Heartier appetites may go for a chicken or beef empanada or papa rellena, a savory meat-stuffed potato ball, or its cylindrical relative, yucca rellena with a core of spiced minced meat. Hawaiian Portuguese sausage, one of the 19th century's greatest culinary fusions, comes as rotund, juicy links. The kitchens also make a chicken version of char siu, Chinese barbecued pork. One island morning favorite known as the royale, a Hawaiianized free-form version of the Japanese domburi, is your choice of ingredients dumped over a mound of rice. Hawaiian sweet-bread French toast, usually another wonderful concept, could use a longer soaking in its eggy bath.
Beer is available.
In a room bright with the festive colors of colonial Cuba, the relatively new Mercede's Grill, just a few steps from the sands of Marina del Rey, cooks breakfasts that throb with sparkling Latin flavors. Mercede's makes a lean version of Cuba's famed picadillo. The minced beef hash retains its full flavor, though, with lacings of capers and raisins. Some of the biggest gospel celebrities and choirs come and go, but the soul food stays the same. Brunch begins an hour before the music.