The Feisty Foodie » Hawaiian

Da Kitchen

Feisty Foodie — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:15:01 +0000

One of my dearest friends – known to y’all on my blog simply as StB – recently got married in Maui, Hawaii. There was no way I was going to miss this for the world, so I took myself on a week long trip… read along as I share everything I ate on this incredible vacation!

On my last day in Hawaii, most people had left already, back home to reality after a week in Paradise… but RC and MY were doing things the other way and spending the week after the wedding in Hawaii instead. The day before, we’d talked about Kihei (where Alexander‘s is), so they called me to see if I wanted to walk with them up to Kihei to explore. Yes, absolutely – the walk along the beach up to Kihei from our resort in Wailea is so relaxing, so beautiful… hard to turn that down. While we were walking, I noticed Da Kitchen, which StB had mentioned to me earlier in the trip. I was starving by this time, so I suggested going inside to check it out, and RC & MY were both game.

After ordering, I quickly grabbed a can of guava juice, yum. Why don’t we have this in more places in NYC?

I’d ordered the Hawaiian plate, which came with potato mac salad. I LOVE Hawaiian potato mac salad, it’s a carb bomb waiting to explode in your stomach. I thought the side container was of pico de gallo or something… I will explain about that later.

The plate was huge.

First up, Kalua pork, which I love – this one was particularly salty but went exceptionally well with the fluffy white rice in the container, yum.

Chicken long rice, which was slightly less salty, had noodles of a sort in a very soupy mixture. I’d never had this before but enjoyed it a lot. RC, who got the same platter I did, also liked it.

Pork lau lau, wrapped in taro leaves, this is with the leaves open to show what’s inside. We had a lot of trouble telling what this was – because the menu had said we would get lomi salmon as well – and we spent time looking at it. The texture was… interesting, and the flavor was not very recognizable. Maybe this is something that you have to grow up with to like? I don’t know, it didn’t do it for us. We were all very confused and I found the flavor kind of bland.

As for the lomi salmon – it was in the small cup in the smaller box with the potato mac salad! Small cup of chopped tomatoes and onions with teeny bits of salt cured salmon. It took a while for us to find the salmon in our small cups, but it was funny as we were just like eh? Hahaha.

Our containers wound up being way too much food, so we all packed food to take with us on the rest of our walk.

Yvo says: I really enjoyed the more casual style of Da Kitchen and the food was all very good, albeit salty – I attribute that to most people eat their meats with the rice provided, while I tend to eat less carbs and so didn’t have too much rice to offset the saltiness of the food. I was happy to learn that the Kalua pork I eat at L&L Hawaiian BBQ is pretty close to what they serve in Hawaii! Though I think our platters were on the expensive side ($15.95), there was a ton of food, and I packed some to eat later on the plane, so that was a win in my book. Definitely check out Da Kitchen for some real Hawaiian food!
recommended

Tommy Bahama – Maui

Feisty Foodie — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:15:54 +0000

On Sunday, after a full day of relaxing by the infinity pool, many people had flights to catch that night so we needed a place nearby for dinner – our last big meal with everyone! After a lot of back and forth, Tommy Bahama was chosen for its proximity to the resort in case dinner ran late, as we were a party of 11 this time.

I wasn’t going to drink after drinking way too much at the wedding the night before, but a quick glance through the cocktail menu found a cocktail that was invented for me: the Cucumber Smash, which was Hendrick’s [gin], St. Germain [elderflower liqueur], and muddled cucumber. While this was very tasty, I was amused to find that it’d been made incorrectly – the cucumber was not muddled, just a slice tossed on top, so there was little to no cucumber flavor. The only reason I find this amusing? EPS, who sat across from me, noted that his Santiago Fizz had also been made incorrectly – something about the egg whites being treated improperly (let’s just say someone kept interrupting him so I never heard the full explanation… hahaha). That’s probably why I never ordered fizzes… the egg white thing skeeves me in case it all gets messed up, though I’ve noticed a resurgence in their popularity in the past year. In any case, while made incorrectly, my drink was still very tasty.

The lighting was really bad, apologies for the terrible photos – I started with the ahi poke napoleon with capers, sesame, guacamole and flatbread. The fish was fresh and very flavorful, loved scooping this onto pieces of flatbread and eating it.

Pretty generous portion size, too – I definitely didn’t finish this entire thing (don’t worry, it didn’t go to waste! – I gave half to EPS).

In return, I was rewarded with part of his appetizer: seared scallop sliders, with basil, roma tomatoes, chipotle aioli, Asian slaw, crispy onions. Don’t ask me what makes the slaw Asian – I didn’t try that part.

Honestly, I only tried a scallop because I wasn’t that hungry. The scallop was cooked perfectly – a lot of places overcook them and they become chewy nuggets of nothing. Pretty tender, and I imagine the overall slider was pretty good as I heard no further complaints from EPS.

For my main course, I opted for the Macadamia nut encrusted snapper, as it reminded me of a dish I’ve enjoyed at Roy’s many times. Something about the Macadamia nut crust just is fantastic – crunchy, while the inside reveals a very tender, moist fish. The wasabi soy butter on the bottom of the dish was great as well, though I wished they’d put just a touch more so I could dip every piece of fish in it, not just every other piece (the sauce was quickly finished by me, haha). I really liked my dish, though for $39.50 while sitting in a restaurant inside a clothing store inside a mall…

Also, a note that R, who was sitting across from me, ordered a chicken dish that arrived raw. No one else seemed to have a problem with their food, but hers was definitely undercooked in the center, which she discovered after eating a bite or two. Normally, she’d not have said anything, but it’s chicken, and just… what the heck? So our server brought it back to the kitchen, returned it a bit later, and… it was still very pink and wiggly. Very odd because they’d clearly tried to cook it more, but the texture was so off-putting that R couldn’t eat any more and just simply focused on eating her green beans. They took it off our bill, and offered to bring her something else, but she declined… I don’t know how she lasted over the next 12 hours of traveling home and everything!

Yvo says: While I enjoyed the food I ordered, there were definitely hits and misses all around the table, as I heard some people didn’t like some things they ordered. I couldn’t shake the nagging “tourist trap” feeling I got from the place, either; given that I paid $90 for all that I ate and ordered, I can’t comfortably recommend it. I’m positive you could find the same dishes even better at a local place instead of a chain restaurant inside a mall in Wailea… it just might require a little research, a little more time than 3 hours till flight time.
depends on what you’re seeking

Jawz Fish Tacos

Feisty Foodie — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:15:43 +0000

After our hike, we headed back to the resort to clean up and head out to eat again. I suppose some might call this the rehearsal dinner, but there was no rehearsing… just a lot of eating, hanging out with people, and catching up – for some of us. Jawz was super casual and awesome; as I took the above photo, a guy was walking in and held the door open for me and told me that he designed the logo himself. Turned out he was the owner, and we chatted briefly about the food and whatnot. I had my first experience with POG juice – the owner said he makes his own. Passion fruit, orange and guava juices – it was cloyingly sweet and syrupy thick, but that’s how it’s supposed to be – just not for me. Way too sweet for my tastes, but I know a few other people really liked it. (And I bet it would be really good mixed with alcohol…)

Because neither of us were very hungry, EPS and I decided to split an ahi fish taco salad. When it arrived, I was kind of like, errr… because it looks like canned tuna. Eating it proved that it clearly was not canned tuna – the fresh taste dissuaded the notion from my head very quickly – but I was disappointed that the tuna was broken up so much.

Foolishly, we just picked at the top part without paying much attention so we were REALLY full by the time we realized that hiding underneath the lettuce was all the interesting bits – beans, cilantro rice (which I really liked a lot), cheese… doh! Luckily, we’d jazzed up the top part with their salsa bar – black olives, various salsas, extra cilantro, and a bunch of other things I’m having trouble remembering… What I DO remember, however, is the existence of a salsa whose name, according to the card in front of it, was “Special Pink Sauce.” For your fish tacos. Yeah, we’re immature and had a field day with that…

Yvo says: Universally, everyone raved about the food – the various fish tacos ordered, taco salads, everyone had a great time. I only wish I’d been hungrier to enjoy the food more – but looking at the pics, this was the third meal of the day, and my body simply wasn’t ready for that much food (and so much of it rich, heavy, fried). Regardless, everyone around me enjoyed their food very much, and I would definitely go back if I visited Maui again!
recommended

Paia Fish Market

Feisty Foodie — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:15:33 +0000

After breakfast and some forced soccer watching, we headed over to meet everyone for Friday’s fun-tivities: a hike up Haleakala! But first, we drove to get lunch at Paia Fish Market. Unfortunately, I was still pretty full from breakfast, but I got lunch anyway – just in case the hike was more strenuous than I thought it would be…

After such a good experience at Alexander‘s, I was still craving more fish & chips, so I ordered that. The tartar sauce was great – lemony and flavorful, not just mayo with some chunks of pickle relish in there, and the small salad/cole slaw on the side was also very good (and my body was craving vegetables because there aren’t that many on the island). The fries were fine, and the fish itself was dense, meaty, cooked properly. I wouldn’t say better than Alexander’s, as theirs was lighter and less greasy, but this was still very good and I wouldn’t turn down a return visit!

Then we climbed Haleakala. My caption for the above photo (yes, I took that one, though plenty of people have similar photos, and I took it with my point&shoot): “We were above the cloud line, and I felt like I was flying…” sums it all up. Incredible views, incredible experience, incredible day…

Yvo says: Loved the casual fish market with good food – a number of people got the tuna burgers and also enjoyed those greatly. I didn’t hear anyone say they didn’t like the food – fried fish, fried calamari, fried shrimp were just a few of the things ordered by everyone. Yum!
recommended

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Post tags: fish market, fried fish, Paia

Longhi’s – Maui

Feisty Foodie — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:15:11 +0000

The next morning, I went to find breakfast somewhere outside of the resort before our next wedding group activity, and found myself at Longhi’s in the Shops at Wailea after the concierge said it was very good. I was joined by the best man, EPS, and we both started with the fresh squeezed orange juice, which was pretty good. Not pulpy which I don’t like.

The menu was pretty standard breakfast/brunch fare, which meant it didn’t interest me all that much. EPS and I both apparently don’t like sweet breakfast items – pancakes and the like, which is what most people rave about in Hawaii for breakfast it seems… The only savory item that was marginally different from what I can get in NYC was the lobster benedict, so I decided to splurge and go for it.

Interestingly, it was mostly body meat under that fluff of hollandaise, not the tail. Wonder what they use the tail for… some other dish, I suppose. In any case, the hollandaise sauce itself was impossibly fluffy – like it’d been whipped full of air! – and lemony, which I loved. The hollandaise itself was fantastic – I really wanted to lick my plate clean, but I don’t know EPS that well and didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. The lobster, though, was briny, and didn’t really go well with the hollandaise in my opinion… and the bread was just odd, didn’t work well – at least toast it! It was super soft, which made it hard to cut easily with the side of my fork. Weird.

I didn’t photograph EPS’s eggs florentine, but he seemed to like it as he ate it without comment – and if he hadn’t liked it, I’d have heard about it for sure. We all would have. Oh, and a few days later, he ordered it again, so I imagine he must’ve liked it the first time.

The eggs were poached properly on my plate, though interestingly, it seemed like there was hardly any egg white beyond a thin shell around the perfectly raw yolk. The very runny yolk made me happy though! I was perfectly satisfied and full after this, and it fueled me for our hike up Haleakala.

The morning after the wedding, a bunch of us met up for breakfast again at Longhi’s. This time I opted for the Hawaiian pancakes with macadamia nuts, topped with bananas and served with coconut syrup. I asked that they leave out the coconut syrup though. (See my Mets watch on the table? Represent!) The pancakes were super fluffy and quite tasty, but I discovered, once again, that if I don’t like a food, I shouldn’t try eating it because it’s unlikely I’ll suddenly like it. I think I ate 1/3 of one pancake before pushing aside the whole plate to focus on something else.

Someone had mentioned really liking the home fries, so I added that as a side when I got the pancakes, just in case the pancakes proved too sweet. Don’t get me wrong – these were tasty, and you know my love of potatoes, right? But they weren’t particularly better than most places’ home fries. Good, just not amazing, didn’t have anything to set them apart from other places really.

Yvo says: It’s really nice to sit and eat at this place, especially steps from our resort as it was, but given a choice, I don’t think I’d return. Hands down I’d walk or drive somewhere farther away to enjoy something local, cheap and real… this felt a little touristy to me, which makes sense given that it’s in the middle of a bunch of high end shops (LV, Tiffany, Coach, Gucci, etc.). Oh well, can’t complain about hanging out with my friends while we’re in Hawaii instead of going off by myself for better/cheaper food
eat there once if you’re staying nearby, but don’t go out of your way for this