Hello Dance!

Eating My Way Around the Big Island

30 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment

by hellodance in Good Eatin', Places I Go Tags: adventure, food, hawaii, historical landmarks, malasadas, road trip, sushi

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Mom, Grandma and I went on a serious drive today and ate our way around the island. We started out in Kealakekua and began our journey north.

Stop 1: Brewalalai (pink arrow)

Hualalai is the name of the dormant volcano that overlooks Kailua-Kona. It is scheduled to erupt again, oh, any moment now, but my neighbors don’t seem concerned. This coffee shop, on the slopes of its namesake, serves up coffee al fresco and sells its own unique brew. We were going to need it at 8:30 this morning if we expected to have any kind of get up and go for the 5 hours of driving ahead.

Stop 2: Parker Ranch, Waimea (purple arrow)

Traditionally, we stop here in Waimea to use their fantastic restroom facilities…

… and the view:

I couldn’t take any pictures of the horses, cows, sheep, goats and the occasional emu because we were too busy speeding past them to get to our next stop. Believe me I tried, as you can see here. Just kidding about the emu, by the way. No such thing as emu’s on the Big Island… right?

Stop 3: Tex’s Drive-In (Yellow Arrow)

Malasadas are (depending on who you talk to) pastries from either the Philippines or Portugal. They’re balls of fried dough dipped in regular cane sugar. If you’re gonna plan on getting  fat, I say simplicity is best. We used to stop here at Tex’s all the time to pick up a dozen or so to bring to family members on the Hilo side as an Omiyage (trans: gift in Japanese). Not so much anymore seeing as carbs are such a bad thing nowadays. Damn you, Dr. Atkins!

I couldn’t justify passing up this opportunity today, however. Today was a day of throwing caution to the wind. And when your day starts off with fried dough, you can’t expect to spend the rest of your road trip eating carrots. It’s only gonna get better.

Stop 4: Paauilo Store (blue arrow)

This roadside shop sells all sorts of  sundries and was set up in an old plantation style building, probably the plantation’s credit union. It still has the sign from plantation times, which you can see in this flickr set, along with other plantation style buildings (including the neighborhood where my grandma grew up). But we didn’t come for the history! We came for the food!

I’m used to Grandma’s futomaki, which is a roll of rice wrapped in nori, filled with a center of pink and white fishcake, seasoned canned tuna, dried mushrooms, cucumber and fried scrambled egg. They’ve innovated the concept at the Paauilo Store by filling the maki rolls with teriyaki chicken OR fried chicken katsu with katsu sauce, fishcake, furikaki and SPAM. Oh, the comforts of my childhood. These we were going to save for later, though.

Stop 5: Cafe Pesto, Hilo (light blue arrow)

This is a favorite of my mom’s and mine. It faces the waterfront, which was once destroyed by a Tsunami in the 1920s. The town is still very quaint, and feels a bit like you’ve passed through a time warp. See the rest of the pictures of the town’s antiquated architecture in this flickr set. But again, we’re not here for the history. So bring on the food!

Grandma had the Pesto Burger, Mom had the Wood-Roasted Chicken Risotto, and I had the Hakalau Sandwich and for dessert… Oh dessert. Check out the whole menu on their website here.

Coconut Tart

Creme Brulee

Lilikoi Cheesecake

As it always goes whenever I come home, I’m just so excited to be having food with my family that I always ALWAYS eat too much and my stomach was hurting for hours. But was the meal worth all the pain? It SURE WAS.

There were pros and cons to each of the dishes. Mom felt the risotto was a little too salty, but Grams was impressed with the size of the burger. The Hakalau Sandwich, while simple with just the kalua turkey filling didn’t need much else, the mango chutney was a nice addition.

The big winners were the desserts. Mom and Grandma both share a sweet tooth, so the Tart with vanilla syrup and Cheesecake with the Fruity sauce and layer of chocolate on the crust completely satisfied. As I said before, I like to fatten myself in simple ways, so the brulee was perfect. It was also the straw that broke the camels back and it took a long while before I recovered.

I've got custard coming out my ears!

Rows and Rows of Fabric

After visiting with some family members, it was time to head back. We decided to go the south route, completing our ‘Round the Island journey. But first, Grandma needed to get some fabric from the old Singer store (Stop 6: green arrow) and I needed to get a few patterns. Guess what you’ll soon be subjected to, blogosphere! My crappy attempts at dressmaking!

Returning home, we passed Na’alehu (Stop 7: Closed Bathroom-red arrow) where lots of happy cows call home. Here are some sights of the landscape there. You can, of course, see the rest of the pictures on the flickr set. I also took some gratuitous pictures of myself that I can’t seem to get looking right on the blog, so check em out here.