Hawaii (Part Ten): Food, food, food, food!

I started writing chronologically, but somehow morphed into grouping things by topic. So here's a continuation of the great food (and happy hours!) we had in Hawaii.

We went grilling at Gyu-Kaku. The food was amazing and it was a lot of fun cooking it ourself over the hot coal grill in the table. This is a must do if you visit Oahu!

Nemy Nae and Dean at Gyu-Kaku.

Lisa at Gyu-Kaku.

Beef with marinade, kobe beef, chicken in pesto marinade and a view of the grill.

Shochu (rice vodka) with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. AMAZING.

We had to have at least one night of crazy drinking. That happened at the Sunset Bar followed by sobering up with a ton of food at Dave & Buster's.

Nemy and her mai tai (yucky!)

Dean with martini.

Nae and Nemy getting punchy!

Finally! Food! Nae with her fried rice and Nemy's burger.

Nemy and Lisa coloring the kiki (kid's) menu.

Dean used to work at a fantastic Italian restaurant called Matteo's. We took them there for dinner. They all had ravioli and I had saltimbocca because any dish that has "salt" in its name MUST be good.

Lisa trying escargot for the first time.

Lisa pretending to like escargot.

Lisa and her first taste of baby (veal).

Nae and Dean.

We went out for lunch at the North Shore (I need to ask Renee what the name is). I fell asleep on the way out there, which was fantastic! I missed the pineapple and coffee fields, but saw them on the way back. After lunch we hit the famous surfing beach and were off for shaved ice.

Lisa drinking her "scuba diver" drink.

While on the North Shore, stopping at Motsumoto's Shaved Ice is a MUST. It is not made of little balls of ice like a snow cone. Instead the ice is light and fluffy and the flavors are rich, not sugary.

Nemy and Lisa at Motsumoto's Shaved Ice.

We stopped for a drink at Brew Moon my last full night in Hawaii. It is a small brew pub with great beer.

Dean and Nae at Brew Moon.

As you can see, I tried them all . . . at once!

Lisa drinking the Brew Moon sampler.

Dave & Buster's (again) this time for breakfast.

Morning mimosa.

Mmmm . . . mimosa.

My last lunch in Hawaii was amazing. We went to the pier and hit a fish shop. It was the best fish EVER!

Ahi sandwich. DELICIOUS!!!

Nae's mahi-mahi lunch.

We had a dinner tinged with sadness since it was our last outing before they had to drop me off at the airport. Sniff!!!

We went to La Mariana Yacht Club's Tiki Bar. The great news is that it's for sale! Save your pennies quick and you can own a piece of Hawaiian history!

Lisa and Nae at the entrance. I loved how the sign was barely working.

Here is one of the rooms - complete with indoor waterfall.

Dean and Lisa in her 1980's Dynasty chair. If only it was painted white!

My shrimp with linguine, Renee's breaded shrimp with mashed potatoes and gravy
along with Dean's pork chops. MMMMM!!!

Believe it or not, we did make a lot of food at home, especially breakfast. We also packed lunches for the beach, including a bottle of gin and cans of tonic. Mmm. . . gin & tonics. It was a good mix of thrifty and spendy.

If you go to Hawaii, or anywhere really, please don't hit the chain restaurants. There are so many mom & pop or local places to experience. Do some research and take chances. Otherwise, you might as well just go to Perkin's down the street and imagine the scenery outside is different.