The Village Idiots

16 comments:

1. Mitchell, 10. March 2010, 12:37
   

   In downtown Hilo: Cafe Pesto for good Italian food.
   Downtown and out on the highway (two locations): Roast pork loco moco at Blane’s (plate lunch place).
   Ken’s House of Pancakes, of course, near Banyan Drive. Best corned beef hash ever. Open 24 hours.
   UH-Hilo cafeteria: Not very good, but everything there tastes like spent youth.
   Nori’s (near the bowling alley): Saimin, nori burger, and a beef stick. No idea how good this is. The company was always great. Used to be open kinda late, too.

    
2. Don, 23. March 2010, 7:33
   

   http://bigislandgrinds.com/

   Just came across this site, not a lot of stuffs, but the Italian restaurant seems like a deal.

    
3. Mitchell, 23. March 2010, 10:12
   

   Wow. Some of those places sound great. That picture of the saimin on the front page is the Nori’s I mention above. Note the piece of nori on the burger.

    
4. Reid, 10. May 2010, 15:19
   

   Getting ready to go this weekend.

   I’ll probably go to Ken’s as my nieces like that place.

   Ma’ono from the link Don posted looked pretty good, too (their burgers, anyway).

   If you guys think of any other places, let me know, and I’ll try to check them out.

    
5. Kevin, 10. May 2010, 19:58
   

   We were there for a wedding about a year ago & liked Cafe Pesto when we went there. It’s all relative, of course.

   I predict Reid to find Nori’s somewhat average, but quaint – in a local, Boulevard-Saimin-ish kind of way.

   We also went up to Kohala to look at some buildings (nerd alert!) and were told by everyone that we really, really, should have stayed to get dinner at Merriman’s. I hear a little $$$, though.

    
6. Reid, 12. May 2010, 21:31
   

   Kevin,

   How reputable were the sources for the Merriman recommendation? Kohala is a not a hop skip away from Hilo, and their menu doesn’t seem too exciting.

   I’m more excited to try Hilo Bay Cafe, which basically has similar food and price range (maybe a bit cheaper) as 12th Avenue Grill.

   Btw, if any of you know recommendations for things we can do with the kids, used bookstores/cd stores, let me know. I’ll leave tomorrow night, but I’ll check this before I go.

   Mitchell, where’s a good place to get a “gravy burger?”

    
7. Kevin, 12. May 2010, 23:42
   

   Depends who you would consider reputable: the principal at Hawaii Prep in Kohala, the concierge at the hotel we were staying in Hilo, & one of Kelly’s friends here, who’s a foodie. Folks who are a little older & more seasoned.

   I hear it wins Hale Aina awards yearly, but that’s not necessarily saying you’d like it. Though I wouldn’t go out of my way & drag the kids; the drive is long.

    
8. Mitchell, 13. May 2010, 2:12
   

   You can get a gravy burger at any of the plate-lunch takeouts. I don’t know if any of them are good; they’re all just thawed-out patties dipped in gravy before being slapped between two halves of a bun. Cheap and filling is what they are. If there are better ones, I wouldn’t know about them, but I’ll ask one of my students.

    
9. Reid, 13. May 2010, 13:54
   

   Mitchell,

   So it’s basically the Diner’s style hamburgers (wrapped in yellow wax paper)? Uh, I think I’ll pass, unless you think of place that serves different type of burgers.

   Kevin,

   Thanks for the feedback. Mapquest says the drive takes over an hour. I heard the road condition is not very good, too, so it may take longer. The menu has primarily steak and fish–and they don’t look terribly exciting, so unless this is extraordinary fish and steak, I don’t know if it’s worth it.

    
10. Mitchell, 13. May 2010, 14:14
    

    Diner’s (at least the one in Kalihi) doesn’t serve frozen patties in its hamburgers. The hamburgers there are good.

     
11. Reid, 13. May 2010, 14:22
    

    Maybe they’ve changed, I don’t know. But you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say the “wrapped in yellow wax paper?” I’m pretty most of these type of burgers are made with frozen patties.

     
12. Mitchell, 13. May 2010, 14:58
    

    I do know what you’re talking about, but you keep dissing Diner’s and I feel the need to stick up for it. It sucked, once upon a time, but the one in Kalihi has really been trying for these past several years.

     
13. Mitchell, 13. May 2010, 15:04
    

    You might be tempted to go to Cafe 100 because it is such a storied location. Don’t cave in, unless you don’t mind being disappointed. It claims to be the inventor of the loco moco and has MANY varieties of that revered dish, but there are so many better places to get it. In fact, if it’s plate lunches you’re looking for, I think the only choice if you’re there for a short time is Blane’s. Two locations in Hilo.

     
14. Reid, 14. May 2010, 17:42
    

    Trust me, I’m not going to Cafe 100. It was the only plate lunch place in Hilo when I went there in high school (or at least the only one we knew of). We went there a bunch of times because we didn’t know where else to go. It wasn’t that great, although it was the first time some people tried a loco-moco.

    OK, here’s an update.

    We had some lunch at Hilo Bay Cafe. Here’s what we had:

    Triple cheese burger with bacon (the special burger for the day) with garlic fries;
    Avocado, tomato (+ bacon, which we added) with garlic fries
    Hamakua mushroom pot pie (+chicken)+tossed greens

    The avocado sandwich was the best (came on a foccacia roll). It was also served with an aioli, so it was pretty heavy.

    The pot pie was more savory than rich, which was a good thing. The crust was good, but it could have had more butter.

    The burger (with grass fed beef) was what you would expect. Good, but nothing great. For $40, I’d say it wasn’t really worth it. I don’t know if we’ll be going for dinner.

    Oh, the restaurant is located in a strip mall next to Wal-Mart. The interior looks sort of faux elegant. (Don’t care for the white kanek ceilings, too.)

    On a non-food related note, we got to walk around in old Hilo town. I really enjoyed that as reminded me of some parts of an older (70s) O’ahu; it was like a time machine in a way. I think this part of the town has so much potential. The street layout and architecture should be built upon. (I also checked out Shutter’s Island for a $1–theaters were clean, but cold as an igloo.)

    We’re going to a Chinese restaurant tonight.

     
15. Reid, 17. May 2010, 22:46
    

    Ken’s Pancake House

    I forgot that Mitchell said that they had the best corned beef hash, so I didn’t order that. I did get the waffles, and I also tried the pancakes. They weren’t good. They were like the pancake/waffle equivalent of a tough steak. They were chewy, hard to cut and almost “gummy.”

    Cafe Pesto

    Shrimp and Scallop in angel hair pasta with a spicy, tamarind sauce. I liked the tamarind sauce on this.

    chicken and hamakua mushroom rissotto. The chicken was actually a quarter chicken that tasted a little better than oven baked chicken from public school lunches. The rissotto was a bit mushy and the flavor wasn’t that great.

    Seafood pizza (special): shrimps with olives in a lobster sauce. This was good, although the crust was just OK.

    Creme brulee and apple crisp a la mode. OK. Brulee wasn’t that great.

    Surf Break Cafe

    This was a quaint, funky little coffee place on Kinoole Street that I wandered into. I got a smoothie there (the Dorian–with bananas, pineapples, coconut and soy milk) that hit the spot. They also served burritos and breakfast dishes.

    Big Island Pizza
    I noticed that they had sausage sandwiches, so I tried the bratwurst. Just OK. The lady said that they make all their sausages–andouille, portuguese, italian and some others I can’t remember.

    Kuhio Grille

    Famous for their one pound lau-lau.

    We went for brunch. I got the special banana waffles (the bananas were in the batter). This was solid. We also had the grilled creme bisquits–which were like sugar muffins that were sliced and grilled. These were also good (but heavy).

    I tried the lau-lau. It didn’t look like one pound to me, and it was just slightly better than Keoki’s (the kind you can buy at a grocery store).

    Side comment

    Saimin seems a lot more popular here than on O’ahu. My sense is that the ramen craze hasn’t hit the Big Island, probably because there aren’t many Japanese from Japan (visiting or living there).

     
16. Mitchell, 17. May 2010, 22:52
    

    AAAAAARGH. You went all the way to Hilo and didn’t have the corned beef hash at Ken’s? You’re KILLING me.

    Nobody ever listens to me.

     

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