Morning Brew-Kailua

I am currently sitting in the upstairs dining area while I drink my cold brewed organic ice coffee. I have stopped in here before, but never have tried the coffee. In Mililani, we have Starbucks, and well, Starbucks. Morning Brew has a nice "vibe." Lots of seating inside, as well as a few tables outside. I like the seats upstairs as you can look down and watch the baristas make the drinks, as well as see the other customers come in and out. There is a very eclectic group of people here for a Wednesday afternoon. You have a couple older guys reading, some students studying, a mom and son eating lunch, and just a few others having coffee, visiting and enjoying the atmosphere.

2 Free hours of internet service with a purchase, and very friendly staff.

If you are out in Kailua, or looking for a a caffeine fix, drop by Morning Brew and grab a cup.


Morning Brew
572 Kailua Rd
Kailua, HI 96734
(808) 262-7770

Shige's Saimin Stand-Wahiawa

Carissa wasn't feeling really good, so I thought that some saimin
would make her feel better.
Shige's is located in beautiful Wahiawa. They have really good saimin
and local plate lunch style dinners. Saimin starts at $4.20 for a
small and can go up to $7.00+ for the large udon or won ton with
veggies. The plates range from $6.00 to $7.00. I really like the
hamburger steak as well as the teri beef.
If you are in Wahiawa, or looking to try authentic saimin drop into
shige's.

Will update hrs and phone later.

Good to Grill-Kapahulu

BBQ ribs and Misoyaki Chicken with potato salad and shoestring fries- $12.99


While checking out some "nearby tweets" on my Tweetie 2 app, I came across someone tweeting for their new restaurant, Good to Grill. I looked up their website and found that they are "Wood-Fired Casual Gourmet" and when looking over the menu online, thought they sounded pretty reasonable. They are located in the Safeway Kapahulu Shopping Center, the new one right in the heart of Kapahulu.
While out and about yesterday in town, I thought I would give them a shot. Money is really tight these days, so if I am paying more than $7 for a plate lunch, it better be good. On the other hand, my wife was with me and she is a vegetarian now, so I had to pick up a Kove Bowl for her, while I went to eat meat!
The place was located on the makai side of the shopping center, on a corner, which is great since they have some nice outdoor seating. I walked in the front door, and immediately I could smell the awesome kiawe wood grill. Their menu was electronic on big LCD screens. They have a variety of things, plates, sandwiches, pasta, salads, pizza, sides, and desserts. All ranging from a $7.49 plate of chipotle chicken wings, and a prime rib plate for $16.49, to a grilled garlic prawn pasta for $12.99. Sandwiches were $7.99 to $9.99 and salads around the same price. Their pizza was also all under $10. They also have fried ice cream, bread pudding, and flan to name a few desserts.
I ordered a combination plate, hoping to try a couple different dishes they served. I picked the misoyaki chicken, and the pork ribs. They charged me $12.99 for that one, with the choice of 2 sides (rice, potato salad, mesclun greens, shoestring fries). I didn't quite understand why it was so expensive, when the chicken plate is only $7.99, and the ribs are $12.89? Maybe meet somewhere in the middle of the two instead of going $0.10 higher... oh well. I chose fries and the potato salad, since I am pretty sure I know what rice is like, and greens.
Here we go, the chicken was good, perfectly grilled with a little burnt edges, no skin, boneless thigh. There were two on the plate. The chicken had good flavor, but not much of it, good thing it was cooked over an open flame. The ribs given was 4 bones, very little meat on them. They had a good sauce on them, and was the best part of my meal. The fries, were so-so, not hot and crisp like I thought they would be. The potato salad had nice big chunks of potatoes, olives, peppers, but was very bland. It needed some salt, or something? I was expecting more flavor from a "casual gourmet." I left full, but not quite satisfied. I told my wife it was like eating at Chilis or someplace like that. I know that I would have paid probably $5-6 more at one of those places, so for the money, I guess it was ok. Overall, I liked the ribs, and even the chicken. I think having the two was a bad choice, since the ribs were so flavorful, and the chicken was good, but not next to the ribs (if that makes any sense.) If I do go back, I will try the prime rib, or maybe just the deep fried ice cream for $3.99.


Good to Grill
888 Kapahulu Ave., Suite 170
Honolulu, Hawaii 96816
(808)734-7345

Sunday 11-9
Mon-Sat 11-10

Just Tacos-Take 2

Above is the fried calamari.

We had a meeting here a couple weeks ago. Tony ordered some calamari, and nachos for us to snack on... I gave this place another shot since the appetizers came out great. The sauces used were really good, and the portions were plenty for 3 of us to eat. I am still not sure about the prices for burritos, and other food, but for a late lunch meeting, this was a nice stop.

Here is the chicken nachos.



Mililani Town Center

Grass Skirt Grill

My wife and I decided to try out a new place on the north shore. Opal
was closed, or it would have been Thai food again. Grass skirt grill
is located in the old Kua Aina spot, across Stortos and the court
house. Prices pretty normal for Haleiwa, $7&8.95 for chicken sand, and
she has the portabello mushroom sand. We got cheese fries 2.75. Pretty
good food, may need to try the fish stuff(what they are known for)
next time.
Fries & sandwiches shown below.

Will update info later.

Google Voice

Got a google voice number for Opu-Nui. If you would like to give me a call, use the button below.



401-2OPU-NUI

Aloha,

FUDGE!

Chucks Steak House-Koolina

For my buddy Mark's birthday, he decided that he would like to eat at Chucks. I have never been since there was a Chucks in Mililani, back when I was a little kid. Before the internet, cell phones, or even pagers. My wife, buddy and another couple went out to Ihilani for some steak.
I was a bit worried since my wife has become a vegetarian and doesn't even eat seafood. I knew they had a salad bar that came with the meal, so I figured if anything, she can eat that.
There were a couple of specials, so I tried to stick with one of those. To start off, none of us ordered any appetizers. Since we could have the salad bar, soup and bread with our meal, we passed.
The salad bar had normal vegetables, not too great. Had a few different fruits, including fresh pineapple. On the salad bar line, they also had a soup of the day, which happened to be beef vegetable. It was very tasty as well hearty. Lots of big chunks of meat and vegetables. For bread they had french roll, sourdough, and rye. On to the meal.
They had a sirloin steak dinner for 21.95. It came with a 10oz steak, rice, baked potato or fries. A teri steak for 23.95 and filet for 32 or 35, 6oz and 10oz respectively. The special was a 6oz piece of Mahi and 6oz sirloin for 23.95. For just a couple of bucks more, you got fish and steak. I asked to upgrade my steak for the bigger piece and it was $2.00 more. It was well worth the upgrade. My wife ordered the stir fry ($21.95), without any steak or chicken. They added mushrooms instead, and she loved it, said it was one of the best stir fry she has ever eaten. For dessert we shared the mud pie ($6.95).
Dinner was very good, came out exactly as ordered, and in a timely manner. With the way my wife liked the stir fry, I can see us returning very soon.

Sorry, no pictures (another good reason to return). We were so hungry, I didn't remember to take out my camera or iPhone to take a picture.
Dress is casual.
Phone : 808-678-8822
Address : 92-161 Waipahe Place Kapolei, 96707

$2 Valet parking good for 3hrs.

Big Kahuna's Pizza -n- Stuff

Big Kahuna's is located in the Airport Trade Center. It used to be a hole-in-the wall place, but moved here a few years back. They serve pizza, sandwiches, shakes, garlic bread balls (pictured above) and a couple of desserts. One of the cool things here is that any pizza they have on their menu, you can get in sandwich form. Tonight I decided to order the BBQ pizza as a sandwich. Thin sliced bbq chicken red onions on cheese with bbq sauce, then sprinkled with cilantro. As a pizza a 7" personal pan would run you $7.55 and a 12" medium would be $19.95. The sandwich is $7.95 (pictured below). My wife ordered the grilled eggplant as a sandwich. Grilled eggplant, garlic, 5 cheeses, carmelized onions, sweet roasted red peppers & sundried tomatoes. She liked it, but probably would have liked the club or blt better, but went healthy. The garlic cheese balls go for $5.65 (12) and $3.15 (6).
The food here is really good, always hot, and made to order. A favorite of my wife and I, along with our friends. We will definitely be back many, many times.


Big Kahuna's
Open 7 days a week
M-F 10-9*
Sat-Sun 11-9*
*or until they run out.
550 Paiea St. Honolulu, HI 96819

808-833-5588 Give them a call to place an order so you don't have to wait so long...

D's Kitchen-Mapunapuna

While driving through Mapunapuna, looking for a lighting cable, Pat and I discovered this little hole-in-the-wall. The Hawaii Lighting people said they couldn't do anything until after lunch, so we pulled up a picnic table and ordered some specials. I had the fried chicken and chili plate ($5.50). Pat ordered the special which had fried noodles, a piece of kal-bi, and bbq meat. All that for $4.75. The meat was good, but he said the noodles were just "ok." My fried chicken was boneless, skinless battered in flour, salt and pepper, then fried on a flat-top. Very juicy and a good crunch. Chili was probably from a can. You really can't go wrong for 5.50 though. If we do end up there again, I would skip the chili and go with a fried chicken/bbq meat combo.

If driving through Mapunapuna and you need a quick plate lunch, for a good price, try out D's Kitchen.

Sorry, I didn't get the times of business or the phone number...


830 Mapunapuna St.

Champa Thai-Aiea

Wanted to go to Kuru-Kuru, but the line was about 20 deep last night. We drove through the parking lot, and saw this place, Champa Thai. We (my wife and I) both love Thai (nothing beats Opals) so we thought we would stop in.
We ordered the Thai Chili Fried Rice (beef), Pad Thai (Chicken) and Fried Chicken Panang Curry. All medium to hot spice.
The food came out fairly quickly. It looked as though the rest of the restaurant had their food already, so that was a plus. The prices was fair from $8.95 and up. Overall we were satisfied with our meal, and the servers never let my water cup go dry.


Thai Chili Fried Rice


Pad Thai




Champa Thai
98-199 Kamehameha Hwy # C2
Aiea, HI 96701
(808) 488-2881

The Counter-Kahala

The Counter to me, is an upscale burger joint. Located at Kahala Mall, right across from Chillis, this new burger place was crowded. We put our names in, and had to wait about 20 minutes for a table. While we were waiting, they gave us all an "order sheet" for the BYOB (Build Your Own Burger) section. You start off with choosing Beef, Turkey, Veggie, or Grilled Chicken. From there you pick the size, 1/3, 2/3, or 1lb. Starting at $8.95, and up from there. You choose 1 cheese, anything from Gruyere to Tillamook Cheddar, and any other selection sets you back another buck. Moving on to toppings. You can choose up to 4, from Red Onions, Jalepenos, sprouts, to then the "premium toppings" which all are $1 more. Things like Honey Cured Bacon, or even Kim Chee. Next was a sauce, they had a lot to choose from, 18 to be exact. Teriyaki, Honey Mustard, and even plain Mayo. So the burger I built was Beef (of course) the 2/3 patty ($10.95) then I had Horseradish Cheddar cheese, red onions, dill pickle chips, grilled onions, and grilled pineapple. For my sauce, roasted garlic Aioli, on top of a hamburger bun. We also ordered some Fried Dill Pickle chips ($4.95) and Sweet Potato Fries ($4.95). The fried pickles were good, but very small portion, the fries were awesome and came with plenty to share.

Below is a picture of my burger. It was ordered Medium Well. Grilled onion and melted cheese on top, the red onions, pickles on the bottom. I had already removed the grilled pineapple and ate it on the side.


They had other things to choose from, such as ordering your burger/chicken/veggie as a "bowl." This would be on a bed of baby greens, no bun. Also had BLT, Ham & Swiss ($7.50) a Loco Moco, some desserts, a very good looking peanut butter shake, but we were too full to try anything else.

We were all very pleased with our visit to The Counter, and look forward to stopping back in to try other things on the menu.

The Counter
4211 Waialae Ave E-1
Honolulu, HI 96816
808.739.5100
thecounterburger.com

Summer Frappe

After enjoying a Saturday morning walking through ChinaTown, picking up fresh vegetables, and other little eats, my wife and I stumbled onto Summer Frappe. I walked right past it, headed to pick up some manapua and pork hash for my dad. We then walked back to the window and gazed at all the fresh fruit in the glass case.
Since my wife spent a year of school in the Philippines, her first instinct was to see if they sold a green mango smoothie. She likes them sour. I looked at all the pictures on the wall from pineapple to avacado, and even jackfruit. No green Mango.
All smoothies ranging from $3.50 to $4.50. I thought, why not, let's give it a try. When there was no picture of a green mango smoothie, I asked the lady if she could make one. "No problem" she said as she walked in the back to get a nice fresh, green mango. She then asked if she wanted it really sour, or with some sweetness. My wife, not liking too much sugar, said, very little sweet. The lady making the drink asked if we had ever been to the Philippines, as most of the people who ask for green mango, are her Filipino customers. I told her that I didn't but my wife had. Within 2 minutes the drink was done, and it was just what my wife thought it would be. The drink had a nice sour taste of green mango, with a small hint of sweetness. Too sour for me, but my wife liked it.
We will definately be back to Summer Frappe, when we are in ChinaTown again.

82 N Pauahi St
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 772-9291