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!

Obon Festival Food

It's summer, and for me growing up, that means Obon Festivals! In brief, Obon festivals are Buddhist religious ceremonies that remind us to honor our ancestors in a happy joyous way.  It also gives a good reason to leave the house, do traditional dances around our pagan drum tower and eat festival food.  

Over the weekend, we took advantage of my little one taking a long afternoon nap and allowed ourselves the opportunity to stay out late as a family and take in the festival (and eat).   For me, the usual foods that I remember as a kid at Obon are Teriyaki Beef sticks, Andagi, and Yakisoba.   At this particular festival, they had a nice food stand that was selling Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki, two of my favorite fast foods when I visit Japan.  Because you don't see too many Okonomiyaki places in Hawaii they commanded the longest line and I had to wait nearly 30 minutes to purchase my two orders ($5/each).  Since I was there, I also bought a tray of Takoyaki ($4) eventhough I wasn't hungry enough to eat it.  I waited 30 minutes so I figured this justified my time in line. 

To my surprise, the Okonomiyaki was quite tasty for being served at a festival.  The food was hot all the way through and yielded a two fairly crispy pieces of bacon cooked on top.  My only concern otherwise, was the 10 year old boy who was putting the sweet soy glaze and mayo on the dishes sould have put a lot more on.  But I'm sure he was told to budget the sauces since they had a long night ahead of them. 

As far as festival food goes, this was pretty good.  I also ate some beef sticks ($1.50)  and Spam Musubi ($1.50), but neither are really worth mentioning about.  The Takoyaki was fairly average as well but, again, I stood in line for 30 minutes for the stuff so I was darn well going to eat it!.

 Boy and Girl Festival Cookies ($3 for both)

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WTF? (What's That Food?)-Star Wars Sushi

Sometimes, you just find a blog post worth sharing.  Thanks to You Offend Me You Offend My Family for this great Saturday food post.  Click on the link below.

Star Wars Sushi

What's for Dinner? (Chicken and Pea Curry)

You never know when a recipe will present itself and just speak to you.  Being a foodie on many levels, I tend to look for food opportunities from various sources.  I'll go to new restaurants when it pops up.  I search for food blogs through Google based on what I'm craving that week.  I watch all Food Network programming like it's speaking directly to me.  For today, my recipe comes from an unlikely sources...Manga.

Some of you know that I still read comics as well as manga.  What makes manga great is that you can pretty much find a story based on any topic that you might be interested in.  Recently, I've been reading Addicted to Curry which is pretty self explanatory.  Basically a chef helps an old friend's daughter run a curry shop that is on it's last legs.  Because said chef is a curry savant, everything he makes is amazing.  What's nice about this manga is that at the end of every few chapters, they will include the recipes of whatever curries have been discussed.  I decided to try to try the Chicken and Pea Curry to see if the recipes have any merit. 

I followed the recipe as written, which also provided the bonus of letting me use Turmeric which is a spice listed on my Food Challenge.

My Spice Mix

Mix to carmelized onions

Add to chicken, peas, carrots, and broth

Voila!!

Overall, it's a little spicy and a not as savory as I would have liked.  The recipe called for 4 cups of water and eventhough I knew I should have substitued half of that with chicken stock, I stuck with the original measurements.  The only modification I made was to add about 3/4C of corn starch slurry to thicken the mixture.  If you like more soupy Indian style curry then just forego the corn starch.  

If you already have the spices, this is extremely easy to make.  I think the whole process from cutting the chicken to putting it in a bowl to eat took about 40 minutes.  If anyone makes this, let me know what you think.  It is probably too spicy for my 3 year old but hopefully my wife likes it.  If anyone wants the modified recipe, just leave a message in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

Restaurant Review (Manago Hotel Restaurant)

I'm lucky to have a job that allows me to travel to almost all the other islands in the Hawaiian chain.  While I go there for work, I do make sure that I make efficient use of my time to know where to eat and make sure it's worth the time and calories (believe it or not, I'm trying to lose weight).

Today, I found myself in Kealakekua, better known to foodies as Kona Coffee Central.  For me, being in Kealakekua means only two things (work notwithstanding), coffee and pork chops.  Today, I want to introduce some of you to the humble yet fabulous Manago Hotel. 

A landmark in this area, it was once a small overnight truck stop for truckers making the trip from Hilo to Kona hauling goods and assorted items.  Today, it's a small inn that has about 28 budget, no-frills rooms and one spectacular restaurant. The restaurant here, in my opinion, is what keeps this place afloat.  It's always bustling with locals with the occasional tourist on their way back from kayaking in the bay.  And while they have a pretty standard greasy spoon menu, any local foodie worth mentioning will tell you that there is only one thing you come here for, the pork chops.

In a throwback to days gone by every order of lunch comes with unlimited bowls of rice, veggies of the day, mac salads, and seaweed salads of the day.  Today, I was lucky to get a particularly delicious ogo salad, tossed with Maui onions and grape tomatoes.  So delectable was the seaweed salad that I asked for a second serving before my pork chops even arrived at the table.  What's I found amazing is that at $7/lb the salad is thrown in with all the other sides at no extra cost and you can eat as much as you like. 

As usual, I ordered the locally renowned pork chops.  At $9.25 you get two chops (about 4-6 oz each), pan fried with a little salt and pepper.  Today I also opted to get a side of grilled onions and a boat of brown gravy, which I ended up not needing because it camouflaged the taste of the pork too much.  What makes the pork chops so great is that the owners of the hotel are also owners of a pig farm on the island and therefore use their own product to supply to the restaurant.  This does not happen very often in Hawaii. 

While this is not a place that I can go to all the time, I am always grateful for the opportunity to eat here.  To me, the food is very reminiscent of the food my Grandmother used to serve me back in the mid-70's (particularly the ogo salad).  If you like simple, honest food and down-to-earth staff and cooks, please take the time to visit here if you can.  It's worth the trip up the mountain from the tourist traps of Kailua-Kona or the posh resort living of Waikoloa. 


Manago Hotel
82-6151 Mamalahoa Hwy
Captain Cook, HI 96704

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Restaurant Review (Pancakes & Waffles)

While there are a ton of breakfast places for one to eat in Honolulu, there are only a few that are noteworthy and even less that not overrun by hoards of tourists thinking they are eating where the "locals" eat because they found it on Yelp or TripAdvisor.  I will admit that these places (Eggs & Things, Cinnamons, Boots & Kimo, and Original Pancake House) are very good but, there is often a wait of no less than 30 minutes or as long as 2 hours just to eat breakfast (as a good friend of mine experienced recently).

Pancakes & Waffles opened a few months ago to moderate fanfare and is located in Palama which is an older part of town and off the beaten path and in between tourist sites.  What makes this place great is their ability to make generous portions of food for a fair price and high quality.  Noteworthy, is their Fried Chicken and Waffles ($8.25 or $9.25 to be covered with brown gravy).which makes it the reason to visit on your way to Pearl Harbor or the Swap Meet.

On my recent visit, I decided to try something different from my usual Portugese Sausage Omelette and ordered the Fried Rice Loco Moco ($7.25).  For the unfamiliar, this is a multi-layered feast starting with a base of ham fried rice, a homemade hamburger patty (1/3lb), two egg (over easy), and covered with brown gravy.  What I liked about this particular rendition of a Hawaii staple was the quality of the hamburger which was obviously made in-house and grilled to a hot, juicy perfection.

For the more dainty diners, all orders are served on paper plates with plastic cutlery., but tough it out and you will rewarded with a breakfast on par with the tourist spots but with very little wait.  For the local reference, think Koa Pancake House but one level higher.  

Pancakes & Waffles  
1284 Kalani Street Suite 100
Honolulu, HI 96817  
(808) 847-7770

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My First Challenge (Part II)

So I decided to try and tackle my challenge today with a couple of dishes.  We had planned on spending the day at the pool with a few people over so I thought this was a good opportunity to make something worthwhile.

The first dish I made was a slow cooker pot of chili.  I got the recipe online a few years ago and really enjoy the flavor.  In relation to my challenge, I was able to knock Cumin off the list.  I love the taste of this chili but I do find that I need to double the amount of cayenne and add about 3/4 Cup of cornstarch slurry to thicken the concoction. 

The second dish was not really a dish but a dry rub mix that I used on some ribeyes to grill.  I found this rub on the blog Serious Eats and found it to be a very nice change from the usual salt, pepper, and garlic that I usually do for steaks.  Besides that, it allowed me to knock off Cumin and Ground Mustard off my list.

Admittedly, this would probably be more suited for ribs, but didn't taste out of place on a grilled ribeye with the paprika adding a nice depth to the meat.

The only change I would have made was in the application.  Since this was a new rub, I was not as liberal as I should have been.  If I had to do it over, I would have really packed it on and the resulting crust would have been magnificent.  Ah well, maybe next time when I do a pork chop.

So after this challenge the list of spices read as follows:

1. Cardamom
2. All Spice
3. Cloves
4. Almond Extract
5. Pumpkin Spice
6. Garam Masala
7. Vanilla Beans
8. Saffron
9. Nutmeg
10. Ground Mustard
11. Tumeric
12. Coriander
13. Sage
14. Thyme
15. Celery Seed
16. Tarragon
17. Cumin

Two down, fifteen more to go.

Thanks for reading.