Eating the whole house (Eating House 1849 - Koloa, HI)

Being stuck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it's not often we get friends fly out to visit.  Oh sure, everyone says "I want to go to Hawaii" or "I should visit you one of these days" but rarely does anyone ever have the time or the money to do so.   This weekend, we were fortunate to have two friends taking a summer vacation on Kauai.  Taking advantage of the opportunity, we hopped on a 27 minute plane ride and had dinner with them at the new Roy Yamaguchi restaurant Eating House 1869.

I liked the nice open seating and open windows to maximize the Kauai landscape

An homage to the first restaurant open in Hawaii (named Eating House), Chef Yamaguchi has found a new voice in expressing his culinary skills with a Nouveau Hawaii Plantation-style of cooking.  There are lots of reinterpreted comfort foods to be had here at prices that invite both tourists and local residents to have a "Roy's" dining experience without the pretentions of his famous flagship restaurant (I dressed in shorts and slippers).

Not too expensive and very accessible to all on Kauai

Since there were 5 of us dining, I was able to have a fairly extensive tasting of the various pupus and entrees without giving myself heartburn.  The highlights of the evening were (in no specific order):

1)  Szechuan Baby Back Ribs - The ribs tasted like the best bao filling you have ever eaten in the back alleys of Taiwan or Shanghai

I was blown away by how tender the beef was and how flavorful the sticky glaze was

2)  Kamameshi Rice w/Butterfish -  A variation of Roy's famous Broiled Butterfish, this dish takes a 4oz fillet of broiled butterfish and places it over kabayaki sauced mixed rice in a hot stone pot (think Japanese/Pacific Rim food meets Bi Bim Bap).  Get it for the fish, stay for the crispy bits of rice.

My kid ordered this and ended up being the most expensive entree for the evening ($31)

3)  Chocolate Souffle Lava Cake -  The one carry-over from Roy's white linen restaurant and a never-miss ending to a fantastic meal.

Lots of places have this now but these guys do it right

After a thorough two hours of eating and drinking, I feel thankful to my close foodie friend for recommending this restaurant to us and feel excited about this new direction that Chef Yamaguchi has taken.  Here are some of the other offerings we ordered tonight.

Mixed fruit salad with goat cheese and arugula

Sizzling poke appetizer.  A delicious umami bomb!

Thanks for playing 

Restaurant Review (Paco's Tacos-Hanapepe)

Today, my work took me to Kauai which also meant I had the opportunity to have lunch with a friend who I hardly ever see but shares my love for food.  He recommended a fairly new taco stand called Paco's Tacos that I think opened up earlier this year and happened to be only 5 minutes from where I was conducting business for the day (Nice!)

Paco's Tacos is located in the small sleepy town of Hapapepe.  Some of you may know this name if you are fans of the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch as the movie takes place in this part of Kauai.  The night before, I checked on Yelp to see what I could find about my lunch destination.  The reviews were mostly from the locals in the area and all positive so I was apprehensively optimistic.

I ordered three different items (ala carte) to get a good idea of their cooking (Carne Asada taco, Carnitas taco, and a Chile Relleno).  The average price for most of the ala carte items range between $3.50 to $5 with plates as high as $14.95.

When I received my tacos they looked really good and I sauced it with a nice roasted chile salsa (which ended up being the highlight of the meal).  The tacos, overall, were rather bland and my friend and I both agreed that there was a lack of impact with both types that we ordered.  I wondered later, if they actually used salt and pepper prior to cooking their meats because they had a semi-boiled taste to them and was pretty bland.  The Chile Relleno unfortunately yielded the same result as the tacos since not only was it bland but the cheese was an obvious 3 cheese blend that I know I've purchased at Safeway before.

Was I surprised at the outcome?  I suppose I really wasn't as anyone who knows good Mexican food is aware that it doesn't really exist in Hawaii.  I will say that I would like a bottle of the roasted chile salsa to take home if they ever decide to sell it that way.  At the end, I did enjoy a Fried Ice Cream that was dipped in a nice batter then rolled in corn flakes.

Other than that, I wouldn't really make the stop and you would be better off just not looking for good Mexican in Hawaii.  I hope someday to be proven wrong but it's been a difficult search.  Oddly enough, it doesn't really stop me from always looking so I guess I'm an optimist at heart. 

Thanks for reading!