"After more than four years of waiting, I watched the Hawaiian casual-dining legend Zippy’s open its first location outside of Hawai’i — a southwest Las Vegas spot at 7095 Badura Avenue near Rainbow Boulevard and the 215. The chain, which got its start in 1966 with multiple locations on Oahu, Maui, and Hawai’i Island, initially shared plans in 2019 but was delayed by the pandemic; it opened today at 10:10 a.m. to a line of cars and customers eager to order comfort-food favorites like Zip Pac bento boxes, Korean fried chicken, teriyaki beef, famous chili, hamburger steak, and chicken katsu. Embracing Las Vegas’s nickname as the “Ninth Island,” the first mainland location features a mural of the word “Aloha” on the exterior wall, offers dine-in booths and tables, and has a take-out counter for plates of fried chicken and rice or breakfast bento boxes with sausage, Spam, and scrambled eggs, plus a bakery selling custard pies, mochi malasada, and cornbread. Zippy’s is open daily from 10 a.m. to midnight with plans to eventually operate 24 hours." - Janna Karel