A Vacationer's Report from Oahu (long! didn't think it would turn out this long, actually)

[small h]

We took a brief-ish jaunt to Oahu a little while ago, and while I didn't request advice here directly, I did spend a fair amount of time eavesdropping on this board. So I wanted to say mahalo! and here are the highlights.

Last things first: We had our pre-flight-home meal at The Pineapple Room. The food was pretty terrific, the surroundings a little odd. Nothing wrong with the room itself, but it's peculiar to eat high end food while gazing out at the parking garage on one side, and the Ellen Tracy dress display on the other. We loved the seafood salad, which was enormous - thank goddess we split it - and all-around spectacular. I don't know what it is about Hawaii that makes the tomatoes there so delicious, but I'm still thinking about them. And the crab. And the poke. I also had some sort of experimental clam chowder and six little grilled abalones. I thoroughly enjoyed both, but the chowder could have been just a bit less gluey and more clammy. We finished with the watermelon jello, a fancy-pants fruit cup, very tasty. The servers were all quite charming and enthusiastic, and they should be discouraged from asking "How is everything tasting?" every five seconds, because it is a stupid question.

I was bound and determined to grab a plate from Giovanni's Shrimp Truck, even though it was breakfast time, because I'm pretty sure there are no shrimp trucks in Manhattan, and I love shrimp. And trucks. We had the lemon/butter sauce, as my companion is garlic-averse. I liked it fine, but the experience of eating shrimp at a picnic table near the road at 10:30am was a little better than the shrimp itself.

At the recommendation of the guy we rented our studio from, we picked up some tako poke and boiled peanuts at a market in Kahuku, because boiled peanuts are awesome, and tako poke is also awesome. Although I wasn't quite prepared for how overpowering the sesame flavor would be - a little goes a very long way, and now I'm off sesame oil entirely, probably for another month or so. But that, along with a sixpack of Fire Rock Pale Ale, made hanging out at Alligator Pond beach an excellent way to end the day.

On vacation, sometimes you have to eat where you happen to be. And so it was that we ended up at Zippy's in Hawaii Kai. Zippy's is not good. I had the world's slimmest piece of fish, encased in an armor of tough, greasy breading and accompanied by a big blob of mayonnaise with a few pieces of macaroni suspended in it. So that was one for the "oh, well" column. For the same reason, we went to Papa Ole's in Hauula for breakfast. Probably the plate lunches are better there than the egg and cheese sandwich and hash browns. I wish I'd had a chance to find out.

Honorable mentions go to the Grass Skirt Grill in Haleiwa for their very fine mahi-mahi sandwich, and to Luibueno's, also in Haleiwa, for providing us with a comfortable and convivial place to eat Mexican food and watch the Superbowl. And a brief shout-out to the Koa Pancake House in Kaneohe, for their lightning fast service and their three delicious pancake toppings, one of which was some sort of watered-down marmalade. I am absolutely going to try this at home.

We had two glorious happy hours, one at The House Without a Key, and one at Turtle Bay. I would strongly encourage any budget-minded traveler to park her behind at either place, order the ahi sashimi and a Rangpur Guava Fizz (House) or the fish tacos and a Mai Tai (Turtle), and feel luxurious and wealthy until darkness falls. Bonus points for the entertainment at House, which was a band, a hula dancer, and a Japanese wedding party taking family photos.

It was our first trip to Oahu, and a lovely experience all around. Hopefully, we'll be back someday. There are still an awful lot of restaurants on my to-go list.

[KaimukiMan]

thanks for a great report. if you get stuck at zippy's again they do a good job on whatever the fresh catch is, albeit not a large portion, but the regular deep fried fish isn't so great as you found out. Glad you had a good time on your first trip here!

[Joebob]

Can you think of a Zippy's without a better choice restaurant within a quarter mile or less? I can't.

Small h, Welcome back, but next time check out the infalible KMan's other recommendations.

[KaimukiMan]

its not always about the distance, sometimes zippy's is the only thing open. And not all their food is so bad. Like i said, the catch of the day is usually quite decent. I get it with brown rice and tossed salad. They make a good clubhouse sandwich (no cheese, avocado, or other stupid things). I like the chili in spite of myself, and the fried chicken is really good. Spaghetti not so much, but its not terrible. Often it is an expedient answer. Oh, the zip min is halfway decent too. Does it top my list on anything (with the possible exception of chicken) no. Is Zippy's at the bottom of my list? Far from it. And I will take it over L&L any day of the week.

But thanks for the compliment on my other recs. LOL. I always learn from you Joebob.

[small h]

I don't remember seeing a fresh catch option at Zippy's. We were at the counter service area, rather than the table service area - maybe the fresh catch isn't available at the former? Or I might have just been blinded by hunger. I'm sure Joebob is right, and that there were other, better options nearby. We just didn't have the strength to find them.

Your posts were an excellent resource! I would've had an easier time searching if the Hawaii board were split into the state's individual islands. But I realize that's a pipe dream, and I further realize that I am very spoiled because my own home board covers just one little island.

[KaimukiMan]

small h, we were just split off from 'elsewhere in america' last year. that was a big step. I think if we had separate islands, the postings for some of the neighbor islands would be megar indeed. It's pretty easy to do a search for 'molokai' or maui within the hawaii board.

I don't think (when i think about it) it's called the fresh catch, but the fresh fish of the day is available at the counter service area. If you were there for a late dinner or before lunch they would not have had it posted. Usually the fresh fish runs out sometime around 7pm (people here eat dinner early)

[small h]

It was around 2:30 in the afternoon, so maybe the fish allocated for lunchers was already gone. And I was only half serious about splitting up the Hawaii board - I did search for Oahu, of course. But searching by town names was tricky. Did you know there are two places named Waimea, on different islands? (Probably you did.)

[alanbarnes]

The Postal Service isn't happy about that situation, and insists that the town on the Big Island be called Kamuela. The locals aren't buying any.

[KaimukiMan]

There is a waimea on Kauai as well, often refered to by locals as the grand canyon of the pacific. We also have two places named Kailua, although the one on the big island is more commonly referred to as Kailua-Kona, or these days just Kona.

But we are getting off topic. At 2pm Zippy's should have had the fresh fish posted. Ah well, next time.