First Look: Yield in Chinatown

This new brunch spot offers both veggie-centric fare and meaty dishes, all packed with local ingredients.

By Catherine Toth Fox

The steak and eggs is one of the most popular brunch items at Yield, which opened this summer in Chinatown.

Photos: Catherine Toth Fox

Wearing a black baseball hat and a friendly smile, Kale Furuya pulls up a chair next to our table and starts asking us what we like so far.

Not unlike the way his dad, master sommelier Chuck Furuya, makes the rounds at his restaurant, Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar.

The difference? Furuya is more of a pressed-juice expert—he owned Impressed Juice Hawai‘i and Nalo Juice Co.—and his restaurant, Yield in Chinatown, is small and specializes in farm-to-table brunch.

He and his pal Patrick Sugiyama, a chef who’s worked in high-end Japanese restaurants, decided to open a quaint brunch spot this summer in a 400-square-foot space on Nu‘uanu Avenue in the ROC Center Building next to Fête.

The menu, which has evolved and grown since it first opened, features a fun assortment of small and big plates, including a few vegan options. Furuya says about 95 percent of its fresh, local ingredients come from more than 50 specialty farms.

Hence the name, he says.

“It’s about the bounty,” he explains. “We try to get what we can locally.”

Just as he says this, a delivery guy walks in with boxes of avocados, Tahitian limes, mixed greens and grapefruit from small local farms.

“We don’t have a lot of cold storage here, so we get produce delivered fresh daily,” he says.

Packed with local veggies, the ratatouille is one of several vegan dishes on the menu at Yield. The restaurant even serves a vegan cheese platter with house-made “cheese” using macadamia nuts and mushrooms.

The vegan smoked eggplant crostini ($6) features eggplant grown on Kahumana Organic Farm and buttermilk cheese from Naked Cow Dairy, both from Wai‘anae. The bruschetta ($8) has Ho Farms tomatoes, ʻEwa onions and locally grown cilantro. The duck egg omelet ($15) uses local duck eggs and Hau‘ula tomatoes.

Already best sellers are the Dutch baby ($13), using Naked Cow Dairy buttermilk and local honey; kale Florentine ($14), with Kahumana Organic Farm kale and local goat cheese; and—my favorite—steak and eggs ($22) with a perfectly cooked rib eye (not local—yet), creamed tatsoi, local eggs and roasted summer veggies.

The kale Florentine features local kale, goat cheese and eggs.

Photo: Katrina Valcourt

The menu has a few seafood dishes, too, including a poke bowl and this ceviche salad.

Photo: Catherine Toth Fox

All of the bread—sourdough and foccacia—are baked in-house, and we highly recommend a side of either if you’re ordering anything with eggs.

Since Furuya knows his juices, it’s prudent to try one of the house blends (market price) or opt for the refreshing mint-ginger lemonade ($4). Either won’t disappoint. The drink menu also has iced sencha tea, iced hoji tea, iced jasmine tea, hot and cold-brew coffee and bullet coffee with grass-fed butter, coconut oil, cinnamon and kīawe honey.

The pair are planning to start dinner service at some point and expand the menu to include more lunch items. Right now, the menu is heavy on smaller plates and lighter fare.

And yes, an avocado toast—using local avos—is coming soon.

1110 Nu‘uanu Ave., open 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, closed Monday, (808) 400-5788, @yieldrestaurant