Ray's Kiawe Broiled Chicken - Haleiwa, Oahu HI

Before heading to Oahu, one of my friends insisted I try Ray's in Haleiwa. He insisted that it would be the best chicken I have ever eaten in my life. Now, a statement such as that is a little hard to turn down. So, I promised that I would do my best to try it out.

Now, Ray's isn't a restaurant that you can just pop into anytime you feel like. Ray's is a BBQ trailer that parks in the local grocery store parking lot on Saturdays and Sundays; any other time and you are out of luck.

I read one review on Ray's and it said that you can't miss it, just follow the smoke and you are sure to find it. Well, that person was right! You can almost see the smoke from the highway as you drive into Haleiwa; and you can definitely smell the broiled chicken from a a mile away.

There were a couple of other suggestions made to me before trying Ray's 1) Get the whole chopped chicken 2) get the dipping sauce and 3) don't eat at Ray's - go to the beach. Now, I am not one to dismiss sound advice, but unfortunately, I didn't heed the the warning of going to the beach (there are fly's everywhere). Ordering the chicken chopped saves precious time in picking it apart and the sauce (a spicy, vinegar soy sauce) adds another dimension to the chicken which is needed when you are sharing a whole chicken with your spouse or in some cases trying to consume it all alone.

As for being the best chicken I have ever eaten...I don't think so. In fact, I was somewhat disappointed, not because it was bad, but because everyone hyped it so much that my perceived bar was set at an unattainable height. The chicken was good, but not worth the drive from the west coast just to eat it. I will however recommend it if you are already in Haleiwa on the weekend and need a reasonably cheap and protein rich dinner.

Giovanni's Shrimp Truck - North Shore, Oahu HI

Oahu has to be the home of the food truck and the shrimp truck seems to out number them all. And in an Island littered with shrimp trucks I think I found the King - Giovanni's in Kahuku on the North Shore of Oahu.

Giovanni's actually has two shrimp trucks; one in Haleiwa and the other in Kahuku. Now, there is no rime or reason why I picked the Kahuku location other than it was on my way to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Now if your wondering how to get their, don't fret, drive to Haleiwa then head east. You can't miss the old white bus, covered in grafiti and converted into a food truck; if that isn't clear enough for you then look for the long lines, smoke and the smell of shrimp and garlic.

As I mentioned the lines are long, but they are definitely worth the wait. I can't speak to all of their dishes, but I will recommend the shrimp scampi. In actual fact, I found it hard to chose between the hot and spicy shrimp and the scampi. However, I believe I got the best of both worlds, I ordered the  scampi and they threw in a side of the hot sauce for free.

The shrimp were cooked in olive oil, fresh cut garlic and lemon butter; and, boy were they delicious. When you order the scampi they also cover your two scoops of rice with the same garlic, olive oil and lemon butter sauce (delicious). My shrimp were cooked to perfection - I guess it helps if you do it every day; however, my wife's were slightly overcooked, oh well....they were still delicious.

I definitely recommend checking out Giovanni's while in the North Shore; better yet, go to the Haleiwa location and then get some shave ice from Aoki's to finish it off.

Keneke's - Waimanalo, Oahu HI

Driving along the beautiful Windward side of Oahu, my wife and I came across Keneke's. We were looking for something other than another shrimp truck and Keneke's looked like just the place.

The first thing that caught my attention when walking in the door was that the restaurant walls were covered with scripture... Now I don't care what anyone's religious beliefs are, but I thought it a little ballsy to adorn your restaurant with quotes from the bible.

The prices for plate lunches at Keneke's seemed much cheaper than other places on the Island and knowing that my wife really wanted to try a Loco Moco plate we thought we'd stick around and give it a go.

As noted my wife had the Loco Moco ($6.99) and I tried ordering the same, but without egg (I guess the secret is out - I hate egg's). Our somewhat friendly server thought I was crazy and told me to order the Hamburger Steak plate instead ($6.99). Our server then proceeded to tell us how her ex-husband was a picky eater and how that helped in making the divorce final; I thought it might have been because she was a bossy B**CH... who knows!

The food came out and my God - oops! Sorry Keneke's, I used the lords name in vein. Anyways the portions were Humongous!!! My plate had 2 large scoops of rice, 1 scoop of macaroni salad, 3 hamburger patties and was drenched in a brown gravy. I enjoyed most of my meal, but found the burger patties to be overcooked and grisselly. My wife's plate was similar but lacked two of my burger patties and replaced them with fried eggs. She too enjoyed her meal apart from the burger patty.

All in all the food was filling, cheap and the service...mediocre. If you can handle the alright service and the religious preachings then Keneke's might be an acceptable place for lunch; just don't have the burger patties.

Aoki's Shave Ice - North Shore, Oahu HI

What better on a hot Winter day than ice cream...how about ice cream topped with shave ice and delicious syrups!

Having never had Shave Ice before and hearing nothing but good things I had to have it while visiting the North Shore of Oahu. Shave Ice is similar to a snow cone, but ten times better. Shave Ice is made by shaving a block of ice rather than using crushed ice like a snow cone. The process of shaving the ice helps it to absorb the delicious flavoured syrups and toppings, such as pineapple, condensed milk and li hing mui...

There are two main shave ice shops in the North Shore: Aoki's and Matsumoto Shave Ice. From what I hear both are great, but I chose Aoki's as the line was somewhat shorter. I believe I chose right, I don't think shave ice could taste any better than the one Aoki's made up for me. I had the Local Mix with ice cream and loved it so much that I drove up to the North Shore again on the last day of my trip just to have it one more time before heading back.

P.S. Shave Ice it typically served in a paper cup, but I suggest spending the extra $0.50 and getting the plastic cup; you'll find it much easier to eat.

Hanks Haute Dogs - Waikiki, Oahu HI

At one time Diners, Drive-inns and Dives was one of my favorite T.V. shows on the Food Network; I still enjoy the show, but find myself more interested in other programs lately. However, while walking through the Waikiki International Marketplace, I came across Hanks Haute Dogs which was featured on Triple D. Not being the type to pass up an opportunity to try a new restaurant; especially, on that was featured on the Food Network, I stepped up to the counter to order one of Hanks famous dogs.

I ordered the Fat boy which consisted of a dog wrapped in bacon and deep fried and served with mayo, lettuce and tomato. My wife ordered the Hawaiian which was dressed with pineapple relish, passion fruit mustard and grilled sweet Maui onions. Each dog cost just over five bucks.

Both dogs were decent, but left both of us thinking that they were just dogs and nothing special. My wife like the Hawaiian better as she felt it was more flavourful and I being the sucker for anything with bacon enjoyed the Fat boy much more. After coming back home to Victoria I "googled" Hanks and noticed that they also had a Duck & Foiegras dog - now that might just be the best sounding hot dog I have ever heard of - maybe next time...

Genki Sushi - Kapolei, Oahu HI

Japanese culture and food seems to be well and alive in Hawaii; who would have thunk it...after all it was Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbour that brought the U.S.A. into WWII. Enough with the history lesson and on with the food.

Being as Japanese food is almost as popular as fast food in Hawaii, it was difficult to make an informative decision on where to eat. We decided on Genki Sushi in Kapolei as it was close to Costco which we had just finish shopping at. Genki Sushi is a chain sushi restaurant with locations throughout Hawaii and Washington state. The big reason we decided to eat their wasn't because of the atmosphere of rave review, it was simply because my wife wanted to go because you can pick your sushi off of a conveyor belt! It's the little things in life...

Now, I am a firm believer that fresh is always best and the thought of eating sushi off of a conveyor belt that has gone around the restaurant umpteen times doesn't really peak my appetite. However, I was happy to learn that you can pick off of the conveyor or order off of the menu. If you have ever been to a Japanese restaurant such as this you will be familiar with the pricing system; if not, each item is on a colour coded plate and each colour represents a different price. At the end of your meal you simply add up all of the corresponding colours and plates to know how much your bill is going to be.

There were two big standouts at Genki that would and did bring me back to eat their a second time. Those standouts are Masubi: a Hawaiian twist on sashimi where they use fried Spam instead of raw fish to top the rice; and secondly the Genki Burger: seaweed for the bun, then filled with rice, spicy tuna, cucumber, tomago, mayo and Spam. I know the both items seem a little weird, but trust me they were both delicious; seriously, I don't even like Spam and I enjoyed both the Masubi and the Genki Burger.

If you are in Hawaii check out Genki Sushi, if not, at least have some Masubi.

Aloha,

L & L Drive-inn, Waianae, Oahu HI

L & L Drive-inn in Waianae was my first experience with Hawaiian food - I am certainly glad it wasn't my last!

Before heading to Oahu, my wife bought me a travel book on the region; of course, the first thing I looked for was the section on restaurants and cuisines. One of the must have cuisines when visiting Hawaii was plate lunch. Plate lunch usually consists of two scoops of white rice, pasta salad that is heavy on the mayo and a protein or should I say lots of protein. I don't think plate lunch is mentioned in the travel book for its gastro-delights, but rather because it seems to be a staple in the Hawaiian culture.

Staying on the West (leeward) side of Oahu, doesn't leave you much options for dining out; unless, you enjoy McDonald's, KFC, or other like franchise fast food joints. My wife and I having just arrived and hungry after traveling for so long decided on trying L&L drive-inn. Originally, I thought L&L was stand alone Hawaiian eatery, but to my disappointment it too was another franchise fast food joint; just, one I had never heard off. L&L has locations all throughout the state of Hawaii and many other location on the western side of the continental United States.

Having never had Hawaiian food nor having ever been to Hawaii, I thought it might be wise to ask a local on what to get....I have never been looked so strangely or laughed at when asking someone "what's good". I guess this was a quick lesson in Hawaiian culture; if your not a local, your not welcome. Sorry, for getting side tracked, Hawaii is a beautiful place, the locals can just be a little rude outside of the normal tourist areas. Having received no help from the locals on "what's good" I decided to order the L&L Hawaiian BBQ Mix; a mix of Hawaiian BBQ Beef, Chicken and Short Ribs.

We took our order to go as the local area surrounding L&L seemed a little sketchy and hey where better to experience Hawaiian food for the first time than sitting on a beautiful Hawaiian beach as the sun sets. Well... at least the company and the scenery were great, as for the food - yikes!

I will say that the short ribs (a.k.a Maui Ribs in Canada) were good, some of the best I have eaten. For the rest of my meal I can't say the same. The chicken was dry and poorly flavored and BBQ Beef was way overcooked and altogether unappetizing. The rice was decent, but plain white rice is pretty easy to get right. The macaroni salad was a most Hawaiian macaroni salads - extremely heavy on the may, but still much better than most of the meat served with it.

I have to say that after this meal I was a little scared that Hawaiian cuisine might not be all that I imagined, but it can only get better from here...right?