Much Mahalos: Part I - Local Lunch Favorites

Everyone has their own Thanksgiving traditions.   While cooking a fantastic Thanksgiving feast is wonderful, it's actually a LOT of work, and there are many families that would just prefer to go out to eat, just so that they can enjoy the day without slaving away in the kitchen.   So there are quite a number of places around island that will cook and prepare an entire Thanksgiving meal for you, and all you have to do is go to pick it up.  Although Thanksgiving turkey is a classic mainland dish, each place that makes it usually has an ever so slight local spin on the flavors.  Golden Coin Bake Shop, the defacto standard for Filipino fast food on the island, offers a complete Thanksgiving meal, which presumably has a little bit of Filipino flavor to it.   My favorite little plate lunch place, Regal Diner, also offers a complete Thanksgiving meal, and being a Chinese owned place presumably has just a touch of Chinese flavor to it.   You can go to a fancier place, like Pacific Beach Hotel or the Willows, both of whom make elegant dinners with creative and haute side dishes to accompany the standard Thanksgiving fare.   Or you can to go a more simple local place like Zippy's, to pick up your Thanksgiving dinner.

For my wife's family, the tradition was to always get their Thanksgiving dinner from Kenny's Restaurant in the the Kamehameha Shopping Center.  The line on Thanksgiving to pick up a complete Thanksgiving dinner from Kenny's is always ridiculously long.  It usually extends all the way to the other end of that side of the shopping center.  If long lines are any indication of quality, the loyal following at Kenny's would be the equivalent of 3 Michelin stars.  My wife's family would always brave those long lines to pick up their turkey dinner and head up to her Goong Goong's house for Thanksgiving.  For her Goong Goong, no dinner was ever complete without having a bowl of soup as well.   Regardless of what kind of meal they were having, Thanksgiving or otherwise, he would always supplement it with a pot of soup, either Knorr or Noh.   A lover of pies, her Goong Goong would also make sure that there were at least 3 different pies for desert afterwards.  For what Thanksgiving dinner would be complete without 3 slices of pie?  

Ever since we've been married, and her Goong Goong passed away, traditions have been a little different for her family.  Originally, we faced the dreaded connundrum that all newlywed couples face of which family to spend major holidays with.   After much experimentation, negotiations, and sore tempers we finally achieved a delicate balance between families for most of the major holidays.   Thanksgiving is one of the tougher ones because while with Christmas and New Years you can split between the Eve's and the Day's, there is only 1 Thanksgiving dinner.  However, often times her parents would find themselves visiting her siblings on the mainland, with of course the requisite stop for all Hawaii seniors in Las Vegas.  For those years when they are home, they usually have dinner with her Aunty, and we have been having Thanksgiving lunches with them. 

Anticipating a rather large turkey feast for dinner, we usually opt to go to a more simple and casual place for lunch.   We would generally pick an old school local favorite, where just sitting in the booths is like wearing a pair of really old comfortable shoes.  The most frequent of these places would naturally be Kenny's, but we would also visit Like Like Drive-Inn or Zippys as well.   Although each of these places would offer a worthy turkey plate, with mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce, I would rarely get the turkey as I know I will be having turkey again for dinner.   So I would try to go for a nice local favorite instead.

Pork Chops at Kenny's Restaurant

At Kenny's, I asked the waitress what she recommended as her favorite dish.   The two that she said were most popular, where the stuffed cabbage, and the pork chops (although I have been curious to try their local boy stew).   Admitedly their pork chops are tasty, if not as tender as other places.  They are actually pretty salty, but the salt brings out the pork flavor a lot.  The mashed potatoes, however, aren't something I'm really fond of, as they have the texture of reconsituted mashed potoates from a box.   My aunty makes the most fantastic mashed potatoes (with REAL potatoes of course), so I'm kind of spoiled and just can't eat mashed potatoes from a box.  I am also not really fond of (and never have been) the frozen corn, diced carrot, and green bean mixture you get at most diners.  In my mind, it is that awful frozen vegetable medley that makes kids not like vegetables in the first place.  At Gyotaku for example, they serve a corn and edamame mix, where both the corn and edamame are fresh and crisp, and kids actually want to eat them.   But in any typical diner, the frozen vegetable medley is par for the course I suppose.

Saimin and a Cheeseburger at Like Like Drive Inn

The bright neon sign outside of Like Like Drive Inn is as icon is as the rotating "A" atop Arnold's Drive Inn at Happy Days.  Named after the royal Hawaiian princess (and pronounced "li-ke li-ke" NOT "like like" as tourists are prone to doing), the old time diner is another of my wife's family's favorites.  Rather than try my luck with boxed mashed potatoes and frozen vegetable medley, the last time I was at Like Like I decided to try a classic Hawaii lunch of saimin and a burger.  The saimin being advertised on their bright neon sign outside, sadly isn't nearly as good as the awesome saimin at Hamura's on Kauai.   It is however the standard local style saimin that you get at most places, and you just can't go wrong with a bowl of saimin.   Their noodles are the nice curly saimin noodles, but their broth is somewhat ordinary and a tad on the salty side.  Their cheeseburger is quite taste.   The meat is extremely soft, almost too soft in fact.  There is hardly any texture difference between the bun and the burger itself, which isn't quite meaty enough for my taste.   But it is quite flavorful, and with the melted cheese makes for one of those wonderful small kid time favorites.   The classic combination of a bowl of saimin and a cheeseburger that teenagers have been eating for over half a century just can't be beat.

Fried Chicken & Chili Plate at Zippy's

This year, we opted to go to Zippy's (the sit down side, not the fast food side) for lunch.   I just had to have my absolute favorite thing at Zippy's, their fried chicken and chili plate.   Whoever dreamed up this little mixed plate was pure genius, because they simply combined 2 of Zippy's most popular items on a single dish.  Normally I don't like chili.  I don't like the beans in chili, as they usually have a crumbly or powdery texture I just don't like.  Chili is also a widely varied dish.   On the mainland, especially in the Southwest, chili is meant to be a spicy dish.  It is typically filled with typical Southwestern spices like chipotle, which gives it a spicy, almost burned, taste.  Filipino chili on the other hand, has a very sweet taste.   For many people, the sweetness is a little disconcerting and unappetizing.  Zippy's chili is neither of those.  It has a very mild meaty taste.  It is so mild, that it wouldn't even be considered chili in the Southwest.  For locals however, it is one of the most popular foods in the State.  Their mild, yet completely irresistable chili, is paired perfectly with my favorite fried chicken in the world.   While I do love the greasy, finger lickin good, original recipe at KFC, and the spicy crunchy chicken from Popeye's, neither of them can compare with the totally non-oily, crispy, oh so delicious chicken thighs from Zippy's.   Possibly because it is a difference of Southern flavors vs. Japanese flavors, but the okazu style chicken from Zippy's is what I grew up with and my absolute favorite fried chicken anywhere.  The two of them make an irresistable combination.

None of these places are what anyone would consider haute cuisine.  But for locals, they are not just comfort food, but comfort places.   They are just the kind of easy, casual, lunch favorites that are prefectly satisfying before having a gut busting Thanksgiving feast later on.   Most of all they are the relaxed, comfortable times spent with family that embody the spirit of the holiday.  

The 50's, Hawaii Style

It is juke boxes and fuzzy dice.   It is leather jackets, white T-shirts, and blue jeans.   It is the classic Chevy convertable with the big tail fins.   Images, of course, of the 50's.   Now, not having yet been conceived of in the 50's, I can't tell you for certain if that's really the way it was, or if it's just a figment of our collective dream of the 50's.  When I asked my dad if that's really how it was, he said that it was either a highly romanticized image, or that it's not exactly how it was in Hawaii during the 50's.  

The piece of Americana that we imagine the 50's to be is, of course, epitomized in the classic sitcom, Happy Days.   Henry Winkler's Fonzie has surpassed the status of pop culture icon and found a place in American history.  Ironically, the series was made in the 70's, already 2 decades after the era it portrayed and glamourized.   So I remember watching it as a little kid and imaged myself hopping in the car with Richie and Fonzie and heading off to the ultimate 50's location, Arnold's.  Arnold himself was portrayed by the late and great Pat Morita, who was not originally from Hawaii, but who was here so often and who had so much of our character, that we adopted him as one of our own and never knew the difference. 

So you're in the mood for a patty melt and a milkshake and you want to envision yourself sitting at Arnold's with the gang and listening to the juke box.  If you're on the mainland, you can easily go to a Johnny Rockets, but what about here in Hawaii?    If you're on Maui, you can head down to Ruby's Diner in the Kaahumanu Shopping Center.  When I was in college, my friend took me to the original Ruby's all the way at the end of the Balboa Pier.  It was so sublime to have this 50's style diner all the way at the end of the a long pier, with nothing in sight but the beach and the ocean.   But the one on Maui is unique.  Not only do they have the 40's/50's motif, they've got many posters of old airline and travel advertisements for Hawaii from that era.  That in itself is worth the trip.

But as my dad said, the 50's diner image perpetuated on the mainland isn't really how it was here in Hawaii.   So what was it really like?   The Hawaii equivalent would have to be the soda fountains from that era.   Not only did you have the typical cheeseburgers, fries, and shakes, but you would have saimin, okazu food, and  true fountain drinks.   Soda fountains then meant that the proprietor would mix the drink and the carbonation for you, as opposed to the automatic mixing that goes on in today's soda fountains.   So, if you were a pretty girl for example, you could get a slightly better syrup to carbonated water ratio.  The mix was an art, not the hit or miss that you get from soda fountain machines of today.  I really hate it when the machines are off and you get a drink that's way more carbonated water than syrup, which not only burns your mouth in carbonation but has that sharp metallic taste.  The soda fountains back then even had drinks we hardly hear of anymore.  My dad's favorite was the green river, which was a bright green, lime concoction.   For me though, I used to love the chocolate cokes that my dad used to make.  Never heard of a chocolate coke you say?   It's absolutely awesome.  The chocolate mellows out carbonation, and blends well with the caramel taste of the coke (like a liquid Rolo).   Try it for yourself, all you need is ice, some Coke, and some Hershey's syrup to make it at home.   I never understood why they decided to can cherry coke, and vanilla coke, and even lime coke, but decided to forego my favorite flavor.

So do those soda fountains still exist?  Can they still be visited for a taste of 50's nostalgia, Hawaii style?   A few of them have withstood the test of time.  But the one that best captures that era for me, would have to be Sekiya's across the street from Kaimuki High School.   Poor Sekiya's ran into some trouble a while back, with an e. coli outbeak that shut them down while they had to clean everything up.  Since then, they've been struggling to reclaim their image as people, like my wife, were scared to go back there.    However, with their long history, pre-dating World War II, some fans, like my dad's best friend Keith, were back within a week of their re-opening.   Having been back there myself, I can assure you, it's cleaned up and the food is as good as it always was.

Chicken Sukiyaki at Sekiya's

While 50's on the mainland means cheeseburgers and shakes, 50's here means saimin and okazu.   However, while Sekiya's saimin is good, their sukiyaki is absolutely fantastic.   It is ever so slightly sweet, with all of the flavors of the different vegetables coming through.   The tofu literaly soaks up all of the flavors.  Not only do you get standard vegetables like won bok and shiitake, but you get nice julienne cuts of gobo.   It's so rare to find nice cruncy gobo served anywhere.  I especially had the craving to have some of their awesome sukiyaki after watching a marathon of the Rurouni Kenshin anime, where the characters frequently hang out at the Akabeko Restaurant for gyu-nabe (or beef sukiyaki).

Macaroni Salad at Sekiya's

While I tend to favor St. Louis Delicatessen , Sekiya's is also my dad's favorite okazu-ya.  He adores the bentos that they serve there.  The flavor difference between the two restaurants is very subtle, but he and I are pretty steadfast in our favorites.   I do like Sekiya's bentos though, and I have to admit, that they have some of the most flavorful mac salads in town.

Maki Sushi at Sekiya's

Sekiya's even came through on my little mini-quest to find the good old style maki sushi I used to have as a kid.   Nowdays, with different types of sushi being so popular, it's so hard to find the original Hawaii style maki sushi, with the (canned) shoyu tuna, tamago, kampyo, kamaboko, and the distinctive red and green hana ebi powder.  The filing to rice ratio is a little small at Sekiya's, but it is nice to just have that old flavor that I remember. 

Chicken Sukiyaki Meal at Sekiya's

Rather than the romanticized 50's from Happy Days, I think I prefer the honest true to life 50's that still lives on in Sekiya's.   I am really glad that they're still around, as I would hate to lose the true, classic flavors, that my dad grew up with.

Saimin: The Ultimate Comfort Food

If you ask anyone from Hawaii what their favorite comfort food is, there is a high probability that saimin will top their list.    Saimin is to us islanders, what mac and cheese is to mainlanders.    It is perhaps the single, most quintessential, make you feel right at home, relaxed, thinking back on simpler, happier times food there is to us.   And just like there is a world of difference between a $0.99 hamburger from McDonalds and a gourmet 80/20 ground sirloin you would find at a fine steakhouse, there is a huge range of quality when it comes to saimin too.  

Before we begin, let's get one thing completely straight.  True saimin is a dish that is completely unique to Hawaii.   It is NOT Japanese ramen.   Nor is it a Chinese tong mein.  Despite the cravings that we get as college kids for a good cheap pack of Sapporo Ichiban or Cup Noodles, they're not really the true saimin that we're thinking of.    Saimin is a Hawaii born dish, a sort of blending of the different noodle soup dishes from the different cultures that worked our sugar plantations; Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Filipino.  They all kind of contributed to the pot and created something new and unique to these islands.   Saimin noodles are square cut, not round (like udon).   They're actually slightly curly, not entirely straight (like ramen).  The toppings that make a traditional bowl of saimin are also a blending of whatever each culture had on hand, Korean Won Bok (leftover from kim chee making), Chinese red rimmed char siu, Japanese kamaboko (the red and white fishcake), some eggs, green onion, and of course Hawaii's great love, Spam (leftover from our days as a warzone in World War II).  If you eat enough of the noodle soups from the various East Asian cultures, you can recognize the differences between each, and the unique blending that true saimin is.

As I mentioned before, Saimin comes in all different grades and quality.   At home, the gold standards for saimin are the fresh frozen (not dried) packs from S&S or Okahara.   If you're going out, it's on all the menus all over town, at carnival events, even at McDonalds (the first localized product McDonald's ever offered).   While I love eating a good Saimin and McTeri burger combo from McDonald's, and as much as I (like all other Hawaii kids) freaked out when I couldn't get it from McDonald's while at college on the mainland , it's not the everyday common saimin that I'm pursuing here.   The quest I'm on, is for the truest, most uniquely Hawaii, most classic form of tthe dish.    In other words... the perfect saimin.

The first saimin that I really truly loved was from a place called Tanouye's on Waialae Ave (currently the home of Super Pho).    My dad said that when he was in elementary school, Tanouye's was just a lunchwagon, and that he could buy a bowl of their saimin for just $0.25.   When I was a kid, he would take me there, and we'd have a table next to the stone wall which was up to table level.  Practically the whole wall above it was a giant window that they would open so you could watch people pass by on the street, while tucked away behind their willow tree.   It was the kind of feeling feeling you would get if you took a streetside cafe in Paris and dropped it into the middle of Kaimuki.  It was charming.  But it closed, and a number of restaurants have tried to take its place.

When Tanouye's closed, my quest for the ideal saimin was on.   We went all over town, trying different ones.   Some were too salty.  Some too watery.  Sometimes the noodles weren't right.  Some were variations thereof, and not the classic taste that I was hunting for.  Then, I found one that really fit the bill.   It was Washington Saimin, right on King Street just past McKinley High School.   Theirs was just wonderful.   The right kind of noodles, the right texture, the right flavor, the right broth, and such a cheap price too.   Okay the seats were a little too stiff (they were straight 90 degree angles, it was worse than a church pew), but who cared when the saimin was so good.   Whereas Tanouye's was a Japanese family, Washington was a Korean one, which again spoke to how true saimin was a blend of all of our cultures.   But again, sadly Washington Saimin closed a few years ago as well.

Here I was, again without a classic old style saimin that would be there to comfort me and warm me up when I needed it.   I already knew that the other contenders on island just weren't the same.   The thought was completely dismaying.  If I couldn't find anyone else in town that did it for me, and it was exclusively a Hawaii dish, would I never again taste the true saimin?   Was it going to be a memory I could never revist?  Thankfully, I found a new love...  it just so happened not to be on the same island.

X-Large Deluxe Saimin at Hamura's Saimin

 
I happened to be vacationing on Kauai with my sister and her friends, when they brought me to the place where I found not only my new favorite saimin, but one that frankly was better than I had ever had anywhere.  Period.   The place (as you may have figured out already),was, of course,  Hamura Saimin in Lihue, Kauai.  Just walk through the doors and you feel like you've been transported back to a Hawaii of 50 years ago.   There of course will be dozens of people waiting in line to get at seat at their one super long winding communal counter.   And when you finally order, you must get the biggest bowl of their super deluxe saimin with everything in it.   Of course, true saimin, must be accompanied by a yakitori chicken or beef stick on the side.   It would be like ordering a hamburger without fries.   And when you finally get your bowl, you taste all of the history and warm comforting grandma like cooking they put into each spoon.    The noodles are the perfect texture, something you can always tell from handmade, fresh (not frozen or dried) noodles.  The broth, doesn't taste like any ordinary shoyu or dashi based soup, it tastes like ha mai (you know those small dried shrimp) that's been boiled for hours to make the perfect stock.    Not spicy enough for you?  They've got some classic Hawaiian chili pepper water sitting there for you to kick it up.  Every spoon tastes like Heaven.   And when you're done you can top it off with their famous lilikoi pie.   This was like really like meeting the perfect woman and saying "where have you been all of my life??"

Okay... so I'm not going to fly over to Kauai just so I can have a bowl of saimin.   And yes, I still haven't found a saimin place on Oahu that I think can compare.   But just knowing that it's still there is comforting.   Knowing that this treasured piece of our history and culture is still alive somewhere is somehow enough.   Somehow the knowledge that it is still kept safe and hopefully won't be forever lost eases my tormented soul.   If ever Hamura's were to close, I think I would shed enough tears to fill their largest saimin bowl.   But for now.... for now I am happy and comforted.