The Kubota family has been operating the successful Pono Market in old Kapa‘a town since 1968. Over the years the small store has kept evolving, with a knack for making outstanding local food and knowing what customers want.
“We were a meat market selling Kubota pork,” Robert Kubota said, recalling when Pono Market first opened its doors over 42 years ago. They eventually transitioned into a grocery store, selling essential items, vegetables, and was the only shop that sold beer until bigger stores popped up, Kubota said.
Pono Market eventually changed its focus to fish, and evolving once more in recent years it has made its specialty plate lunches, and Uncle Ken Kubota has added his espresso and ice-cream station. Of course Pono Market also serves their famous manju as well. And their musubi. And sushi. And poke. Come to think of it, they are kind of famous for everything they serve there.
“My parents come in and make 100 laulau every day,” son Robert Kubota said of Bob and Lynn Kubota, who took over the business from parents Minoru and Kyoko Kubota in 1997. “They are here by 3 a.m. so the laulau is ready at 10:30 every morning,” Kubota said.
The Pono Market staff also works in the early-morning hours to make manju, which are sweet, baked pastries with a variety of flavors inside such as apple, coconut, sweet potato and red bean. The packaged manju plate is as exciting as a box of assorted chocolates: you decide which one to savor first, discover which one is your favorite of that day; the crystalline, flaky coconut or the creamy, mild sweet potato.
Assorted flavors of musubi — Spam, teriyaki Spam, chorizo, teriyaki chicken — is another mainstay at Pono Market made in the dark morning hours to offer by 6 a.m. Kubota said the musubi is a sure bet to get your child to eat his or her lunch at school, instead of coming home with a lunch box full of uneaten food.
“From preschool all the way up to high school, when you send them with the musubi, it doesn’t make it home,” Kubota said. “As they get older they can move on to the plate lunches.” Pono Market is serious about feeding Kapa‘a’s keiki: if any child shows their student identification between 6 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. they receive a discount. But Kubota cuts it off sharply at 7:30 a.m. because “we don’t want kids to be late to school.”
Pono Market doesn’t call the now-notorious Fridays ‘furlough days,’ they call them “Kapa‘a Fridays,” and all the employees wear their Kapa‘a school-spirit shirts, Kubota said. Besides musubi, another grab-and-go food there is the sushi.
“Our original roll was the maki sushi, and we’ve been selling it for 42 years,” Kubota said, explaining the main ingredients are cooked tuna, eggs, carrots, hana ebi (shrimp flakes) and vinegar in the rice. The poke is another item in popular demand and made with many varieties: ‘ahi onion, ‘ahi sesame, spicy tako, and spicy shrimp. After most of the plate-lunch food has sold out each day, Kubota has a motto to assure customers: “poke and beer, never fear.”
To most proprietors, selling out of their lunch items every day by early afternoon would be a good thing. But Kubota said they want to serve as many as they can and do not want to disappoint, so he advises people to call, text or e-mail ahead of time to reserve your order.
“Our lunch starts at 10:30 and we go until we run out,” Kubota said, which is usually around 1 p.m. Customers flock for the fried chicken, laulau, house-made kalua pork and all the fixings on the side.
“We make our own mac salad, lomilomi and kim chee,” Kubota said of their plate lunches, explaining they use won bok or cucumbers from the Kilauea farmers market for their kim chee. In fact, Pono Market uses mostly local food to fuel their business, including Kaua‘i-grown, free-range meat from Kojima’s, and the newest addition to Pono Market, the ice cream and espresso station run by Ken Kubota, who uses Maui-made Roselani ice cream and Kaua‘i Times coffee, a local company that roasts a bean blend specifically for Pono Market.
“Locals are going to want something to wake them up, and that’s what uncle has,” Kubota said of his Uncle Ken’s coffee. He makes a treat called the Roselani Express: a shot of espresso poured over French-vanilla Roselani ice cream.
“We are a one-stop shop; we want to get you in and get you out,” Kubota said. “You’re coming here to spend money, get your comfort food, you eat and you’re happy… we want to spread the aloha.”
Pono Market is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. To order ahead call 822-4581, e-mail kubota7997@yahoo.com or text to 652-1503.
