Height's Drive Inn (1977-2016)

“Origins of the onolicious regional Aiea Plate Lunch”

Heights Drive Inn is a fast-food restaurant founded in 1977 by the Heights Ohana with Emi Ogawa (treasurer), Evelyn Kuriyama (vice director), and Enid Okubo (president), in Aiea, Hawaii, United States. They had served Plate Lunches for hungry people who had a taste for the grill and starches with their fried saimin, macaroni salad, and white rice packing all sides with an almost overflowing appearance. Humble in nature and avoiding all publicity with open arms Enid in particular was known to have an attitude to Aloha one another and make them happy, serve up a taste of Aiea, and a regional flavor that would define plate lunches on Oahu, so much so it was even recognized by the City Council of Hawaii. They were an incredibly vital Aiea Landmark that would be the face of plate lunch in the area.

Word of Mouth, the popular Heights Drive Inn was always hush hush and secret to those from outside of Aiea as it was hidden at the bottom of the Aiea Medical Building with poor signage and covered in the shadows. From the highway people who lived in the area would drive straight there to satisfy their hunger, locals and foodies swore by it, and those in the know knew the business was owned by sisters to Bayside Drive inn family. It was joked that people would come to the Doctor after fasting all night and go straight to the drive in after the blood numbers were discussed with the doctor probably shaking their head. The plate lunches became indispensable part of car travel and was seen as unique with things like: when craving something substantial workers would order the “The Hungry Man Special”, the real special one after a long day in the office would be the Teriyaki Chicken Fried Saimin combo.

Food, Height’s was a mainstay for Plate Lunches with many of their top sellers being: Chicken Katsu Plate, Hamburger Steak Plate, Beef Stew Plate, Beef Curry Plate, Teriyaki Beef Plate, Teriyaki Chicken Plate, Spareribs & Katsu Plate, Chicken Fried Steak, Roast Pork. Such dishes always paired well with a hard to find at the time “Green River” that would always hit the spot every time. Families would head over to Heights Drive Inn at lunch and sometimes even at dinner for plate lunches for all sorts of reasons and their all-day breakfast specials would just be another reason to go. While some went for their plate lunches there were those who would go there for a simple old school cheeseburger with ketchup and sweet relish on top with a toasted bun with that mom and pop style that really made you feel the warmth of the place.

As the times changed Height’s Drive Inn incorporated different ideas and tastes to meet their customers tastes to bring happiness with a genuine taste of Aiea is various ways like the char of the meat breaking the usual flat-top taste of many plates to be more regional. The flavor of the starches was part of peoples daily lives and the food slowly started to become indispensable to Aiea and filled peoples stomachs to the point of reaching into their hearts and being known as part of Aiea and its food. Topped off carb-heavy plates were always part the Leeward area foods in general, but no one did the fried saimin or macaroni salad the Height’s way, which would be referred to those outside of Aiea as “The Aiea Way” of cooking things. People in the area were always particular flavor about the authentic taste of the area where ingredients had that authentic touch: Aiea Grilled-Teri Chicken, or making Aiea Fried Saimin, or the treasure that is the flattened appearance of a Aiea Macaroni Salad with hints of grill flavors included.

Aiea Plate Lunch, the cars that try to avoid the highway tend to come off the road to the area of Aiea which allows for an onramp back on the highway to central oahu or west oahu. There are dishes of the region that catches peoples eye and in this case it would be the plate lunch highlights of food that is made from Aiea Kama'aina. From Pearl City to Moanalua there is a large interest in grilling as the areas surround Pearl Harbor have had a large military presence of residents and hungry eaters. Regional Plate Lunches are usually served at a particular eatery and many of them in Aiea have gone. The famous Aiea plate lunch was a popular item that was served originally at Heights Drive Inn had quality grilled meats which was featured in their specials. These were placed on a plate and then packed in a box that was ready for an adventure by being easily transportable without making a mess.

When craving a bit of the Aiea flavor food, some people who could not reach Heights Drive Inn in Aiea would have to go about making their own mix plate at home. It would require a hibachi grill and a wok to make some of these dishes for the family It included much of what were the combos and specials of Heights Drive Inn as the basis of the dish list that made it a quintessential “Aiea Mix Plate”. For Example: Chicken Katsu Chili Combo, Roast Pork Hamburger Steak Combo, Spareribs Chicken Katsu Combo, Fried Noodles Boneless Chicken Combo, Heights Super Combo, Spaghetti Noodles & Rice Special, and Hungry Man Special. It was so delicious that people would have lots of nostalgia and cravings, until they could get the food from Height’s again, so they would have to make due by making it in their own homes trying to mimic the Aiea flavor.

Closure, In 2016, December 18th, there was no one to take over the family business to take over and the owners planned to retire from the base restaurant at Aiea Medical Building 99-128, across from Aiea Shopping Center, near Moanalua Road. A Message left to their loyal customers who had come for decades was place on a printed paper saying:

“The Heights Drive Inn is now closed. For many years, you have been a vital part of our lives. We will miss you. Mahalo and Aloha, The Heights Ohana.”