First up for today’s edition of “Grindz of the Day”, we have a Strawberry Slush Float “Shake” from Byron’s Drive-In.  Another one of many signature items a coworker of mine absoluted RAVED about and insisted I try it.  Well, apparently they got my order wrong, as even though I specifically told the cashier at Byron’s I wanted a Slush Shake, it turns out I was given a Strawberry Slush Float.

Not knowing the difference or bothering to ponder it, and without anyone with  me to tell me otherwise, in retrospect, this is indeed a Slush Float and not a Slush Shake, as you see the Vanilla ice cream floating on top of the Strawberry Slush…

Hey, who am I to know? Looks close enough to be a shake to me. The ice cream was soft enough. Besides, what the heck does a Slush Shake look like? Well, after taking a minute or two to thoroughly stir it, THIS is what a Strawberry Slush Shake should look like…

This, as my coworker explained, the Strawberry Slush Float and Slush Shake are the same thing, save for the Shake being put under the mixer to combine it evenly.

So how is it? WAY TOO SWEET for me. The combination of the artificially-flavored strawberry syrup, even though diluted in the slush, when combined with the also-sweet Vanilla ice cream is like a one-two punch. My coworker confessed she has a major sweet-tooth, so that explains her deep affection for this concoction, yet for me, pass. I barely could finish half of it before tossing it. I gotta’ say though, the Strawberry Slush itself had a nice finely-crushed ice texture, kinda’ like a “Liquid Shave Ice”.

How’s that for a new concept, eh? “Liquid Shave Ice”! Take all of those exotic Shave Ice flavors like Li Hing Mui, Pistachio, Coconut, Bubble Gum, etc. and, instead of the “usual” Shave Ice (a solid state snow cone), offer Slush!

Speaking of Shave Ice, along with my sweeter-than-Willy Wonka Strawberry Float “Shake”, I ordered another Hawaii favorite, a Loco Moco…

Thankfully I went with the mini version, as I could barely even finish this.  Honestly, I haven’t had a Loco Moco for quite a while for the simple reason that’s it’s way too much indulgence that my dwindling metabolism and aging body can barely afford anymore, as really, lots of the foods I feature on this blog are. Yet for now we wont’ dwell on that, enjoy the moment, and live for today. Grindz of the Day that is.

But yeah, the classic “loosen the belt buckle” Loco Moco here from Byron’s, that begins with a bed of white rice, topped by a house-made beef burger patty, which is then topped with an egg (sunnyside-up always my choice) and then smothered with brown gravy, while being accompanied by a scoop of Mac’ Sal’.

As you can tell, the burger patty was griddled (fried), not char-grilled as I always prefer. Yet aside of that shortcoming, it was cooked to medium perfection, being very moist and nicely seasoned.

Of course the most crucial element of a Loco Moco is the gravy, and Byron’s pretty much nails it. Deep, rich, thick and beefy, although I must also note it did taste like it could be based on that packaged “just add water” McCormick’s stuff. Which I really don’t have a problem with, as I enjoy packaged gravies, even though one reader once said “you lose all credentials” when I once said that before. Whatevahz.You go spend 10 hours making stock to make gravy. I’ll be ready to eat in minutes.

One thing I really like as a finishing touch on my Loco Moco are sauteed onions, which obviously Bryon’s doesn’t do, but that would have been great.

One of the best  parts of eating any gravy-laden plate lunch is when the gravy “kisses” the mac salad…

You get that creamy, rich mayo’ combined with the beefy flavor of the thick gravy, put some of that on your fork and lick it like, oh never mind. Just, mmm-mmm-yum, so ono! I think this very notion is what inspired Zippy’s to add “Mac Salad Sauce” to their Chili Moco. Brilliant!

Summing it up, I give Byron’s Drive In Loco Moco a solid 3 SPAM Musubi, while their Slush Float “Shake” gets 1. Surely you sweet tooth’ers will think more highly of it.

Staying on topic with the theme of “indulgent and decadent”, moving on to our next “Grindz of the Day”, we have some plates Diner A and family enjoyed a few weeks ago at the new Pancakes & Waffles in City Square Shopping Center in Kapalama. First off we have a Fried Rice, Eggs and Breakfast Links plate…

Good to see they use round paper plates, and not them dreaded non-eco-friendly, sterile and unfashionable white styrofoam clamshell containers.

Next up, what? Hamburger patty, eggs and brown gravy over plain ‘old boring white rice not enough to excite that inner Loco Moco desire deep within you? Then you need to hook up with a Fried Rice Loco Moco…

Be still my beating heart! Insane.

Next up, the last time we visited Pancakes & Waffles, it seemed all the rage here wasn’t their Pancakes or their Waffles, but actually more people around us were eating their Fried Chicken. So Diner A satisfied all our curiosities by ordering that on this visit…

These are some substantially-sized clucker thighs, as you see compared in scale to Diner A’s hand here….

They be T-Rex thighs.

Instead of Honey Butter, he opted for Ranch dressing as a dipping sauce for the fried chicken…

I suppose one way to look at it is, well, at this point, no sense ordering a diet soda and tossed green salad to accompany this meal. lol

Look at how juicy and tender the meat is…

While the battered crust is super “crisp’ety-crunch’ety” and well-seasoned….

IIRC, Diner A commented that it reminded him of Woolworth’s famous fried chicken. Remember that? That was one of the best things about going to Woolworth’s. As soon as you walk in the store, the combined aroma of scented candles, new clothes, coffee, popcorn and fried chicken would almost literally smack you in the face. Loved that! RIP Woolworth’s.

Anyhow, like our experience at Pancakes & Waffles, Diner A’s weekend brunch there with the family also was a 3 SPAM Musubi affair. Oh, and not to fret. They went to the beach afterwards to swim it all off.

Moving on, we get some stuffs from L&L Drive In/Hawaiian BBQ/whatever they call it, starting with this bowl of Saimin…

That looks to me like Japanese style Ramen Chashu. Check it out..

Like seemingly 90% of Hawaii’s restaurant industry uses, I’m going to guess these noodles are sourced from Sun Noodle Factory…

I got a sip of the broth, which tasted like your standard Dashi and Shoyu broth, while not getting much added flavor from the Charsiu (roast pork).

Summing it up, Diner A gives L&L’s Saimin 2 SPAM Musubi. Cheap, decent and satisfying.

The classic accompaniment to Saimin is a Hamburger, which Diner A added to his L&L Drive In meal here…

Personally, I’d pay extra to make it a ‘Deluxe’, as my burger MUST have Lettuce, Tomato and Onion on it. Cheese too, of course! Plain like this just doesn’t work for me. Biting into it, not much excitement going on…

Pretty much a plain-old griddle-cooked hamburger that I’m putting way too much writing effort into. Sorry to waste your bandwidth and time having to download these last two pictures and read all this blabbering. lol

Nah, but at least he gave it 2 SPAM Musubi, as the burger patty was moist and well-seasoned,  and of course it went quite well with the decent Saimin from L&L.

Getting a little more “exotic”, Diner E tried L&L’s Fried Shrimp Sandwich…

I don’t know why, but of all the dishes featured so far on today’s edition of “Grindz of the Day”, this Shrimp Sandwich is the one I crave most right about now. I think because I haven’t had shrimp for a couple of weeks now and could really go for some at this moment. Besides, honestly I’ve never had a Shrimp in sandwich form before, which I’m sure some of you will blast me for that.

The bite shot doesn’t reveal much, as evidently the shrimp tails in here are very small…

What is this, an Opae Sandwich? lol  Still, Diner E actually really enjoyed it, giving it a very solid 2 SPAM Musubi, which is favorable by his super-critical standards.

Speaking of chain restaurants (L&L Drive In continues to expand all over the US and internationally), next we have a Tonkatsu Curry takeout plate from Coco Ichibanya Curry House…

This generous portion of Tonkatsu and beef-based spicy curry and tsukemono comes in at a wallet-friendly $6.75.

Their curry tastes similar to the store-bought S&B brand, with a subtle sweetness to it that is typical of Japanese curries. If you go to Tokyo, you’ll find curry houses all over the place. Even their “spicy” curry isn’t hot at all. Notice it doesn’t have any kinds of vegetables in it, but acts more like a gravy for the tonkatsu and rice than as a stew.

The tonkatsu itself was right on point. The panko was evenly coated and deep-fried to “GBD” perfection, while the boneless pork was flavorful, moist and tender.

What’s nice is the specially-made takeout container is partitioned to isolate the curry “gravy” so it doesn’t make the crunchy tonkatsu soggy while in transit.

Summing it up, a very solid 3 SPAM Musubi for Coco Ichibanya Curry House’ Tonkatsu Curry takeout plate.

One last note on this place, I noticed lots of folks in there ordering the curry that had fresh grated cheddar cheese sprinkled on it and melted over, which looked GOOD! I’m so going to try that next time!

Still on restaurant chains, now we’re back at zippity-zip-zip Zippy’s for one of their Facebook coupon specials, the $5 Spaghetti Fried Chicken plate…

Zippy’s Spaghetti isn’t going to put Assagio’s out business anytime soon, but for what it’s worth, it works. You get that, plus fried chicken, plus mac salad, plus toasted french bread for just $5? Can’t go wrong!

One more chain restaurant, we’re back at Yummy’s Korean BBQ, this time with a Kalbi & Chicken Katsu mixed plate…

Yummy’s is getting a bit pricey as far as plate lunch joints go, as this mixed plate rang up to almost $11. Still, I must say their 4-choice banchan is, well, YUMMY! I especially love their Korean Potatoes and Korean style Potato salad, which are two of the choices on this plate. They also do really good job at making Chicken Katsu. My only complaint is Yummy’s Worcesterhire-based katsu sauce. Pass. Not to worry, as I have lots of my own Japanese Tonkatsu sauce to use on it. Kalbi is solid. Char-grilled and smokey-tasting with a deeply-marinaded sauce. Overall a very solid 4 SPAM here. The banchan makes it.

Finally, we’re back at Kahai Street Kitchen, one of our all-time favorite haute plate lunch haunts, where today we have this delicious-looking plate…

This is Kahai Street Kitchen’s special of the day, Baked Chicken in a Boursin Cheese Cream Sauce and topped with Tomato Provencal. It’s served with a Tossed Green Salad with Kahai Street Kitchen’s EXCELLENT house dressing and steamed “Hapa” (brown and white) rice.

Price of admission? $7. Just seven bucks! You’d easily pay at least four times that price for a dish prepared exactly the same way at a white table cloth restaurant. Actually, the folks from our accounting department ordered this in bulk for a party they were throwing. Needless to say, everyone told me they LOVED it, which I’m not surprised, as Kahai Street Kitchen always delivers. Nao and the gang there REALLY know how to cook!

That’s all I’ve got for now. After posting this, it’s made me hungry, so I’m off right now for yet another “Grindz of the Day”!

It’s easy to figure out where to find business if you’re a lunch wagon owner. Among the obvious places like industrial areas (Campbell Industrial Park and Mapunapuna are “Lunch Wagon Heaven”), simply go where there’s a big construction project  under way. One of which now in its beginning phase is Lowe’s, who just started construction of their second store on Oahu in the Iwilei area, where they’ll be setting up shop next to, yup, you guessed it, Home Depot. Both of which will be/are also just a stone’s throw away from City Mill.

If not already, I suppose now we can officially call Iwilei “Big Box Alley”, as along with those three major retailers in this area of Honolulu, you’ll also find Costco, Best Buy, and coming soon, Party City, Ba-Le Bakery (a.k.a. Latour Bakehouse and Cafe) and a bunch of other smaller businesses that will share the former Wayerhaeuser building on the corner of Alakawa Street and Nimitz Highway.

So with all this construction now under way in Iwilei, of course there’s lots of hungry workers – mostly men with big appetites – who’ll be need to be fed. Where here we have this lunch wagon who recently set-up shop right in front of the Lowe’s Iwilei job site on Pacific Street…

Check out angle 2 and 3 of Sandy’s “Tsukenjo look-alike” Lunchwagon II at those links

Wait, wait, wait  a minute! That’s Tsukenjo’s! Tsukenjo’s Lunch Wagon! Tsukenjo’s is back! No, no, no, sorry to say, but the classic red (originally orange) Tsukenjo’s Lunch Wagon from Ward Avenue isn’t back.

This is actually another one of them “no name” lunch wagons, who I’m informally naming it “Sandy’s Lunch Wagon II” by the grace of the owner and operator, Milton Gainy, who told me his wife Sandy is the cook, and actually runs another lunch wagon at a different location under that name. He said they’ve been in business over 24 years running their lunchwagons, so I was certainly confident that the grub here would be good.

As for “chasing job sites”, Milton notes that before this chosen location, he was at the site of the Craigside retirement home complex, while past stints before that included the retirement home construction project near the grounds of St. Patrick’s School on the East side of Oahu.

Here’s their menu for the day…

Prices are right, that’s for sure. Most of the usual lunch wagon plate lunch suspects are there, while I might note, for you health-conscious folks (like me), this particular wagon doesn’t offer brown rice or tossed salad. Yet, willing to sacrifice and take in some empty calories of white rice and mac for a day, I went ahead and ordered a Meat Loaf and Roast Pork Mix Plate, cuz you know, gotta’ sample…

Sandy’s Lunch Wagon II – Roast Pork and Meat Loaf Mix Plate. $6.50

All that for just $6.50? I can feed myself TWICE with this! This will definitely be a “second-wind’er” for me to finish all of it.

Notice I’m a “pepper freak”, especially when an entree involves lots of gravy as it does here.

Here’s a closer, torn-apart view of the fork-tender, super-flavorful roasted pork and also the flavor-packed meat loaf…

The gravy itself, to be honest, tasted like store-bought just-add-water packaged Turkey Gravy, so that didn’t initially “wow” me. But once I took a bite of that roast pork and meat loaf I was like, “Yum!!!” Equally “yummers” was the Mac’ Sal’…

Super-duper simple, cool and creamy, with no odd tangy flavors. This tasted pretty much like our favorite Waianae Drive Inn Mac’ Salad.

Overall it was an “as good as mama’s home cookin’ can get”, really ono plate lunch that I easily give a solid 3 SPAM Musubi.

On another day in a spot just yards up the street in front of Lowe’s Iwilei construction site we found Food Trip Lunch Wagon…

Filipino food? Shoots, I’m so there! This lunch wagon (err, van) is one of three that are owned and operated by Alex Daquito, who we have here…

Alex says his other wagons operate in the downtown Honolulu area, with one by the post office. What’s nice about this particular wagon is the food is on display to the customers “Okazuya style”, so you can see what you’re choosing before committing to it…

Here’s Food Trip’s menu for the day…

The prices…

Alex was proud to point out that his ‘Food Trip’ Lunch Wagon was chosen as one of 12 “Best Lunch Wagons on Oahu” by the Honolulu Advertiser (RIP)…

Following are all the Filipino delicacies he had for sale on this particular day…

Food Trip Lunch Wagon – Pinakbet

Food Trip Lunch Wagon – Pork Apritada Stew (Mechado style)

Food Trip Lunch Wagon – Pork Pepper Steak

Food Trip Lunch Wagon – Chicken Papaya (Tinola)

Food Trip Lunch Wagon – Chicken Adobo

Food Trip Lunch Wagon – Pancit (Bihon)

Food Trip Lunch Wagon – Rice

Sometimes I wish I could walk into my kitchen and find a spread like this magically awaiting me. That’d be s’weet!

Well, maybe not that, but as the next best thing, Alex was kind enough to make me a Filipino grindz “Mega-Mix”, putting a little of EVERYTHING on one plate! Check it out…

Food Trip – “Mega-Mix” Plate: (clockwise from top left) Pork Apritada Stew, Chicken Adobo, Pancit Bihon, Tinola (Chicken Papaya soup), Pork Pepper Steak, Rice and Pinakbet. $8

Yes, a little of everything you seen in the previous food service pan photos is stuffed onto the plate here. Nice!

My favorite of all was the fork-tender Pork Apritada, which definitely had a Mechado-like flavor profile…

I give that alone a solid 4 SPAM Musubi, borderline 5. My second favorite was the Pinakbet…

You could taste the bitterness from the bitter melon, yet it wasn’t overwhelming, but just enough to separate it from the other entrees where you know you’re eating Pinakbet, and not, say, Pork Guisantes.

The Tinola (Chicken Papaya) was excellent as well…

Both the chicken and green papaya was fork tender and saturated  well with the chicken broth flavor, with my only gripe being that it wasn’t served separately in a bowl with all that glorious broth. I’d just as well bring my own Tupperware bowl and tell Alex to fill it up with Tinola. I LOVE this soup!

The Chicken Adobo had just the right blend of of shoyu and vinegar, with probably my only gripe on that one being it was the dry type, not the “soupy” adobo. Like Dinuguan, I like my adobo “soupy”. I also would prefer pork adobo over chicken adobo, as it has much better flavor in my opinion. Still, this is good.

The Pork Pepper Steak was a winner, being super soft and tender (it’s tenderized Chinese style), while the Pancit Bihon, along with just about everything else won a thumbs-up of approval from our resident Filipino food expert and Manila native, Diner C.

Here we have a few more plates from Food Trip Lunch Wagon that other folks in our office ordered…

Food Trip Lunch Wagon – Chicken Adobo, Pancit Bihon, Pork Pepper Steak and Pinakbet

Food Trip Lunch Wagon – Chicken Adobo, Pancit Bihon, Pork Pepper Steak, Pinakbet, Pork Apritada and Rice

Food Trip Lunch Wagon – Pancit Bihon

Food Trip Lunch Wagon – Pancit Bihon, Garlic Fried Chicken and Rice

To find out what the daily specials are and where the Food Trip Lunch Wagons is currently located, give Alex Daquito a call at (808) 341-8282.

It must have unofficially been “Filipino Food Day”, because ironically the same day we had all this for lunch, Diner C brought a bowl of her Dinengdeng to share with us…

Dinengdeng

Diner C’s Dinengdeng is a Filipino soup made with Ocra, Alukon, Kalamungay, Cherry Tomatoes and Chicken Stock. It has an interesting and unusual, subtly “green” and “earthy” flavor, along with a gelatinous texture to the broth. All I can say other than that is it’s really delicious! Masarap-sarap! You gotta’ try it.

Last but DEFINITELY not least, while some lunch wagons may chase construction sites, it’s the other way around here, where men from construction sites end up chasing this, ehem, “lunch wagon” parked in front of Puuhale Market on the corner of Puuhale Road and Dillingham Boulevard…

Yes, you read right, this zebra-striped truck is named ‘Wild Bean Espresso‘. Where, no, you’re not going to find the likes of teriyaki beef, rice and mac’ salad plate lunches or garlic buttered shrimp. And no, the people that work in it aren’t the usual “mom ‘n pop” type of folks.

As the name implies (cough-cough, chuckle-chuckle), the gist of Wild Bean Espresso is fresh-made coffee lattes, mochas and smoothies served up by a crew of lingerie-clad Barista beauties. Once again, coffee lattes, mochas and smoothies served up by a crew of lingerie-clad Barista beauties. Got that? Well, apparently the rest of town has, as not surprisingly, a business like this is going to stir curiosity as well as controversy, as they’ve already made the local TV news… twice!

Part of the controversy, or should I say oddity of it, is that first of all it’s located right across the street from the Oahu Correctional Community Center prison…

Secondly, about a block up the street on Puuhale Road sits a church, while also nearby are a few schools.

Well, since I was in the area the other week running errands, upon a quick phone call of approval from my girlfriend, I decided to stop by and see for myself what all the fuss is about.

Sure enough, adorned in a pink and black two-piece g-string teddy, I was greeted by Roxy, a very friendly gal who was the only one working at the time of my visit….

Wild Bean Espresso Barista, Roxy

I can’t remember the last time I felt like I was blushing, but I definitely felt that way when I first walked up to the window here. It was just kinda’ like one of those, “Is that really what I’m looking at?” surreal kind of moments. Especially considering the aforementioned surrounding area.

Well it’s real alright, including the made-to-order lattes, mochas and smoothies they have to offer…

I should have asked what “Yummy Hot Links” are. Breakfast sausages perhaps? The only solid food items I noticed available for sale were fresh bananas.

I asked Roxy what the most popular drink was, which she quickly pointed me to the White Chocolate Mocha, so that’s what I got…

Wild Bean Espresso – White Chocolate Mocha. $4 (plus $1 tip)

I’m not a Starbucks regular (in fact, I hardly drink coffee anymore), so I can’t compare it with them, but for what it’s worth, this White Chocolate Mocha was great. It had good body and a robust-meets-creamy-sweet flavor (no pun intended). And since it’s been a while since I had a cup of coffee,  the caffeine really wound me up. Stress, the caffeine really wound me up. Ha ha!

Needless to say, there was a tip jar on the counter which was full of, you guessed it, dollar bills. lol

Apparently the “sex sells, and so does coffee too” business model is working for this operation, as Wild Bean Espresso will soon be expanding to a second location on Keawe Street in the Kaka’ako area.

What do you think of this business concept? Cast your vote!

Several weeks ago we threw a surprise baby shower at our office for one of the gals who is expecting very soon. For that we catered the lunch from Soon’s Korean BBQ in Salt Lake, while for dessert, our party coordinator hooked us all up with this here Coco Puff Cake from Liliha Bakery. Yes, a Coco Puff CAKE, which I was absolutely not aware they had such a thing until now. Learn something new every day.

Therefore I’m putting this Coco Puff Cake up in the spotlight today to get the word out, just in case you weren’t aware of it either and perhaps might be interested in ordering one for an upcoming celebration.

It’s basically their famous Coco Puff pastry arranged individually next to each other in rows, then topped with a thick layer of  their decadently-delicious Chantilly frosting, which blankets over the entire top of the pieced-together puff “cake”.  An even thicker decorative bead of Chantilly gives the edge that finishing touch. While you can order a custom message on it done in your frosting color(s) of choice.

Not surprisingly, the butter-based Chantilly frosting begins to “loosen” if kept out at room temperature for an extended period of time, as you can sort of see it beginning to collapse at the edges of this “cake”.

Serve ‘em up…

When I say thick layer of frosting, I mean “tick”! Like “do a couple laps around the block after eating this” thick.

Chocolate pudding fills the inside of each Coco Puff…

The current prices (as of 8/17/10) for Liliha Bakery’s Coco Puff Cake is as followed:

1/4-pan (20 pieces):
Coco Puff or Cream Puff Cake – $25.35
Green Tea Puff Cake – $25.75

1/2-pan (48 pieces):
Coco Puff or Cream Puff Cake – $60.30
Green Tea Puff Cake – $61.40

Full-pan (77 pieces):
Coco Puff or Cream Puff Cake – $97
Green Tea Puff Cake – $99

Custom frosting messages for all sizes is an additional $2.

Prices for individual puff pastries are as followed:

Cream Puff – $1.05 each
Coco Puff – $1.20 each
Green Tea Puff – $1.25 each

So next time you have a party planned and need a cake, yet want to try something a little different and TOTALLY onolicious, consider a Coco Puff Cake from Liliha Bakery! 4 SPAM Musubi!

What? Coco Puff Cake
Where did you buy it and how much did it cost? Liliha Bakery; $25.35 per 20-piece quarter-pan.
Big shaka to: A generous helping of their insanely onolicious Chantilly Frosting is slathered over the top. Cool, creamy and tasty chocolate pudding filling in each puff. Choux Creme pastry has great texture and baked flavor. A very unique “cake” that should “wow” your guests and guest of honor, especially once they bite into that “crazy tasty” Coco Puff.
No shaka to: Needs a little help in presentation (looks kinda’ amateurish, sloppy and bland).
The Tasty Island rating: 4 SPAM Musubi

Related links on The Tasty Island:
• Liliha Bakery’s Famous Coco Puffs
• Food, Fun & Games at Twins 3rd Birthday
• Ultimate Choux Creme
• 4th of July in Hawaii Kai
• Beard Papa’s Cream Puffs
• Beard Papa Goes Savory

Hot off the heels of Foodland’s new ‘Musubi’ Eco Reusable Bag, we have here its sibling, the ‘Hot Cold Bag’, adorned in the same whimsical ‘Musubi’ illustrated design. Now we can both literally and figuratively say this bag is “Very COOL!” Or, umm, “That bag is HOT!” I wouldn’t have even noticed there were two different types of Foodland ‘Musubi’ themed bags on display in the store, had it not been for the fantastic readers here, so big mahalo to all you folks who mentioned it.

Both the limited edition Eco Reusable Bag and this here also limited edition Hot Cold Bag have identical “Pidgin to da’ Max” style musubi illustrations on all four sides, while dimensionally, they’re also both identical.

Yet for just $1 more (Maikai price), the hot cold bag is much more functional, as this comes complete with an insulated interior and a (matching color) dual-zippered lid to help keep your grindz and/or beverages at their ideal temperature, while also helping to keep them nasty pests out.

As for the insulated liner, it’s a very thin mylar-like material (like them foil baloons) that feels like it tears easily, and it’s not in one piece, but stitched in from several sections to fit the interior, so don’t count on this bag being water-proof in case you decide to put ice cubes in it. If adding ice, keep them in Ziploc® bags, or better yet, use them “Blue Ice” bricks. Underneath that mylar-like liner material it feels like an also very thin layer of insulating foam, which should be more than adequate to maintain the interior temperature for the time it take you to transport da’ grindz back home from the store, farmers’ market, or to the potluck.

From manufacturer Planet Earth Bags, here’s the official specifications:

Description
Our thermal hot cold bags are a necessity for any heat sensitive product. Hot foods, cold or hot drinks, stay warm in this reusable grocery bag that can carry it all. The bag’s thermal properties allow fresh and freezer products to make it home without losing temperature. Customize our reusable hot cold grocery bag and make it a part of your next grocery store visit.

Size
•12″w x 8.5″g x 13.5″h
•Reinforced 20″ handles

Materials & Construction
•Premium non-woven polypropylene multi-layered thermal insulated polyester fiber and coated lining
•100% recyclable, wash in cold water and line dry
•Zippered Opening
•Hemmed Opening

Color
•Available in 4 vibrant colors

Imprint
•Up to 4 spot color and 4 color process screen printing

According to Juliet Garcia, Community Relations Spokesperson for Foodland, their first food-themed reusable bag was their “Local ‘Kine Favorites” which came out in 2008. Then after that they released the slang bag, with pidgin phrases like “bumbye, hele on, kuleana, whatevahs, bambucha”, etc. To continue promoting reusable bags (and recycling), Foodland’s in-house creative department (like what I do for a living) will create 2 new bag designs every year.

The cashiers at both the Beretania street and Aina Haina location told me these bags are FLYING off the shelves. So much that they’re constantly having to restock the display racks. They said lots of folks are coming to get them as gifts; probably for folks like many readers here who are off-island.

I’ll be pairing this Hot Cold Bag with the Reusable Shopping Bag as the giveaway prize when I decide what to do. There’s already some great contest ideas submitted by you folks, so big mahalo for that!

On that note, once again, these Foodland ‘Musubi’ Eco Reusable Shopping Bags and Hot Cold Bags are available for a limited time only, while supplies last, so get ‘em while they’re cold… err… HOT!

What? ‘Musubi’ Hot Cold Bag
Where did you buy it and how much did it cost? Foodland, $2.99 each Maikai member price
Big Shaka to: Very catchy, clean and whimsical illustrated design and color choices. Some clever, never heard of musubi ideas. Bag is well constructed with a non-porous, easy-to-clean exterior and insulated interior to keep food and beverages at their optimum temperature during transport. Matching color dual-zipper flip lid helps keep the pests (and hungry “musubi snatchers”) out, while also making access to contents easy. Get 5 cents off your Grocery bill when you use  your reusable bag.  Foodland also has a ‘It’s good to be green!’ stamp card, where every time you use your reusable bag, Foodland will stamp the card. Turn in a completed stamped card (10 stamps) and you will receive a FREE bag of Back To Nature nuts (Select Varieties, 7.5-11.5 oz.) on your next visit.
No shaka to: n/a
The Tasty Island rating: 5 SPAM Musubi Hot Cold Bags!

Related links:
• Foodland’s New ‘Musubi’ Reusable Eco Shopping Bag – The Tasty Island

P.S. Just thought I’d let you all know that The Tasty Island is the featured blog today on CNN’s Eatocracy website!…

Sarah LeTrent — Eatocracy’s Associate Editor — contacted me several weeks ago, eager to add The Tasty Island to their blogroll to represent Hawaii, and voila, here it is up on their home page!

The picture montage I submitted to them features the following (from left to right, top row, then bottom row): Your Truly, a trio of SPAM Musubi, Tulip Musubi and Treet Musubi, Portuguese Bean Soup (made by yours truly), Manapua, Pork Hash and Chow Funn from Chun Wah Kam, Saimin (made by yours truly), Ahi Poke from Ono Seafood, a Hawaiian Plate from Poi Bowl in Kaneohe and Shave Ice being served at the Okinawan Festival.

I also provided a brief summary of this blog on that page. I see now there’s also a few “interesting” comments, which is to be expected, especially on a national news site. Braddah Alan, Sam and Roy need to get in a few words there!

What next? Oprah? Food Network? Travel Channel? Hey, one can dream!

Honolulu Vacations

I was in the Aina Haina Foodland Farms this past weekend doin’ some shopping, where there at the checkouts on impulse racks were these new Foodland Musubi Eco Reusable Grocery Bags. How cool is that?!!!  Way cool. Certainly one of, if not the most creative and unique eco bags custom-labeled by a retailer that I’ve seen yet.

As you see, the artist has given this whimsical, colorful and catchy illustrated bag design a blueprint theme, complete with measurement specifications and instructions on how to make the “perfect” Luncheon Meat (better known as SPAM) Musubi.

Both of the main sides of the bag have the same “FIG. 3-7 The Musubi*” design….

While on each of the two narrower folded sides of the bag, there’s other suggested local style musubi ideas. Here’s one side…

and here’s the other…

My favorite is that “low carb musubi” (no rice! lol) and the “broke da’ mouth” 6-tiered musubi. Wow! 6-slices of SPAM in one? Never seen that done before! I’ve never ever seen a double or triple-decker SPAM Musubi, let alone a “6-pack”!  I’m definitely going to make some of these, including that “manini” (super-small) musubi and blog it here later!

According to manufacturer Planet Earth Bag, here’s the official description and specifications of this Reusable Eco Grocery Bag:

Description
Our reusable grocery bag can be custom imprinted for almost any industry event because of it’s durability and long lasting properties. Don’t use it just for groceries, this eco friendly bag can be used for carrying nearly any product and its strength tested to what 3 plastic shopping bags can carry.

Size
•12″w x 8.5″g x 13.5″h
•Reinforced 20″ handles

Materials & Construction
•Premium non-woven polypropylene
•100% recyclable, recycle code # 5
•100% reusable, wash in cold water
and line dry
•Hemmed Opening
•Bottom stiffener insert

The price of this cool Musubi Eco GroceryBag at Foodland stores is $1.99 each Maikai member price ($2.49 non-member price).

Not surprisingly, there’s already people hawking them on eBay, where I can certainly see Hawaii expats and niche collectors who might be interested in this.

On that note, I personally have no use for this (new, unused) Foodland Musubi Eco Grocery Bag, as I already have a whole stack of reusable eco bags in my closet. So I was thinking of giving it away here to someone who’d appreciate it more by holding a contest of some sort, but I can’t think of what to do. Do you have any ideas for such a contest to win this bag? If so, please leave a comment or eMail me your suggestion! I do know one of the rules will be that entries will only be eligible if that person is currently NOT a Hawaii resident, for the simple reason that anyone living here can easily buy it themselves (Foodland has stores on all major Hawaiian islands).

What? ‘Musubi’ Reusable Eco Grocery Bag
Where did you buy it and how much did it cost? Foodland, $1.99 each Maikai member price
Big Shaka to: Very catchy, clean and whimsical illustrated design and color choices. Some clever, never heard of musubi ideas. Bag is well constructed with a non-porous, easy-to-clean exterior, along with a generous capacity to carry lots of groceries, including a gallon-size jug of milk.
No shaka to: n/a
The Tasty Island rating: 5 SPAM Musubi Eco Bags!

Related links:
• Tulip vs. Treet vs. SPAM Musubi Showdown! – The Tasty Island
• The Goteborg Musubi Project – The Tasty Island
• Musubi Mania at Manabu’s – The Tasty Island
• A Marukai Musubi Fest – The Tasty Island

Tucked away in the corner of King’s Gate Plaza on the corner of Dillingham Boulevard and North King Street in the Palama area of Kalihi, is the new Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express.

Owner Grant Hamura (no relation to Hamura Saimin on Kauai) explained that he started out volunteering with other folks at his church, New Hope Chapel, doing benefit fundraisers selling the foods he now serves at his restaurant.  He then decided to turn it into a business and opened Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express just three months ago in May 2010. In fact, they’re so new here, Grant’s Grill has yet to put up a sign of their own, where as of this writing, you see here former business operator Kang’s still has their sign up on the building over this spot….

Notable neighbors of Grant’s include Jiffy Lube and KFC, while across the street on the Diamond Head side of Dillingham Boulevard is Jack in the Box, and Mayor Wrights Housing on the mauka side of King Street. K, you can find ‘em? Shoots ‘den. Go check ‘em now, go.

Here we have owner Grant Hamura on the right in black shirt, along with his trusty assistant Ben…

Assistant Ben on the left (grey shirt) and owner Grant Hamura on the right (black shirt)

Grant’s previous life included cooking stints at Angelo Pietro’s for two years and Ryan’s Grill for four years. Still, he says most of the recipes are handed down from his mother, who I might add is a very nice, wonderful lady that you’ll often find helping out at the shop.

Here’s Korea-native and “Mandoo Machine Expert”, Sharon, who comes in on a weekly basis to help when they run the machine…

Now the business sub-name ‘Mandoo Express’ is there for good reason, as Grant’s Mandoo are made in-house from scratch, right down to the Wonton Pi wrapper, which come in three varieties. The ones shown here are made with Carrot Juice, imparting a golden color to the dough, while there’s also a green colored Mandoo wrapper that’s made with Sesame leaves, and a third type done in the standard plain white flour mandoo wrapper.

Most impressive and unique about their operation is this high-tech machine they have designed specifically to crank out Mandoo in volume…

If I didn’t tell you what this was, you’d probably just as well think it’s some sort of fancy shave ice maker. lol Seriously though, according to Ben, as far as they know, this “Mandoo Machine”, which I’ve given the make-believe model number “GGMEX-5000″ (Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express-5000) is the only one of its kind in Hawaii. It was shipped from Korea many years ago, where now it performs regular service at Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express. What would would have been cool is if Grant named his business ‘Grant’s Mandoo Machine’. Ha? How you figgah? Catchy, eh?!!

There you see wrapped in bags are sheets of raw mandoo wrapper dough  that were used to feed the machine.

Here’s the first stage of the machine where the mandoo filling, which is a combination of ground pork, beef, glass noodles, cabbage, chives, onion, and seasoning with NO MSG, are placed in this funnel feeder…

This funnel part feeds the mandoo filling through a tube inside the machine that “magically” combines it with the mandoo wrapper dough which gets encased around it like a “Mandoo Sausage” if you will, and extrudes it out the other side where the mandoo-shaped dies are…

Yet another marvel in modern industrial engineering.

The top die is what gives the mandoo its shape as it spins and pinches the extruded dough-encased filling from the feeder in front of it onto the bottom flat die. That Mandoo die makes three pieces in one revolution, so you can imagine how fast this thing cranks out mandoo. From this it drops the finished mandoo pieces onto a conveyor belt that feeds to to a table where staff quickly pick them off and arrange them on stainless steel steamer stackers in sets of fourteen mandoo each.

From here they go to the steamer station, where they’re steamed in stacks of 4 (56 mandoo total each) and steamed for exactly 4 minutes (the rule being 1 minute per stack)…

Within minutes, out they come piping hot and ready to grind!…

After being steamed to fully cook the wrapper and filling, mandoo that aren’t served immediately are placed on restaurant pans and placed in industrial kitchen freezers that individually quick freeze (IQF) them…

This “IQF” process preserves the mandoo’s fresh taste and texture. When ready to serve, they’re re-steamed or thrown in the deep-fryer.

Better than I could ever explain in words or photos, I shot an exclusive video today of Grant’s “GGMEX-5000″ Mandoo Machine in action. Check it out here!…

Man, that “GGMEX-5000 Mandoo Machine” is one neat piece of hardware! A work of industrial art!

Mandoo Express’ fresh-made-from-scratch, IQF’d, no MSG, ready-to-heat and serve Mandoo are packaged in Ziploc bags of 50 each which sell for the following prices:
• 1 to 9 bags: $20/bag (40 cents each)
• 10-19 bags: $18/bag (36 cents each)
• 20 or more bags: $15/bag (30 cents each)

So next time you’ve got a party and you wanna’ add some onolicious locally-made mandoo to the spread, you know who to call!

Moving on to the takeout side of the operation, here on our first-time visit we have Grant’s posted menu items of the day…

On our return visit the following week, these were the menu items for the day…

Here’s Grant’s regular takeout and catering menu…

Speaking of takeout, that’s pretty much the only option, as there isn’t much seating here, save for a couple small table sets, mainly to sit while waiting for your order.

Getting right to it, showcasing a combination of four recent visits, here’s what landed on our table…

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – Kal-bi (boneless). $8

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – Kal-bi (boneless). $8

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – Kal-bi (boneless). $8

Grant’s Grill – Boneless Kal-bi and Garlic Fried Chicken combo plate. $8.50

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – BBQ Spare Ribs & Garlic Fried Chicken Combo. $8.50

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – BBQ Spare Ribs & Garlic Fried Chicken Combo. $8.50

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – Garlic Fried Chicken Combo. $7.50

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – Aku Bone. $7.20

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – Aku Bone

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – 2 Scoops white rice, Potato-Mac Salad and Kim Chee (includes with Aku Bone plate)

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – Mandoo Plate. $7.50

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – Steak with Onions plate. $7.50

That’s everything we tried. Note, that ‘Steak with Onions’ plate is supposed to be ‘Steak with Onions & Mushrooms’, but it turned out Grant didn’t have mushrooms in-stock on that particular visit. No mushrooms? Ack! That’s my favorite part!

Being only three months in business, evidently Grant’s Grill is still going through some “growing pains”, yet the good far outweigh the bad as you’ll soon read about.

Now I’ll go into describing how each dish tasted starting in reverse from the last plate shown here, which happened to be the most recently consumed, the ‘Steak with Onions’ (sans mushrooms) plate.

Regardless of it NOT HAVING MUSHROOMS!, it still turned out absolutely onolicious. The first thing Grant asked was “How do you want your steak done?” which I quickly shot back, “RARE!”. Like “still mooing” rare. I usually shoot rare and hope it comes out ideally just less than medium-rare, and it usually turns out that way, as it did here at Grant’s…

Perfect. Also notice small kine “koge” (sear markings) action going on, which is always appreciated for that flame-grilled taste, which Grant’s indeed has an open flame grill, and none of this flattop griddle nonsense. As the name suggests, Grant really GRILLS!

Here, spock one ‘noddah steak slice…

Grant says he uses chuck steak, which is notoriously tough and not commonly used for quick, dry grilling methods. Yet like all the meat he serves, he applies his “tenderizing magic” to it and it turned out being just as tender as a choice ribeye or NY strip, only being slightly less flavorful than the more expensive cuts due to less fat marbling. Grant seasons his steak simply with garlic powder (again no MSG), kosher salt and pepper, where after the steak is seared on the grill, it gets a sautee in some butter, which is A-OK with me. Mo’ buttah’, mo’ bettah! In fact, I’ve been on a Steak Au Poivre kick lately, which I’ll blog about in the near future.

Grant has all the condiments you’ll need to make the meal complete, including Tobasco, Worcestershire, Shoyu, ketchup, BBQ Sauce, and my favorite steak companion, the one, the only A1 Steak Sauce…

Love A1. I can practically drink the stuff. Oh, and the sauteed onions were caramelized well, with just enough sweetness and robust flavor to compliment the beef.

Summing up Grant’s Steak with Onions, for what it’s worth (just $7.50 for a good-sized portion), I give it a perfectly-cooked (rare/medium-rare), very tender, char-grilled ‘n buttery onolicous 3-SPAM Musubi, anticipating it would easily get a 4 had there been ‘SHROOMS in the mix. Next time.

While we’re on beef, by far my favorite dish by Grant so far is the boneless Kal-bi, which here you see how generous the portion is…

Like the steak, there’s distinguishable sear markings or “koge action” goin’ on. while also like the steak, these slices of boneless Kal-bi shortribs were as tender as ever.

Here you see how he cooks the Kal-bi around rare/medium-rare so it’s super moist inside…

What’s very noticeable is how deeply-penetrated the Kal-bi marinade is into the meat fibers, which I must point out tastes more like a hybrid Teriyaki-Kalbi than straight-up Korean style Kalbi. I think this is due it not having a noticeable accent of sesame and hot pepper in its flavor profile, but more just shoyu-sugar and perhaps garlic and just a little ginger.

Usually I don’t care for meats that are over-saturated with marinade, as it often drowns out the flavor of the meat itself. Yet somehow Grant pulls it off well with this one. Really well. As in 4-SPAM Musubi well, which is what I give Grant’s absolutely oishii, “worth the drive into town for it” Boneless Kal-bi.

Now let’s sample the OTHER star of the show, the Fried Mandoo…

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – Mandoo

Again, the mandoo filling is a combination of ground pork, ground beef, glass noodles, cabbage, chives, onion, and seasoning, sans MSG. I like the texture of the fried mandoo, as it has a crunchy outer crust, along with a slightly chewy layer beneath it. Thickness-wise, the wrapper is not too thick nor too thin. The filling tastes well balanced while also having a complexity that separates it from Japanese style Gyoza or Chinese wontons. Delicious, really. Further kicking it up a notch is the mandoo sauce that comes with it, which is your standard shoyu, sugar and vinegar combination. That’s always a winner with potstickers in any form.

While I’m not a veteran mandoo “eater”/expert by any means, as far as personal tastes, the texture and flavor of the wrapper and filling of this fried mandoo is right on point for me, where I’d give it an “I’d order a whole plate of the stuff” 3 SPAM Musubi.

On a subsequent visit, Grant hit me up with a sampler plate of his Steamed Mandoo…

This came hot-off-the-press from his “GGMEX-5000 Mandoo Machine” (actually more directly from the steamer pot), and you know what? I like the steamed version much more than the fried version. In the steamed version you can taste the actual flavor of the dough more, as it’s not masked by the oil from the deep-frying process, while for that same reason you can also taste the complex flavor of the filling more.

There you can see the glass noodles intermixed with the ground pork and beef, along with the chives. Dip that buggah in the sauce and it’s all good. So good, I’d highly recommend you try the steamed Mandoo before settling on the usual Fried version and compare them, as I give Grant’s Steamed Mandoo 4 SPAM Musubi. Ono stuff!

While we’re rollin’ on all good things Korean, let’s try the Kim Chee…

On a good note, the Won Bok cabbage is well-saturated with the Kim Chee marinade, while on a low note, texture-wise, it’s a little softer/soggier than I like (I like Kim Chee that has some crunch) and also a little too mild, spice-wise. Still a decent and satisfying Kim Chee that I wouldn’t do without on any Kal-bi plate, which overall I’ll give it 2 SPAM Musubi.

Along with Kim Chee, also included is Potato-Mac Salad, so now let’s sample that…

In that photo above I spread it out to hopefully show what’s in it, to not much avail. What is in it are cut red potatoes with the skin on, three types of parsley and relish. Yes, relish. That relish part may sound like it would resemble tartar sauce in flavor and overall off-putting to the “Mac Salad Purist” like we consider ourselves, but you know what? I kinda’ like it in this application! It adds a subtle and quite interesting “zippity-twang” to it that, after a few plates of the stuff, you get used to and appreciate this slight deviance. On top of that, overall it’s fresh, cool and creamy, which is what matters most in any good mac’ salad. With that, I give Grant’s Potato-Mac Sal’ an “I’ve grown to admire it”, very tasty 3 SPAM Musubi.

Moving on to another entree, we have Grant’s BBQ Spare Ribs…

Needless to say, it’s fall-off-the-bone tender, with again, good “koge action” (seared edges) goin’ on, while the sauce tastes like a localized version of your typical American tomato-based BBQ Sauce. The tomato in this case coming from Ketchup (very “local), along with other stuff, which I’m guessing one of is shoyu.

This plate was ordered by both Diner A and “Saimin Kaukau” E, who both unanimously gave Grant’s BBQ Spare Ribs a very solid 3 SPAM Musubi.

Next we have Grant’s Garlic Fried Chicken…

As you see, the chicken meat is glistening with moisture, while really the best part is the batter, which has this light and crispy, yet sort glutenous texture to it. Underlying that battered crust are undertones of sweet and spicy going on, along with just the right amount of garlic kick. Diner E noted that this Garlic Fried Chicken BLOWS AWAY both Sugoi’s and Mitsuken. Wow.

That said, both Diner A, who was the main “eater” of this entree gives Grant’s Garlic Fried Chicken another very solid 3 SPAM Musubi. Not a 4 or 5? No, and I’ll explain why shortly.

Next up we have Diner E’s Aku Bones…

According to Grant, this one is also seasoned simply with Garlic Salt and pepper, then char-grilled. Here inside you see the meat easily pulls right off the Aku Bones…

I’ll admit, personally I’m sooo not an Aku fan, not so hot for its fishy, “dark meat” flavor, so I can’t be a fair judge on what’s a good or not good Aku Bone. I do know what good seasoning tastes like and think this one lack in that department. I really think this should be “Teriyakified”, reaping the benefits of “Umami” from the shoyu and sugar. As it stands, after trying one of the MANY Aku Bones PILED HIGH on this $7.25 plate, flavor-wise I’m giving 1 SPAM Musubi, while portion wise I give it 5!

Now one thing that was, ehem, a “sticking” issue at Grant’s Grill was his rice…

On all but the most recent visit, the rice was kinda hardened and dried out like it had been sitting out uncovered in the pot the whole day, and as good as fodder for fried rice. Just really bad rice. Either his rice cooker doesn’t have a good “keep warm” function or something, but we complained to him about it and he promised to fix it. Well, thankfully he’s followed-up on that promise, actually going out and buying a new rice cooker, and after having it with my grilled steak, I can now say his rice is VERY GOOD! Before it was negative 3 SPAM Musubi. Now it’s positive 3 SPAM Musubi. Just had to point that out, because you know how us locals take our rice very seriously. lol

Once again, if there’s one plate you MUST TRY at Grant’s is his boneless, super-tender, well-marinaded grilled Kal-bi. I ordered it twice and went crazy for it on both occasions. Between Grant’s Grill, Dean’s Drive Inn in Kaneohe and Kahai Street Kitchen in Kalihi Kai, I’m torn between who of the three makes DA’ BES’ Teriyaki/Kalbi style beef.

Grant’s Grill – Boneless Kal-bi and Fried Mandoo

Grant’s Grill – Hot-off-the-GGMEX-5000-Press Steamed Mandoo

I do know Grant has that amazing “GGMEX-5000 Mandoo Machine”, which alone is fascinating. He also fixed his “rice issues”, so thank God for that. He believes in using only the freshest ingredients and using no MSG in any of his cooking. Portions are very generous, the price is certainly right.

All that in consideration, overall the entrees that come out of Grant’s kitchen are done very well and right. plus on top of that, Grant is one heck of a nice guy. Go check him out! Highly recommended!

Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express
555 N. King Street #110
Honolulu, Hawaii  96817

Tel. (808) 354-7776 or (808) 330-2557

Business Hours:
Tuesday ~ Friday: 10am to 4:30pm

Takeout Menu (<–download 2-page PDF document)

The Tasty Island SPAM Musubi rating:

(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)

Related links:
• Grant’s Grill Mandoo Express – Yelp user reviews

As odd as it sounds to its surroundings of predominantly Chinese restaurants and shops, nestled on the riverside ground level of the Chinese Cultural Plaza in downtown Honolulu’s Chinatown district, you’ll find Hifumi Japanese Restaurant, who have been in business at this location over 30 years. 30 years! Plus 10 more at their original Kalihi location.

Which is where we had lunch last Friday in celebration of Diner E’s birthday. Otanjo-bi omedeto gozaimasu! Or being where we are on this visit, would it be more appropriate to say “Sàangyaht faailohk!”? That would be Cantonese for “Happy Birthday”. Ah heck, we’ll just say “Happy Birthday Diner E!”

Although this is a first time visit here for most of us, Hifumi is actually a favorite regular spot for Diner E, and for good reason as you’ll soon find out.

First let’s check out the place…

Wait, this is supposed to be a Japanese restaurant? Well, looking at the decor, they could have fooled me. This certainly looks more like a Chinese fast food/takeout joint than anything else. Especially when you factor in the location. There’s not a sign of Tatami or Shoji treatment anywhere to be seen to suggest a Japanese theme. Well OK, perhaps a few Japanese art pieces here and there on the wall and ceiling, but it comes across mostly as an afterthought. Actually, overall this place looks a little too casual for a birthday luncheon, yet this is what Diner E wanted, so we’ll roll with it.

Of course the food is what matters most, therefore without further ado, let’s check out the menu…

Ah so desu, we must note that it says “Local Family Style Japanese Restaurant”, so leave all your pretenses of traditional, formal Japanese cuisine at the door.

The bento is plated teishoku style like this, with only the miso soup served separately (for obvious reason)…

Wow, that’s quite a selection.

Notice on the ‘July Specials’ dry erase menu board above that it says ‘Giant Jumbo Shrimp Tempura’, which — along with their Wafu selections — is one of their signature dishes. Measuring about 12″ in length each, Hifumi claims to have the largest Shrimp Tempura on the island, where they have their giant tiger shrimp specially flown in from Thailand. This, according to Elsie, our server, manager and 26-year veteran of the restaurant.

This wasn’t our order, but here’s a couple plates of already massive Jumbo Shrimp Tempura (smaller than the Giant Jumbo Shrimp)…

Hifumi – Jumbo Shrimp Tempura

Note that these are pretty much standard-sized dinner plates, so you get the idea what they mean by “JUMBO”. Now imagine “GIANT JUMBO”!

Getting to our spread, like most Japanese meals go, we begin with the house Miso Soup…

Pretty basic shio miso soup broth, which while it can’t touch the OUTSTANDING Miso Soup at Ethel’s Grill, was never-the-less satisfying, being neither too watery or too strong. Garnishes are simply cubes of soft tofu and green onion.

On to the main attraction, here we have “birthday boy” Diner E’s choice, the Bento Special, which he chose Tempura and Ahi prepared Teriyaki style…

Hifumi – Bento Special: 2 piece shrimp and vegetable tempura, teriyaki ahi, rice, tofu, tossed salad (with Thousand Islands dressing), tsukemono and miso soup. $10.95 lunch price ($11.95 dinner price).

Accompanying his Teriyaki Ahi and Tempura Bento is a side of Hamachi Sashimi, flown in fresh from Japan…

Hifumi – Fresh Hamachi Sashimi from Japan (5 slices). $6 when ordered with Bento Special

I’d just as well order a big platter of that sashimi and call it a day… and a mighty fine day at that.

Next we have Diner AC’s choice, the Bento Special, opting for Tempura and Ton Katsu (what I would have chosen)…

Hifumi – Bento Special: 2 piece shrimp and vegetable tempura, ton katsu (panko-breaded fried pork cutlet), rice, tofu, tossed salad (with Thousand Islands dressing), tsukemono and miso soup. $10.95 lunch price ($11.95 dinner price).

Diner A also chose the Bento Special, he also choosing the Tempura, along with Chicken Karaage…

Hifumi – Bento Special: 2 piece shrimp and vegetable tempura, chicken karaage, rice, tofu, tossed salad (with Thousand Islands dressing), tsukemono and miso soup. $10.95 lunch price ($11.95 dinner price).

What’s kinda’ interesting is that they add ketchup in their Tonkatsu sauce as a dipping sauce for the Chicken Karaage and Tonkatsu entree items…

Normally I’d shudder at just the thought of adding ketchup to ANY Japanese food, but you know what? I think this is BRILLIANT! It totally “localizes” the flavor, yet in a way I find pleasing. I wanna’ try this at home, adding ketchup to my Bull Dog Tonkatsu sauce and serve with simply-seasoned garlic salt and pepper fried pork chops. I bet that’s gonna’ rock!

Moving on, we have Diner C’s choice, the Shrimp Tempura…

Hifumi – Shrimp Tempura Special: 3 pieces Shrimp Tempura with Mixed Vegetable Tempura. Includes Rice, Miso Soup and Tsukemono. $11.95

Finally, yours truly couldn’t resist the Monthly Special 10 oz. filet Opakapaka and got that, opting to have it prepared in Hifumi’s signature ‘Wafu’ style…

Hifumi – Monthly Special 10 oz. Filet Opakapaka (Hawaiian Pink Snapper) prepared Wafu style: fresh garlic soy sauce, ground onions and sake. Includes rice, miso soup and tsukemono. $13.95 clipout coupon price ($15.99 menu price)

Here we have the included gohan (rice) and tsukemono (pickled veggies) included with the Wafu Opakapaka (and most other entrees)…

Diner AC was curious about this whole ‘Wafu’ hype and decided to order a ‘sampler’ plate (actually an entree item) of Wafu Chicken to share with everyone…

Hifumi – Wafu Chicken. $12.95

Further explaining this whole ‘Wafu’ thing, the menu goes on to say “Wafu style is a Japanese style of western dishes. This involves a hot plate heated to be served along with the entree. After applying the soy sauce, it produces a sizzling effect, which gives it the garlic aroma.”

What I will say is that Wafu style is WA-FREEKIN’ DELICIOUS! Seriously, do not leave Hifumi without trying it. It’s definitely unique and very tasty (<—-good word). As you see on the menu, you can choose any meat and have it prepared this way.

As for the Wafu Chicken, the thin slices of boneless white meat was super moist and tender inside, with this ever-so-delicate coating on it that, according to Elsie, is Sweet Potato Flour, which she claims is comparably expensive to regular flour. Yet it does impart this interesting texture that’s not quite crunchy, but as said earlier, delicate, while also imparting a little bit of sweetness. That is, unless the sweetness is coming from the grated onions.

Grated onions you say? Well yes, and that particularly is what makes this amazing Wafu sauce really stand out from the rest. Here, take a closer look now at my Wafu-style Opakapaka…

There on the front center edge of the sizzling platter you notice there’s translucent grains of “stuff” that sort of look like grated daikon, but that’s grated onion. What that grated onion does is become caramelized from the heat of the sizzling platter, imparting this incredibly rich and savory flavor to the garlic soy and sake sauce. That gritty texture also adds an extra dimension to the sauce, helping out the abundance of regular sliced caramelized onions in it. If you appreciate the virtues of onion in the land called “Flavortown”, Wafu is definitely for you. Goodness, my mouth is watering just writing about it here!

Also notice how moist, tender and flaky that cut piece of Opakapaka is there, which I easily severed using just chopsticks. Let’s have a bite, and another bite and another bite…

The Opakapaka itself was as fresh as could be and seared to perfection, being just cooked through, nothing more, nothing less.All I can say more is this was oishii-licious, broke da’ mout’ winnahz.

But. BUT. Yes, there’s a “but”, being what I realized is this ended up (no pun intended) being too much of a good thing, where after eating through about half of this giant 10 oz. filet (it seemed much bigger than that), I kinda’ got “Opakapaka’d out”.  I’m surprised Elsie didn’t mention it, but what I really think is the huge portion of this fish is better suited to be served family style instead of for just one person. What Hifumi should do (maybe they do but I didn’t ask and don’t see it on the menu) is offer a Wafu combo option. If they do, on a future visit, I’d get the hypothetical Opakapaka and NY Steak Wafu combo, or perhaps make it a threesome and add Scallops. At least then it would remain interesting, balanced, and not so one-dimensional, regardless of the multi-dimensionally incredible Wafu sauce.

That said, if you order the signature Wafu and/or Tempura dishes at Hifumi, I’d recommend you serve it family style with the “one entree per person rule”. This way there’s variety for everyone to pick and choose, and not be confined to just one big dish of this or that.

Summing it up, I give my absolutely excellent Wafu-style Opakapaka a very solid 3-SPAM Musubi, losing a point from what I would have given a 4 or 5 had their been more variety for my entree than just one big honkin’ filet of fish. Not that I’m complaining about portions, which are certainly generous and a fantastic value. Do this Wafu thing family style and no doubt you’ve got yourself and guests a winner meal.

As for everyone else on our table, they unanimously also gave their respective dish a very solid 3-SPAM Musubi with no complaint. They also noted the fantastic value at just $10.95 for each well-prepared and generously-executed bento and $11.95 for the generous serving of Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura. The latter of which Diner C noted the tempura batter was light and crispy and not oily at all, while the tempura sauce had great flavor, only missing the grated daikon. I’m not sure if they forgot that important finishing touch or they just don’t offer it.

Following tradition, our server brought us a piping hot pot of Ocha (Japanese style tea) at the end of our meal, which is always a welcome way to help melt down any heavy oiliness feeling in the throat and stomach…

Speaking of tea, knowing we were celebrating a birthday, Elsie so kindly brought us all complimentary bowls of Lappert’s Ice Cream for dessert, including (real, not artificial) Green Tea, Strawberry and Kona Coffee flavors…

Lappert’s Hawaii Ice Cream: Green Tea, Fresh Strawberry and Kona Coffee flavors

She noted the complimentary ice cream is only one scoop, while the regular ice cream dessert off the menu includes two scoops. Turned out one scoop was jussss’ right, and I must say, this Lappert’s Ice Cream is some good stuff. Really good stuff! Very creamy and rich. I had the Kona Coffee flavor, and that was by far the best example I’ve had of it yet. 4 SPAM Musubi on that.

Ah, gochisousama deshita (what a feast)!

Step out the side (or front door, depends which way you’re coming from) and you’ll find yourself transported right back to China(town)…

Yes, this is in the middle of Honolulu, not Beijing…

Here on the front window of Hifumi, they have a printout of a Star Bulletin article about them…

As for parking, the Chinese Cultural Plaza has a structure and the restaurant validates, where we paid just $2 for about 2 hours, which is cheap compared to standard downtown Honolulu parking rates.

Summing it up, if you’ve never tried Japanese Wafu-style prepared meats and seafood — which once again is a combination of the meat crusted with sweet potato flour, served on a sizzling-hot platter drenched in sauce made of grated onions, garlic-infused shoyu and sake — then make your way to Honolulu’s Chinatown district and hit-up Hifumi. Highly recommended for good Japanese eats at a great price.

Hifumi Japanese Restaurant
100 N. Beretania Street
Suite 113
Honolulu, Hawaii  96817

Tel. (808) 536-3035

The Tasty Island rating:

(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)

Related links:
• Hifumi Restaurant – ‘Ono Kine Grindz
• Hifumi: good, cheap, plentiful Japanese food – Midweek
• Hifumi Japanese Restaurant – Yelp user reviews
• Lappert’s Hawaii: Coffee, Ice Cream and Bakery Goods with the Aloha Spirit

Diner A and yours truly hit-up Ethel’s Grill once again last, last Aloha Friday (not this past Friday, but the one before it), with Diner A craving to try their Miso Saimin.

This, after tasting their most EXCELLENT complimentary Miso Soup. Which, while you may take Miso Soup for granted, Ethel’s take on it is simply INCREDIBLE. Definitely one of the best Miso Soups he or I have tasted on Oahu in recent memory, regardless of caliber the Japanese restaurant it’s been served at.

Ethel’s Miso Soup just has that magical “it” factor. That “Umami” factor, which if you ask me, is CLAMS. Yes, clams. I can’t confirm that, but that’s my presumption. Their Miso Soup also has bits of tofu (or egg?) floating in it, which gives it this fantastic texture and added “oomph” like only good ‘ole home cookin’ has.

Getting right to it, “oomph” is the operative word of the day, as here we have Ethel’s Miso Saimin, served in a bowl of gargantuan scale…

Ethel’s Grill – Miso Saimin. $5

Holy Sumo Saimin, Batman! Look at the size of this thing! I swear, this took up almost 1/4th of the real estate of our small table in the corner of the restaurant. Specifically, the bowl measured 11″ in diameter, which if you take out your tape measure or ruler, you’ll see exactly how massive this bowl o’ noodle soup is.

All that for just $5? Incredible! Plus, not only do you get this, but it also includes Ethel’s simple-yet-delicious complimentary house salad with Parsley-Dijon dressing…

Ethel’s Grill – House Salad with Parsley-Dijon Dressing. $ complimentary with entrees.

Wow, what a deal! No wonder this place is always packed.

Here’s another angle of Diner A’s Miso Saimin, shown to scale with a standard pair of hashi…

For toppings we have several slices of ham, luncheon meat, Kamaboko (the pink and white thing, which is a fish cake), egg (in two styles) and sliced green onion. Just about perfect. The only thing missing is Charsiu, which personally I think is one of the definitive toppings every saimin should have.

So how is it? Sample some, cuz…

I tried the broth, and you know what? It doesn’t taste the same as the house Miso Soup, but more like Japanese Miso Ramen broth — oh, say, like the one made by Sun Noodle. Completely different than Ethel’s amazing house Miso Soup.

Most notably different is that they add Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese red pepper flakes), which totally changes the flavor profile.

All-in-all it’s a tasty “miso” broth, but not really what Diner A was expecting or hoped for. What he (and I would have) really wanted was their most EXCELLENT house Miso Soup broth with Saimin noodles and toppings in it. Simple as that — no more, no less.

Speaking of saimin noodles, let’s check it..

The noodles — sourced from Oahu Noodle Factory — are very thin like Angel Hair Pasta and cooked on the softer side. Which I suppose I shouldn’t complain, as that’s how many saimin shops serve saimin, unlike authentic Japanese Ramen noodles, which are ideally served a bit firmer. A plus for the thin saimin noodles is that they hold more broth (and its flavor) as you slurp them up.

What’s interesting is this Miso Saimin has two types of eggs in it: “dropped”, meaning it appeared they added that type of egg in raw and let the hot broth cook it right in the pot. …

and an omelet…

Summing it up, Diner A gives Ethel’s Miso Saimin 3 SPAM Musubi, noting (and I’m noting as well) that it could have been a 5 had they not added the Shichimi Togarashi, but served the exact same broth they use for their incredible house Miso Soup. Next time he or I will certainly request that.

On to the next dish, not knowing just how MASSIVE this bowl of Miso Saimin would be, Diner A ordered a Teriyaki Burger to accompany it…

Ethel’s Grill – Teriyaki Burger. $2.75

Well, I don’t think I need to tell you that this turned out being overkill and over the top, yet incredibly, “skinny” Diner A finished everything. Amazing.

As for the burger, he said it was very good. The house-made patty was juicy inside with a tasty seared crust on the outside, yet the Teri’ sauce needed a little more “oomph” (like the Miso Soup has). Overall 2 SPAM Musubi.

Speaking of Miso Soup, here it is, which was included with my Fresh Akule entree, along with a drink…

Ethel’s Grill – Complimentary house Miso Soup and Drink (Fruit Punch in the case)

Here you can kinda’ see the bits and pieces of tofu (or egg?) floating in the broth…

So oishii-ono-broke da’ mout’ winnahz! 5 SPAM Musubi, easy! Throw in some Japanese black baby clams and it would be a 10! And if your order doesn’t include Miso Soup, you can add it on for just 75 cents for the small (shown) or $1.50 for the large. What a deal! I swear, it’s worth the drive from Waianae or Hawaii Kai (how’s that for contrast?) into town just for this. I promise.

My fresh Akule also included Ethel’s House Salad with Parsley-Dijon Dressing, shown earlier in this post. Good stuff. Love that dressing.

Now for my main attraction, the Fresh Akule, a.k.a. Bigeye Scad…

Ethel’s Grill – Fresh Akule with Celery Vinegar. $9.75

According to the ‘daily specials’ menu hanging in front, this is served with Celery Vinegar…

It tasted like regular white vinegar mixed with a little mirin and enhanced with grated celery, yet it didn’t “scream” celery in flavor. Personally I would have preferred Ponzu (citrus flavored soy sauce), and in retrospect, what I should have done was add some shoyu to this sauce.

Let’s have another look at the Fresh Akule, which is simply cleaned and butterflied whole, then pan-fried until the skin is crispy…

Look at all that Akule meat cooked on the bone. You know this is gonna’ be good! Let’s sample some…

Oh man, so tender and juicy, it just flakes right off with little effort on my part. Flavor-wise, I only wish they had seasoned it more. As is it was rather plain. Let’s see if the Celery Vinegar does the trick…

Oh yeah, the tang from the vinegar definitely kicks it up several notches. As I said earlier, what I really should have done was added shoyu either to the vinegar or right on the Akule.

As for the skin, I think they should have been more liberal with the flour dredge, as there wasn’t much substance to it, nor was their much seasoning. Essentially it tasted like they took the Akule, dropped it quickly in flour (that wasn’t seasoned enough) and then threw it in the pan. It needed more TLC in the prep. Otherwise it was cooked to perfection. One thing I love about having fish served whole is you get to eat the eyeball!…

Om-nom-nom-nom. Nothin’ like some good fish eyeballs. lol Seriously though, good stuff!

Here you see all that tender and juicy meat and crispy skin easily pulled right off the Akule bone…

Whatever you do, if you order the Akule, make sure to pick-out them sharp pin bones, which is the only drawback of eating small coastal reef fish like this.

No question Ethel’s Fresh Akule is some good eats. More seasoning in the flour dredge and this would have easily been a 4 or 5, while the Celery Vinegar also needed some shoyu for that  extra “oomph”. As is, I give Ethel’s Fresh (fried) Akule a very solid 3 SPAM Musubi.

What I need to return to Ethel’s for is their Pig’s Feet Soup…

Another popular item I always see on other folks’ tables here is the Jumbo Rib Steak.  Of course, just about everyone orders Ethel’s famous Tataki Sashimi, which no doubt is another fantastic value, considering the quality and portion.

Good home style cookin’ and great value is what draws a consisent crowd into this hole-in-the-wall gem that is Ethel’s…

Ethel’s Grill
232 Kalihi Street
Honolulu, HI 96819
(808) 847-6467

Business hours:
Mon-Sat. 5:30am to 2:00pm

Ethel’s Grill Menu (<click to download/view PDF)

The Tasty Island Rating:

(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)

Related links:
• Return to Ethel’s Grill – The Tasty Island
• Kalihi Kai Eats: Ethel’s Grill – The Tasty Island
• Ethel’s Grill – ‘Ono Kine Grindz
• Ethel’s Grill serves sumotori-sized portions – The Honolulu Advertiser
• Cheap Eats:  Ethel’s Grill – KHNL NBC NEWS 8 Honolulu
• Hungry chefs head to Ethel’s Grill – The Honolulu Advertiser
• Ethel’s Grill – Yelp user reviews

Good ‘ole Maui connections hooks us up with yet another unique food product here called ‘Maui’s Sweet Onion Sausage’. It’s made and sold exclusively on the Valley Isle by Uncle Louie’s Sausage Company, where according to founder Ken Enriques‘ daughter, currently this particular flavor is only available at their factory retail store outlet in Kahului. Other flavors Uncle Louie’s Sausage Co. produces are Pineapple, Italian, Maui Hot Dog, and their flagship product, the one and only Portuguese Sausage; the latter of which is available on most islands at select stores.

Maui’s Sweet Onion Sausage and a Maui® Kula® Sweet Onion

Maui is famous for a lot of things, and one of those are their sweet Kula Onions, grown high on the slopes of Haleakala. The reason for that sweetness is the cool temperatures at those high altitudes, along with soil that’s rich in nutrients and low in sulfur. This low sulfur content is what allows the natural sugars in the onion to stand out more on the palate compared to other onions that have higher levels of sulfur compounds containing Pyruvic Acid. This acid is what causes the flesh of onions to induce tears and clear out nostrils when cut open, while making it taste harsh and pungent at first bite, and masking their otherwise naturally-occuring sweet flavor.

Will Maui’s famous sweet onions compliment the pork in this sausage like fruits often do so well with this type of meat? Let’s find out!

First let’s take this sausage out of its package and check it out in the buff…

Maui’s Sweet Onion Sausage and a Maui® Kula® Sweet Onion

If you look closely, there’s speckles of paprika visible just beneath the casing.

Let’s have a look under the casing…

Maui’s Sweet Onion Sausage (fully cooked, but not cooked)

Like most commercial sausages, the label indicates it’s “fully cooked”, yet we all know this still requires a meeting with Mrs. Frying Pan or Mr. Grill to brown the outside, melt the fat and ultimately bring out the best it has to offer.

As for the ingredients, according the label they are: Pork, Maui Onions, Water, Non-Fat Dry Milk, Salt, Sugar, Paprika, Monosodium Glutemate, Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite.

Yeah, I know, I know, it’s full of  names that end with (Phosph)-ate” and  -ite.  All we need are a few more ingredients that end with -ose and -ide, and surely the chemical preservatives police will be knocking on our door. But hey, we’re talking about sausages with MEAT in it here, gosh darned it, and we’ll leave making healthy diet choices for another topic for another day.

As for the Maui Onions, in the sausage’s uncooked (yet fully cooked) form, I don’t see much visible pieces of it mixed in the ground pork filling, except for a few tiny pieces here and there.

After pan-frying them in a cast iron skillet with some canola oil, they come out looking like this…

Maui’s Sweet Onion Sausage (fully cooked, and now cooked, pan-fried in canola oil)

Notice I cut half of the Sweet Maui Onion Sausage on the bias in pieces about 3/8″ thick, with the other half split along its entire length. Plated on there is half a Kula Sweet Maui Onion and some green onion strictly to enhance the theme and presentation.

Let’s have a bite…

How is it? Very mild, non-descript flavor. It’s a little sweet, yet otherwise tastes almost like a plain pork sausage with little to no spices or onion it. Being an onion lover myself, I was really hoping this was going to SCREAM onion, but it didn’t. For all I know, this could have simply been ground pork mixed simply with sugar and a little salt stuffed in a casing and that’s it. No more, no less.

Probably its best attribute is its snappy casing, so I would perhaps suggest they turn this into a Maui Onion Hot Dog, not sausage cured in a U-shape the way it is. I’d also suggest they try smoking it. I think that would really kick it up. Most of all, it really needs more onion flavor than it currently has. When the label reads “Sweet Onion Sausage”, that’s what I want to taste, not just pork.

Now you know me, where I won’t leave be as be when it comes to food, and always look for new ways to incorporate an ingredient. Being I’ve been on a Banh Mi Vietnamese Sandwich kick lately, I decided to incorporate this Sweet Maui Onion Sausage into one to see if it might be a revelation…

Maui’s Sweet Onion Sausage Banh Mi Sandwich with slices of Hawaii Kai Pirie Mango served on the side

OK, now imagine you’re vacationing on Maui overlooking the beautiful blue shoreline and white sandy beach at some trendy, upscale pacific rim fusion restaurant right on the oceanfront. There on the menu you see this:  Maui Onion Sausage Banh Mi – A classic Vietnamese-French fusion sandwich, served “Valley Isle Style”, with a thick cut of Maui Sweet Onion Sausage grilled to juicy perfection, laid upon a generous helping of butter-sauteed Sweet Maui Onions from Kula and topped with sliced fresh Japanese cucumber, Sweet Thai Basil, mint, cilantro and Do Chua (Vietnamese pickled Daikon and carrot). Served between a supple ‘n crusty, toasted French Baguette slathered with Island Aioli, and accompanied with fresh, cold and sweet Hawaii Kai Pirie Mango slices. $$$

Ha? How you figgah? Sounds goooood eh? I sure as heck would consider that as a lunch entree dining oceanfront on Maui!

Well, for the most part I made it as described above. So how did it taste? By itself, to be honest the sausage’s lack of Maui Onion flavor didn’t do much for it. Surprisingly, neither did the butter-sauteed Kula Maui Onions it was bedded on.

Perhaps if I had grilled the sausage on charcoal or Kiawe, that smokiness would have added plenty more life to the party, but as is pan-fried, it wasn’t much better than what I normally put in my Banh Mi, which are turkey cold cuts.

You know what really kicked it up? The Mango! Yup, the sweet Pirie Mango totally grooved with the porky-pork sausage. It then became that fruity-porky marriage-made-in-heaven that I was looking for. So I ended up taking a few of those mango slices on the side and crammed them into the sandwich as best as I could without the whole thing falling apart. A little smashing and it worked out fine.  THEN it became that “Maui’s Gold Coast” sandwich I was looking for, and would have definitely been worth the premium price I hypothetically may have paid for it.

Summing it up, Maui’s Sweet Onion Sausage from Uncle Louie’s is a great idea that just needs a little recipe tweaking to make it not just decent or good, but GREAT!  Namely more onion flavor, along with what I’d suggest is to smoke it at least a little, or if not that, play more with the spice blends.  Until that happens, I wouldn’t quite yet put this on my “must do list” of things to bring home from Maui.

Yet the name and concept alone — ‘Maui’s Sweet Onion Sausage’ — is VERY marketable and enticing, while its exclusivity to the Valley Isle is all the more reason, at least for novelty sake, where I’d suggest to at least pick-up a couple packages to give away as Omiyage (gifts) and to try yourself.

What? Maui’s Sweet Onion Sausage
Where did you buy it and how much did it cost? (Omiyage), purchased directly from Uncle Louie’s Sausage Company factory retail outlet. $2.08 per 6 oz. package (single sausage). Uncle Louie’s Sausage Co. 190 E. Alamaha St. Kahului, Hawaii  96732 Tel. (808) 871-7544
Big Shaka to: Mildly sweet pork has potential. “Tight” filling texture. Decent fat marbling. Snappy casing. EXCELLENT when paired with fresh, ripe, sweet Pirie Mango!
No shaka to: Where’s the Maui Onion? Where’s the spices? Where’s the FLAVOR?
SPAM Musubi rating: 2

Related links:
• So Sweet, They’ll Make You Cry: Maui Onions are mild and friendly – Island Scene
• Ah Fook’s No Ka Oi Brand Portuguese Sausage – The Tasty Island
• Hilo Eats: Kulana Blood Sausage – The Tasty Island
• Goteborg Musubi Project – The Tasty Island
• Beyond Lup Cheong and Rice – The Tasty Island
• Kim Chee, Pastele and Chorizo Sausages – The Tasty Island
• The Great Portuguese Sausage Shootout – The Tasty Island

P.S. Here’s that package of Maui® Kula® Sweet Onions, which I purchased from Don Quijote…

They’re packed by MAUI FARMERS’ COOPERATIVE EXCHANGE, located in Wailuku, Maui.

Here we have a peeled Maui Kula Sweet Onion on the left, and a standard peeled yellow onion on the right…

The Maui Onion has a more oblong shape (like a football) compared to the spherical-shaped round yellow onion.

Here they are cut in half…

Comparing their flavor, this particular crop of Maui Onion is definitely sweeter, but it didn’t “wow” me as far as that’s concerned. While I didn’t have any on this occasion to compare with, I remember trying a Vidalia a few years ago and was very impressed with how sweet that one was.  More noticeable with this Kula Maui variety was its higher water content than the round onion, along with significantly less “tear factor” due to that low sulfur and Pyruvic acid content.

There’s certainly a time and place in the kitchen for Maui or yellow onions, depending what you’re preparing. Yet at least in my book, no question about it, anything with the name “Maui” tagged to it just sounds like it tastes better!

Bombucha
Pronunciation: bôm-bū-chûh
Function: adjective; slang
Etymology: Hawaii pidgin English
Definition: Large. Big. Massive. Huge/Humongous. Gigantic/Ginormous. Above average in size.
Use: “Whoah, ‘das one bombucha cockaroach!” (Wow, that’s a huge cockroach!”). Or, “I no moah regulah marbles, I only stay get bombucha marbles” (I don’t have regular marbles, only shooter marbles).

Hawaii has a wide variety of mangoes, where while the two most common are the Haden and Pirie, there’s quite a number of exclusive others, including the ‘Shibata’, ‘Ah Ping’, ‘Fairchild’, ‘Gouveia’, ‘Harders’, ‘Keitt’, ‘Momi K’, ‘Pope’, and ‘Rapoza’. Each of which having unique characteristics in level of juiciness, sweetness, tartness, texture, stringiness, size of seed and thickness of skin.

Well, we’ll have to add one more mega-sized variety to that list, aptly named the ‘Bombucha’. Ah, yes my friends, da’ Bombucha Mango. Sounds good to me!

Seriously, this super-sized specimen is actually a Haden mango that was harvested yesterday morning by my coworker Diner F from his tree growing in his yard in the Ewa Beach area. He said this is by far the biggest mango his tree has ever produced in its entire 27 year history of life reaching the sky in Ewa, and we believe it!

Diner F noted that when he plucked it from a very high branch with his 16 ft. pole mango picker, the weight of it caught him off guard, as the extended leverage and gravity kicked in, making a weighty quick drop of the picker pole. Here you see he successfully brought this big baby down in one piece and lookin’ good.

Now notice the size of this “bombucha” mango compared to his hand, keeping in mind, this is the hand of a grown man almost 6 feet tall. Or better yet, look at your hand and then take your other hand and make out the shape of this mango in comparison, and you’ll get a good idea what kind of “whopper” we’re dealing with here.

Exactly how big is it? Well, he weighed it on a postal scale and it clocked in at a hefty 2 lbs. 9 oz., while measuring 7½” in length from base-to-tip and 5½” in diameter at its widest side. I must say, that does qualify this as “bombucha”.  It’s amazing that the stem was able to support this 2½-pounder for so long as it matured on the tree.

How does a “Bombucha Mango” taste? Let’s cut it up try it!…

Obviously this isn’t that entire “bombucha” mango in slices, but about the remaining 1/3 of what’s left that filled that entire plate. Walk around a busy office holding a plate of freshly-sliced mango and you know you’re not going far before it gets wiped out.

It was very juicy and still firm, being that he cut it up at the stage where it was partially green, partially ripe. Being at that stage, it had some tang in it, while being mildly sweet. This is actually the perfect ripeness for making Shoyu Mango. I would have preferred if it ripened a few more days, but it was still delicious as is.

Diner F explained that he purchased his Haden mango tree as a sapling (young tree) in a pot from Koolau Farmers way back in 1983. Back then the tree was $30, and he speculates that mango tree saplings are much more expensive in today’s market. Most notable is that this tree had been grafted by the nursery with a branch from a fully-mature Haden tree, so as soon as he took it home, that same year as a sapling it already was bearing fruit! That’s like a 5 year old human bearing a child. Crazy.

In light of this grafting method, Diner F claims there’s a mango tree in the Liliha area that’s been combined with, like, 5 different mango varieties. So that one tree has both Pirie, Haden and several other types.  He also pointed out that since his Haden Mango tree has been grafted with another Haden tree from a juvenile age, he can tell the difference with the mangoes that come of that grafted branch compared to the rest of the tree. Very interesting.

While his unusually large Ewa Beach Haden may be the biggest mango he or I ever seen, this is a big world, and there surely have been and will be bigger mangoes out there.

Take for instance this 7½ pounder that hails from Iligan City on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines…

Photo courtesy of Kutsarita.com

If they didn’t say this was a mango, you’d think it was some sort of melon or squash. But wow, that’s huge.

Right back here in Hawaii, according to the late Honolulu Star Bulletin, in 2006, Kona resident Colleen Porter made it into the Guiness Book of World Records for growing the world’s heaviest mango….

Photo courtesy of the Honolulu Star Bulletin

Colleen’s human head-sized mango weighed in at a record-setting 5 lbs. 7 ozs.. Good Lord!

Not that this one here that Chef Chai  is holding at the 2009 ‘Mangoes at the Moana’ expo is anything to sneeze at either…

Photo courtesy of HollyhadsellEntertaining.com

The day an actual mango grows THIS BIG, is the day we know there’s WAY too much radiation on our planet…

Photo courtesy of MyAmazingFacts.com

How fun!

Island Insurance is currently running a TV ad campaign on saving BIG $$$ over the competition, using a CGI-generated giant-sized Ulua fish in one spot, and a giant-sized mango in another to depict that big savings. That works.

Now if we can only figure how to grow a mango tree that produces nothing other than gigantic,watermelon-sized fruit, then we’d truly have a new variety us folks here in Hawaii can proudly call the ‘Bombucha Mango’!

•••

P.S. While we’re in “mango madness” mode, let’s recap some of the “Tasty Island” ways to incorporate and eat mango, including my favorite, Mango Bruschetta…

Mango Bruschetta: Sliced fresh Pirie Mango on Toasted French Bread rubbed with fresh whole garlic and drizzled generously with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, finally seasoned with light sprinkling of Hawaiian Salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

Mom’s favorite way to eat fresh mango is  simply with mayonnaise…

Mom’s Mayo’ Mango Madness

Of course we can’t leave out the mouthwatering Pickled Mango…

Pickled Mango with Li Hing Mui

Finally, the method I think is best for mangoes at the semi-ripe stage like the “bombucha” Haden Mango from Ewa featured here, Shoyu Mango….

Shoyu Mango – Semi-ripe Pirie Mango in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar and sugar.

Last weekend my girlfriend and I hit-up Ross on Koreamoku street looking for accent throw pillows for our new sectional sofa (which they didn’t have anything we were interested in), where afterwards we conveniently drove across Kanunu street to have lunch at Like Like Drive Inn. It’s been a while since I’ve been here, and I heard some good and some not-so-good impressions of the place. My late father used to come here often, giving praise about their breakfast dishes. While my girlfriend and her gang visited here on several occasions recently and were far less than impressed with their late night, graveyard shift grubs. Which possibly could have been a blunder on their late night, graveyard shift cook running the kitchen at this 24-hour diner.

Well, we shall find find out today during this late afternoon lunch whether they live up to all the hype and old school heritage that is Like Like Drive Inn.

As always, first lets check out the place…

Like Like Drive Inn is located on the corner of Kanunu and Keeaumoku street, or what the locals like to call “Koreamoku Street” due to many Korean bars and Korean-owned businesses along this busy corridor near Ala Moana Center. One of their neighbors is Soribol, a popular Korean Yakiniku restaurant, which by the way, occupies the original Honolulu Shakey’s Pizza. Soribol recently painted the exterior of their restaurant this hideous lime green color, but that’s another story for another day. Another notable neighbor would be Walmart and Sam’s Club right across the street.

While Like Like Drive Inn may appear tiny and unassuming from the outside of the strip mall they’re in, upon entering you’ll find a clean, updated, quite expansive space with multiple dining rooms to sit at…

Where is everyone? Here…

That’s a lot of seats! You could throw a huge party here, no problem. Spock da’ green river and fruit punch machine behind the counter. Classic diner fare right there. Also notice da’ “aunty” waitress. All the waitresses have that stereotypical “aunty” look. Someone you think of as your own mom. I love that!

Here’s the wife and husband founders of Like Like Drive Inn, Alice and James Nako…

Sorry about that blurry photo, but as you can kinda’ see, the original Like Like Drive Inn used the same neon sign they still have up today. Classic to da’ max! While the original building looked more like a residential wooden home structure. Apparently the restaurant biz’ is in the blood, as, come to find out, Alice Nako is the older sister of Agnes Asato, the founder of the now-gone KC Drive Inn, famous for the waffle dog and chocolate-peanut butter “Ono Ono Shake”.

Let’s check out their menu, which to note as confirmed by our server, is effective 24 hours of the day and night…

Wow, that’s a lot to think about, and a lot for the kitchen to prep’ for, 24 hours a day on top of that!

A telling tale of any restaurant is the array of condiments they have stationed at each table, where here you can clearly see it’s a local style diner…

You did notice on that classic neon Like Like Drive Inn sign out front that it proudly advertises ‘SAIMIN’ on it, right? Well, that’s exactly what I ordered…

Like Like Drive Inn “Local Favorites” -- Saimin. $6.10

The best thing I could find that would go good with my saimin was a side of fries (yeah,  I know, very creative)…

Like Like Drive Inn side order -- French Fries. $3.35

My girlfriend also kept it simple, opting for their Hot Roast Beef Sandwich…

Like Like Drive Inn “Special Sandwiches” -- Hot Roast Beef Sandwich. $9.00

For the life of me, I don’t know why I missed her requesting to substitute mashed potatoes — which this was supposed to come with — for fries. Had I caught that, I wouldn’t have ordered a side of fries myself and got something else. Now we have too much fries. Oh well, at least we’re gauranteed to walk out with a full stomach. lol

My first question is, “how is the gravy?”…

Da’ buggah is “tick” (thick). It tastes somewhat “meaty”, while also having a hint of sage and thyme in its flavor profile. Very nice. I could see this making one fantastic Loco Moco, which is another of their “Local Favorites” dishes. It also works out great as a gravy dip for fries…

Let’s have a taste of that Hot Roast Beef Sandwich…

Now here’s where they dropped the ball twice. First of all, my girlfriend explicitly requested that they TOAST the bread, where as you can see, it arrived NOT toasted. Secondly, the menu clearly says Hot Roast Beef Sandwich. How did it arrive at the table? Not hot, but more like room temp’. What the? Not being the type to complain, she just went with it as is. Personally I would have sent it back. Fortunately that excellent gravy made up for the mistakes and it turned out being a 3 SPAM Musubi meal for her, noting that the roast beef was flavorful and tender, while the accompanying thick-cut fries were deep-fried to perfection and salted just right.

Now my song and dance with this bowl of saimin, starting with a mindful observation of it, along with a deep thought of the meaning of life, then an initial sip of the broth…

Right off the bat, it’s very “shrimpy”. That’s almost all I taste is shrimp, and not much in the form of dashinomoto. I’m guessing they make this with just shrimp heads and  perhaps some kombu, with maybe a dash of shoyu and that’s it. It’s not intense either, but rather mild, where more shoyu and perhaps pepper would certainly help it out.

Let’s try the saimin noodles…

As usual, the ever great Sun Noodle Factory is the source of these wiggly wonders, and I must say, it was cooked perfectly al dente. They were also very “starchy”, which is actually how saimin noodles should taste, regardless of my bias for the flavor of the more “egg-like” Japanese Ramen noodles.  Very good saimin noodles here.

Let’s sample the Charsiu now…

Very good, being tender and very “charsiu-ee” and “pork-ee” in flavor and not bland at all. Wow, lot’s of “ee” emphasizing going on here. lol.

Only one slice of Kamaboko (fish cake), yet at least they cut da’ buggah “tick” (thick)…

And it wasn’t soggy or slimy either, but firm and fresh-tasting. Sometimes I take a whole roll (or block or whatever you call it) of Kamaboko, slice it thinly and eat it “sashimi style” on a bed of cabbage with choke wasabi and shoyu dipping sauce. I call that my “poor man’s sashimi”. I tell you, it hits da’ spot!

Speaking of dipping sauce, like all good saimin shops do, Like Like Drive Inn serves theirs with a side dish of Coleman’s mustard, where you mix with shoyu and dip your noodles and saimin topping in for an extra kick of flavor…

Mix ‘n dip..

Oh yeah, now there’s the money right there, baby. The Coleman’s Mustard and Shoyu sauce gave this saimin the life it needed, as the broth alone wasn’t enough at least for my palate. The dipping sauce is what makes it complete, and with that I give Like Like Drive Inn’s Saimin 2 SPAM Musubi, which is “good”. While the noodles were cooked perfectly and the charsiu was as good as it gets, the all-important saimin BROTH from Like Like didn’t meet my expectations. As of this writing, I still stand by Zippy’s Zip Min as being the best Saimin in town I’ve had yet in recent memory.

For dessert, my girlfriend made room for some Banana Pie…

Like Like Drive Inn dessert -- Banana Pie. $3.30

What’s interesting is this tasted exactly like an apple pie, except instead of apples, it has sweet and tender chunks of bananas in it. It has that same gelatinous, cinnamon-flavored glaze the fruit is carried in, while I must note, the nicely-browned, buttery and crispy, flaky crust is KILL-ER.

Excellent, excellent crust on this pie, and in my book, when they ace the crust, they aced the cake… or pie that is, and with that, I give Like Like Drive Inn’s Banana Pie a solid 4 SPAM Musubi. A scoop of vanilla ice cream would have really hit the spot with this, but it was absolutely scrumptious as is. Yum!

Like Like Drive Inn
745 Keeaumoku Street
Honolulu, Hawaii  96814

Tel. (808) 941-2515

Business hours: Open 24 hours daily

The Tasty Island rating:

(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)

Related links:
• Like Like Drive -- Yelp user reviews

P.S., Here’s a fun video to dance to…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1c2OfAzDTI

I don’t know why it is, but lately I’ve been on a major Saigon Sub kick. Also known as Bánh Mì, this Vietnamese-French fusion sandwich is so refreshingly healthy and delicious, with multiple layers of ingredients that each contribute an interesting and complimentary contrast of flavors and textures. If you’ve never had a Bánh Mì sandwich before, you need to get to your nearest Vietnamese restaurant and try it. Good, good stuff! So good that I now got my mother and aunt hooked on it.

Every Saturday morning I do my usual song and dance, hitting up the KCC Farmers’ Market where I can find just about all the necessary ingredients to make it at unbeatable prices. First of all I make sure I’ve got its two key components: fresh-baked Bánh Mì Parisian baguettes and Do Chua, which are those Vietnamese style pickled julienned Daikon and Carrots. The place to get these are from the Ba-Le Bakery booth, where a bag of four Bánh Mì French baguette rolls costs just $2 and a 12 oz. container of the Do Chua is just $3. Cheap!

And Ba-Le’s Bánh Mì French baguette rolls are by far the best. They’re baked fresh and have that very desirable crunchy crust on the outside, with just the right balance of glutenous chew on the inside, while being supple and well balanced in density and porosity.The only problem I find with these French Rolls is they mold quickly when left out on the counter. Like after about three days. So after two days, I already put them in the refrigerator, to which they keep pretty good for about a week. Of course fresh is best though.

As for the Do Chua, I just checked the Aina Haina Foodland, and they don’t carry it. Not sure about Safeway, although I’m sure Don Quijote has it. Otherwise, just get it from Ba-Le. Theirs tastes great. In fact, sometimes I eat just the Do Chua by itself!

Being at a Farmers’ Market, of course you’re going to get all the necessary vegetables and herbs to make your Saigon Sub from there, including Thai Basil, Mint and Cilantro (Chinese Parsley), where you can buy a big bunch for just $1 each. Try buying those same herbs in the supermarket and you’re looking at easily three or more times that price. Or of course, just grow them yourself! I might start doing that.

Cucumber is another common ingredient in Bánh Mì, to which I buy the Japanese Cucumber, as it has less seeds and an overall better flavor in this application. Japanese Cucumbers are usually about $1.50/lb. at KCC Farmers’ Market. Chili Peppers are another basic ingredient in a Saigon Sub, but I’m not one for “heat” in my sandwich and omit it, but hey, if you like it hot, knock yourself out.

The only other key ingredients needed for this Vietnamese-French fusion sandwich are the “fats”, which would be the mayonnaise and choice of meat, to which I buy them from either Costco or the supermarket. Best Foods (a.k.a. Hellman’s) brand for the mayo’ of course, and for the meats, I simply get whatever cold cuts I’m in the mood for. You can use roast beef, smoked ham, turkey, whatever.

Really, like most sandwiches, a Saigon Sub is rather flexible, as long as you have the two key ingredients: the Bánh Mì French Roll and the Do Chua Vietnamese pickled daikon and carrots. From there you can experiment with all kinds of proteins, vegetables, herbs and whatever else you think might work.

I’ve already done a Kiawe-Smoked Pastrami Bánh Mì sandwich which turned out pretty darned delicious…

Check out how I made my Kiawe-Smoked Pastrami Bánh Mì sandwich here, and how I made Backyard Kiawe-Smoked Pastrami here.

Future Saigon Sub experiments for me will include a spin on the classic BLT, Grilled Cheese, Tonkatsu, “Tonkrazy”, baked salmon and either Ahi Poke or tuna tartar.

P.S. Here’s a shot of Maunalua Bay Beach Park from Kuli’ou’ou Beach Park, where you see everyone setting up tents for a front-row, ocean-front vantage point of last night’s grand Fireworks Display over Maunalua Bay in Hawaii Kai…

Same thing at Kuli’ou’ou Beach Park…

It got much more crowded than that right before the 8pm show.

No man is an island… not even in Maunalua Bay when the tide is low…

The fireworks display over Maunalua Bay last night on July 4th, 2010 was quite a spectacle. It began at exactly 8pm and carried on without a hitch until exactly 8:21pm, lasting longer than the 17-minute duration they said it would be on the news. Steady bursts of all the usual shells were there, including the palm, round, ring, willow, roundel, chrysanthemum, pistil, maroon and serpentine. (check out that link for a really cool interactive explanation on that!). The grand finale was of course rapid and highly explosive and seemed to last longer than the seconds it took to complete launching every last shell. Kudos to the folks who set-up this year’s Maunalua Bay fireworks display. Great job! Maika’i!

The music for the Maunalua Bay Fireworks Show was provided by Hawaiian KINE 105.1 FM.

Surprisingly there were very little illegal aerials being launched in the area either before or after the show, compared to last New Years eve, when the skies over Hawaii Kai had more bombs bursting in the air than two of these 4th of July Fireworks displays combined!And this is Hawaii Kai. Imagine Kalihi  and Ewa Beach, where I heard it was like a war zone.

Speaking of which, as I was driving back home towards town from Hawaii Kai after the show (100% sober of course), around 9:30pm about five fire units and every police squad car in the area went racing by, sirens blaring, heading east. Turns out there was a substantial brush fire atop Kalama Valley that threatened nearby homes.  Although they have yet to determine how it was started, it doesn’t look good to have happened on fireworks night.

Lastly, speaking of Saigon Kick, remember that late 80′s/early 90′s band? Here’s their hit single, ‘Love is on the way’…

We recently threw yet another office party, or more specifically, an Italian pasta party, with the catering provided by Cafe Sistina. They don’t indicate anywhere on their menu or website that they do catering, yet we were delighted to discover upon calling them that they indeed do offer it.

For a head count of 60 people, plus or minus about 5, the total came out $560 including tax, which comes out to $9.33 per person. Good deal, considering it will cost you about twice that to eat in the restaurant.

With that, we chose a salad and three different pastas, while they also threw in their complimentary and most excellent dinner bread rolls.

We begin with Insalata Contandina…

Cafe Sistina – Insalata Contandina: large-mixed greens, grilled eggplant, zucchini, onion, bell peppers, frittata & feta cheese.

The salad was accompanied with what tasted like very high quality imported Extra Virgin Olive Oil combined with Balsamic Vinegar…

Cafe Sistina – Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

Here we have the house dinner bread rolls…

Cafe Sistina – house dinner bread rolls

The bread rolls are accompanied with a pesto compound butter…

Cafe Sistina – Pesto Compound Butter for the Dinner Bread

Time to carbo-load, starting with the Orecchiette Melanzane…

Cafe Sistina – Orecchiette Melanzane: olive oil, onions, garlic, eggplant and basil in a light tomato sauce with fresh mozzarella

Next we have Salciccia al Chianti…

Cafe Sistina – Salciccia al Chianti: Italian sausages sauteed with onions and garlic in a zesty tomato wine sauce with penne.

Our pasta party wraps up with more penne, this time with chicken and mushrooms in what is called Pollo Porcini…

Cafe Sistina – Pollo Porcini: Tender chicken breast sauteed with onions and garlic in an Italian wild mushroom sauce.

That works for me. Everything looks and indeed smelled absolutely delicioso!

Now let’s take a look at ten different ways people plate-up three different pasta entrees, a salad and dinner bread…

There on the front side you can see those most excellent Italian Sausages in the Salciccia al Chianti.

And here you can see the big chunks of chicken breast and porcini mushrooms in the Pollo Porcini Penne.

Hana ‘koko-le-le, these two folks didn’t grab any salad. Come on now, you need them greens!

Ah, that’s better. Check it out, they even went as far as “arranging” the cucumbers in a neat and tidy row. Nice! lol Only thing they’re missing is that awesome grilled eggplant. That’s OK, more for me!

Eggplant, check. Tomatoes, check. Feta cheese, check. Cucumber, check. The salad’s almost complete, except they’re missing the frittata.

A good dose of parmesan cheese for the finishing touch.

Ah, finally, the salad is complete! Or is it? I don’t see any EVOO and balsamic vinegar on there.

I guess this person doesn’t like chicken, as it’s missing the Pollo Porcini Penne.

One more, mine…

As is often the case at a buffet, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, as this easily became two meals on one plate, with enough leftover for lunch the next day as well, and a very tasty one at that!

In fact, these catered trays of pasta were so large, even with sixty mouths to feed, we still had almost a full pan leftover of the various pastas, while the salad pretty much got wiped out. We also had plenty of dinner bread rolls leftover that made for good snackin’ for the next couple days.

As for the taste, everything was delicious. Just like when you dine-in at Cafe Sistina, our catered food was all prepared-to-order where when our girls went to go pick up the food at the restaurant, the cook had just finished pouring it in the srevice pans. Even without sterno, all the pasta entrees were still piping hot by the time we were served around noon. With that, the pasta in each entree were still perfectly al dente. Nice. Most notable, under the guidance of Chef and owner Sergio Mitrotti, Cafe Sistina’s northern Italian sauces and preparations are for the most part just fantastic. I won’t go as far as saying this is the best Italian food on the island, but it’s certainly respectably high on the list.

Summing it up, if you’re looking for a good place to cater your next pasta party, Cafe Sistina would be a great choice. The food is prepared just before pick-up, arriving to the service line piping hot. The food quality, sauces and preparations are all fantastic, while the pasta is cooked perfectly al dente, and the salad is served cold, fresh and crispy. While the excellent crusty and supple complementary dinner bread rolls bring it all home. All within budget. Winner, winner, catered pasta party dinner. Err, lunch that is.

Cafe Sistina
1314 South King street
Honolulu, Hawaii  96814
Tel. 596-0061
www.CafeSistina.com

The Tasty Island rating (for a catered pasta party lunch):

(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)

Related links:
• Makiki Eats: Cafe Sistina – The Tasty Island

With the long Independence Day weekend upon us, many of you will be heading to your neighborhood Costco to stock up on party essentials. On your way in and out of the store, chances are you’ll be tempted by the smell of pizza and hot dogs wafting in the air fronting Costco’s always busy Food Court.

Obviously the entire menu here isn’t going to get an endorsement from my doctor or dentist anytime soon. Yet determined to eat more healthy, without having done any research beforehand, I recently ordered their “healthier sounding” Chicken Caesar Salad over the decadently tempting and delicious giant-sized hot dog, hoping I made a nutritionally wiser choice.  Only to discover upon looking it up online the other night that this jacked-up salad has more calories, total fat, cholesterol and sodium than either the Kirkland Signature All Beef Hot Dog or Polish Sausage. Go figure (or there goes my figure). In fact, that’s what we’re going to do here today.

Costco Food Court – Chicken Caesar Salad: Skinless boneless chicken, cherry tomatoes, green leaf lettuce, grated parmesan cheese, croutons and caesar dressing. $3.99

That salad sure looks healthy with the contrasting colors and the notion itself of having fresh lettuce, tomatoes and skinless chicken as its main feature. Yet of course I should have known that generous portion of Caesar salad dressing, grated Parmesan Cheese and croutons would demonize it, practically negating any health benefits.

So this begs to question: should I eat that? Or eat this?…

Costco Food Court – Kirkland Signature All Beef Hot Dog. $1.50 including 20 oz. drink (including endless refills)

Well, let’s take a close look at Costco Food Court’s nutritional data on these two menu items and find out where each one really stands.

Comparing the numbers side-by-side, the Chicken Caesar Salad has more of just about everything. Yet looking specifically at the serving size,  the salad is also more than twice the amount of food in weight, tipping the scale over a pound at 20. 5 oz., versus the already giant-sized Costco Kirkland Signature All Beef Hot Dog, which weighs in  at 8.3 ounces, or just a squirt of mustard and ketchup more than a half-pound. So we need to keep that in mind when comparing the two.

That in mind, ounce-for-ounce, actually the hot dog packs much more of just about everything, except, not surprisingly, all the  healthy stuff, including dietary fiber, vitamin A, C and calcium, where the salad clearly has it beat.

While the hot dog has more of the bad trans fat and saturated fat  per ounce than the salad, on the good side, it also has a significant amount of monounsaturated fat — the “good fat” — than the Chicken Caesar Salad. It’s still behind on the good fat per ounce, yet it must be commended for that. Had the dressing for the salad been made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, it probably would have beaten the hot dog. But it’s not, and the dressing, along with the generous helping of grated parmesan cheese and croutons are certainly the culprit in all the “bad” figures making up the salad’s nutritional profile.

At least on paper, from a nutritional standpoint, for the most part, Costco’s giant-sized All-Beef Hot Dog ain’t all that bad in comparison to the Chicken Caesar Salad with all the fixinz, and is actually better for you, especially if less sodium and more monounsaturated fat are what’s best for your body’s needs. The hot dog’s expected high amount of saturated and trans fat, thanks to the very fact that it’s MEAT is really the “only” thing that hurts it. Emphasize “only”.

As for the salad, substitute the OEM Caesar dressing for an Extra Virgin Olive Oil-based vinaigrette dressing and take out some of the parmesan cheese and croutons, and it obviously will be far better for you than the hot dog. But who’s going to do that at the convenience of Costco’s Food court? Not me, that’s for sure.

So to answer the question of whether one should “Eat this, and not that”, between Costco’s Hot Dog with all the fixinz or the Chicken Caesar Salad with all the fixinz, it’ sounds like a toss-up from a nutritional standpoint. From an immediate financial standpoint, it’s tough to beat Costco’s $1.50 giant hot dog and 20 oz. drink deal. Compensate the nutritional deficiency of fiber and vitamins it lacks in comparison to the salad by getting a big bag of apples and oranges from their produce department and you should be good. Especially considering the higher $3.99 price for the Chicken Caesar Salad, where you can put that $2.49 savings in price difference compared to the hot dog towards those fresh fruits that will last you more than a week out.

So the question of whether one should “Eat this, and not that” from Costco’s Food Court is essentially asking which is the lesser of two evils, where I’d say the right answer would be “none of the above”.

Actually, to be honest, the only point I’m making here is to justify to myself, if not anyone else, that ordering a Costco Food Court Hot Dog isn’t far worse and in some ways better from a health standpoint than their Chicken Caesar Salad. Especially if I were to eat the whole salad, dressing and all. So at least I’ll feel that much less guilty from now on when choosing a hot dog over a salad, knowing I’ll be consuming that much less fat, sodium and cholesterol. All while having some spare change to buy a bag of apples in the warehouse club store to make up for the vitamins and fiber deficiency of the hot dog. And that’s my One Dollar and Fifty Cents, bang-for-the-buck take on that.

Costco Food Court  – Kirkland Signature All Beef Hot Dog & 20 oz. Drink. $1.50 from Iwilei Costco.

P.S. Since we’re on a “Eat this, not that” kick, and while I was at it doing “research” for this write-up, I bought both Costco’s Kirkland Signature All Beef Hot Dog and Polish Sausage to compare in a handy-dandy side-by-side comparo’. Normally I order the Polish Sausage, but you know what? I think I’m changing my mind on that, as you’ll soon read.

Here we have Costco’s Kirkland Signature All Beef Hot Dog, before being loaded with all the fixinz…

Costco Food Court  – Kirkland Signature All Beef Hot Dog

And here we have Costco’s Kirkland Signature Polish Sausage, before getting loaded up…

Costco Food Court  – Kirkland Signature Polish Sausage

Notice the slightly darker color, speckles of seasoning and thinner profile of the Polish sausage compared to the all beef hot dog.

Now when it comes to food, in general I’m a “the works” kinda’ guy, and add every available topping I can get. Subway? Give me all the veggies, all the cheeses, all the seasonings and all the sauces they’ve got. Baked potato? Nothing less than “fully loaded”. Cream cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, chives and heck, even melted cheese if they’ve got it.

Same for hot dogs. I say drag that sucker through the garden and throw in the kitchen sink too, if that’s possible. Even ketchup. Yup, I said it, ketchup.  With that, when dressing my Costco dog, it’s all or nothing for me…

Costco Food Court  – Kirkland Signature All Beef Hot Dog with Ketchup, Mustard, Relish and Chopped Onions.

Ketchup, mustard, relish and fresh diced onions? All CHECK. For some reason, the Iwilei Costco didn’t have ‘Kraut on this visit. Yet I’m cool with “just” the onions.

Same toppings treatment for the Polish Sausage dog…

Costco Food Court  – Kirkland Signature Polish Sausage with Ketchup, Mustard, Relish and Chopped Onions.

What I really appreciate is that Costco’s hot dog buns have sesame seeds on them. Love that.

Also notice the dog protrudes about an inch total beyond the bun. Certainly a welcome site for meat lovers.

Speaking of measurements, let’s check the specific total length of this wiener…

Both wieners measure in at 8″ each, and get your mind out the gutter, thank you very much. lol

I forgot to measure the diameter of each one, yet I did get this cross-section shot of them side-by-side, which gives you an idea…

Here we have the two halves of the All Beef Hot Dog cut apart to the left, and the Polish Sausage Dog cut apart to the right. IIRC, the all beef hot dog was about 1″ in diameter, while the Polish Sausage was approximately 7/8″. Here you can also see the grains of spices mixed into the Polish sausage on the right, as well as the slightly darker color.

Now for the most important part, the taste comparison. The Polish Sausage is just slightly saltier, while also being somewhat noticeably spicier. It’s also more salami-like in flavor profile. While the all beef hot dog is very, well, BEEFY! Best part is, the all beef hot dog doesn’t taste as processed as the Polish sausage, but more “pure” if you will. The Kirkland Signature All Beef Hot Dog, at least for me, tastes exactly like what I envision on my palate to taste like a great-tasting all American Hot Dog. Simple as that. As much as a Chevy Camaro, Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger is an all-American muscle car through and through, Costco’s all beef wiener in a bun is an all-American hot dog through and through.

The verdict? Costco’s Signature All Beef Hot Dog wins it. Yet, I won’t turn down my former favorite, the Polish Sausage dog any time soon. They both taste delicious in their own way.

Oh, and I’m giving this post 5 SPAM Musubi because A) There’s no better deal in town than Costco’s most excellent and giant sized $1.50 Hot Dog and Drink, and B) I Love Costco!

This past Saturday me, my girlfriend and a couple friends of ours wanted to have lunch at California Rock ‘N Sushi, but having not checked the hours online or calling ahead, we were disappointed upon arriving there to discover they were CLOSED! What the heck? How can a restaurant be closed for lunch on the weekend?! My gang, save for me, all work in the food and beverage industry and  don’t understand that, but whatevahz. There’s certainly plenty other fish in the restaurant sea that we were more than happy to give our business to.

So we ended up a block up Ward Avenue across the street over at Asahi Grill, a.k.a. Kapiolani Coffee Shop. Asahi Grill is a casual, affordable, family-friendly, localized Japanese restaurant open for breakfast lunch and dinner. Think of it as a diner with an asian twist and that’s pretty much what you’ll find here (Triple D oughta’ pay them a visit next time).

Getting right to it, the Pork Chops hit home with childhood memories for Diner J, so he decided on giving that a spin…

Asahi Grill – Two Pork Chops with two scoops rice and one scoop mac’ salad. $8.75

Hey, why not? When you’re gonna’ have comfort food, have it right and go all the way. Therefore, accompanying his Pork Chops was a side of fries…

With so much to choose on the menu, Diner CV becamed stumped on what to choose and ultimately played it safe, ordering the small bowl of Kapiolani Coffee Shop’s signature dish, the Oxtail Soup…

Asahi Grill – Small Oxtail Soup (includes side of rice) $10.50

Thinking just soup might not be enough, Diner CV also ordered a Teriyaki burger and fries to go along with it…

Asahi Grill – Teriyaki Burger & Fries. $5.00

See, we’re here for comfort food, not Jenny Craig. lol

My girlfriend Diner EDC chose what I would have chosen, had I not chose what I chose, which is the Grilled Salmon and Shrimp Tempura Combo…

Asahi Grill – Grilled Salmon and Shrimp Tempura combo (includes miso soup). $14.95

The included Miso Soup (with somen noodles in it) and Tentsuyu (Tempura dipping sauce)…

Asahi Grill – Miso Soup (with somen noodles) and Tentsuyu (included with Japanese lunch and dinner entrees)

Finally, continuing my ramen and saimin kick, on this visit yours truly decided to try their Oxtail Ramen, which was actually more like Oxtail Saimin…

Asahi Grill – Oxtail Ramen (actually more like Oxtail Saimin) $8.95

Let’s have a closer look at my Oxtail Saimin, which is what I’m going to call it from now on…

Plenty of Chinese Parsley and Green Onion, which is always nice and certainly brings plenty of added flavor and texture to the party. The server tells me the broth is the same broth as their famous Oxtail Soup, so I’m down with that. Let’s try it…

Well this definitely ain’t no Japanese ramen broth, nor is it local style samin broth. It is what is, which is Oxtail soup broth, and a mighty fine one at that. I still say The Alley Restaurant in Aiea Bowl and Pho Bistro 2 s-s-s-slightly makes a better Oxtail Soup, but KCC’s is certainly up there in the top three. What makes this saimin is the noodles added in it…

As seems to be the case at most restaurants on Oahu, Sun Noodle is the supplier here, which in this case as confirmed by my server aren’t ramen noodles, but saimin noodles. And they were cooked perfectly, not being “saimin-soggy” at all, but still retaining good chew to it. And there’s no question Sun Noodle has the right recipe when it comes to flavor.

What’s nice is these saimin noodles actually compliment the oxtail soup and don’t detract from it. The broth is too mild to flavor the noodles, but if you slurp noodles and sip broth consecutively, they both taste really ono together. I’m diggin’ this bowl of Oxtail Saimin. It works. In fact, it works even better than the one at New Violet’s Grill, thanks to KCC’s far superior Oxtail Soup it’s based on.

Let’s try some oxtail…

You know what comes next, right? Oh yeah, dip ‘dat buggah in da’ grated gingah and shoyu sauce…

Notice a piece of meat pulled right off that bone. Also notice soft, melting marrow in the center of the bone. That’s flavor town right there, baby. Add to that the powerful, piercing flavor of the fresh grated ginger and shoyu that really brings out the beef and you have flavor CITY my friends! So broke da’ mout’ ono, I’m drooling just writing about it here.

And I thought since the Oxtail Saimin is considerably cheaper at $8.95 than the Oxtail Soup ($10.50 small and $12.95 regular) that they would skimp on Oxtails, but was happy to discover they included 5 oxtails in it. Five! Check out this giant piece…

You know you want that. I sure do, again. Someone needs to can or package frozen Oxtail Soup so folks like me can buy some for having any time of day.

Summing it up, Kapiolani Coffee Shop’s (c/o Asahi Grill) Oxtail Saimin was fantastic and priced right, easily deserving 4 SPAM Musubi. Highly recommended. Would I call it the best saimin on the island? No I wouldn’t. But I would call it one of the best Oxtail soups on the island that happens to have excellent saimin noodles in it.

As for the pork chops, oxtail soup, teriyaki burger, fries and shrimp tempura ‘n grilled salmon combo’, everyone was very satisfied with their food, giving an overall 4 SPAM Musubi on every dish, except the Teriyaki burger, which gets a 3. I got to try a slice of Diner J’s pork chops and thought that was fantastic. Simply pan-fried with just salt and pepper, yet it was very tasty and tender. Dip ‘em in ketchup, ’nuff. Ono just like that.

Service was also quick and friendly, with our entire order arriving within 10 minutes of being placed and water glasses kept topped throughout the meal. The only challenge was parking, as their small lot was full when we arrived around 2pm, so we ended parking down the street and walking up.

Asahi Grill
515 Ward Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii

Tel. (808) 593-2800

Business Hours:
Monday – Friday 6:30am to 10:00pm
Saturday 6:30am to 11:00pm
Sunday 6:30am to 10:00pm

Breakfast Menu
Lunch Menu
Kapiolani Coffee Shop Specialties Menu

The Tasty Island rating:

(4) Excellent. Worth another visit or purchase.

Related links:
• Oxtail Soup at Asahi Grill – The Tasty Island
• Asahi Grill – Yelp user reviews