Honolulu’s Apartment3 Has Nice Buns

Apartment3’s Big Island Beef Burgers and Mini Sammies (sliders), served on house-made buns, have been making quite the impression on hungry locals. But you have to wonder: What kind of overachiever bakes his own hamburger buns?

That would be chef Robert McGee, who took the helm at Apartment3 in January with a culinary mission of “modern, sexy, and even decadent versions of comfort food.”

McGee’s buns are “a very rich bread dough recipe, with eggs and milk, which is already more decadent than you’ll get in normal bread. They’re almost like a dinner roll,” explains McGee. The buns are baked once or twice a week, about 30 to 40 total, and frozen in sets of four.

“Everything we do is in small batches,” McGee says. “I’m a from-scratch chef. We do a lot of fermentation, making our own pickles. We’re really proud that we buy so few prepared ingredients. Just things like Worcestershire sauce. And I haven’t been doing a house-made ketchup.”

When asked to recommend a dish, McGee says his favorite is the Ultimate Mac and Cheese. “It’s with a house-made chorizo sausage. We bring in crab, typically snow crab and sometimes Dungeness crab. We add two-year-aged Grafton cheddar from Vermont.” It’s the least Hawaii-food inspired dish, but does very well with the pupu crowd.

Apartment3 is inside Century Center, 1750 Kalakaua Ave., and is open Tuesday through Friday, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. The kitchen closes at 12:30 a.m.