Homespun Honolulu

One of Honolulu’s more high-end restaurants has kind of left me on the fence. I like the location, the view is wonderful and the architecture is attractive. Parking, however, is problematic. It does not leave a good impression when you need a handicap stall and are told to either use the valet or drop off and go park about a hundred yards away.

So, I’m going to tip a valet to park in the stall that is right where I am standing and if I want to park my car myself I have to walk the length of a football field? (That’s a rocky, lumpy, not-made-for-heels football field.) This is not customer service. That’s strike one in the parking lot before we even get into the restaurant. I’m sorry, I am a strong believer in tips because I know staff are notoriously underpaid, but I also believe in tipping for a reason, i.e. service provided. There was no service to be had in the parking area! Valet service is supposed to be there to assist, not to hinder.

Now, we’ve left the parking-lot incident behind us and decided we would go in and try it anyway. Everyone is very nice and there is a warm reception from the hostess at the front door.

We were seated by an attentive and friendly matradee. The food looked and smelled wonderful. What a colorful variety!

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This news actually came out a couple of months ago, but I wanted to be sure that nobody missed it! Researchers at Penn State did a controlled study and found out that macadamia nuts are good for you! Specifically, they are good for your heart.

Well, I think roses and macadamia nuts for Valentine’s Day would be a good thing. You can always get the chocolate covered ones if you must have chocolate. Now that Hershey has bought Maunaloa Macadamia Nuts those chocolate-covered guys should be better than ever!

According to the Honolulu Star Bulletin, this discovery was one that researchers at the University of Hawaii have known about for years. The “discovery” of the lowering of cholesterol levels comes as no surprise to local scientists.

I will make an editorial comment here. I tend to be picky about my macadamia nuts and I like them as close to fresh off the vine as possible. As far as the plain nuts are concerned (which generally means they are dry roasted and at least lightly salted), I prefer the Hamakua Plantation nuts you see pictured here. They taste fresh and never taste like they just came out of a tin can.

Where can you get them? Longs Drugs carries them right next to the other two competing brands. Longs is my drug store of choice for just about everything other than groceries. I’ve spent many hours browsing through the isles at the craziest hours of the day and night! It’s hard to get out of that store without dropping $70+ every time. Those macadamia nuts are about $10 a bag so they certainly won’t help you get out of the store with a small tab!

Summer break officially began last week and it’s finally time to start thinking about the beach and picnics! For many of us, after certain functions, like graduations or days at the beach, there isn’t much time tor energy left to even think about preparing a meal.

So, where do people in Honolulu go when they’re hungry and need food without all of the ceremony of a fancy setting? No, we’re not talking about McDonald’s. Don’t get me wrong, I always welcome a Big Mac or a Double Cheeseburger. But, sitting down and being waited on is a welcome change to the grab-and-go style of eating we have all become accustomed to with our busy lives and busy work schedules.

Many local people will go to the place that has good food, fair prices, and a place that doesn’t worry (too much) about how you’re dressed. They go to Zippy’s!

I need to interject here that all of our Zippy’s restaurants have a fast-food side as well as a a sit-down venue so don’t think that you can’t grab some food and run if you need to. The food is always available if you want something to take with you on the way to your function instead of afterwards, or to take with you on a picnic.

Both sides have selections that should be able to please just about any palate. They got rid of the Shintani diet stuff they had on the menu (thank goodness!) so I can’t think of anything on the menu that isn’t good! (Long story about the Shintani diet thing and not worth the bandwidth to try to explain it.)

It’s nice to be able to focus on the conversation you’re having rather than the mess you’re making in the kitchen and the food you’re about to burn! These statements are especially true when your waiter or waitress is a good one! Penny, above, is serving customers seated at the counter and Ronald, the manager, is in the background checking the orders and backing up the rest of the staff when things get busy, and they do get busy!

It doesn’t matter how busy it gets, the waiters and waitresses maintain their ability to be patient with customers. Carla, seen here on the right getting some coffee, is the picture of patience and congeniality. No matter what, she has a smile and a friendly laugh makes you feel right at home and guarantees return business for the restaurant.

Zippy’s, much like Longs Drugs, Safeway and 7-11, has several locations on Oahu. I have been to several of all of these establishments but I do have my favorites.

My favorite Zippy’s is on Vineyard Blvd and we frequent both the fast-food side and the restaurant side. I’m a nut for their teriyaki;

my husband is a nut for their chicken and the corn chowder; Mom likes the clubhouse and she always likes their chicken curry, which is something Zippy’s may have as a special on any given day.

Everybody likes Zippy’s macaroni salad! We could have the hot vegetables if we want, but it’s just not Zippy’s if you don’t get macaroni salad.

Let’s not forget about dessert! Yes, they have those too!

Napoleon’s, for lack of a better description, is the bakery arm of Zippy’s Restaurants. They are well-known for their pastries, cakes and pies. Their custard pie is popular with just about everyone!

Zippy’s is a definite part of our community. Zippy’s chili is another popular menu item. It is a well known and popular fund-raising option for schools and non-profits. Their chili, corn chowder and their Portuguese bean soup are all available for purchase in the freezer cases of certain grocery stores, and even Longs Drugs.

They’re open 24 hours a day and they will feed you breakfast food anytime you ask. So, zip on in anytime!

My husband, Rod, had a close friend, Becky. Becky moved away over 25 years ago. One day, she must have been feeling nostalgic and she set out to track him down. She found him via the Internet, sent him a letter (USPS no less), came home to visit from Michigan and invited us to dinner with her and her sister-in-law, Cheryl!

Rod and Becky talked on the phone about where to go. After these two clowns got beyond 7-11 being too cheap and Zippy’s being too expensive, the location was kind of left in limbo.

Rod’s task then was to find a place for us to eat. He is not a restaurant person but he likes to be comfortable.

Hmmm… a place not too fancy, not too cheap but comfortable with good food. We thought about it a long time and Rod remembered a place we have been to off and on over the years. Monterey Bay Canners! “Oh yeah, good idea!”

We figured this would be comfortable enough that we wouldn’t have to worry about suits and high heels, but still nice enough to make a nice impression on these two lovely ladies. I’m not a seafood person but, as it turned out, Becky is! Perfect!

The one thing I remember about Monterey Bay Canners is that they have some awesome stuffed mushrooms! Mushrooms to die for! I’m not driving so that also means I get to have a margarita! Alright!

We picked Becky and Cheryl up at their hotel in Waikiki. They were staying at the Outrigger Hotel. We talked all the way to the restaurant, of course, and got to know a little bit more about each other. Becky is a kick and kept us fascinated with her memories of things that happened to them all those years ago. Memories that even Rod himself had forgotten. Men! Tsk! Cheryl and I listened to the warm-hearted tales as Rod drove us all to Pearlridge Shopping Center.

Monterey Bay Canners sits just on the edge of this shopping center, across a rather expansive parking lot from Macy’s. The fascinating thing about this area is the watercress farm. The walkway leading to the entryway door of the restaurant hangs right over it! A watercress farm right in the middle of this busy town! It’s a unique location, to say the least.

When we sat down in the restaurant the conversation just continued. Rod and Becky had a lot of catching up to do!

In the photo above, Rod (left), Cheryl and Becky talk story after being seated just before sundown. You’ve gotta love these two ladies — very friendly, down-to-earth and easy to talk to! The comfort level was just there. Hard to explain but, it just was! They were a lot of fun!

While Rod and Becky continued to catch up on things, we ordered food! The stuffed mushrooms, of course! They were delicious as always! Rod and Becky both had lobster and shrimp and they both enjoyed it and were very satisfied. Cheryl ordered the stuffed salmon which was made with the same technique as those wonderful mushrooms. What a meal! I had steak and an absolutely wonderful li hing margarita!

Rod kept teasing Cheryl (left) about how she looked like Shirley Temple. She kind of does look like her… cute smile with a sweet personality to match… yep, that would be like Shirley Temple. Both she and Becky (center) got a little too much sun that morning. They looked like cherubs but I know Becky was feeling a little more like a fire cracker than a cherub! Her quick wit and sense of humor certainly leaned more towards a fire cracker.

Our waitress, Lehua, was very friendly and very attentive — always taking that extra time to be sure we were enjoying our meal. I think we were all so into the food and our conversation that we didn’t notice much about what was going on around us. Obviously I was since I forgot to take pictures of our main dishes. We were all too full for dessert.

Rod and Becky argued about who would pay the bill and Becky ended up paying. It’s Rod’s turn next time, girl! The food was great, the company was wonderful and the night brought two friends together after many years.

Thanks, Monterey Bay Canners, for good food and comfortable ambiance. Thank you, Lehua, for tending to us. Most of all, thank you, Becky, for the company and the wonderful meal!

Becky called Rod the next day and says she will come back to visit every year! We’ll see what place we can terrorize when Becky comes back home next year!

I have been hungry all morning. I was checking out other blogs and so many were talking about food. When in doubt and in Honolulu, if you can’t make it to a Zippy’s restaurant, get a Spam musubi! I’ll talk about Zippy’s soon, I promise.

I know, people in the mainland U.S. think we’re weird because they see Spam as food for poor people. We just like it! Hormel has got to love Hawaii!

Case in point: WalMart is going to open their doors with a great sale on microwaves and things and cases of Spam. People were sleeping in the parking lot waiting for the doors to open. Okay, I won’t go to that extreme, but I like it too!

So, what is Spam musubi? It’s fried Spam on a block of rice wrapped in nori (dried seaweed). The picture above, compliments of Wikipedia, is a good example of what it would look like… this plate looks like something made for a high-school football team after the game! I wasn’t invited. Dammit!

The only problem with that musubi is that there is no furikake. Furikake is a seasoning of sorts that is sprinkled on rice. It is made of sesame seeds, seaweed, salt and who knows what else. It just tastes good — sort of like putting salt on your french fries. Some of us affectionately refer to Spam musubi with furikake as “dirty” so the cashier knows what to charge when you’re buying it already made. Once they add furikake the price goes up a few cents.

I know, now you guys think I’m making this up. I’m not, honest. You can get the history of Spam musubi and a recipe off the Internet! Just don’t add vinegar to it for this purpose. It doesn’t quite fit. I love vinegar dishes, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure I’ll get to those too eventually! Hmmm… pork adobo! Oh dear, now look! Maybe I’ll eat sweet-sour spareribs for lunch and then I’ll be happy.

The beauty about the cuisine in Hawaii is that it’s made up over time of so many ethnic mixes. We take a bit from Japan, a bit from the Philippines, something from Puerto Rico, sprinkle in some Chinese, add it to the Portuguese, the Hawaiian and who knows what else, mix it all up and then decide what works, what we like and then morph it all to fit our taste buds! They don’t call us the “melting pot” for nothing!  Such is Hawaii’s version of “American” cuisine.
You’ll notice I’m not bitching. I don’t bitch about food, only the lack thereof. But, I still need a name for my bitch and complain category! Come on you guys!

What do you do when you see a tomato walking on the street? You investigate! If it’s not the Fruit Of The Loom guys, it’s got to have something to do with food! No, that’s not underwear our little tomato is carrying, it’s menus!

Bishop Street Cafe has found a cute and fun way to get their message out and attract people who have either not been there or who haven’t been there for a while. The menu is an interesting combination of local favorites and healthy choices combining a mixture of selections from primarily Mediterranean and Japanese cuisines.

The Eggplant Parmigiana is great, the Oriental Chicken Salad is good, and the Basil Pesto is awesome. This is another restaurant that will adjust their usual manner of serving things to accommodate the likes and dislikes of their customers. I appreciate that and it shows a desire to please those who have decided to patronize your establishment. I still need to try some of the ramen, udon and donburi choices on the menu.

Located in the old Dillingham Transportation Building at 725 Bishop Street, this little restaurant is in a spot that is easy enough to see and find, yet out of the way enough to be just a bit more peaceful than some of the other locations that sit right in the middle of the flow of pedestrian traffic. There are some nice outdoor tables placed in a rather inviting atmosphere.

Take my advice, if you see an item of produce walking around the street, I suggest you follow it!

If there is one thing that Honolulu has, it’s a lot of restaurants. If there is one thing that residents love to do, it’s EAT! There are many restaurants but some are often overlooked because either they are very small,they are out of view of the mainstream, their menus consist of somewhat esoteric entrées or any combination of these characteristics.

One place I discovered actually has all of these characteristics. Even it’s name is a little… odd. AHI & Vegetable is a tiny little hole-in-the-wall located at 1126 Fort Street Mall that sells itself on the freshness and healthy quality of the food on the menu. Their motto says, “Eat fish, Live healthy!” They also bring in fresh fish daily from auction and have “No MSG” posted just about everywhere. Okay, these are positives. It’s clean, the staff is patient, they will let you re-create their menu without blinking and, unlike most restaurants in a business district, they stay open — until 6 PM!

Drawbacks? It’s a little pricey. But then, fresh ahi (tuna) usually is. The average cost for a meal is somewhere between $7 and $8. Everything on the menu comes with “Vegetable” automatically. There is ahi and vegetable, shrimp and vegetable, salmon and vegetable, crab and vegetable, and then there’s teriyaki chicken with a small salad or beef curry and a small salad. If you want a more complete meal, you can order a “set” which,along with a choice from the aforementioned menu, includes miso soup and your choice of steam, brown or sushi rice. They also toss in some fish eggs and ginger.

There’s definitely a Japanese influence but, there is something more that I just can’t quite put my finger on. Perhaps it’s the boss who picks up on a customer’s possible likes and dislikes. I had the crab and vegetable set with miso and sushi rice. The chef/owner automatically said to me, “you don’t want fish eggs do you?” I just looked at him and said, “No, I don’t.” I was actually confused by his question because it was so unexpected. He was right, I don’t do fish eggs. To be honest, this was not my kind of meal at all. But, it was late and I was desperate. By the time I left, I felt satisfied both with the food and with the service. The servings are not skimpy and the food is good… and fresh!