Charleston's-Omaha

Chad and I went to Charlston's for dinner last night. It is a fairly expensive restaurant here in Omaha. We ordered a creamed spinach artichoke dip to start, and it may have been the best spinach dip I have ever had, may have even been the best thing I ate last night. Chad then ordered the filet and I had prime rib, with fries (the girls at work said the fries are awesome, so I tried them) instead of the mashed. Each of our dinners came with salad and a croissant were both pretty full by the time the actual meal came out, but somehow managed to eat everything off each of our plates.  Dinners were $23 each, not too bad, but I guess compared to some other places in Omaha, that is a bit high.  Chad had a gift card for $75 that he had won at a work party, so dinner was free.  Can't beat free.

A couple of shots to make you drool...

Creamed Spinach/Artichoke Dip with Salsa and Sour Cream. Fresh chips on the side.

 A close up of the ooey, gooey, goodness......

My Prime Rib n Fries.

Charleston's Restaurant

3851 FNB pkwy
Omaha, NE 68154
(402) 431-0023

BLTsteak-Honolulu

 Bistro Laurent Tourondel or BLTsteak is located in the Trump Tower in Waikiki.  This is the only luxury Hotel on Oahu.  My wife decided to take me to BLTsteak for my birthday.  The menu is on their website, so before we left for town, I already knew what I was going to order.  22oz Bone in ribeye.  More on that later.
We had reservations for 6pm.  Pulled up to the valet at the Trump Tower and step to the right, follow the hallway to the end about 30 or so yards, and you will be there.
We were joined by a few of my friends, brother and sister-in-law.  Six of us steak eaters, and my wife the vegan at a high scale steak house.  We were seated immediately at a sorta corner booth, with three people in chairs, and four of us on a nice comfy booth style bench.  They started us off with some drinks, then brought out a meat tray (compliments of the chef), some chicken pate and toast, as well as some cheese bread with bacon, and then the big popovers.  With that who needs the steak? I ordered my ribeye, with creamed spinach, and jalapeno mashed potatoes.  Others on the table ordered their steaks, and sides.  In all I think we got the sides covered, Kahuku bbq corn, grilled asparagus, potato and leek hash browns (my fave of the sides), scalloped potatoes.  The chef's wife is a friend of my mother in law, so he sent out many different things throughout the night.  One of the sides was the onion ring stack.  All the sides were $8 each.  Not bad, but they were pretty small.  The corn looked like less than a can!  Anyway, on to the steak.  Mine, the bone in ribeye was $45.  My brother ordered the porterhouse for 2-40oz, and his was $85.  Others were the filet and NY strip. $34 for the 8oz filet, $32 for the 12oz The NY strip went for $37, $43 and $49, 14, 16, and bone in 20oz.  All the desserts were $10, and very small portions, yet very sweet, and any more and it would be overkill.  An awesome looking sundae walked by and I asked a waitress what it was.  She replied, "it's a pineapple sundae, and very refreshing!"  No one at the table ordered that, yet our chef sent one out to us.  She was completely correct.  I don't think there is any other way to describe that sundae.  "Refreshing." It was great, with the pina colada sorbet.  He also sent out some brownies, and peach cobbler.
Stuffed.  Only thing to describe how we all felt at the end of the meal.
A HUGE thank you to Chef Johan Svensson for awesome steaks and wonderful service by the staff at BLTsteak.

BLTsteak
Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach Walk
223 Saratoga Road
Honolulu, HI 96815
Telephone: 808-683-7440
Dinner
Sunday – Thursday
5:30PM – 10PM
Friday & Saturday
5:30PM – 11PM    .

Nico's @ Pier 38

So I watched the Triple D with Guy when he visited Hawaii. One of his stops was at Nico's on the Pier so I thought I better check them out. They have a counter inside where you order and pick up your food, then go outside under sorta a big patio and eat on the tables and chairs outside. It was a Monday lunch time, and was very crowded. I found parking, and walked into order. I had no idea what to get, so just picked the first thing on their menu, or their most sold "plate-lunch." THis was a Furikake Ahi. Cooked to order, just like a steak. I ordered medium rare, but got more medium well. Had brown rice and toss salad, instead of white and mac. Plate was good, but I was wanting more fish at the end of the meal. Brown rice, was well, brown not really dry like some places, but only about 1.5 scoops, verses other places that give you a hearty 2 scoops, and the toss salad was good mixed greens, with a house dressing. The fish since it was a bit over cooked was somewhat dry, so I used the tarter sauce, which I would normally never use on ahi, and it was boring. Not much too it, some mayo, and maybe pickle juice and some
I need to go back and try some of the other specials. The double cheeseburger sounds great, as well as the loco moco. Here are a couple of shots from my lunch. Looks good huh? Closed on Sundays-big bummer.

Zoomed in shot of the plate.

Nico's Pier 38

Monday - Friday
6:30am - 5:00pm
· Saturday ·
6:30am - 2:30pm
1133 N. Nimitz HWY
Honolulu, HI 96817
--
Tel: 540-1377
Fax: 540-1376

Pinky's-Kailua

Never a good sign when the place is pretty much empty on a Saturday during lunch...

Where to start? We just spent a day boating out in K-Bay, came out the back gate, and saw Pinky's. I immediately grabbed my iPhone, launched the Yelp app and looked up the reviews. Pretty much all BAD. 2 of 5 stars. My first instinct was to get out of there, and find some place else to eat. Of the four of us in the car, one guy wanted to get out and at least see the menu. The rest of us sat in the car, and read other reviews, and thought to go somewhere else. When he got back to the car, he wanted to try it out. Although hesitant, we walked in.
"Sit wherever you want!" was the first thing we heard when walking in..., not "hi welcome to Pinky's" even a generic "aloha." We took a seat near the glass, so we could watch the ducks. We were able to order from the breakfast, lunch, and pupu menu. It took 5+ minutes from us sitting to someone bringing the menus. After getting our drinks (water and iced tea) it took another 4-5 minutes to come and ask if we are ready, then when we were still deciding, another 5 mins. After the food was ordered, the crab dip came out first (about 10min) after we ordered it, and the food took a good 20+ minutes. Good thing there were ducks outside on the canal to keep us entertained.
Prices seemed a bit high, but something we expected from Kailua. One guy ordered, the Pinky's Signature omelet($9.00), with kalua pig, onions and cheese, which came with breakfast potatoes, and toast. He also ordered french toast. One got the kalua pig plate (11.95) and a pupu of onion rings ($8.95) Good batter, big onions, sweet tasting rings, not for the price. Very expensive. A buddy ordered the avocado club sandwhich with fries and I got the french dip with fries. We both added cheese and garlic to our fries, which made them a couple bucks more. For a started we had the Crab-artichoke dip. It was ok, but a bit bland.
Everyone liked their food, I thought the french dip was good, but needed the au-jus to make it work. Without the dip, it was very plain, and the dip was salty, but not too bad. Our bill came to $75 without tip, and only 2 of us had iced tea.
The question is, will I go back? Hmmm, maybe. My wife is Vegan-pretty much "raw" and there was nothing on the menu she could eat. Good thing I was with friends. Over all the food was better than the reviews gave, but the service was bad. Gonna give it 3 1/2 stars due to the bad service and wait time for the food.
The bar had some nice tvs with the games on, so if you don't mind waiting for food, and want to catch a game, drop by Pinky's.

Prime rib french dip with cheese and garlic fries.

970 North Kalaheo Avenue
Kailua, HI 96734-1866
(808) 254-6255
Hours:
Mon-Fri 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Sat-Sun 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Over Easy-Scottsdale

When I found out I was taking a trip to Scottsdale, AZ, I looked up if there were any places that Guy visited on his tv show, Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I found a few Mexican places, which I had already received recommendations, but one that he did visit was called Over Easy. He went to the one in Phoenix, but I found a second location in Scottsdale, and planned my trip.
We stopped in on a cool Saturday morning, and the place was pretty crowded, but we were seated quickly. First, my mom being in pain (the reason why we were in AZ) we notice the seating was very hard. No cushions on any seating, even the booths, pretty hard on our traveling backs. Strike one. They had all kinds of different breakfast eats on their menu, from omelets to waffles, even stuff on the "lighter" side, like fruits and yogurt. My mom liked that. I had decided back in Hawaii, what I was gonna have given the chance to eat here, and it was fried chicken and waffles. My dad ordered the same. One waffle, not really big like a Belgian, maybe a third of the size, and a piece of fried chicken about as thick on top. $9. Strike 2. I thought for the price I should have had more to eat, maybe a couple of eggs? Something more... My mom ordered a home-made protein bar, which looked like something my all-natural herb slinging sister makes. She liked it, I didn't, $4. Ouch. Back to my meal, when loading the chicken/waffle with syrup, this spices and sweetness start to make your mouth water. I loved my meal. My dad, did not. Too much spices on the chicken, didn't mesh well with the waffle. He would have liked plain fried chicken, and his waffle. Our bill, about $36, for the 2 waffle breakfasts, some fruits, a protein bar and one cup of average coffee. Strike 3.
The only good thing was we met the manager, he sold my mom a t-shirt of the restaurant (which they don't sell), and of course the only size they had for me was a 2XL. He did say he would send me one in the mail, a 3X, we'll see about that one.
The only picture I got was an almost finished chicken and waffle.


Over Easy-Inside the Ice Den
9375 E. Bell Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
Daily 6:30am-2pm
480-270-EGGS

Village Inn-Scottsdale, AZ

I was fortunate enough to go on a trip to Arizona to help out with my mom and dad visiting the Mayo clinic for some medical needs. What I love about traveling is going to all the different eateries there, which we don't have in Hawaii. My first breakfast stop was the Village Inn. We had many of these in Nebraska where I attended college, but never really took advantage of a good breakfast place. See here in Hawaii we have 2 places in Mililani where I live, Zippys, and the Mililani Golf Course. Each has their own specialties, however, nothing like a big breakfast to get you going and out of the jet-lag feeling.
This Village was right next to our hotel. We walked up, and was seated right away. My dad ordered a 3 meat skillet, which had sausage, bacon and ham along with 2 eggs, over some homestyle potatoes, and 3 fluffy pancakes on the side. My mom ordered the french toast-and just ate eggs from my dad's plate. I ordered the Country skillet which had loads of potatoes, covered with country sausage and gravy, then smothered with scrambled eggs, and a side of 3 pancakes (see picture below). Wow! What a way to start of the day. Besides Dennys (we have 2 in Hawaii) there are not many places where you can get breakfast around the clock. Well Jack in the Box does it, but who wants fast food all the time?
With breakfast being the most important meal of the day, I think maybe it's time to open a new place here, diner style, just to have my breakfast fix, and maybe draw more people in and make a little dough....




Oh did I also mention they have great pies too!


Here is the info for the Village Inn, in Scottsdale on Pima and Shea


Hours of Operation:
Sunday - Thursday 5:00am to 12:am
Friday-Saturday 5:00am to 2:00am
10652 North 89th Place, Scottsdale, AZ 85260-6753
480-451-1962

Ninja Sushi-Mililani

When trying to eat better in the new year, Sushi is always a good choice. Unfortunately sushi=rice, and lots of rice, is no good. I stopped into Ninja Sushi to try out a spicy ahi salad. Wow. This salad was great. Lots of good greens (not just iceberg), a good heaping scoop of spicy ahi, some one-ton chips, and two different dressings to add to all of it.
What makes this salad awesome are those two different dressings. There is a sorta spicy sauce that they would normally dress a spicy roll with, and also some wasabi dressing, which is awesome. Do yourself a favor, and order one. A bit pricey at $9, the only problem is you want more when you are done.
There are many Ninja Sushi restaurants around the island.

Maile Chinese Restaurant-Mililani

Maile in Mililani has become a regular stop for me and my family. Growing up, we would normal go to Maile a couple of times a month. This trend still holds pretty true. Looking for a place to eat on a Holiday, Maile is most likely open. We decided to eat here Christmas Day-for dinner since we were tired of turkey, and the sides.
They pretty much never have a wait time, and the food is always good.
We usually order the crispy gau gee min, with vegetables, lemon mahi mahi, shrimp canton, vegetables with cashews, and sometimes an orange chicken, or beef broccoli. Since my wife has become a vegetarian, she only eats the veggies, and some of the noodles, picking out the meat! Each dish runs from $6.75 to $9.00 which would be for the shrimp or mahi mahi. It is usually about $30 for the two of us to eat, yet we order 4 dishes, with rice, and we could probably do with 2 maybe 3. There is always leftovers for lunch the next day (which is nice). They always give nice big portions.

If you are in Mililani, check out Maile, in the Foodland Shopping Center. The original shopping center in Mililani.



Here is some orange chicken, lemon mahi mahi, and shrimp with walnuts. You can see a little of the noodles on the back plate.

More pics to come, I'm sure we will be visiting again really soon.

95-221 Kipapa Dr
Ste C17
Mililani, HI 96789
(808) 623-2221