Tonight's Da Night!

Hawaii Five-0 returns to TV. Okay, I'm stoked. I've been waiting for this all summer. 


I admit to some anxiety. Some things have to change. Grace Park, as Kono Kalakaua, being one of the changes, and maybe the best change. Who doesn't want to see Grace Park in a bikini punch out a bad guy?


I know Honolulu has changed. For one, the restaurant that gave its name to McGarrett's arch enemy, Wo Fat, is no longer in operation. Here's picture of the restaurant on the corner of Hotel and Maunakea Streets. It is one of the most recognizable buildings in Honolulu along with the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and Iolani Palace. This picture was taken off of Google street view, so it is apparently still there, but not operating as a restaurant.

The restaurant is named after Ting Wo, who was a Chinese prince of the Shang Dynasty (1767 BC - 1122 BC). When Hawaii's local Chinese came to Hawaii, they chose to honor their ancestry and Chinese family roots by starting a restaurant in his honor. 'Wo' is the prince's name and 'Fat' means 'to send forth.'


The restaurant occupied the second floor of the building. It was as close to a Hong Kong-style restaurant as you will find outside of Hong Kong. The dim-sum was traditional and excellent. I have been told that gambling went on above the restaurant, but I was never up there.


One of my best memories there was one evening when Ted was about two years old. Ted was in a high chair and not in a good mood for some reason. Across the room from us was NFL star Franco Harris of the Immaculate Reception. Ted was having a tantrum and threw his sippy cup at Harris, whose hands, I'm sad to say, failed him on this occasion. It would have been so great to see him make another spectacular catch. As it was, we left soon after without the sippy cup.


Maybe Wo Fat will return in the series. If so, perhaps the new McGarrett can recover the lost sippy cup.