This was my mom’s favorite burger spot growing up and it became one of ours when I was growing

This was my mom’s favorite burger spot growing up and it became one of ours when I was growing up.

W&M is a burger place in a section of Honolulu called Kaimuki, where my mom grew up and went to school. I remember the original W&M location before it was shut down in the late 70′s, which made a lot of people panic.  “Where are we going to get our BBQ burger?  It opened down the street on Waialae Avenue, where it remains today. The parking lot is extremely small so people who visit have to find a spot, drive around the block a few times while someone runs in to make an order, or be sneaky and park the car next door at City Mill.

W&M stands for Wilfred & Mary Kawamura, the couple who started it in the early 1940′s. The only thing that has changed about this menu are the prices. Before they closed in the late 70′s, it was your burger spot where one could go in and sit.  Now, there are no seats, you just walk up to the window, make your order, and go eat somewhere.

I got this meny when I went back home either in 1986 or 1988 and I’m posting this to see the differences in prices between then and now.  A “BBQ Plain” was $2.25 in the late 80′s and now it’s about $3.60, which isn’t too bad.

For the record, their BBQ is a “teriyaki BBQ”, not a Southern style BBQ as BBQ throughout Hawai’i is generally on a hibachi.  I have only had their “BBQ Plain”, I have never had a Deluxe, a Cheeseburger, or their Royal, nor have I ever had their steaks.  Just a BBQ Plain and fries.  A part of me wants to have the one with cheese or a royal but their onions are “raw”, not grilled although I could ask if they could grill it.  The way my parents had their burgers is the way I have it, and I haven’t had a W&M in 17 years.  I can still smell it now.