Ola (8/26/08)

On our second-to-last night in Hawaii, Ryan and I went to Ola at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu (Google Map). We first went to Ola last summer--on Michael's recommendation, actually--and it's kind of become our unofficial go-to "special occasion" restaurant. We went for Ryan's birthday back in January, so this last time was our third visit.


We started off with some of Ola's complimentary bread...it reminded me of bruschetta, but the bread wasn't grilled. It was french baguette slices topped with a tomato (fresh and sun dried), basil, feta, onion, and olive oil relish. Yum.


For our appetizer, we shared the ahi cake salad. The ahi cakes were similar to crab cakes, but made with ahi and seared--they were still pink in the middle. I actually would've liked the ahi cakes to be a bit rarer, but I prefer my fish raw in general. Anyway, the salad also had napa cabbage, hearts of palm, mixed greens, and won ton strips. The dressing was a tobiko aioli. It was a bit ginger-heavy, but it went well with this particular salad.


Since we were eating seafood, we decided to get a white wine. As we did at 12th Ave Grill, we went with a Washington wine--14 Hands Chardonnay.

As for our entrees, Ryan had the citrus-glazed seared ahi. It came with Okinawan sweet potato mash (they made it with some coconut milk...so good) and a vegetable medley.


I had the seared scallops, which were served with cranberry-fig chutney, asparagus, pancetta, and orecchiette. It was delicious.


Finally, for dessert, we had the "Chocolate Decadence" cake. It was your standard molten chocolate cake with ice cream...nothing out of the ordinary, but it sure was yummy. Ryan and I really should try our hand at making molten chocolate cake at home sometime.


All in all, another highly enjoyable visit to Ola. That's three-for-three! The food has always been good and the service is consistently pleasant and attentive. Also, their menu now consists of half "permanent" items and half seasonal items, so I don't think we'll ever get bored with the food options. I'm sure Ryan and I will be heading back there next time we're in Hawaii.

12th Ave Grill (8/21/08)

Last night, I took Ryan to 12th Ave Grill in Kaimuki (Google Map) to celebrate him finishing his Master's degree in Electrical Engineering. (Whoo hoo, go Ryan!) I'd been to the restaurant once before back when it first opened, but I couldn't really remember what I'd thought of it then. Ryan had never been before.

Ryan decided he wanted a Washington wine due to his impending move to Seattle. We ordered the 2005 Waterbrook Columbia Valley Melange. Our server said it was one of her favorite wines, and Ryan and I both liked it a lot. (By the way, you can bring your own wine, but there's a $15 corkage fee.)


They gave us two types of bread. Both were quite yummy.


We started with the Big Island heirloom tomato salad. I'd never had heirloom tomatoes before, but I've been hearing good things about them, so I really wanted to try this salad. It was quite tasty. It had the tomatoes, of course, plus mozzarella, arugula, anchovies, capers, and crispy onion rings. The dressing was an extra virgin olive oil and balsamic reduction. I kind of wish there had been more tomatoes, though. It's called a tomato salad, after all.


For his entree, Ryan got the kim chee steak, which is what 12th Ave Grill is famous for (at least, it's the dish that's most often mentioned when people talk about the restaurant). It was a flank steak that had been marinated in kim chee sauce. It came with some red bell pepper and onion, Big Island bok choy, and steamed rice. Ryan loved it. I tried some and it was very tasty. It didn't taste like kim chee, but it was a little sweet, a little tangy, with a bit of a spicy kick. Strangely, although the kim chee steak is so well-known, 12th Ave Grill no longer has it on their menu. It just happened to be one of the specials last night. So if you're planning to go to 12th Ave Grill for the kim chee steak, make sure to ask if it's going to be available on the night you go.


My entree was the Big Island ribeye steak. It had been rubbed with BBQ spices (according to the menu...I don't know exactly what spices those are) and then grilled. It came with "warm potato salad" (basically, seasoned chunks of potato and some little pieces of bacon), spinach, crispy onion rings (same as the tomato salad), and Hamakua woodear, which is a fungus most often used in Asian cooking (and incidentally, one of the only funguses I actually eat). It was really good. Ryan and I both asked for our steaks to be done medium, and they were cooked perfectly. Yum!


Finally, we had the brownie sundae for dessert. It came with vanilla gelato, strawberries in a port reduction, chocolate sauce, and these awesome little sheets of crystallized caramel or something (we couldn't tell exactly what they were, but they were delicious). The brownie itself wasn't that special (the ones Ryan makes are way better), but the dessert overall was very enjoyable.

Overall, it was a very positive dining experience. The wait staff is friendly and efficient. The restaurant was quite busy when we were there, but despite the small size of the dining area, it didn't feel crowded or cramped. It was a bit noisy, but not annoyingly so. I'd definitely go back, and Ryan said he was sad that he hadn't tried this place out sooner. Oh well. Perhaps we'll just have to stop by the next time we're back in Hawaii.

Kats Sushi

I love trying new restaurants and visiting old ones so I'll be posting photos and reviews of the places I eat at. Most of my blog posts will be of places in Honolulu; however, my work takes me to various cities in North America so I'll be sure to include some of the restaurants I visit in those cities.

Here's my first blog post. Lianne and I love Kats Sushi (located at 715 South King Street in Honolulu) for its great all-you-can-eat sushi bar at only $20 per person. It's a great bargain for those that are craving some decent sushi and have an empty stomach to fill.

With Lianne away in Seattle, we always try to find some time to venture to Kats Sushi when she's in town. It's hard for me to go with other friends since no one seems to appreciate eating all that sushi like we do.

On our recent visit, I took some photos of what we order. DISCLAIMER - Do not view these photos if you are hungry :)

Hakone (8/14/08)

Ryan and I took my younger sister Pam out to dinner last night at Hakone Restaurant in the Hawaii Prince Hotel. The restaurant had a nice atmosphere and the service was excellent.

All three of us decided to go with the sushi-and-appetizer buffet option ($42), which also came with an entree and dessert. We ate sooo much food. The buffet included: salad, kim chee, takuan, tofu, and a whole bunch of other veggie type things, plus chicken karaage, chicken skewers, oden, crab legs, and some other things that I can't remember. And then of course there was the sushi and sashimi. Here's what I remember they had:

Sushi - Nigiri (ahi, ika, salmon, hokkigai [clam], ebi, amaebi [raw shrimp], red snapper), plus a variety of rolls (shrimp tempura, smoked salmon/avocado/cream cheese...)

Sashimi - Ahi, hamachi, toro, salmon, tako

For our entrees, Pam and I chose tempura, while Ryan got the wafu steak. Both were really good. The tempura had shrimp, scallop, shiitake mushroom, sweet potato, and asparagus. The wafu steak was super tender and came with a yummy dipping sauce. Very tasty stuff.

And after all that came...dessert! We had a choice of vanilla, azuki, or green tea ice cream. We all went with green tea. Mmm...green tea ice cream.

All in all, it was a great experience. According to the Yelp reviews, Hakone has a more extensive buffet on weekends. I bet it's amazing...one day I'll have to check it out!

(I forgot to take pictures of the food until it was time for dessert. Oops...)