Big Island Grinds

Bev and I went camping recently at Volcano National park to celebrate her birthday. At 4000′ elevation, campground Namakanipaio is so beautiful and peaceful, not to mention super duper cold! There are tall eucalyptus and ohi’a trees on this large, grassy campground.

One night of camping is pretty much the max we can do, and afterwards, all we want is a good shower and a nice hot sit-down meal. We went to check out the Volcano House, where they had a lunch buffet which looked and smelled yummy. They also have a regular sit-down and order menu for dinner time.

Here’s their menu for the day:

Generally, I try to stay away from buffets since quality usually suffers (like the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel Buffet), and there was a huge line of tourists getting into the restaurant. Make sure not to go right after a tour bus arrives. We both felt like we were the only “locals”, and I think we were. No matters, anything hot sounds great right now, and their menu didn’t look too bad.

After paying, you split into two lines and go directly to the food.

We were sandwiched by two groups: Japanese and Canadians. It was easy to tell which group their from just by looking at their plates… the Canadians didn’t have rice. Both groups seem to pick up a lot of pineapple from their fresh fruit platter.

Here’s my plate:

Yes, we just spent one night freezing in a tent and skipped breakfast, so anything may have tasted good, but this food was delicious! The pot roast beef was amazingly tender, juicy, perfectly seasoned and had nice pieces of fat. The fried chicken had a great crunchy crust with really juicy tasty meat. The mahi was not bad at all and was not overcooked. Mac salad was winnas, and the green salad was fresh. This really didn’t taste like mass produced buffet food — I was truly impressed.

I went for seconds and totally got my $16.50 worth. Even comes with drinks, coffee, and dessert (tasted like haupia cake – was just ok).

This was a great deal if you already payed park admission (10 bucks), and what makes it even better is the view you get, overlooking the Kilauea Caldera. After eating, we went for a very slow walk along one of the crater trails.

Volcano House
Crater Rim Drive
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Hawaii, HI 96718

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

After trying a slice of pepperoni from these guys at the recent Ho’olaulea, we had to come back for more at their restaurant location at the Puainako Town Center (across Mc Donalds). Plus, Bev found one of these coupons…

What a deal! (not my cow clip holder)

It smelled so good inside. There were some guys in the back slicing pizzas while a girl was tossing and spinning pizza dough. Another cool thing about this place is that they have a bunch of board games you can pick up and play with at the table.

These two guys were playing Connect Four as they ate their pizza and enjoyed some beer (I assume this place is BYOB since they don’t offer any liquor).

We ordered 2 pepperoni slices ($0.96 + $0.55topping x 2 = $3.02), an additional “New Yorker” slice ($3.45), and a side salad ($2.95) for take out.

This is New York style pizza with beautiful thin bubbly crusty crust. Unfortunately, I’ve never tried a “real” New York style pizza, but if the pizza here is any representation of what’s in NY, I already know I love it! The crust is what makes a pizza, and it was fantastic with great texture and bite, especially on the outer ends. In the middle, the crust is very thin, which really brings out the sauce (really rich and tasty), generous layering of cheese and pepperoni. The salad was also very good and fresh. The ranch dressing also tasted really nice… homemade maybe? It tasted really creamy… almost yogurty.

I gotta say that this was some of the best pizza I’ve ever had… very likely the best on the Big Island! My other favorite is Cafe Pesto, which is excellent pizza… but it’s just not the same. Big Island Pizza is also good, with a variety of gourmet toppings, but the crust just doesn’t have the same kind of crusty texture as Pizza Hawaii.

I’m so glad Hilo has this place.

Pizza Hawaii
Puainako Town Centre
Hilo, HI 96720
Phone: (808) 959-9932
Fax: (808) 959-9566

I’ve posted before about Sputnik’s wonderfully soft butter rolls and delicious buttermilk rolls, but never actually went inside until recently. They are also famous for their special burgers. Looks like a research job for Big Island Grinds!

The menu was written on a dry erase board and had a small selection of plate lunches along with “Sputnik Burgers”. There were a lot of people inside, but mostly waiting for their orders, so I didn’t have to wait long to order.

The sputnik burger selection was Teri Beef, Turkey Ham, and Tuna. We chose a Teri Beef and Turkey Ham. We also ordered a chili bowl just in case the burgers weren’t enough to fill us up.

Pretty interesting burgers huh? It looks sort of like a baked manapua, but it feels much softer and the filling is spread out more evenly rather than it being all in the center. What a clever idea! It also tasted great. I think the bread made it happen — it was so soft and had a sweet “fresh baked” taste, maybe a little like sweet bread. The fillings also complimented the bread. The teri burger had a filling of finely ground hamburger with a sweet and tangy flavor. The turkey ham one had a nice strong salty ham flavor, finely chopped. Very easy to eat, but not enough! I would need 2 or 3 of these to make a meal. Bev did fine with just one though.

I must also note that these burgers also make wonderful omiyage (gifts). You can purchase them in bulk chilled to bring on the plane.

We also shared a chili bowl. It was pretty bad actually. Way too sweet — it tasted like sweet relish mixed with meat and beans. It also had way too much rice and just a thin layer of chili. I hate it when places make the chili to rice ratio like 1 part chili 10 parts rice.

While waiting for our order, most people were ordering their plate lunches. They seemed pretty popular. I would come back again to try their plate lunches and definitely come back for more Sputnik Burgers and Butter Rolls! Be warned though, the butter rolls are only available on Friday.

Sputniks
811 Laukapu St. B-10
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 961-2066

We stayed over for a night in Kona for the long Labor Day weekend, and it was so nice! The beach, sunsets, and all the people… it reminds me of Waikiki a little bit, but less crowded.

There were also canoe races at Kailua Bay, which my friend told me is the biggest canoe race in the world. Even Japan was there representing with their flag hanging from the back of their canoe!

We wanted to watch the race and we were hungry too, so we chose to have burgers and beer at Splasher’s Grill. They had a perfect view of the race. The burgers also looked very good and juicy.

We ordered two Big Splash Burgers and I had a Fire Rock Pale Ale (so yummy!).

The Big Splash Burger has a thick 1/2lb beef patty, sesame seed bun, 2 slices of cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickle, and a choice of fries, onion rings or green salad. Our neighbor had onion rings, and they were HUGE — would like to try those next time. This burger was so good! The patty was especially very juicy and flavorful. The toppings were all fresh, and the cheese was a nice rich cheddar. The bun was also nice and toasty. Bev loved the fries — they “stayed crispy from start to finish”.

Splasher’s Grill was a great choice if you want a good burger and fries, plus the view can’t be beat!

Check out what else we saw in Kona!

Reid, I didn’t know you had your own restaurant!!

I really wanted to go here, but never had the chance to.

On the way back to Hilo in Waimea, someone noticed me from my blog. I never expected that to happen! Whoever that was, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to talk more… my hands were full (of rice and poke from Foodland) and we were just about to leave, but it was nice meeting you… have you left a comment here before? Thanks for saying hi!

And lastly, we don’t get these in Hilo…

Splashers Grill
75 Alii Dr
Kailua Kona, HI 96740
(808) 329-9694

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