New York’s famed Park Avenue. According to a 1999 article in The Wall Street Journa...