Big Island Grinds

Freshly made cream puffs in Hilo!!!

L-R: Coconut, lilikoi, and custard cream (there was also a rum chocolate cream, but we ate it before we could get to the camera)

Amazingly light, fresh, and the ganache was soo delicious! Not really missing Beard Papa’s anymore. So happy to have somewhere here with fresh cream puffs… and they are right down the street from our house!

Call for daily specials.

Puff City
1348 Kilauea Ave
Hilo, HI 96720
808-961-6964
www.puffcityhilo.com

I’ve been meaning to post about this place since my first visit in 2005 and can’t put it off no longer!

Really, I think this is the only “real” italian restaurant in Hilo.  Chef Lando Landi, a native Italian, puts so much love and passion into his food that it creates a wonderfully warm family style atmosphere in his little restaurant.  Cafe Pescatore has nothing on this place. 

The food here is so fresh, homestyle, affordable and unpretentious.  Perfect for a fun romantic date or even a get-together with friends over wine (BYOB!).  There is even a great wine store next door (Grapes) if you need to get a bottle (closes at 6pm).

Fresh Caprese Salad

Super juicy tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and fresh salad. Good stuff.

Penne with Pesto.

Best pesto I’ve ever tasted. Fresh, bright, rich and full of flavor.  Pasta was cooked perfectly al-dente.  I highly recommend trying any of their dishes with the wonderful pesto!

4-cheese Ravioli w/spinach.

This practically melts in your mouth and is soooo delicious.  I could eat 2 (or 4) plates of this!  Nothing beats freshly made ravioli — you gotta try it.

Cappellini w/meatballs

Refreshingly light and bright sauce with freshly made meatballs. I love how they keep their pastas fresh, light and flavorful.

Pasta with clam sauce  (Pasta al vongole)

Very nice  with a kick of spiciness.  I appreciate that the chef was not afraid to make this spicy!  

I can’t forget to mention the bread!  The chef actually brought out fresh loafs and cutted them up for the guests.  The bread was so wonderfully yummy straight out of the oven.  We couldn’t have enough!

Creme Brule

Soooooo so good!  Highly recommended!

Tiramisu

Light, refreshing and swimming in rum — not too rich like many other Tiramisu’s.

The chef also serves a free homemade “digestive”, sorta like a limoncello, but with his own flavors.  He makes different flavors all the time.  Tonight it was fresh ginger.  Don’t turn down the opportunity to try it! It’s a perfect ending to the meal.

If you haven’t yet tried this place, you are missing out.  Definitely one of Hilo’s gems.  A meal for two is well under $40 yet tastes like a $100 meal.

Cafe Concerto
808 Kilauea Ave., Hilo, HI 96720
Phone: (808) 934-0312 (call to check their hours/days open)

I’m so sorry to my readers out there! My life has simply been too hectic at this point, but I will continue posting.

I have a few places in queue: Puku Puka Kitchen (the Ahi Don is awesome!), Cafe Concerto, and Sushi Shiono (Kailua-Kona).

Thanks for your patience! <3

I don’t think I ever mentioned this before, but on the weekends (and some weekdays) I am a wedding photographer.  One of the best perks is all the great food I get to experience… plus no weird looks when taking photos of the food since that’s part of the “job”.  The last wedding had some of the best food ever, at the Brown’s Beach House at the Fairmont Orchid in Kohala.

Paauilo vanilla Keahole lobster bisque (island raised)

Words cannot describe the awesomeness of this bisque.  The first taste is an intense sweet and rich hit of lobster with a nice touch of sherry and hints of vanilla.  The beauty of this is that the lobster and even the vanilla is locally grown! In the middle is an extra soft medallion of something (sorta like an extra soft tofu texture or custard), matching the smoothness of the bisque… not really sure what it was.  When you break the it, it instantly soaks up all of the flavors of the bisque, just melting in your mouth. Very possibly the best liquid form of food EVER.

A fresh salad with heirloom tomatoes and two kinds of beets.  I don’t normally eat beets, and I think it has been mostly because of bad experiences from canned beets.  This salad totally changed my impression though.  I love beets now.  Croutons were so good and it was dressed perfectly.

Kiawe Grilled New York Strip

with mashed potatoes mixed with sweet corn, asparagus, and some of the most delicious mushrooms (I think these were local hamakua mushrooms)… the steak was wonderful, served with a rich demi-glaze.

Here are the huge mushrooms.

Also served, but not mine was fresh mahi-mahi.  I had a bite and it was very fresh and perfectly cooked.

I was stuffed already, but I could not turn down a chocolate mousse cake.  So rich .

I’m coming back here some time later for sure on a special occasion with just my wife and I so we can thoroughly enjoy a meal.  The service was very nice and our table was right on the beach, like literally on the sand.  It is a very romantic restaurant.

Brown’s Beach House
Fairmont Orchid
1 North Kaniku Drive 
Kohala Coast, Big Island, Hawaii  96743
808/885-2000

100% Ka’u Coffee and a warm gooey mac-nut brownie. Doesn’t get any better than this, seriously.

They don’t serve Ka’u coffee here everyday (they rotate their special coffees), but when they do it sure is worth a try. It’s one of my favorites… dare I say I favor it over Kona?

Posted on location. Free internet with $5 purchase.

Kope Kope Espresso Cafe
1261 Kilauea Avenue
Suite 220
Hilo Hawaii 96720
www.kopekopeespresso.com
(808) 933-1221

This is the old Nichols Public House location, now transformed to Jays Island Fresh Cuisine (or Jays Island Fresh Tapas). Although it was sad that Nichols had to leave this location, it’s nice to see a great new restaurant with focus on good food.

Shichimi Seard Scallops with Kawari sprouts and lilikoi butter sauce ($9)

Perfectly cooked sweet seared scallops with a beautiful rich buttery lilikoi sauce. The shichimi provided a nice little kick. Super ono! I just wish the scallops were a little bigger.

Eggplant Crostini with truffle oil and pecorino cheese ($6)

These were good too and the salad was very fresh.

778 Kilauea Prime Rib Sandwich – Slow roasted prime rib with crispy onion rings, Swiss cheese, house made potato and taro chips ($11)

Tender prime rib, rich au jus, great homemade chips. This tasted really fresh and I loved the onion rings too. Yum.

Closeups….

Lunch Menu (click for big version):

Dinner Menu (tapas are same as lunch):

Our waitress recommended the lobster ravioli for dinner.

Great food here. Service was very nice and fast. Ambience was really nice and simple with some cool hip jazzy music in the background. I hope this place stays here in Hilo!

Currently BYOB, no corking fee. There is a nearby wine store (Grapes) just a few stores down.

Jays Island Fresh Cuisine
776 Kilauea Ave
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-8880