Hawaii Journal Day 9: Dim Sum and More

Day 9: Monday

So, the trip is winding down. Today is the second to last full day. It's time to start winnowing the choices and going back to any places we simply can't resist.


Breakfast: Mei Sum Dim Sum Looks Fun



If you are a regular reader, you know that both my oldest daughter and I are big dim sum fans, so we headed back to Chinatown for a morning of dim sum. Mei Sum is a small restaurant, a far cry from the usual palaces, with a fairly typical dim sum menu; while they do have carts, at least during off hours, you order off the menu. We had all the standards, served in bamboo steamers, which was refreshing as most everywhere you go these days has metal steamers. The dim sum was good, though nothing too different from what we're used to in the San Gabriel Valley. The one thing Mei Sum excelled at was look fun, the wide rice noodles that encase various meats. The look fun at Mei Sum were delightfully greasy and porky with a great, chewy texture. We had two look fun dishes: shrimp and char siu. The char siu was stuffed with julienned pork strips...great stuff. My guess is that these were hand made look fun, either made in-house, or more likely, made by the nearby Ying Leong Look Funn Factory, one of the last factories making handmade fun.

Mei Sum
65 N. Pauahi St.
Honolulu, Hawaii 96817
(808) 531-3268


Lunch: Gulick Deli

With our time here growing short, we really had to start getting to places if we wanted to visit. One of the things we definitely wanted to do was spend a day on the beautiful beaches of Kailua on the windward (east) side of the island. Unfortunately, we chose to do this on a Monday, and my two favorite Kailua eateries, Kuulei Delicatessen and Agnes' Portuguese Bake Shop (for malassadas), are closed on Monday.

Instead, we brought food from yet another Honolulu okazuya. There is really no better beach food than okazu. You pick it up early, it's good luke warm, and you can wipe the grease off your fingers in the ocean.



Gulick Deli is an esteemed okazuya in the Kalihi neighborhood which now has a branch on King Street. We stocked up for the beach trip with all manner of okazu from chow fun to fried shrimp. Unfortunately, most of it was just average. There were a few stand outs, though. The spicy chicken, a fried, sweet glazed chicken was very good, as was the butter fish. Butter fish is an extremely oily fish, related to Chilean sea bass and black cod. The appropriately named fish melts in your mouth like...margarine. My experience has been that it's good almost everywhere; Gulick served its butter fish as broiled steaks.

Gulick Deli
1936 S. King Street
Honolulu, HI 96826


Dessert: Shave Ice at Keneke's

On our way back from Kailua, we had a hankering for shave ice, so we stopped by Keneke's in Waimanaolo (see Day 2 for a review of their excellent plate lunch). I know I've had Keneke's shave ice before, but I had no discernible memory of it, which means it was at least 20 years ago.

Well, it turns out, they do a fantastic shave ice. The flavors were crisp and rich, the ice texture was soft and the quantity of ice cream and beans was good. Instead of whole azukis, Keneke's uses a mashed beans paste, which has the unfortunate quality of looking much like canned, refried beans, but the taste is pure azuki. This shave ice certainly rivals the best on the island. It will become a regular part of my Keneke's visits.

Keneke's
41-857 Kalanianaole Highway
Waimanalo, HI 96795
(808) 259-9804


Dinner & Dessert: Diamondhead Market and Grill

Ever since my first visit to Diamondhead Market and Grill on Day 3, I've been obsessing over it. It's definitely the most exciting new place I've been this trip, and I know that the next time I eat a scone in LA, I will sigh dreamily thinking of the wonder that is the Diamondhead blueberry scone.



Given all of this, I wanted to try their dinner plates. We ordered a teriyaki chicken burger, a teri hamburger and a kalbi plate. All of these were good, but none was excellent. Breakfast is definitely the thing to get at the Grill.




For dessert, we bought a few treats at the adjacent market. These were great. The blueberry cheesecake is lusciously creamy with just a dollop of pureed blueberries. The haupia sweet potato pie is a shortbread crust topped with a layer of Okinawan sweet potato and some very good haupia (coconut pudding) - a dessert with real Polynesian roots. The Diamondhead tort is essentially a banana cream pie with peanut butter; even though I'm not a big banana fan, and it was very strongly banana flavored, the salt of the peanut butter served such a good counterpoint to the bananas that I munched it down.

So got to Diamondhead Market and Grill for breakfast and dessert, but skip the dinner plates.


Diamondhead Market and Grill
3158 Monsarrat Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 732-0077

Tomorrow: North Shore Part II and a Rotund Chef

Hawaii Journal Day 8: Sunday Brunch

Day 8: Sunday

Brunch: Prince Court at the Hawaii Prince Hotel



One of the things I like to do on vacation is go to a Sunday brunch buffet. I'm usually not a buffet-fan, but I like the selection of sweet and savory. On Oahu, the universally acclaimed best brunch is the Orchid Restaurant at the Halekulani Hotel, but Orchid is expensive ($50 per person) and it is hard to get reservations.

My alternative choice for brunch is the Prince Court at the Hawaii Prince Hotel. It serves a diverse selection highlighting both traditional brunch foods and Hawaii's native and Asian influenced cuisine. Surprisingly, for a hotel brunch spot, the crowd is heavily local (mostly there for special occasions), and it has a nice view of the harbor below. In addition, the Prince Court is easier on the wallet ($35 per person) and while you still need reservations, you can usually get them by calling a week in advance.

This year's Prince Court Buffet featured hot and cold buffets as well as stations for sushi, omelettes, prime rib, saimin and dessert. Highlights were two excellent pokes (ahi and tako), a very good Korean barbecued kalbi and sushi rolls made to order. Among the desserts, there was excellent bread pudding and a good coconut haupia cake. My favorite dessert, though, was the macadamia nut cream pie. It had a shortbread crust with a caramel and mac nut center and was topped with chocolate and then whipped cream. Usually, a hotel buffet contains competent versions of a standard repertoire of desserts, but the mac nut cream pie stood on its own.

Prince Court
Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki
100 Holomoana St.
Honolulu, HI
Make Reservations: (808) 944-4494


Dinner: Tokkuri Tei



After a huge lunch, we opted for sushi for dinner from Tokkuri Tei, a Kapahulu joint with a menu featuring not just sushi but a variety of hot dishes as well. They also offered a dish intriguingly called the Baked Alaska Roll. Still being fairly stuffed, we opted for a pretty standard sushi dinner. The stand out was definitely the toro. It was a fattier cut of fatty tuna than I'd ever had before, literally melting in your mouth. Unfortunately, the uni was off, and that left a literal bad taste in my mouth.

Tokkuri Tei
611 Kapahulu Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 739-2800

Tomorrow: Dim Sum and More

Hawaii Journal Day 7: The Side Street Inn Fried Pork Chop

Day 7: Saturday

Lunch: Sanoya Ramen

We were feeling like ramen for lunch so we headed to Sanoya, a small joint with a sign touting handmade noodles. Pork ramen came in a rich, ultra-fatty pork stock. The noodles were nice and chewy. Yakisoba was a bit too charred and had a burnt, carbony taste which I didn't like. Gyoza, though, were quite nice.

Ramen is one of those things where I've never found anything in Hawaii better than we can get at the best places in LA, but we keep searching.

1785 S King St, #4
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 947-6065


Dinner: Side Street Inn

A few years ago, when I first visited the Side Street Inn, it was sort of a local secret. A typical plate lunch service by day, at night, it turned into a bar with amazing food that attracted some of Hawaii's greatest chefs after hours. It was bar food with a Hawaiian twist. Lilikoi basted spare ribs, fried rice and a marvelous fried, breaded pork chop. Well, the jig is up. Side Street Inn is officially on the map, at least the foodie tourist map. It's in Frommer's, Anthony Bourdain went there on his Travel Channel Show, and so on and so forth. The good news is that none of this has affected the food or atmosphere at Side Street.

Literally housed on a side street, a semi-industrial strip of Hopaka with no parking whatsoever (park at the east side of the Ala Moana Shopping Center), Side Street is a great little place. The fried pork chop is all it's chopped up to be, a well seasoned, breaded chop served sliced on the bone. Compared to yesterday's Japanese tonkatsu, a pounded piece of cutlet, the Side Street pork retains more of its natural pork flavor; it's less about fried and more about pork.

Side Street also dishes out excellent yakisoba, served with pink strips of char siu and fish cake and topped with cilantro.

One of the things I look forward to most at Side Street is the fried rice, probably the best I've ever had. It's cooked with bacon and has big pieces of sausage mixed throughout. All of this, of course, pairs well with cold beer, as it should be. It may no longer be a hip secret, but it's still a great meal.

Side Street Inn
1225 Hopaka
Honolulu, HI
(808) 591-0253

Tomorrow: Sunday Brunch

Whiskey Wednesday: Born in the USA Part 3 - Jump on the Pappy Van

Under federal regulations, Bourbon must be made from a mix of grains composed of at least 51% corn. What is in the other 49% is up to the distiller. Usually, the corn content is quite a bit higher than 50% and the remainder is filled in with some mixture of other grains (rye, barley (malted and un), wheat, etc.).

In most Bourbons, rye is the major secondary grain. You can really taste this in a Bourbon like Buffalo Trace, which has a strong rye kick to it. In others, a smaller but distinguished group, the major secondary grain is wheat. Known as wheaters by aficionados, these Bourbons replace the strong spice of rye with the subtle sweetness of wheat.

Makers' Mark is probably the most widely known of the wheaters, but among the most loved is the Van Winkle series, made by Buffalo Trace, including Old Rip Van Winkle and Pappy Van Winkle Bourbons.

Like many Bourbons, Van Winkle has a rich heritage. It is named for Julian Van Winkle, an elder statesman of the now closed Stitzel-Weller distillery which produced WL Weller Bourbon, which is also now produced by Buffalo Trace. The Van Winkle Bourbon is still made in conjunction with the family.

The Van Winkle line includes Old Rip Van Winkle 10 year old and 10 year old 107 proof, Van Winkle 12 year old, Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye Whiskey and Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 15, 20 and 23 year olds. I tried the Pappy Van Winkle 20 year old.

Tasting

Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve, 20 year old (Buffalo Trace), 45.2% alcohol ($70-$80)

The Pappy nose has lots of alcohol for its relatively low abv. Overall, the aroma was not very assertive. Very nice flavor with, indeed, no rye spice in evidence. Still, it's less sweet than I expected. There is an acidic, almost tannin like flavor to it that gives it a bit of a bite and the effect of a well aged Zinfandel, the type of wine that is almost chewy. Sweetness emerges only in quick glimpses. It's more savory than sweet which differentiates it from many other Bourbons in the Buffalo Trace line. This characteristic also flies in the face of the commonly held notion that wheaters are always sweet.

This is a Bourbon that conflicted with my expectations in many ways. The lack of pronounced sweetness, the wine-like qualities and the lack of rye gave it a different flavor profile than most other Bourbons I've had. An interesting whiskey indeed.

So find a bottle and jump on the Van.

Hawaii Journal Day 6: Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam (and Pork)

Day 6: Friday

Breakfast: Ode on a Spam Musubi

Oh, to embrace the salt and the pork,
With a pillow of rice and a casing in nori,
I run from Okazuya with plastic spork,
To bask in your wondrous canned pig glory.

The glistening skin sweating with soy,
beckons me from the glass case at Seven Eleven,
I yearn to embrace your fatty pig-joy,
And ascend into Monosodium Glutamate heaven.

Some turn askance and say they can't love you,
You're just an amalgam of stray hooves and snouts,
But I say there is none that can stand above you,
The island breakfast treat, I cannot live without.

Every vacation, I run around eating Spam musubis. In the past, some of my favorites have been Caryn's Okazuya and those carried by the supermarket in Haleiwa. This year, I tried musubi at the ABC Store (Waikiki), Diamond Head Market (Spam and Egg), Fukuya Deli (2710 S. King St.) and Gulick Deli (1512 Gulick Ave.). Of those four, my favorite was Fukuya, which had well seasoned Spam and a good rice/Spam/nori balance.


Lunch: Gyotaku



We grabbed bento box lunches from the Gotaku Japanese restaurant. Highlights included mochiko (fried) chicken (top left) and a nicely spiced, if a bit dry, salmon (top right). A solid, if not thrilling, take out lunch.


Dinner: Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin

For dinner, we decided to continue our porcine theme with some tonkatsu, Japanese deep fried, breaded pork cutlet. Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin is a new, local branch of a small Japanese chain (three stores in Japan, one on Waikiki). The highlight was the pork tenderloin katsu. A tender, lean cut of pork tenderloin, panko breaded and double fried to crispy perfection. Dab it in Ginza Bairin's home brewed dipping sauce and enjoy. The traditional gin-katsu, pork loin, is a bit more fatty and less tender than the tenderloin. We started with some similarly fried oysters and also got a serving of the enormous fried shrimp which were nearly the size of corn dogs.

Yet another porky sensation in Hawaii, though at a price. The pork entrees, which include miso soup, pickles and rice, run from $15 to $20 and $32 for the special Kurobuta Pork loin, which we did not try.

Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin
255 Beach Walk
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 926-8082

Tomorrow: Side Street Inn

Hawaii Journal Day 5: Shrimp, Shave Ice and Cream Puffs (Hey, Where's the Pork?)

Day 5: Thursday

Breakfast: Okazu at Sekiya's

We're heading to the North Shore today, so we grabbed breakfast on the go from Sekiya's Okazuya. An Okazuya is often described as a Hawaiian deli, but it bears little resemblance to any mainland deli. Okazuyas date back from the early days of Hawaii when families would come out to the fields to sell lunch to laborers. The okazu (food sold at the okazuya) generally include a variety of savories such as dried fish sushi, various musubis (rice balls), fried snacks, teriyaki glazed meats, Spam dishes and hot dogs glazed with a scary, bright red sauce.

Most okazuya have limited seating and variable hours. They tend to open early, for the going to work crowd and close when the food runs out, which can be as early as noon.

At Sekiya's we took out a variety of okazu, but the highlight were the hash balls. Little balls of corn beef hash, battered and deep fried. If only the LA County Fair knew about these.

Sekiya's Restaurant & Delicatessen
2746 Kaimuki Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 732-1656


Aperitif: Matsumoto Shave Ice

After okazu, it was on to Haleiwa town in the North Shore and Matsumoto's Shave Ice. Matsumoto's is probably the most prominent shave ice in the island and by 11:00am, there is a line out the door, so we go early and treat it as a palate cleanser. The beauty of Matsumoto's is the plentiful quantities of ice cream and sweet, black azuki beans that blend together with the ice flavoring to form a little milkshake in the cone. Good stuff. If you don't feel like eating early morning shave ice but don't want to wait in line, Aoki's Shave Ice, just down the street is almost as good without any wait.

Matsumoto Shave Ice
66-087 Kamehameha Hwy
Haleiwa, Hawaii 96712


Lunch: Giovanni's Shrimp Truck



Giovanni's Shrimp Truck is a North Shore institution. Founded by a couple from Mozambique who opened their first truck in the midst of the shrimp farms of Kahuku, they have been cooking up fresh shrimp for years. The cult of Giovanni's is so intense that it has spawned a multitude of imitators. From one side of tiny Haleiwa to the other, I counted at least six shrimp trucks other than the original, and several now share space with Giovanni's spot under the bridge on the west side of town. There are many more in nearby Kahuku.



Giovanni's has built up its loyal following through a very simple recipe. Fresh shrimp (at one time, caught that morning - I don't know if that is still the case), doused in oil and tons of sauteed garlic and accompanied by two scoops of rice. You will find yourself sucking every last bit of sauce and garlic bits off of each plump shrimp before shelling it and licking the oil off of your fingers...talk about finger lickin' good.



At $12 a pop, the Giovanni's scampi is a bit pricey for lunch truck food, but not for big luscious shrimp. Eat it at one of the picnic tables or take it to go and have lunch at beautiful Haleiwa Ali'i Beach Park. It's one of the best meals you will have on any trip.


Dessert: Coco Puffs at Liliha Bakery



Conveniently on the way back from Haleiwa is one of our favorite spots. Liliha Bakery is a little diner with counter space seating in the Liliha neighborhood of Honolulu. They serve good breakfasts, including nice fluffy pancakes, but the real draw at Liliha is the Coco Puff.

The Coco Puff is a cream puff, but so much more. Stuffed with a pudding like chocolate cream and topped with a miraculous substance they call chantilly. What makes the puff is the chantilly topping, a rich, buttery, somewhat salty cream with a grainy texture. The combination of the chantilly and the chocolate filling makes these puffs immensely craveable.

Liliha Bakery
515 North Kuakini Street
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 531-1651

Tomorrow: Spam, a lot.

Hawaii Journal Day 4: Hawaiian Pork and Chinese Pork

Day 4: Wednesday


Lunch: Ono Hawaiian Foods



Ono Hawaiian Foods is perhaps the most venerable Hawaiian Food restaurant in the Islands. For as long as I can remember, Ono ("good" in Hawaiian) has been dishing out traditional Hawaiian food. It is probably one of the most recommended and highly praised lunch stops for visiting foodies and locals alike. I hadn't been to Ono in probably ten years (on my last visit the food had been uneven) and was interested to see if they were still on top of their game.

Ono is a small cafe open only from 11:00am to 7:00pm. It features a long wait and a booming take out business. What separates Ono from a plate lunch stand is that it emphasizes Hawaiian cuisine: pork and poi and lomi salmon and none of that mayo strewn macaroni salad.



Kalua pig is really the centerpiece of the Ono experience, and it did not disappoint. The key is that it is not just salty, but deeply smoky. This is the luau pig that was traditionally cooked in the underground oven known as an imu, buried under hot rocks and banana leaves; it should be smoky. The Ono combination plate includes the kalua pig as well as lau lau, though I thought the lau lau was a bit bland and not as good as the version I had on Day 2 at Keneke's. It also included Lomi salmon, a sort of salmon pico de gallo and pipikaula, a delectable aged, spiced beef.

For the starch, you can choose rice or poi, which comes fresh or day old. I go for the day old poi. Poi is, of course, the long ridiculed taro root paste that was the predominant starch in the Native Hawaiian diet before rice was introduced by Europeans and Asians. The fresh poi is fairly bland, but after a day of continued fermentation, it picks up a tangy quality that perfectly offsets the saltiness and smokyness of the pig. A bite of pig, a schmear of poi, a chomp of raw Maui onion and a dip into the spicy salsa known locally as chili water makes the meal.

For the first time at Ono, I also ordered the chicken long rice, a Hawaiian okazuya (deli) staple consisting of cellophane noodles in chicken broth. It was fabulous. The broth had the amazing ultra-chicken taste of something that had been meticulously tended as it simmered for hours on the stove; something a good Jewish grandmother would make.

So, yes, Ono is still ono, and that makes me happy.

Ono Hawaiian Foods
726 Kapahulu Ave.
Honolulu, HI
(808) 737-2275


Dinner: Chinatown

Two years ago, I delved into Honolulu's Chinatown with both feet by taking Anthony Chang's food tour. Chang is a food obsessed lawyer (hmm, sounds familiar) who gives walking tours of Chinatown food shops and restaurants. Chang is well versed in both the cuisine and history of Chinatown, and he provides food information with all manner of background color. At the time, I reviewed the tour and some of the stops here.



I have been surprised to find that the Chinese roast meats in Honolulu's Chinatown, tiny in comparison to the massive LA Chinese communities, was better than any I'd had in Los Angeles or the San Gabriel Valley. On reflection, I think it comes down to the fact that the Hawaiian health regulations are a bit more lax, allowing, or at least tolerating the storage of roasted meats at room temperature in shop windows. This allows crispy skins to stay crispy and viscous, liquidy fat to stay viscous and liquidy. Sure, you probably are that much more likely to pick up a food borne illness, but any food lover will tell you that is well worth it.

The intersection of Maunakea and King is the culinary center of Chinatown. Wing Loy Market (1036 Maunakea) is best for pork. Both char siu and roasted pork are very good. The roast pig has a nice cracklin' skin and bursts with flavor. The char siu is red, glistening with fat and has an almost candy-like sweetness.

My favorite Chinatown meat shop is directly across the street from Wing Loy. Nam Fong Market (1020 Maunakea) does Chinese roast duck like none other. The duck is crisp skinned, slightly smoky and spiked with anise. With each bite, the concentrated duck juice pours out into your mouth. It is so good, that when we finished and were left with a puddle of rich, duck jus, my partner and I looked at each other in that way that long-term couples who understand each other's every thought sometimes look at each other. Would we violate every rule of etiquette, nutrition and who knows what else and drink that plain, rich jus. We would. We did. It was worth it.



Unfortunately, the proprietor of the wonderful Shung Chong Yuein bakery, purveyor of all manner of sweet and savory Chinese pastries, retired and the shop is closed. Instead, for sweets, we headed to Lee's Bakery and Kitchen (126 N. King) for their famous custard pie. The custard pie is almost like a flan on a pie crust. The texture is well balanced between the creamy and eggy and it is not overwhelmingly sweet, but just enough to give the right touch to the custard.


Tomorrow: North Shore Eats in Haleiwa Town