Teriyaki 4 U Brings Hawaii to Carrollton (Do Not Miss the Crab Rangoon)

Several years ago, I made my first visit to Hawaii. We stepped off the plane in Honolulu, got our rental car and beelined it out of the city and up the coast towards Kailua. We stopped at a roadside shack for some lunch, and I got a quintessential local meal: the Hawaiian plate. There's usually a protein (mine was a succulent kalua pork), macaroni salad and rice, all piled high into a plastic container. I ate a lot of great food on that trip, but the Hawaiian plate sticks with me every time I think of Hawaiian fare.

Fast forward to last week, a friend called me and said she was having a late lunch at Carrollton's newest Asian casual restaurant, Terikyaki 4 U, and invited me to join her. When I arrived, my friend was sitting with owner Josh Bonee, whose resume includes Stephan Pyles Flora Street Cafe and Fine China, while she worked through a teriyaki salmon entree. I took one look at the fish, sitting on a bed of rice with a side of slaw and macaroni salad, all tucked into a square takeout container, and blurted out, "This looks like something you'd get on Oahu!"
Turns out, that's exactly what Bonee and his team were aiming for. He opened Teriyaki 4 U a few weeks ago in northwest Carrollton. Opening an Asian spot just north of Carrollton's cornucopia of Asian restaurants and markets on Old Denton Road seems bold, but according to Bonee, he found a real gap in places that serve food as you'd find in the Aloha State.

"It kind of went in that [Hawaiian] direction," Bonee said of his plans for the restaurant. "We tried a couple of Hawaiian places and didn't see anything special. So we thought, what if I take a fine-dining background and take it fast casual?"

For a fast-casual spot with a heavy takeout focus, it's easy to see the elevated techniques that Bonee and his team bring to Teriyaki 4 U. Perhaps it's because Bonee has experience at both ends of the service spectrum, from his time at Flora Street Cafe to his latest work at Lucky's Hot Chicken. At Teriyaki 4 U, everything is made from scratch, while a charcoal grill imbues the proteins with a flavor that can't be matched by other cooking methods.

The grill isn't just for meats. Bonee also uses it to sear pineapple spears ($4), then hits them with a splash of teriyaki and a light dusting of gochugaru, a Korean chili flake. Grilling the pineapple caramelizes the sugars, and the teriyaki and chili blend makes everything sing. Each bite is sweet, salty, spicy and tart in perfect four-part harmony.
Teriyaki 4 U's crab Rangoon ($6) will forever ruin your enjoyment of any lesser takeout versions you've ever had. Instead of being loaded with cream cheese and the briefest hint of crab, Bonee flips the script. These are chock full of shredded crab, with just enough cream cheese to bind the meat together, and it's all fried to a golden hue. Instead of a syrupy sweet and sour sauce, these come with a Vietnamese-style pink peppercorn fish sauce that's perfect for dipping. Four come to an order, making them ideal for sharing.

There's no Kahlua pork available, but as we dug into the spicy teriyaki chicken ($13), the flashbacks to Hawaii kicked into high gear. The strips of chicken are perfectly grilled, and the spicy teriyaki sauce comes in a cup on the side so you can add as little or as much as you like. The sauce wasn't burn-your-mouth spicy, but it did provide a subtle hint of zing. Before any spicy heat gets out of hand, forkfuls of the crunchy slaw or the creamy macaroni salad step in to cool things down. Macaroni salad is what drives the Hawaiian point home, and Teriyaki 4 U's version is spot-on.

In addition to chicken or salmon, Teriyaki 4 U offers a teriyaki tofu and a Japanese curry. There's also another Hawaiian staple, Loco Moco, on the menu that we'll definitely come back to try. Loco Moco is two chargrilled burger patties topped with mushroom gravy and fried egg, with more rice and mac salad. There's also an assortment of boba teas and iced coffees, and Bonee says that some boozy adult bobas are in the works once the restaurant gets its beverage permit.

Most people visit Hawaii for the epic beaches and natural beauty, but the cuisine is no slouch either. Fresh food abounds, and the blending of Japanese, Korean and Chinese into the Pacific Island cuisine is a culinary delight. At Teriyaki 4 U, the food brings those same memories crashing back in Pacific-sized waves, tucked in a strip mall spot that's much closer to home.

Teriyaki 4 U, 1111 W. Frankford Road, Carrollton. Monday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.