Post #108794 by dogbytes on Tue, Aug 17, 2004 10:11 AM

i've been meaning to post this:

Island of Kauai (Nov 2003)

Thurday: We arrived about noon, but what with picking up the car and registering at the hotel it was 2 before we had lunch. Chose the A-1 BBQ in Lihue (very obvious as you head toward Popiu from the airport), a converted fast-food restaurant serving plate lunch and Chinese food. There’s a steam table, but we skipped that and ordered from the menu. I had the seafood combo plate lunch; breaded mahi and shrimp with short ribs (there’s a choice of meat, that was mine) with rice and mac salad. The mahi was good but the shrimp breading was overly doughy and the short ribs were too sweet and too fatty. My husband had Chinese, beef with green beans, also served plate-lunch style with rice and mac salad, and his was much better than mine.

For dinner we went to Lawai Restaurant (on Hwy 50 almost 3 miles west of the junction with Hwy 520, it’s next to a 7-11). Real dive of a plate-lunch place, menu is on a chalkboard and hard to figure out. The ginger-fried chicken was excellent, a big portion of all dark meat with a crisp, slightly sweet crust; my husband’s teriyaki pork was good but streaked with a bit too much gristle. Both were served as plate lunch, the mac salad was better than at A-1 and the steamed rice just right.

Friday: Our Hyatt package came with their breakfast buffet, which is worth paying for at all the Hawaiian Hyatts we’ve visited. This isn’t a grand brunch (except on Sundays), there’s no chef carving prime rib or making crepes, but there is a wide selection of excellent fresh fruit (sweet strawberries no matter what the season), wonderful fresh-baked pastries and croissants, fresh tropical juices, good coffee, cheeses, smoked salmon, plus hot breakfast selections including (on this particular day) two sorts of eggs, bacon, sausage links, corned beef hash, hash browns, french toast, and bread pudding, all of it really good. Also steamed rice and miso soup with fixings (seaweed, tofu, shredded bonito, etc.) presumably meant for Japanese guests but which I really like to include in my breakfast. We experienced the “free” Hyatt buffet during a previous stay and ended up stuffing ourselves every morning and then collapsing in our room until noon, but this time we managed to be a little more conservative.

Drove up to Hanalei after that, stopping at a number of shops along the way. Tincan Man’s in Kapaa and Yellowfish Trading Co. in Hanalei both had some interesting artifacts, but at premium prices. (The lighthouse at Kilauea Point is well worth seeing too, great views.) Ate a late lunch at Hanalei Mixed Plate; okay, first off, serving something alongside a scoop of rice should not allow you to call it a “plate lunch”. Plate lunch has to come with something in addition to rice; macaroni salad or potato salad or at least coleslaw. Second, they’re nice people, gave us a taste of the kahlua pork (which was enough to decide to avoid it), and they serve big piles of food, but . . . the ginger shoyu chicken was bland and the vegetable chow mein even blander. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasted an opportunity to have truly good food.

After driving all the way back to our hotel we were pretty tired, so we just went to Popiu Tropical Burgers for dinner. They stuck to the state law about cooking burgers no less than medium well, despite our wink and nod to the waitress. I had the Popeye (spinach, swiss, and bacon plus the usual lettuce/tomato/pickle), my husband had some-weird-name burger (Portuguese sausage, broiled pineapple, plum-pineapple BBQ sauce), both good but in no way exceptional; same with the fries. The banana milkshake was disappointing and should have come with an advisory saying, “no live bananas were harmed in the making of this milkshake.”

Saturday: Spent the day checking out local charity bazaars (nothing worth talking about) and driving west along the south coast. Lihue and Hanapepe are both full of galleries and “curio” shops with overpriced stuff. We did see a number of freestanding tikis at various shops and restaurants along the way, like at Giorgio’s Gallery and Big Braddah’s Takeout.

First food stop was the Omoide Deli/Wong’s Chinese Restaurant in Hanapepe (on Hwy 50). Had a slice of their “famous” lillikoi chiffon pie which was terrific and ought to be famous, also a “cream square” (cream puff-type custard in a wonderful light puff pastry). Saw someone having the crispy fried gau gee mein, which looked so good we came back later that night for dinner; at this point in time (November) the restaurant portion wasn’t open, though, you have to order food from the deli (you can still sit in the restaurant, just no table service). The chow mein, saimin, duck with noodles, and other noodle dishes are done fresh; the gau gee mein we ordered had vegetables, char siu, and chicken over soft chow mein noodles, topped with four large gau gee (mild ground pork in fried won ton skins). The other entrees are from a steam table, but they were recently cooked and good (the shrimp with green beans had fresh green beans), served in large portions, and came with either rice, vegetable chow mein, or half of each. This was a definite find; cheap, big, tasty food.

Stepping back in time to lunch, we stopped at the Waimea Bakery to share a teriyaki ahi sandwich (after breakfast and then the pie, we weren’t too hungry). The sandwich was great, a fine, delicate hunk of fish on wonderful fresh-baked bread. Came with corn chips from a bag, however. Later, on the way back from our trip, we stopped at the other bakery we had seen; Thrifty Bakery (next to Thrifty Mart) on Hwy 50 between Waimea and Hanapepe. Had apple and coconut pastries (looked like Chinese moon cakes, but weren’t), quite good.

Before dinner we had cocktails on the Seaview Terrace at the Hyatt; there’s live entertainment and a great sunset. I was feeling a little hungry so we ordered the Hawaiian nachos. For $10 I was expecting a little plate of nice nachos; instead we got a large dinner plate piled high with great nachos; a mix of corn, blue corn, and flour tortilla chips (all made at the hotel), topped with sour cream, cheese, guacamole, etc. plus big hunks of kahlua pork. Pretty much a meal-sized appetizer, it prevented us from finishing our gau gee mein that night :) .

Sunday: Lunch was at **Duane’s Ono Char Burger **(Hwy 56 near Anahola, drive-up with outdoor seating only); the “old-fashioned” burger, shrimp basket with fries, and onion rings were all competent but not special. The marionberry milkshake was very nice, thick and creamy.

After hiking and sightseeing we went for cocktails to Tahiti Nui in Hanalei. Tahiti Nui used to be a restaurant, but now only the bar is open (the current owners are trying to open a new place (with the old decor?) at the Hanalei Colony Resort, a good ways down Hwy 560 past Hanalei town). The bar still seems to have its original interior (the barstool pedestals are all tikis), but it has devolved into a run-of-the-mill bar otherwise; sports blasting from a big TV, the bartender couldn’t find any coconut creme to make a pina colada, and the mai tai was rum and pineapple juice (though decent rum and pineapple juice, I have to admit).

For dinner we stopped at **A Pacific Cafe **(yes, “A” not “The”) in Kapaa. It’s in the Kauai Village mall and looks totally nondescript from outside and not all that interesting inside, and a number of people turned away after looking at the prices on the menu (not cheap). The wok-seared mahi and the blackened opa were both top-notch, however, and the “Toasted Hawaiian” (white chocolate cake with haupia layer and caramel sauce) was delicious.

Monday: Lunch at Hamura Saimin Stand (Kress St. in Lihue, Kress is a cross-street to Rice). Hamura’s is very well-known for cheap, good eats; I don’t think anything on the menu is more than $6. Their menu is pretty limited; saimin with various things in it, fried saimin, udon, teriyaki beef sticks; counter seating only. The regular saimin was very good noodles in a light chicken broth with a little green onion, fish cake, and canned ham (maybe Spam?). The saimin with won ton had the above plus some nice stuffed won tons and char siu. The teriyaki was very thin-sliced and then cooked until it was crunchy on the edges. We split a piece of their lillikoi chiffon pie for dessert, very light and fluffy. Whole bill came to less than $12 before tip.

Dinner was at Green Garden in Hanapepe (on Hwy 50 on the right as you go west, but keep two eyes out as they’re largely hidden by vegetation). [/b]This one is a real must-do, on many fronts: 1) It’s a Kauai tradition, having been in the same spot since the 1940s 2) They have one of the best tiki-per-square foot ratios on Kauai,[/b] nearing that of Tahiti Nui; there are eight old 4 to 5 foot tikis (rescued from other places) in the “atrium” area in the front of the restaurant, three similar ones in the other front room, two smaller foot and a half to two foot tikis that are very detailed and done by the owner’s brother quite a few years back, and a few more by the bar; plus a large case full of big conch shells and such and some old furniture (a very old looking Chinese tea cart, for instance) 3) They serve full-strength mai tais in water tumblers (my husband’s face flushed red after one, and he’s not Asian) 4) All dinners come with an all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar 5) good food; we had the mixed pu pu platter (deep fried sui mai, won tons, and spring rolls), followed by the “Chinese plate” for me (battered fried shrimp, char siu, spare ribs, chicken chow mein, and fried rice; I used to work at a Cantonese restaurant, um, we’ll just say “not recently”, and this meal was a real blast from the past, though the spare ribs were fatty) while my husband had the ono (charbroiled with butter and a little garlic, served with choice of potato (mashed or fries) or rice) which was simple, fresh, and tasty 6) they bake their own pies, we shared a piece of chocolate cream which was great 7) very reasonable, the whole meal (two cocktails, appetizer, two entrees, two coffees and one dessert) came to $55. Again, a must-do on Kauai.

Tuesday: When we visited Kauai ten years ago the bell captain at our hotel recommended a restaurant which was a really local, family place in an out-of-the-way industrial corner of Lihue. We couldn’t remember the name or exactly where it was, but he thought it was in the area near Hamura’s Saimin. To make a long story short, we went to Ma’s Family Restaurant (4277 Halenani, around the corner from Hamura’s) for lunch. It wasn’t the same restaurant; Ma’s has only served breakfast (though it serves it till 1:30) for decades, and the one we remember had dinner. My husband ordered fried noodles (yakisoba) and teriyaki beef, I had fried rice and eggs; good, fresh-made fried rice, but the eggs were over-easy when I ordered them over-hard. Ma, who’s 89, cooked the food and served us, then sat at our table and talked with us (we were the only ones there for lunch, as I said they really only serve breakfast). Total bill came to $12 before tip. Very local.

(Never did find the restaurant my husband remembered, probably it’s gone now.)

I felt like buying some pastries after lunch. Stopped at Lihue Bakery and Coffee Shop first; bought a cream eclair and an apple turnover, both of which started leaking grease through the paper bag immediately; didn’t eat more than a bite of either one. Then tried the Kauai Bakery (at the Kukui Grove shopping center) and bought a cinnamon roll; not bad but nothing special.

For dinner we went to Oki Diner and Bakery (Kuhio Hwy in Lihue), another very local place. I like meals which give you lots of choices, and this place did great at that; meals start out with cornbread (sweet and buttery) with chips and salsa (packaged and ordinary), followed by your choice of mac-potato salad or a green salad; we both had combination dinners, which include both rice and fried noodles (yakisoba, very good), with choice of two entrees, so by sharing we got to taste four of the offerings. Neil’s chicken was chunks cooked in a sweetish-spicy teriyaki; teriyaki fried chicken was deep-fried with a slightly-sweet breading; chicken katsu was typical breaded chicken; and mahi-mahi was served in a thick butter beurre. The first two of these were quite good, the katsu was average, but the fish had a surprisingly strong (and unpleasant) flavor for mahi that the sauce didn’t entirely mask. Dinner also came with dessert, fairly good Dutch apple or custard pie. Lots of food. Total bill was $20.

Wednesday: The Shrimp Station (Hwy 50 in Waimea) is a drive-in place that features (what else) shrimp. The shrimp (soft) taco started with a burrito-size flour tortilla, making it enormous for a taco; the filling was mostly shredded lettuce and cheese with bay shrimp almost as an afterthought, rather disappointing at $6. The chips and salsa it came with, though, were both home-made and excellent. The coconut shrimp on the other hand was a deal even at $11, about a dozen jumbo shrimp coated with a tasty batter including lots of toasted coconut, served in a basket over pretty good fries (though if you can talk them into substituting a side of chips and salsa for the fries you definitely should).

For dinner we went to Tidepools at the Hyatt. Pricey, but great food in a wonderful atmosphere, like an open lanai with palapas and tikis. French onion soup and a baby romaine salad with goat cheese to start were very good; I had opa stuffed with crabmeat and shittake mushrooms over asparagus, my husband had Chinese-style steamed “snapper” (not further identified, but a very tasty piece of fish) which came with noodles and rice, both excellent. We had the Mudslide (ice cream cake with homemade cookie “crusts”) for dessert, also really good.

Thurday: Here’s a find courtesy of Lydia, our breakfast waitress at the Hyatt: **Mark’s Restaurant **(from Hwy 50 at the Kauai Community College take Puhi Rd. away from the college toward the Puhi Industrial Park; turn right on Hanalima, then right on Haleukana (basically after the first building you see on Hanalima); 1610 Haleukana St.). This is a new restaurant/catering business started by the former executive chef at the Sheraton, who teaches cooking at the college. No inside seating, basically serves just plate lunch and bento; I had the daily special combo, two large tempura shrimp, teriyaki steak, and teriyaki fried chicken, while my husband had “Mark’s famous mixed plate”, beef stew, teriyaki beef, and chicken katsu. Both came with rice, mac salad, and fried noodles, neither cost more than $7.

I envied the ono my husband had on Monday at Green Garden so much that we returned there for Thursday dinner. I asked for extra garlic and it came just as I hoped, charbroiled on the outside, firm and moist inside, and garlicky. My husband went for the teriyaki ahi this time, also very good. After eating at Tidepools, the different in portion side (about twice as much at Green Garden) and price (about $29 per entree at Tidepools vs. $19 (including soup and salad) at Green Garden) made the quality here even more impressive. Coconut cream pie for dessert, yum.

Friday: What we wanted for lunch was the Hawaiian nachos we had experienced earlier. It turned out that they only had those at the Seaview Terrace after 4 PM, however, so we settled for coconut shrimp at the poolside bar (nice but overpriced). Went to a Lappert’s for ice cream (always good).

Since this was our last night in Hawaii we went in search of opakapaka one more time. Lydia (mentioned earlier) told us that our best bet was Duke’s Canoe Club or Keoki’s Paradise (in the Poipu Shopping Village, Poipu Rd., Poipu). A call to Duke’s revealed that the fresh catch didn’t include opakapaka, so we headed to Keoki’s, where opakapaka was indeed available. Keoki’s has a nice ambience, open lanai-style dining set off by torches, palapas and bamboo, with a couple of tikis tucked away near the stairs. We had opakapaka (grilled with butter) and opah (grilled with butter with Ponzu sauce on the side), both excellent and providing an interesting comparison; both are mild white-fleshed fish, the opakapaka being more tender with a taste and feel close to lobster, while the opah was firmer with a more intense flavor. Entrees came with a small salad and herbed rice. We ended with their “hula pie”, a large wedge of macadamia ice cream pie with a chocolate wafer crumb crust, topped with a goodly amount of hot fudge, chopped macadamias, and whipped cream.