If you're wearing flip-flops in Seattle at this early stage of spring, I expect you're doing one of three things: deboarding a plane at Sea-Tac, taking a shower in a college dorm or having a meal at the Kona Kitchen.

At this tropical outpost in the Maple Leaf neighborhood, customers aren't just eating pu-pus and pineapple burgers. They're doing it in sandals and Hawaiian shirts. The island decor and lilting music suggests that this is a place on permanent vacation.

There's no better way of pretending it's spring break than drinking before noon. So on a recent search for a late morning breakfast, I stopped in for the punch cocktail recommended to me by a friend. The waitress, a grandmotherly lady with a relaxed smile, asked me if I wanted the one "the boys made up."

Mai Tais are all well and good, she explained, but her bartenders see no reason to mix anything more complicated than Hawaiian Punch and vodka.

The beverage is cherry red. The straw is hot pink. The ice makes the whole concoction sparkle. It's like a liquid smile. Piggies in a Blanket, four sausage links rolled up in thin buttermilk pancakes, are the perfect complement.

The owner of Kona Kitchen is Yuji Okumoto, better known as Ralph Macchio's nemesis in "The Karate Kid, Part II," who runs the restaurant between gigs in Hollywood. Autographed head shots dot the walls among surf boards, hula girls and leis. With celebrity endorsements of Okumoto's culinary venture coming from loveable B-listers such as Ted Lange (Isaac on "The Love Boat"), a local TV news anchor and daytime soap stars, diners are reminded that even when the proprietor is movin' and shakin', nothing here should be taken too seriously.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company