Tag Archive | Italian Food

Mixed Plate Friday

Apr14

For those who know, know! Gateway Cafe is located in the Gateway Student Housing for UH students but their cafeteria is open to the public! For $12.25 at lunch – you can get a pretty good buffet! They put up daily menus every week so you can take a look and see if you are interested. Here’s a sampling of a recent lunch I had. The pasta is hit or miss but on this day, it was a hit! The pink vodka sauce is chef’s kiss. I can’t forget to eat my hot dog. They also advertise their in-house baked bread but I am pretty irked that the last few times I’ve gone…no bread!!! I would pay just to eat that bread. Give me the bread!

Jajangmyeon | $12.95

Is it time for me to compare the different black bean noodle restaurants in Hawaii? This dish is from Dowon Chinese Restaurant, it was alright. To me the sauce was a bit watered down and kind of sweet. A bit odd. I guess I gotta try On Dong again to compare. Also, I don’t know if they give it for dine in but when you order take out, they don’t give you the raw onions and black bean paste as a side. Boo.

Pan Fried Dumplings | $5.00

This is a funny story. I am usually the runner for food pick-ups in Chinatown. This time, my coworker helped do the run and boy did she get a sweat. I ordered pan fried dumplings from Heaven Chinese Noodle and BBQ Cafe. This place is a super hole in the wall Chinese place at the Chinese Cultural Plaza. And when you find it, it’s hit or miss if you are able to communicate with the staff. I gave an easy enough order, pan fried dumplings for $5.00. They go and ask my coworker how many dumplings. Like what??? How many pieces. So she’s texting me asking and I’m like…whatever comes in that order? I was so confused. I think they eventually said it’s 5 pieces, okay that works great. She got super flustered because they weren’t that friendly too lol.

Anyway, the dumplings were really good and they ended up giving I think 7 dumplings so thank you. I really enjoy their food, very home cooking kine and their prices are good! If you’re curious where they are, they are right next to Royal Kitchen.

Post Views: 1,396

Big Kahuna’s Pizza – HNL Airport, HI

Apr10

I’ve been wanting to try Big Kahuna’s for a long time now but I am never out by the airport. I had a pick-up at the airport this past weekend and it married up perfectly for a dinner run. I called in my order and timed it perfect for the pick-up. It was a Saturday night so I called in about an hour beforehand and the order was ready to go when we got there. They also have a special, buy one get one half off of their 12″ pizzas. The parking lot is pretty expansive and the restaurants validate for 2 hours I believe. There is a grace period of 10 minutes so we didn’t really need validation.

12″ Sumo Special | $23.85
pepperoni, ham, Italian sausage, bacon, Portuguese sausage, kalua pork, onions, fresh mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, and black olives

Hands down the best pizza of the night. Look at all those toppings! And the crust is perfect, thin but not too thin. Nice and crispy. We noticed that although our pizzas were ready, they grab it from the oven when you get there so you’re not getting pizza that is sitting around getting cold! Super good.

12″ Portagee | $23.45
Hawaii’s king of sausage with sliced tomatoes and sprinkled with green onions

Good, not great. How can I compare this one after I had the Sumo?? And the price difference is so small! This one was okay but hands down, order the sumo!!

Garlic Cheese Balls (12) | $8.95
baked in butter and garlic, topped with our five cheeses

This is one of the dishes they are known for and it’s one of the dishes I was dying to try. We actually ordered the 6 pack and they gave us the 12 pack (charged us for the 12 pack too) by mistake. It’s okay, it’s double the amount of balls for only 2 bucks more, so this was a better deal. how was it? Well…good, not great. I think if they served it alongside marinara sauce (even better, spicy marinara), it would have been way better. So yeah, a bit dry for my taste.

Post Views: 2,504

Recipe: Cheese Stuffed Italian Sausage Pasta

Apr5

I already have to start this post with an apology for that abysmal photograph. Honestly, I thought this dish was just okay. Perhaps if I got the spicy italian sausage next time, I would like it better. I saw it on Tik Tok (duh) and it was so easy that I couldn’t resist making it. It’s not much of a recipe honestly.

I bought a pack of italian sausages (mild) that came in a pack of five. You cut a slit lengthwise (don’t cut all the way through) and then stick mozzarella string cheese into each sausage and then form it around the cheese to make the sausage whole again.

Place the sausages on a wire rack onto a baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 450° for ten minutes.

Prepare your pasta of your choice. Heat up pasta sauce (whatever kind you like!) and place the sausages into the sauce and simmer for about 20-30 minutes after baking. The sausages should maintain their shape in the sauce! Slice up the sausages and serve over pasta with the sauce. Voila!

Post Views: 1,437

Mixed Plate Friday

Mar10

You folks ever make a soup that called for pasta? I’m sure you have. I don’t like my pasta to get too gummy so I actually cook up the pasta al dente separately…then when I finish the soup, I put it into my container to cool it down. I then dump my pasta on top (in this case, a chickpea pasta) and store it like this. As I scoop out servings to eat, I mix it with the pasta to heat up. It works perfectly and the pasta maintains it’s texture!

Just a quick pic of a lazy Sunday breakfast. Toasted everything bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers and homemade jalapenos and red onions. Delicious!

Tots Flight | $16.95
From top, left to right: spicy cheese & bacon tots, bbq chicken tots, and parmesan truffle tots.

Spicy Cheese & Bacon Tots: crispy tots, Paul’s signature Wahl Sauce, pickled red onion, bacon, spicy cheese sauce, Parmesan cheese
BBQ Chicken Tots: crispy tots drizzled with BBQ sauce, topped with BBQ chicken & roasted corn, jalapeno & red onion salsa
Parmesan Truffle Tots: crispy tots tossed with Parmesan cheese, truffle oil and chopped parsley, served with Chef Paul’s truffle aioli

Have you folks Wahlburgers at Ala Moana yet? We’ve gotten take out twice from here and I hate to admit it but they make some pretty dang good burgers and fries. Here is a small preview of their tots flight. I love tater tots. LOL, I think the spicy cheese and truffle ones were good, I would pass on the BBQ chicken ones!

Post Views: 1,690

Tangö Contemporary Café – Honolulu, HI

Mar8

Another post about Tangö Contemporary Café, what can I say? I’m a fan! We don’t come here nearly as much as we used to but I think we come at least twice a year? Food and service is consistently good and it gives me a good excuse to check out Nordstrom Rack and TJ Maxx while I’m here. Small changes were made here and there, unfortunately, not for the better. I will explain more.

Torani Italian Soda (Passion Fruit) | $5.00

I don’t really drink much alcohol (let Suntory be an example of why I don’t drink much) so I gave this a try. I’m not usually a fan of cream based drinks so I asked for the cream on the side which they happily complied with. I added the cream in and actually enjoyed it quite a bit! Creamy but also refreshing because of the passion fruit. Yum!

Salmon Board | $21.00
gravlax, smoked salmon, smoked salmon rilette, labneh, rye bread

OMG, I hate to do a comparison but I had this in 2019 and it costs $13.00 back then. Crazy! The board is still good as before although I could not tell you the difference between all the different salmons on the board. We just ate em.

Complimentary Bread

We got served the salmon board and I was wondering if they would bring out the bread. I love their bread so much. Or do I just love pesto so much? Does it matter? It’s soooo good. If they didn’t bring the bread out automatically, I would have asked for sure. And yes, I have asked for seconds before. Living that best life.

Washugyu Steak | $40.00
grilled washugyu flap steak, caramelized onion umami butter, herb roasted potatoes

Wow I need to stop looking at my old blog posts. They used to have a grilled new york steak with kauai shrimp which was my friend’s go to dish. We were disappointed when we noticed it was gone from the menu and this was the closest dish. It was just a meh dish, nothing special. Oh and the steak and shrimp plate before was $29!!! Inflation times are wild…

Beef Stroganoff | $30.00
mustard sour cream demi-glace, house-made fettuccine

I felt like a homey cozy dish and this is what i got. Definitely hit the spot for that but I couldn’t help but think that I could make this for way less. Sorry sorry…this post is getting clouded by prices! It was good. But there are other dishes on the menu that offer more “bang” for your buck.

Kona Coffee Ice Cream Cake | $8.00
kona coffee, vanilla and italian chocolate ice cream, chiffon cake

Okay okay, I hate to compare one last time. But their portion for this dish got WAY smaller and now costs $1.00 more. Here’s a picture of the old version. Kind of a bummer yeah?

Chocolate Brownie | $8.00
served with vanilla bean ice cream

This was my dessert. I felt like something warmed up so this hit the spot. Was good! One of the few times I will eat vanilla ice cream (when it’s served with chocolate on the side).

Post Views: 2,320

Monarch Seafoods – Kalihi, HI

Mar6

After Jalna did her mega post on Monarch Seafoods, you know I had to go right? ABSOLUTELY HAD TO. And even with the clusterbutt of a mess Dillingham is in now…? I still went. I initially forgot where they were so I had to circle the block like 2 times through the crazy road work. Finally spotted them and double parked in their side garage. We were running in and out anyway!

Garlic Roast Pork with Gravy | $13.95

Out of all the dishes she shared, the roast pork with gravy was the one that made my mouth water the most. Oh my. So ono. Had a few dry slices in there but it’s okay, get the gravy to make em wet (LOL) but mostly tender slices. Their salad dressing is amazing. So good. I just relooked at their menu and see that they sell a 24 oz. bottle for $12.50 – I may have to partake in that next time I go!

Garlic Butter Sauteed Tiger Shrimp with Zucchini + Mushrooms over Linguine | $14.95

Was this good? Sure. Would I get it again? Probably not. It’s a pretty simple dish that you can make on your own I think. It’s served with a cream sauce, give it a try if you are into this kine pasta!

Nori Wrapped Crabmeat Stuffed Ahi | $14.50

Here is the dish they are known for! Is it good? Ehhh…I think it’s okay. I don’t think it’s anything to write home (or blog about) – it’s a bit dry to me. Not a lot of flavor so to me, it was just alright. My brother kept dipping it into the salad dressing haha. I don’t know why I was expecting a bigger taste explosion so I was a bit let down. But I would still return to

Menu as of February 2023 (Click to Enlarge)

Post Views: 2,370

AROMA ITALIA – Diamond Head, HI

Feb1

Was looking for a new Italian place to try and I found AROMA ITALIA on Yelp. The reviews were pretty good and the food pics were amazing. I had to give it a try! They look like a take-out shop but offer dine-in service. It was kind of cool that all the workers had an Italian accent, makes it feel authentic somehow. Hope that’s not offensive. Their parking lot is not it. They are in the same lot as Bogart’s Cafe and boy was that lot was tight and had choke cars no matter what time it was. Good luck to you.

La Bomba Pizzetta (8″) | $16.00
tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, turkey pepperoni, mushrooms, topped with fresh italian burrata, arugula and balsamic glaze

Yum yum. Perfect little pizza to start as an appetizer. It was good. I think this was my first experience with burrata. Not quite sure what the hype is with the cheese is, is it because it’s runny? It tastes like mozz to me, lol.

Linguine Pescatore | $23.00
light marinara sauce, jumbo shrimp, clams, mussels and fresh parsley served over linguine pasta

I think I asked to substitute pink sauce for this dish because I just wanted to try pink sauce! They checked with the kitchen and said yes so here the dish is! It was delicious! But the winner dish of the night was a weekly special…

Pappardelle Alla Crema Di Funghi | $20.00
pappardelle pasta tossed in a creamy mushroom sauce with sauteed chicken

I don’t usually like cream sauces because it can be too rich but it was nice to share the two pasta dishes. This dish was so good. The pasta was perfect, great seasoning. Sad it was only a weekly special but they do allow you to build your own pasta dishes so I bet you could create something similar on your own.

Would I come back? Why yes, I think I would! It’s funny, I always want to try the osso buco at Italian restaurants and they are always out when I want to order it. What can I do?? The search continues.

Post Views: 2,014

Dell’s Kitchen and Bakery / Mio Pastology – Moilili, HI

Dec5

This post will come is coming in clutch because I am posting a Japanese eatery as I prepare for my trip to JAPAN. In fact, I am announcing a break from posting because I will be on vacation for about 2 weeks. I am SO excited. It’s been much too long but wish me all the luck because I really hope I travel well this time. I even bought silly motion sickness glasses in hopes of helping me. I’ll be hitting up Tokyo and Osaka on this trip and just can’t wait to experience some nice cold weather and just awesome Japanese food and sights!

Follow me on Instagram if you haven’t already! I don’t do a lot of posts but will probably update a lot of story reels during my vacation!

Anyway, this is a double post from Dell’s Kitchen and Bakery and Mio Pastology since they’re located in the same space and we ordered from both!

Garlic Chili Chicken | $11.00
karaage chicken dressed in a chili/garlic dressing

Not my dish, seemed like both diners thought it was just alright. I don’t think they were expected it to look like this. I guess they expected maybe fried chicken with a garlic chili crisp on top? No complaints but no compliments either.

Housemade Turkey Sausage | $7.00
fresh ground turkey, garlic and oregano accompanied with cranberry mustard sauce

They had this on special since it was the day before thanksgiving. My coworker got it and generously shared with us. It tasted good! The oregano is definitely the overwhelming taste and the sauce is a cranberry mixture and a mustard sauce separately. The mustard sauce is STRONG. I mean no point in too much details since it was a seasonal offering.

Shoyu Butter (Soy Garlic + Butter Sauce) Wafu Pasta | $12.00
spaghetti, bacon, mushroom, spinach, nori katsuoboshi flakes

Shirasu Mentai (Soy Garlic Sauce) Wafu Pasta | $14.50
spaghetti, boiled shirasu, mentaiko, green onion, poached egg, katsuobushi flakes, nori

Leave it to me to get the more unique dish. I was eyeing out their natto pasta too but decided to go with this instead. I really enjoyed it. Who doesn’t enjoy eating baby fish? LOL, by the time I mixed it altogether, I couldn’t really tell what ingredient was what. All I know is that it tasted great. The only complaint? It’s a small serving. Or it’s the right serving and I just eat too much.

Anyway, I got a spicy curry pan from the bakery side (no pic, sorry) and gobbled that up too. The curry pan was good, baked. I think I may prefer baked over the deep fried curry donuts.

Take care everyone!

Post Views: 2,233

Mixed Plate Friday

Oct28

If you follow Jalna’s blog, you might remember this post about the cured pork strips they got. I remember eating this as a kid, it wasn’t an everyday dish. It’s pricey and also a bit of an indulgence since it’s got a lot of pork fat. It was such a coincidence that I had also bought a pack from Chinatown and it was sitting in my fridge waiting to be made.

I never made it before but remember the elements of it from my memory. I knew I wanted to make it with green beans but only with these flat ones. I don’t know why I had to be so specific with it. I didn’t have a real recipe to go off of, maybe what I had was more of a family dish. I blanched the beans fast kine and then stir fried the pork and beans together. I didn’t want to add too much seasoning because the pork is super flavorful (aka salty) so I added a dash of soy, oyster sauce and sugar. Oh I also started the stirfry with minced garlic. Look. It was damn delicious. I was trying to hold the dish on to last a few days. I ate it in one day. It was just that good. But it could be an acquired taste.

Another family dish I have been making on my own. Ong Choy! Crucial ingredient? Harm Haw. Gotta have that. I just fried up garlic and red chili pepper, add the shrimp paste and then add the stems first….cook for like 2 minutes and then add the leaves and cook down. I must have added some water to this too. I’m sure folks usually do a cornstarch slurry to make the gravy thick. I was lazy. Another vegetable dish I love.

Smoked Chicken Pasta | $18.50
with onions, roasted tomatoes, garlic and fresh herbs, in a white wine and chicken stock, tossed over linguini

I got this dish the other week at Murphy’s, it was one of their specials. Eh. Was alright, I mean, I keep comparing the food to the price because how can I not? The chicken breast was good, super moist and there was a smoky taste so I enjoyed it. Wish there was a bit more pasta. I don’t get why restaurants like grinch out on the cheaper stuff. I think customers are easily fooled if they see more pasta haha. And I am adjusting to a new contact power and it’s hard to see up close now…if not, I would have noticed it said chicken stock. Yeah, it’s sitting in a chicken stock. I wasn’t expecting that. Yeah, I wouldn’t get this again.

Apple Crisp a la mode | $8.00

It’s okay, their apple crisp always comes to save the day. It saved the day. I loved it. Warmed apple crisp ala mode. You can’t go wrong. Have a great weekend everyone!

Post Views: 1,849

Earl Kaimuki – Kaimuki, HI

Sep28

I didn’t even know Earl moved from their original location to Market City! I haven’t tried their sandwiches in years but finally had a chance to during an office order about a month ago. Check it out!

Cubano | $12.50
sliced ham, braised pork belly, roasted garlic dijonaise, swiss cheese, homemade pickle and fresh lime

Drew | $15.00
pastrami, swiss, tomato jam, whole grain mustard, horseradish mayo, pickle, tomato

Fun Goat | $11.00
goat cheese, fennel onion marmalade, pesto, cucumber, tomato, mushrooms, spinach, EVOO and balsamic

Italian | $17.50
ham, capocollo, salami, provolone cheese, peperoncinis, EVOO, vinegar, lettuce, tomato, oregano & roasted garlic mayo

I got the Italian because why wouldn’t you get that Italian after reading that description? $18 for a sandwich was a hard sell. The sandwich was really good but I just couldn’t shake the price tag. I guess my thing would be, I don’t think it was worth the cost even as good as it was. Then again, I could eat a sandwich anywhere and still feel the same. I’m not a sandwich snob.

Post Views: 1,819