The funny thing is that they cost more here than they do on the mainland. A pineapple grown in Hawaii but shipped and sold in Texas is cheaper than the same pineapple sold in Hawaii.
You're not going to go hungry in Hawaii but you may go broke.
If you're eating for under 10 dollars, you're eating cheap. Kids meals are usually around 6 dollars.
A McDonald's combo is around 7 dollars.
Honolulu is an oriental food lover's dream.
There are all the Sushi, Korean BBQ, Vietnamese Pho, Chinese cuisine joints you could ever want.
The sushi here is actually pretty reasonably priced, usually cheaper than in Texas and much fresher of course. I've eaten at a restaurant owned by the son of the 'Benihana' restaurant founder, and my yellowfin tuna roll was only 6 dollars. I left satisfied.
I've also eaten at a conveyor belt style restaurant called 'Genki Sushi'. The plated sushi moves around the restaurant on color coded plates that identify the price and you just grab whatever you want. The darker the color the more expensive.
Genki Sushi Conveyor Belt in Kauai, Hawaii from Chuck Lasker on Vimeo.
I'm a big guy and a big eater. Trust me when I say the portions are sufficient, unlike Costa Rica where I would sometimes need a magnifying glass to find the meat on my entree.
The local dish is called a plate lunch. Plate lunches consists of a large portion of meat, usually fish, pork, or chicken, along with macaroni salad and a pound of white rice. It reminds me of the casados in Costa Rica that consisted of grilled chicken, white rice, lettuce, and plantain.
Plate lunches generally range from 7 to 10 dollars. Some places offer two sizes, mini and regular. If given the choice I always get the mini and I've never left hungry. Portions are huge.
The macaroni salad is not the kind that you get at a BBQ buffet in Texas that comes premade out of a carton. The macaroni salad here is usually homemade and absolutely delicious.
My favorite local joint is a place called "North Shore Grinds" right down the street on 10th avenue.
It's a small mom and pop hole in the wall type place. "Grinds" is pidgin for food.
This place has some of the tastiest seafood entrees I've ever had the pleasure of eating.
Favorite so far is the mahi-mahi in a garlic cream sauce, phenomenal and only 8 bucks.
I also highly recommend the seared ahi(tuna) in a cilantro pesto sauce, better than a 5 star restaurant.
In the mood for a burger? Try their teriyaki burger. A true Hawaiian burger has a slice of pineapple along with teryaki sauce and although it sounds funny it is actually quite good.
On your next vacation to Honolulu, make the 5 minute drive from Waikiki to Kaimuki to eat at North Shore Grinds. You won't regret it. The wife takes the orders and the husband cooks. Very nice people. Good luck getting a smile out of the wife though.
Onto the dark side of Hawaiian cuisine. If there is a good Tex-Mex restaurant here, I have yet to find it.
I've tried three. I give them all one star. Not one of them had QUESO DIP. NOT ONE! If you know me, you know that Jeff Smith loves queso. The first time I asked for queso and they didn't have it I gave the waitress a look of horror and disgust and nearly left to try the restaurant down the street. I stayed, but it turned out the other restaurant doesn't know how to melt cheese either.
I haven't had one dip of queso since I landed and I'm having severe withdrawals.
The enchiladas, the quesadillas, even the rice and refried beans are all lacking a key element of Mexican food called flavor.
Nothing like back home in Texas.
Oh, and if you want the goodies like guacamole, sour cream, cheese, tortillas, chips, expect to pay extra.
Yes, I said tortillas. Isn't that sad? Two corn tortillas for $1 and a buck a piece for flour.
Also, tortilla chips and salsa aren't endless. The first tiny basket is on the house, a buck fifty for another.
I will say the salsa was pretty descent.
The other negative is Italian food. You can find good pasta but it's rare.
Good pizza? Good luck. There is Pizza hut and and Papa John's but if you want some fresh local pizza, I haven't found a place yet. I live right next to a local parlor but it's nothing special, compared to Mama's and Bosses or even Joe's pizza back home in Texas.
The joint next door makes their dough fresh, and it is good, but they skimp hardcore on the cheese and toppings.
So there's my experience thus far with Hawaiian cuisine. Due to the big portions here my weight hasn't plummeted like it did Costa Rica unfortunately even though I am just as active.
Oh, and one more thing, very important. Spam is a huge deal here. It's found everywhere, on menus at nice restaurants and attached to rice patties at convenience stores. They even have a spam festival every year.
I don't get it.
SPAM was first introduced to Hawaiians during World War II by American soldiers. It was immediately popular since it was a meat product (pork shoulder and ham) that needed no refrigeration. There are no large mammals native to Hawaii so meat had always been scarce. Many people there grew up eating SPAM and still love it. That's what I've read, anyway!
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