Dean’s Drive Inn – Teriyaki Beef Plate. $9.25
Dean’s Teriyaki Beef Plate was so ono the last time we tried this place, this Friday we decided to have a hana hou encore.
Dean’s Drive Inn has a substantial selection on their everyday and daily specials menu, where for today’s specials, this is what they had to offer….
Which hasn’t changed much from our last visit, except for a couple new dishes and the soups of the day.
Dean’s also continues to be a one-stop-shop, including your app (the salad or soup), entree, AND dessert…
Getting back to the main dish, Diner A chose the awesome Teriyaki Beef plate shown above, while Diner E decided on trying their 1/3 Pound Maui Burger Deluxe…
Dean’s Drive Inn – 1/2 Pound Maui Burger Deluxe, with Soup, Toss Salad or Fries. $8.25
While yours truly decided to try the Island Fresh Kaku (Barracuda) with Soy Ginger Sauce…
Dean’s Drive Inn – Island Fresh Kaku (Barracuda) with Soy Ginger Sauce, Brown Rice and Portuguese Bean Soup (not shown yet). $9.25
What’s great about Dean’s is the option of choosing either macaroni salad, tossed salad or soup as your side dish. In which both Diner E and myself chose the Portuguese Bean Soup….
Dean’s Drive Inn – Portuguese Bean Soup
Now to answer the ongoing question: how is it?
First let’s peek what’s inside Diner E’s 1/2 Pound Maui Burger Deluxe…
Dean’s Drive Inn – 1/2 Pound Maui Burger Deluxe
Diner E noted the patty was seasoned well with plenty of beefy flavor, although he would have preferred it done more medium than medium-well, which is how it arrived on the table. There was an adequate amount of mayonnaise spread on the very fresh bun, which was highly appreciated after having the burger from North Shore Grinds, where the burger bun was on the verge of staleness.
The lettuce, tomato and onions were crispy fresh as well. Summing it up, Diner “Simon Kaukau” E gives his 1/2 Pound Maui Burger Deluxe from Dean’s Drive Inn 2 SPAM Musubi.
Moving on to the Portuguese Bean Soup…
Good body with a silky smooth texture. The broth is a little “meaty”, but more tomato-like. It did lack one very important flavoring component that defines a good local style Portuguese Bean Soup, and that would be smoked hamhocks, which I couldn’t detect any hint of. It did have a generous amount of “goodies” in it, including tender macaroni noodles, potatoes, cabbage, small chunks of Portuguese sausage, and of course the tender Kidney beans.
Even without the hamhock-based stock, I’m still giving this PBS a really ono 3 SPAM Musubi. Add the hamhocks and I’d give it a 4 or 5.
Next let’s sample my Island Fresh Kaku…
To be honest I’ve never had Kaku (Barracuda) before, therefore I was expecting it to taste similar to Ono (Wahoo) just because they look similar (as a live game fish), and you know what? I was right! Very similar flavor, texture and color.
As you see in the photo above, Dean is very generous in covering it with finely minced ginger, which is A-OK with me! Love ginger. It was cooked more medium-well, where you know me how I tend to like fish more medium-rare. It also didn’t have enough shoyu in the sauce, tasting more like just an infused ginger-oil “sauce”. I was also hoping it was going to be grilled, not sauteed, which it was the latter. Still delicious and worth a solid 2 SPAM Musubi rating.
Finally we once again have a plate of Dean’s AMAZING Teriyaki Beef, this time for Diner A to savor every bite…
Notice Dean’s Teriyaki beef steak is cut thick – not the more traditional thin cut you normally see at plate lunch stands. It’s also incredibly tender, with the koge (charred) edges in all the right places.
What seals the deal here is Dean’s AWESOME Teriyaki sauce, that has bit of charred “speckles” infused in it. See here how it just glistens with perfect thickness, coating this piece of beef…
See the charred bits of “goodness” floating in the sauce? That my friends = Supah Ono, broke-da-mout’ Flavah! So tender, so beefy, so good, with a perfect sugar-to-shoyu ratio. This has got to be one of, if not THE BEST Teriyaki Beef Plate on the island. Seriously.
Not leaving the other all-important side to a great Teriyaki Beef, we have Dean’s Macaroni Salad…
Another triumph in all its simplicity, and seasoned just right. Money.
Diner A was so awestruck at the deliciousness of Dean’s Teriyaki Beef Plate, he quickly declared it a very, very, very solid 5 SPAM Musubi, polishing the plate to prove it…
Burp.
In fact, he loved it so much, he actually wanted more even after finishing that entire regular-sized plate. Wow!
That’s it. Next time we stop by Dean’s Drive Inn, I got dibs on the Teriyaki Beef!
Dean’s Drive Inn
Adon Plaza
45-773 Kamehameha hwy.
Kaneohe, HI 96744
Tel. 247-1300
Business hours*:
Sun – Thurs. 11am to 6pm
Fri 11am to 4pm
Sat closed
*Hours and days subject to change.
The Tasty Island rating:
(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)
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