From top left, clockwise:  eggplants, okra, avocados (so buttery), apple bananas (sweetest), white sugar loaf pineapple (like pure sugar), cilantro (super fragrant), long beans, bittermelon, jalapenos, and the most juicy ripe local tomatoes.

We go to the farmer’s market here in Hilo at least once a week to stock up on our produce with the tastiest organic fruits and vegetables ever, grown locally.  So much cheaper and better than the stuff shipped in… why buy anywhere else?

I find it crazy when I go to a restaurant here and find a tastless rock hard tomato on my burger or salad.  We live in such a fertile place with cheap produce.  Buy local!

Koji’s Bento! So easy to miss… just a small hole in the wall near the Hilo Farmer’s Market. This place has been here forever… they are famous for their homestyle loco mocos, but offer all kine local comfort foods. Took a few snaps of their menus…

Here it is… Koji’s Deluxe Loco ($6.50)!

My good friend introduced this to me back in college days and it’s exactly how I remember it. 2 hamburger patties, 2 eggs, portugese sausage, kim chee, and mac salad. (btw, this was ready in less than 3 minutes… they are so fast here). Isn’t it a thing of beauty? Sure, it may not be the most gourmet loco, but judging it as a whole with the great homemade kim chee and mac salad, it truly is amazing.

Another must try… the best hangover cure ever… Koji’s Breakfast Burger:

Homestyle teri burger, egg, crispy bacon, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions on a fresh sweet bread bun.  Super good.

Koji’s Bento Korner Inc.
52 Ponahawai St
Hilo, HI 96720

(808) 935-1417

Readers have been telling me that Maona has some mean grinds. Finally made it here! A little 2-man operated lunch counter right next to the Farmer’s Market.

Their menu is simple but looks so good! Unfortunately, they were already out of rice. They are known to have some good plate lunches so we were bummed.

We just went for some sandwiches. Blackjack burger ($6.50).

Mahi burger ($6.50).

The covers on these plates could barely stay closed. Huge burgers and huge amount of crispy homemade fries. My burger was thick and juicy with a nice spice rub. Nice grill marks. Best $6.50 I’ve spent on a burger! Bev’s mahi was super fresh and perfectly seasoned. Only thing is that it could’ve used a little more mahi.

Definitely will be back for their plate lunches!

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.

What? This place is one of the most popular restaurants in Hilo and I never even covered it yet! I have a backlog of photos of various places so I better start posting more.

Cafe Pesto has always had good food and has a great location in the Historic S. Hata building near the Farmer’s Market in Downtown Hilo. I love how it’s casual yet still fancy… good for a nice dinner date, party or a quick lunch. Ambiance is warm, open, and comfortable. Sounds fill the room with kitchen noises and neighboring conversations.

My three favorite things here are (and they do them very well): Beer, Pizza, and Salad. Yes, I’m a simple guy.

There’s a nice variety of beers on tap from local breweries and this is a Pipeline Porter from Kona Brewing Company which has 100% Kona Coffee in it. You really can taste the sweet coffee flavor. I loved it! Very smooth, dark and frothy.

Chicken Lolla Rosa ($10.95) – Grilled free-range chicken tossed with organic baby greens, local sweet onions, vine-ripened organic tomatoes, dressed with a cilantro-caesar dressing. Wonderful combination of flavors. The chicken was flavorful and perfectly grilled. The cilantro-caesar dressing was the highlight of this dish and had a really refreshing dominant cilantro kick.

Ahhh, the pizzas… the first one is the basic Pizza Margherite with just cheese (12″ for $10.95) and it is a great to have with a salad. The second one is the Pizza Luau, which has kalua pork, local sweet onions and pineapples (9″ for $10.95). Both are excellent. The crust is what makes the pizzas here so good; very bubbly, crusty and chewy. One of my favorite pizzas in Hilo.

Reid from Ono Kine Grindz also went here recently. Service has generally been good the past times I’ve been here, but unfortunately he had a different experience.

Café Pesto
S Hata Building
308 Kamehameha Avenue
Hilo, Hawaii
Telephone: 808.969.6640
www.cafepesto.com

Need a little break from shopping at the Hilo Farmer’s Market? Check out Hilo Bay Sugar Shack, located right next to the Farmer’s Market. They make a great halo halo, the popular Filipino desert.

The fruits in the halo halo were really good, especially the shredded coconut, which tasted really fresh. There were even slices of fresh avocado and it was topped with a cherry (kind of odd, no?). Make sure to top it with ube ice cream! It’s the only way to have it. Maybe they get some of their fruits from the Farmer’s Market, which is why it tastes really good.

They also serve ice shave, ice cream, smoothies, and other kind of snacks.

Yesterday morning we headed out to the Farmer’s Market, which is becoming part of our weekly routine. The sun was out, the market was packed with people, and we were hungry. So we made our way through the crowd and found our way to a vendor that sells all kinds of musubis and Filipino foods. Choosing what foods to buy was a tough one because everything looked good, but here is what we got…

… spam and egg musubi, teriyaki chicken musubi, and a tray of pancit. The drink we got from a nearby vendor — a fresh lilikoi drink for only $1! And da guy even wen put ice for free!

After our adventures at the market, we took our food back home to eat. First things first on my list of foods to try: the PANCIT! There wasn’t any meat in this pancit but was still really ono. It was mostly veggies and noodles, and oh yah! Kalamansi, which is a small lime that has a tangy and a little sour flavor — squeezing the juices all over the pancit is an essential part of the whole experience.

Next, was their spam and egg musubi. A very flavorful musubi, I must say. I think the furikake and proportions of the musubi were just right. It was much better than a 7-11 Spam and Egg Deluxe Musubi. I wish I could say the same about the teriyaki chicken musubi, though. There was too much rice and the chicken was kinda dry. Kinda hard to eat, too, since had too much rice. I’ll need a bigger mouth to take one good bite of it!

Finally, to wash down all the yummy foods we ate, we got our lilikoi drink with ice. It was freshly made and very refreshing — matched especially well with the spam and egg musubi.

This was a pleasant and fulfilling breakfast from the Farmers Market. I look forward to trying more things from this vendor next time, possibly their Arroz Caldo (rice soup). I heard it’s another popular choice from there.

We just want to thank everyone for all your wishes in the last post. We got wedding pictures up so you can view them at http://jamesrubio.net/wedding.

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

On the way to the farmer’s market, I always pass by this trumpet player…

There are also some interesting looking eateries neighboring the farmer’s market…

There is a place for Hawaiian food, Samoan food, and even an Awa bar! I heard good things about the Samoan restaurant, so I hope to pay a visit there soon.

Right around the corner is the main tent of the Farmer’s market. There are also two other tent structures across the street. Altogether, it’s a pretty huge market!

One of my favorite things to get from the farmer’s market are the Peruvian tamales. I have no idea if this is how they make them in Peru, but who cares?? They taste so good that I have to come back at least every couple weeks for them!

You can buy 1 for $2.00, or 5 for $8.00. She also sells great burritos and fresh lemonade for $1.00, but the tamales are the best! I ordered one chicken tamale (there is also vegetarian), and she took one out of a warm cooler. She then opened the tamale up and put a cilantro based salsa on it. The tamale’s corn dough is very light, slightly crumbly, and full of texture and flavor. The filling of chicken is great and the cilantro salsa is oily, which brings everything together perfectly. Yum!!!

Hilo Farmer’s Market is a must-visit place for locals and tourists alike. You just can’t beat the freshness and the price of everything here. Also, make sure to visit the other tents across the street, which have a lot of homemade crafts, artwork, and clothing.

Corner of Mamo Street and Kamehameha Ave.
Hilo Farmers Market – PO Box 34 – Hilo, Hawaii 96720
(808) 933-1000
www.hilofarmersmarket.com

Here’s the entrance to Reuben’s. Notice the help wanted ad. I want to apply just to learn how they make their food.

It was pretty packed on a Saturday night, so make reservations if you come after 7pm. They are closed on Sunday.

The bar with loads of different tequilas and beers.

Tequila shot menu.

I ordered my usual double margarita on the rocks. The double actually means 3-5 shots of tequila. I see them pouring it and they just keep pouring!

…

They serve salsa verde to every table. It’s very hot and flavorful. It goes great with their chips and with most of their dishes. One taste and you’ll know that this is no Taco Bell.

I ordered the beef nachos ($6.00).

The beef nachos are amazing. The beef is very tender and full of flavor, like they stewed it for hours. The chips are homemade and taste so crisp and fresh. I like to pour on the hot sauce and sprinkle pepper as I go. You don’t know how good this tasted since I missed lunch today!

From another visit, a Beef Enchilada with beans and rice ($7.00).

The beef enchiladas are very tasty with the same tender beef used in the nachos and the enchilada sauce is just wonderful, bringing everything together. The beans and rice are equally ono, too… the beans have a really rich moist flavor.

Paying…

Reuben also makes great chicken flautas, pork chile verde, guacamole, chile relenos, and more! The prices are very reasonable.

Thank you Reuben. See you next week.

Reuben’s Mexican Food
336 Kamehameha Ave
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
(808) 961-2552