Big Island Grinds

Bev and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary here and it was wonderful! We had such a great time. The food was amazingly fresh and super ono. Ambiance was really warm/intimate, and the service was friendly… and not too obtrusive, which was nice since it was our anniversary.

They offer different places to sit. You can choose outside or inside on tables, the sushi bar, or on the floor in the tatami room. We wanted to sit in the tatami room… it’s really cozy.

We started with some nice genmaicha (green tea, $5 a pot).

The kitchen brought out little samples of roasted eggplant with tomato and creme fraiche on a toasted baguette which were delicious. I love it when the kitchen surprises you with little goodies!

We then ordered some sushi! Starting with some local snapper ($8) and Maguro ($6).

Hamachi ($7) and more Maguro (since it was so good!).

Wowzers this is some ono sushi! Super fresh and was prepared perfectly. The waitress said that the fish just came in that afternoon. Too bad they never had some of the other sushi we wanted (chutoro & saba) — she said that they only will serve the fish if it’s absolutely fresh. It was a great to know how important freshness is to them.

At this point, we ordered a couple Kirin beers on tap.

We had to try one of their rolls. This is the Four Tower roll ($12 or $14, i forget).

You know, I don’t remember exactly what was in here… I think it was some kind of combination of tuna, salmon, yellowtail, shrimp, crab, avocado, fried up tempura style… for sure I got that wrong… anyone who knows please post a comment. It was scrumptiously good. My only problem with rolls is that it’s hard to appreciate all the ingredients in the roll… especially with top quality ingredients like this, but as a whole, it was yummy. The sauce was nice and spicy and it came with a wakame salad.

We were tempted to just eat more sushi, but had to try one of their entrees (for research reasons, I told Bev). It was really hard to choose. We decided on their Wok Lacquered Prawns with Caramelized Onions ($17).

Hoooo brah. Dis was seriously broke da mout’! For real, these prawns were super juicy and cooked perfectly. The caramalized onions rocked. The sauce was so tasty — very very rich and not too sweet. It complimented the prawns perfectly. Very generous portion too.

And for desert, a Kona coffee chocolate cake with tahitian vanilla cream and chocolate sauce ($8 I think?).

Now I’ve had a lot of chocolate cakes, but I gotta say this was one of the best I’ve ever had. What made this one special is how well the coffee complimented the chocolate. It had a very deep dark roasted nutty flavor. The cake as a whole also was not too sweet, which allowed the chocolate and coffee shine. Add to it the Tahitian vailla and the rich chocolate sauce, and it was perfect! The Tahitian vanilla cream had a really nice flowery sweet flavor. Could it get any better???

Thank you Fujimamas for the wonderful time. It was very memorable! We will be back.

Fujimamas Restaurant & Sushi Bar
75-5719 Alii Drive (right next to Panchos & Lefty down a small alley off of Ali’i Drive)
Kailua Kona, HI 96740
(808) 327-2125
www.fujimamas.com

Yay! Found some great takoyaki at the farmer’s market today. First time seeing this vendor here. Really nice guy! After chatting a bit, we found out they are associated with Miyo’s (not sure how, though).

We went early, so they just got setup and it was still hot and fresh and so moist. Very tasty!

They also had some taiyaki (Japanese pancakes) filled with sweet red beans, cheese, or cinnamon apple. We got two red bean pancakes. They were so good too! Still warm and toasty.

Come early because they seemed very popular! I hope this vendor stays here for awhile.

P.S. Stay posted… Bev and I just celebrated our 2 year anniversary and went to Fujimamas. Man, that was one of the best meals ever! I’ll post again within a week.

We went go holoholo with some friends in Kona… and we ate at Sushi En Fuego, a brand new restaurant on Waterfront Row. This place is so new, they didn’t even have their liquor license yet… which is good news! You can spend more $$ trying the food and drink your own booze! We ended up dragging a cooler filled to the brim with beer. *good times*

Sushi En Fuego translates to “Sushi on Fire” — it’s supposedly a fusion of Latin and Japanese. Most of their offerings are spicy and they have a good variety of sushi and non-sushi items. Ambiance is beautiful here at sunset since many of the tables are on a balcony. Service is also very attentive and fast. Our first dishes were served in under 10 minutes.

Shiro Maguro (albacore) slightly seared ($5.50). Very fresh and wonderfully creamy texture… no fishy flavor. Best news? Huge pieces of fish! There was a light sauce on it and the rice was good texture. Great start.

Spicy Tuna Roll ($6). Very good. Nice brief spicy kick. Bev thought the spiciness was just right — I thought it should be spicier. Avocado made for a good pairing.

“Pollo Lolo” Chicken Skewers w/Mac nut miso sauce ($10). We all loved these. The chicken was nicely charred with a sweet cumin flavor. Accompanying it was a spicy mango salsa (which was excellent) with homemade chips.

Red Dragon Roll ($14). Spicy tuna, cucumber topped with unagi, masago, bonito and eel sauce. This was mouthwatering. I love unagi.

Left: Beef and Reef ($13) - Soft shell crab, daikon sprouts, asparagus topped with seared beef and tataki sauce.
Right: Catepillar Roll ($13) - Unagi, avocado, masago.

I wasn’t able to try either of these. *tear* I’m sure they were good though… how can go wrong??

Salmon Cerviche w/ mango and lime ($12). I only heard from across the table that this was “really good”. *sigh*

Lobster Roll with Tempura Asparagus ($12). Nice balance of lobster and crispy asparagus. They didn’t skimp on the lobster either. Very yummy!

Tempura Spicy Tuna Mushrooms ($11). I never got to try these, but my friends said that it was their “favorite” and “make sure to tell them it was reaaaally good on your blog”. Hahahaa…

Dessert time! Tempura Banana Split ($6) — this was one of their specials. Wow. This one was so delicious! The bananas were fried tempura style and they were really sweet and juicy. The chocolate sauce was very rich. Three scoops of ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry). If you only have $6, just get this. The only funky thing was that they fried the cherries tempura style — it made them have a really bitter flavor… but we thought it was funny. Tempura maraschino cherries????

Overall, we all had a great time here at Sushi En Fuego. The food, ambiance, and service was all top notch. Highly recommended!

Sushi En Fuego
(808) 331-2200
Waterfront Row, Kailua Kona
Hours: 11-3 & 5-10 (Tues-Sat), 4-9 (Sun), Closed Mondays

Hilo town was rockin’ with the best Hawaiian music and sooo much food! It’s amazing how much people gather for this… I’m sure this is the largest event every year on the Big Island. See my last post for an aerial shot from last year. It felt like this year was even huger!

Last year, I had a sad experience: I was so indecisive about what to eat that I ended getting a generic BBQ chicken plate, and after, I had a very empty feeling deep down inside. This year, my strategy changed: walk around and just try a little bit of everything… plus, now that I have a wonderful wife, it’s easy to share portions… quality not quantity, right?

So here is our Ho’olaule’a food adventures!

First, we started off with some pupus.

1/4lb poke ($3.00) from Poke Your Way. What was really cool is that after you order your poke, you can add on what you like to your own poke from a nice tray of condiments (no additional cost). We added in some ogo seaweed, inamona (kukui nuts), green onions, and a chili pepper (this guy is hot!). The ahi was very fresh and nicely seasoned with crunchy hawaiian salt. It was good poke… melt in da mouth kine!

Next, we moved on to Nori’s tent for a bowl of…

Saimin! ($3.00) Man, Nori’s makes a really good bowl of saimin. Their noodles are so fresh tasting — they have a nice chewy texture to them. Their broth is also very flavorful and rich.

How about some lau lau ($4.00)? This was from Ka ‘Uhane Hemolele Ka Malamalama Church… some long da church name. These guys have a lunch wagon right off bayfront. I always wondered how their food is. So how was the lau lau? ONO BRAH! Everything was so moist and there was a nice piece of fat (very important). Nice size too… and good balance of luau leaf and pork. Recommended.

Pizza Hawaii had a stand, but I didn’t get to take a photo. We ordered a slice of pepperoni pizza ($4.00), and it was so yummy! I love thin crust pizzas and this one was very thin crust NY style. The crust at the end had a nice bubbly crust too. Excellent… best in Hilo maybe?

We wanted to get some malasadas from that place in Papaikou called Baker Tom’s since I’ve heard they have good malasadas, but they were out!

So we got some ice shave from Higa’s instead.

Vanilla and Strawberry ($3.00). This was almost a great ice shave… the ice was very light, fine shaved, and the syrup was really tasty. But the guy pouring the syrup didn’t put enough syrup and the middle was just ice.

Ok, we are pretty satisfied.

We didn’t have room to try Aunty Peaches “Onolicious Poi Balls”. There was a huge line for this.

That’s ok. We were so happy that we got to try a lot of different Hilo foods all in one place. So much better than just a BBQ chicken plate lunch!

This is how packed it gets where the food is.

Oh yeah, and the music was awesome!

Kapena and Ho’onua! They were both really fun.

Can’t wait for next year!

One wouldn’t expect to find a place such as Hilo Bay Cafe in Hilo. Just take a look at this place.

Where are we? It looks like some chic jazz cafe in San Fransisco or something. Well, I’ve actually never been to one, but it feels like this would be something like it. A full bar, warm lighting, and light jazz music are some of the first things you’ll notice as you walk in. The staff is very warm, friendly, and professional.

Sometimes it’s nice to “get out of Hilo”.

I started with one of my favorite beers (and they have it on tap!), a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I got so excited to drink it that I almost forgot to take a photo.

We were served a plate of bread and butter.

This baguette was one of the best I’ve ever had. The crust was very rich, hard and crusty. Inside was moist with a very dense crumb — chewy and tasty. So good. Anybody know where they get their bread from?

The French Onion Soup ($5) was good and came with a generous amount of stretchy cheese. I only wish that the toast in the soup was more toasty, since it was more soggy than anything.

Warm bacon spinach salad with blue cheese and apples ($8). This was really good. The bacon was really hearty, and the cheese was rich. The spinach was fresh with a nice tangy sweet dressing. Apples were a nice touch too.

Blue Bay Burger with Gorgonzola Cheese and Garlic Fries ($8) — half portion shown since I shared it. This was great. The burger tasted very fresh and was nice and thick… it went great with the gorgonzola cheese. The tomato and lettuce were really fresh too. Fries were crisp with a subtle garlic flavor — very good.

Also ordered was a Blackened Ahi Caesar with Organic Baby Romaine ($9). This one was said to be really good. I got to try the Ahi and it was very flavorful and fresh. The romaine looked nice and crisp too.

I’ve already been here a few times, and Hilo Bay Cafe never fails to impress with their fresh organic ingredients, relaxing ambience, and great drinks. Their prices are also very reasonable. Highly recommended!

Hilo Bay Cafe
315 Makaala Street, Hilo, HI 96720
Phone: (808) 935-4939

Brah, it was one scorcha of a day in Hilo Town today. Plus, I was off of work because it was Kamehameha day, so no air conditioned office. But I’m not complaining. I was able to enjoy one of the great pleasures in Hilo while getting some much needed sun! (I gotta be one of the whitest Filipinos)

So what would you do if you were driving down this road at high noon? I’m sure you know the answer!

Mr. Itsu himself was there making ice shave for everybody. Bev and I ordered a Coconut Deluxe Bowl. Deluxe means that the ice shave comes with vanilla ice cream and azuki beans (made as a sweet red yummy paste). I’ll let the photos explain…

A nice scoop of vanilla ice cream is put on the bottom of the bowl/cup.

Next, the azuki bean paste is layered over.

Then shaved ice is put on top and formed into a nice big ball.

Pour some a generous amount of coconut syrup, and you get the bestest ice shave on the Island!

It was perfect and so refreshing. The shaved ice was really fluffy and the syrup was really tasty, and the azuki bean paste adds a nice tangy texture. Bev really liked the ice cream too.

Itsu’s is also famous for their $0.95 hot dogs, and now I know why. They are so good.

You can choose what to put on the hot dog. Get “da yellow sauce” (they’ll know what you mean) — it seems to be a combination of mayo, mustard, and maybe relish. The bun was served very soft and moist. The hot dog is the red kine (redondos?) — really juicy. It all just melts in da mouth and everything tasted so good together. Especially with an ice shave in the other hand. Highly recommended.

Other Posts on Itsu’s:

• Itsu’s Kim Chi Burger and Loco Moco
• Itsu’s Plate Lunch

Itsu’s Fishing Supplies Inc
810 Piilani St Hilo
(808) 935-8082