BLT Steak’s New Sunset Menu Offers Exceptional Pupu at Pleasant Prices

One of the most pleasant cocktail lounges in Waikiki now has a bargain “sunset menu” every day from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Photos: John Heckathorn

If you ever needed an excuse to slip out of work a little early, here’s a good one. 

The lounge at BLT Steak in the Trump Waikiki has a new “sunset menu” from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. every night, all summer.

It’s the happiest of happy hours, because, in addition to a list of $7 drink specials, there’s an exceptional pupu menu at pleasant prices.

How about BLT richly flavored, long simmered shortribs, served as if they are Peking duck on steamed buns, with a knot of kimchee on the plate? Three of them go a long way to dinner, and they are only $6.

Still hungry? What about a double-cut slab of bacon, grilled and topped with chimicurra (the Argentine sauce for grilled meats) and a splash of sherry vinegar for $6?

BLT’s lounge has a raw bar, and you can indulge: $3 each for small bowls of ceviche, or poke, or (best of all) crab cocktail with a peppery aioli. Or $3 each for a Snow Crab claw or a giant chilled prawn. Order a tray full, you’re snacking like an oligarch, on a budget.

And do not even get me started on the beer-battered blue cheese-stuffed olives ($5).  Take a look at the picture below.  They are warm and crunchy on the outside, with three kinds of tang—green olives, earthy blue cheese and a spicy sauce for dipping.  I am not sure anyone should be allowed to eat these without offering Biting Commentary some, but if I'm not there, feel free to start without me.

We eventually ordered so much food, the waiter eventually slipped us a plate of BLT’s famous popovers, which sort of slid around all the other food and made our stomachs seriously satisfied.

We couldn’t eat anymore, but the lounge was so comfortable, the parade of well-dressed guests so entertaining, that we sat and sipped and talked well past sunset, content with the world.

BLT Steak, Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach Walk, 223 Saratoga Rd., (808) 683-7440, validated valet parking.