Big Island Grinds

Visiting this place today brought back my passion in food blogging, something I’ve missed for a long time. In fact, I was so excited to share with you guys about this place I couldn’t wait (even though I still have a backlist of places I still need to write about). Hawaiian Style Cafe is my new favorite place for SERIOUS GRINDZ.

Brah!!! Just look at my breakfast, “Da Tita Mok” ($8.25):

Huge thick flame-broiled hamburger patty, 2 thick slices of spam, moist and crunchy chicken cutlet, 1 egg, grilled onions, fried rice, and rich tasty brown gravy over everything.

It tasted just as good as it looked. The hamburger patty was great quality local beef and fresh. It was actually on the leaner side but still very moist and meaty. Kind of like Ken’s burger but thicker and more moist. The chicken cutlet was my favorite. So moist and crispy on the outside and perfect with the gravy, which was very rich and homemade-tasting. Fried rice was really good too… not too salty and it didn’t overpower the rest of the dish. Grilled onions was a good touch and the spam was cooked just right. My only complaint was that the egg was a little overcooked on the bottom, but it was still nice and yolky. Wow. Quantity and quality.

95%

Bev ordered two pancakes ($2.25/each pancake) but we actually shared everything.

HUGE HUGE HUGE. I liked these. Soft. Spongy. Moist. I do wish they had a bit more cake-like texture because it was a little too spongy/bouncy. I also wish that it was more crisp on the edges. I still would order these again. They were so soft and tasty.

Here’s the specials menu that was up (they even have “Stew Luau”! aka Beef Luau):

Here’s the Breakfast & Lunch Menu:

How was the service? Friendly, local-style, like walking into your favorite Aunty’s kitchen… but very slow and sometimes forgetful (they were really busy). If you are in a rush to go somewhere, don’t come here. This is somewhere to go when you have all morning to eat and digest and all afternoon to sleep. One thing we missed was that you need to sign-in to the right of the door then wait until there are free seats.

The food made it all worth it though. I can’t wait to go back! I wish they were in Hilo!

Hawaiian Style Cafe
65-1290 Kawaihae Rd, Kamuela, HI 96743 (map)
(808) 885-4295

One of the best things about the weekend is that you can sleep in, wake up late, and cook a big breakfast of eggs, some spam/portuguese sausage, and plenty rice. But this past weekend we never have cooked rice! And we didn’t want to wait for rice to cook. So I phoned in an order for a full order of fried rice from Kuhio Grille and drove over to pick it up while Bev fried up some eggs. Mmmmmm…

I used to live on this when I was a broke college student. $6.50 for at least 2 huge meals. Try finish dis one by yourself! No ways brah. The fried rice comes shaped and compressed in a bowl shape, so when you start eating into it, it falls apart making it look like even more, as if it’s growing. Once you start feeling full, it’s like you never even make a dent!

Lots of finely chopped meat in there with green onions. Tastes like luncheon meat and bacon. It’s not too heavily seasoned, so it’s easy to eat a lot of it, and it tastes great. It also comes with some pickled daikon which is nice to bite on when taking a break. Make sure to have tabasco sauce on the side because for some reason, it tastes really great with it.

Although this is really good fried rice, it’s not really the best I’ve ever had, but it definitely is one of the best bangs for your buck, and goes great with other kinds of foods…

Kuhio Grille offers combo meals with the fried rice. My absolute favorite is their chicken cutlet w/fried rice. The fried rice goes so good with the gravy and chicken! Also try their oyster chicken w/fried rice which I hear is also really good, but never got to try yet.

Kuhio Grille
Prince Kuhio Plaza Suite, Hilo, HI 96720
Phone: (808) 959-2336

Wooohooo, the fair is in town! Glad to say, the loco mocos were much better than last year (which isn’t saying much, since last year was really bad). I’m just glad that someone else was doing the loco mocos. Good reppin’ Keaukaha!

The prices, though, were a lot steeper… still worth the better loco moco.

We ordered and shared the “midget special” — ironic no? 2 hamburger patties, 2 eggs, 1 big bowl of fried rice, and gravy ($8). It was pretty huge, and it filled us both up. The fried rice was killaz! Nice pieces of ham and bacon and seasoned well. The next best thing were the eggs… they were so fresh and rich that the yolk was almost orange. Only thing about this loco moco were the burgers. They were premade, but they were tender and tasted ok. The gravy was standard brown gravy… tasted like the one Freddy’s uses. Even the burger tasted like the one Freddy’s uses. Anyway, we were happy and cleaned off the plate.

80%

• Burger: 18/30pts
• Gravy: 20/30pts
• Egg: 20/20pts
• Rice: 22/20pts (bonus points)

I just had to take a photo of this boy attacking a bento of korean chicken from Blane’s!

There were other vendors too. There was even a poke truck. Nani Mau was also there offering this yummy looking prime rib plates for $9, which looked like a great deal. Great looking crepes making them fresh in front of you. Blane’s bentos. Kalbi plates for $6.

I didn’t even get to go on a ride. I spend all my money on food nowadays… *sigh*

It was another weekend night, and we were hungry at 4:30am. Ken’s, Verna’s, 7-11, or…Kandi’s? Yup, Kandi’s opens at 4am! That was good news because I’ve come here many a time between 8-9am and their fried rice breakfasts were usually sold out. Not happening to me this morning. *grin*

Kandi’s serves all the traditional local comfort foods at great prices. There were about 5-7 other people hanging out in the drive inn’s small eating area.

Here’s their breakfast and daily specials menu:

I asked the lady taking our order, “You guys still get fried rice?” She laughed, and said yes, mentioning that it always gets sold out by 9am.

There are three different fried rice breakfasts: Fried Rice Special ($3.75 – fried rice topped with egg and hot dog), Fried Rice Omelet ($3.50 – fried rice wrapped in eggs w/2 slices of spam), and Fried Rice Hash & Eggs ($3.95 – fried rice, corned beef hash, and topped with an egg).

I ordered the Fried Rice Omelet w/spam.

This was so good and is such a great deal at $3.50. The fried rice in this egg omelet had a great texture, firm yet moist, which absorbed lots of the wonderful crunchy bacon and ham goodness. It was a bit oily, but it just made it taste better. I loved how some of the rice grains were burnt crisp just a little, adding to the great flavor. The two slices of spam were thick and cooked gently, which kept them moist and sweet. Serious homestyle comfort food.

My friend ordered a Teri Loco Moco and added a ton of ketchup.

A teri loco moco is the same as a regular loco moco, with added teri sauce to the burger. I had one bite and it tasted just ok. The teri sauce added a nice sweetness to it, but the burger was thin and didn’t taste that good… might’ve been premade. The gravy was basic, but it had a full flavor and wasn’t watery. Egg was cooked well. I didn’t get to try the mac salad, though. Overall, it was just an average loco moco.

Another friend ordered toast, eggs and hash browns, which I didn’t get to try. He seemed to enjoy it, though.

For a cheap and very tasty breakfast, I would highly recommend this place. They also offer lots of plate lunches and bentos. I’ve tried their beef stew and teri beef plate, which were both very good and tasty (sorry, no photos).

Kandi’s Drive Inn
56 W Kawailani Street
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 959-8461

in Aiea, Oahu

I used to come here more often in the past, but have stopped going for a while… until I sampled a bite of their loco moco, I had to come back for further investigation!

Koa Pancake House has 3 locations I know of (Aiea, Waipahu and Kaneohe). They look like they are doing great since they are constantly busy, especially during breakfast. We went to the Aiea location which is right next to McDonalds.

It was about 11am and the place was packed with people eating mostly breakfast items. Lots of pancakes, waffles and eggs… I also saw lots of burgers too. The inside has a very warm koa theme with koa walls and decorations, giving the restaurant a nice mellow ambiance.

I had to order the Fried Rice Loco Moco ($5.95).

A generous portion of fried rice with ham and crisp green onions topped with a tender grilled burger, tasty thick brown gravy, and two eggs. This loco moco tasted great, but there was something different about it. The problem was that it didn’t really taste like an authentic loco moco. It might’ve been the gravy: thicker than usual, tasting more like a salisbury steak type of gravy. Good stuff, but I wish it were less thick so that it would mix better with the rice. On the plus side, they did everything else great: the fried rice was very delicious , the burger was very tasty – slightly charred, and the eggs were nicely cooked too.

Bev ordered a “Lite Bite” which included 2 pancakes, 2 link sausages, and 1 egg ($3.75). Really good deal!

The pancakes tasted good and were very light and soft… but the inside was a bit too soft to me and Bev (probably a little undercooked?). Still, it tasted good. I also wished that the outside of the pancakes were a bit crispier too, but they weren’t. The link sausages were good and crisp (tasted like Farmer John’s). Good deal for $3.75.

Koa Pancake House has good food for a great price, although not the best you can get. Service was very friendly and everybody had smiles on their faces, including the customers, who seemed all very friendly. I would probably come back again for some breakfast or try some of their lunch items.

99-115 Aiea Heights Drive #256
Aiea, Hawaii 96701
488-8805, 488-8816

Here it is, the County Fair… one of the bigger events in Hilo. We don’t get much happening around here!

Below is the entertainment tent where you can listen to live music and eat da grinds.

The main reason I went was for the food. I’ve heard a lot of people say that they have the best fried rice loco moco here. Some of my friends even said that that’s the only reason they go! I was excited to go… first stop was the food/entertainment tent, of course!

Here’s a sampling of what was offered… sorry about the blurry pics.

Spareribs, Hawaiian Plate, Manong’s Filipino Food… they even had Zippy’s curry. Eagerly we searched for the loco moco tent… until…

Way at the end of the booths, the booth was there! Along with a long line… longer than any of the other lines, by far. It had to be good, right?

Here’s the Waiakea Pirate’s loco moco/fried rice menu.

Double Loco ($5.00), Fried Rice w/Egg ($4.00), Jaycee’s Special – fried rice, 1 egg, 1 hamburger patty ($5.50), Pirate’s Special – fried rice, 2 eggs, 2 hamburger patties ($6.50).

The eggs frying…

They use a huge wok to make the fried rice…

The condiments…

So, what to choose? Since I came all the way this way for the food, I had to get the biggest thing on the menu, the Pirate’s Special!

A huge serving of fried rice, 2 hamburger patties, 2 eggs, and gravy all over.

Here’s a closeup of the patties…

The Verdict?

Well, I had high expectations for this, and I tried to judge this loco moco fairly. I’ve also tried my best to enjoy it, but honestly, this was one of the worst loco mocos I’ve had!

The thing that brought it down the most was the burger patties. They were absolutely dry and crumbly, and the taste was bland and artificial tasting. It tasted almost like dog food (and yes, I’ve tried dog food before when I was little)! Why can’t they use homemade patties? The gravy was standard brown gravy – nothing special. The fried rice was just OK – a bit bland and mushy.

My friends said that this year was bad, but in the past years, it was better… so I really hope the loco mocos shape up next year. The Fair cannot continue like this! This is Hilo… we must represent with the loco mocos.

I’m glad I had a pepsi to wash it all down. *sigh*