Big Island Grinds

Nori’s has always been one of my favorite places to have a great bowl if saimin. Unfortunately, it’s like their broth is getting saltier and saltier every visit!

This is one of my favs: small saimin and burger combo. Nori’s burgers are always awesome… freshly made thick juicy patties. Once in awhile the saimin broth is just right and drinkable, but lately, like on this visit, it was so salty I could only eat the noodles.

Nori’s please taste your broth before sending it out. I love everything else about you!

Such a nice place! Feels like I’m in Paris and I’ve never even been there before.

La Provencal crepe ($10). Chicken breast, spinach, mushrooms, mozzarella, mustard.

Alaska crepe (half size) with side salad ($10). Red salmon, spinach, artichoke, mozzarella, olives.

Both crepes were delicious! Crepe was so light, thin and moist and fillings were very flavorful and fresh. They use a special “magic” sauce which is super ono too.

Also offered here are desert crepes and other French inspired dinner items.

Le Magic Pan
64 Keawe St., Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-7777

Some of the best cold noodles and pho in town at this tiny restaurant.

Great prices and nice service. They also have some mean cake noodles!

235 Waianuenue Ave
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 933-2808

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 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

Sweet, a brand new restaurant right in the heart of Hilo!  Hi-Ho Mongolian Grill, a franchise with other locations in Illinois and Iowa, opened just a few days ago. It was pretty busy when we got in, like any new place opening in Hilo… anything new is super exciting for us!

It’s a pretty neat concept:  you choose a bowl size (little khan, mighty khan, barbarian khan), or all you can eat, then you fill it up with a nice variety of veggies and meats…

… they had seafood too… shrimp and scallops…

… some noodles too… don’t be shy to pile it up since it shrinks.

Then the fun part, putting on your sauces!  I wasn’t feeling too adventurous so I just followed the recommended recipe on the sign and added a bit more of the “mongolian fire oil” — spicy stuff! (click on the image to make big)….

Then you hand it over to one of the chefs and they cook your food on this HUGE flat wok which gets super hot.  It was a lot of fun watching — they totally put on a show, throwing the bowls and food in the air.

Finished bowl (mighty khan “medium” size).  Pretty huge.  Next time I’ll get the smaller bowl… or get the bigger bowl and take home the leftovers.

Served with a great tasting egg drop soup and bowl of rice.  It’s a lot of food!

They even have a little desert which comes with the meal… some fresh fruits and pudding.

It was all very yummy and fresh.  I would come back another time.  Next time I will change my sauce recipe… it was a bit too sweet and salty for me.  I’ll be more adventurous next time.

Prices are pretty reasonable (click to make big):

Service was very nice and friendly too.  It’s great that we have this new place in Hilo!