Wally Kennedy: Farewell, Red Hot & Blue; hello, Hawaiian Bros.
Sep. 30—If you wanted some barbecue at Red Hot & Blue, 2601 S. Range Line Road, your time has run out. The restaurant had announced on its Facebook page that it would close its doors when the food ran out. It ran out Sept. 28.
The first announcement also said: "After 25 years, the family-owned business of Red Hot & Blue Joplin will be smoking BBQ for the last time. We are retiring from the restaurant business."
The restaurant, which dates back to the early 1970s as Shotgun Sam's Pizza and later as Raphael's Mexican Restaurant-Cantina, is to be razed.
A new restaurant, Hawaiian Brothers Island Grill, is to be built there. The company has not announced its plans for the site.
Hawaiian Brothers Island Grill is one of the fastest growing restaurant brands in the country. With over $55 million in revenue in 2021 from restaurants in six states, the company is planning to open 20 to 25 additional locations this year. The business was started in 2018 at Belton by brothers Cameron and Tyler McNie, who decided to put their own spin on the Hawaiian plate lunch after working 15 years in their family's Hawaiian grill business on the West Coast.
A company's website can tell you a lot about the company. Make sure to check out the community section of hawaiianbros.com. You will learn about the 1880's evolution of the plate lunch and how sugar and pineapple plantation laborers from all over the world contributed to the culture of Hawaii. It's a fascinating story that underscores the multicultural relationships that contributed to the island's unique traditions.
A plate lunch, according to the website, consists of meat, rice and a macaroni salad. There's Huli Huli chicken, Molokai chicken and Kilauea chicken, which apparently is lava hot. They also have pulled pork and seasoned vegetables. Their take on Spam is unusual. They put seared Spam that's glazed in teriyaki on rice and wrap it in dried seaweed.
Who would have guessed that a classic Southern-style barbecue restaurant would be replaced by a West Coast-inspired Hawaiian restaurant?
After 25 years, Red Hot & Blue will be missed, and it's a two-way street. The restaurant's Facebook post concludes with: "Our time here is marked with gratitude and appreciation toward Joplin and the surrounding communities in which we served. We will cherish all the friendships we made along the way with both customers and employees alike, and thank you for all the cherished memories."
ArtWalk marks 15th season
Thursday's ArtWalk in downtown Joplin will be the last of this season. It will kick off at 5 p.m. at City Hall, Sixth and Main streets, with two proclamations from the mayor. One will recognize National Arts and Humanities Month. The other will express appreciation for the hundreds of artists and musicians who have participated in the ArtWalk, and the venues that have hosted it.
The ArtWalk, which will take place from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., will feature painter Scott Leeper at Club 609, 609 S. Main St. Musician Tough Luck Chuck will perform at M and M Bistro, 612 S. Main St.
At Beast & Barrel, 530 S. Main St., contemporary paintings by Philip Ledbetter will be featured.
At Plant Parenthood, 528 S. Main St., works by Marta Churchwell, Merlen White, Daria Claiborne, Connie Miller, Brent Skinner and others will be shown.
At Urban Art Gallery, 511 S. Main St., art by Lori Marble will be on display. Music will be by Vagabond Grove.
Ron Erwin and Thao Nguyen, 412 S. Main St., will show photography from their international travels.
At the Joplin Avenue Coffee Company, 506 S. Joplin Ave., Eric Beezley will show abstracts. Artists in the backroom will be Rosie Thornhill, Mandy Stanley, Misty White, Brooks-Elizabeth Billings, Brad Peters, Ashley Williams and Brent Edwards. Music will be by Dwayne Smith.
At Spiva Center for the Arts, 222 W. Third St., ArtWalk artists Shawn Riley and Ashley Williams will be featured in the lobby. The main gallery will feature the urban fantasy paintings of Rob Mango. The regional gallery will show Local Color Artists celebrating 150 years of Joplin in "Reflection of Joplin."
Contact Wally Kennedy at wkennedy@joplinglobe.com.
