Suntory distillery — yes, that Suntory, the one from the commercial — has a full restaurant here in Honolulu, and somehow nobody warned me. It is the kind of place you walk into and immediately wish your friends back home could see. Dim wood, lantern light, a long sushi bar along one wall and a whiskey list on the other.

Hakushu 12 is fourteen dollars a pour. Fourteen. Last time I had it was in Vegas for forty, and the glass had less in it. I asked the bartender twice if that was the full pour and he looked at me like I had just failed a basic life test.

Sat at the sushi bar — you can get the full menu from the stool, which is my favorite way to eat anywhere that has one. Ordered a smaller selection of nigiri and a few small plates. All great. The toro-taku was the kind of thing I'll be ordering reflexively everywhere from now on even though it will never be this good again.

Honest take: this is a way better dinner than Duke's, for less money, with more atmosphere, and nobody's doing a shaka photo three feet away. If you're in Waikiki and want a serious meal that isn't trying to be a scene, this is the move.