Calling this a Hawaiian restaurant would be like calling Lady Gaga a “talented singer.” True—and yet not really the whole story. Because while Oahu native Ravi Kapur’s spins on tuna poke and pork belly are delicious riffs on the 50th state’s signatures, what really sets Liholiho apart is the chef’s ability to pull from NorCal, Japanese, Indian, and Korean playbooks. These influences are mashed together into dishes that feel both excitingly new and so spot-on it’s like they were, well, born this way. Think festive, shareable dishes like lettuce cups of fried oyster and beef carpaccio, beef tongue–filled poppy-seed steam buns, and humongous mains like beef ribs in kimchi-chili sauce or fried cornish game hen with flowering kale. The minimalist light fixtures and blonde-wood booths give off California cool. No wonder Kapur’s mom, whose face beams from behind the bar in a giant black-and-white photograph, sports such a big smile.

What to order: tuna poke with nori crackers, beef ribs with kimchi-chili sauce, Baked Hawaiian (caramelized vanilla ice cream with toasted chiffon cake)

We love: the off-menu house-made Spam, served over rice with furikake

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