Aloha! Over these past 6 months I have been receiving a lot of great feedback from you all regarding this site and the content it brings. I have enjoyed maintaining LocoKineGrindz.com over the past few years and bringing new food posts to the internet. Over the past few weeks I have worked on launching a new site, geared toward bringing more local Hawaii content. This new site, TheHawaiiLife.com, will serve as a place for me to share my experiences with not just local food, but with everything that our great state has to offer.

Over the coming weeks I will be transitioning all new content to www.TheHawaiiLife.com, including all new food/restaurant posts going forward.

I want to thank all of you who have been fans of LocoKineGrindz.com these past few years. Without the interest and feedback of you all, I would not have had as much fun with this blog project as I have. Thank you all so very much for making this a worthwhile experience.

Sincerely,
Dale

Today’s casual grindz highlight is a spot that has become very, very popular over the past year. It is constantly on Yelp’s “hot list” for Honolulu and never fails to have a line of customers waiting at the door as soon as it opens.

Sweet Home Cafe is a hot pot specialty restaurant featuring a variety of delicious broths. Patrons order plates of paper thin meats to cook in the broth. The inside of the restaurant has four refrigerators packed with other ingredients you can cook including vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, and more!

Service is excellent in the restaurant, especially for first-time customers. Our server explained the menu and the ordering system along with describing each of their broths. At Sweet Home Cafe you can choose between sharing one pot and one broth, or ordering two broths which are poured into a split pot. On our visit we opted to try just one broth, the signature House Special. This broth was packed with a lot of flavor. Within the warm liquid you could clearly see Chinese parsley, garlic, ginger, and many other flavorful ingredients which culminate in a delightful savory broth. They will even let you take your leftover broth home with you!

What makes the whole meal complete is the free dessert at the end. The dessert served at Sweet Home Cafe is a mountain of shave ice topped with various puddings and tapiocas, smothered in condensed milk. Delicious!

Here is a quick picture gallery of our visit:

We arrived @ 4:45 and there were already people waiting!

The “Veggie” refrigerator with various goodies for you to choose.

A ton of dipping sauces to choose from! I especially liked the garlic ginger sauce!

We ordered beef, beef tongue (awesome!), and chicken for our hot pot.

Our Hot Pot steaming away!

A fully stacked dessert of shave ice, puddings, and tapiocas. For FREE!

Since the restaurant’s menu is pretty much ala carte, your spend is completely dependent on how much you feel like eating. For my wife and I we spent a little over $40. I’m a big eater and she’s a light eater so I’d say that two “medium” appetites can probably expect to spend around the same amount.

This spot has become so popular that customers will start showing up 15-20 minutes before opening at 5:00pm. Sweet Home Cafe takes no reservations and has a 90 minute time limit for diners. I have never driven by this restaurant after 6:00pm without seeing a line of customers waiting for their turn. My recommendation: Show up BEFORE it opens!

Sweet Home Cafe
2334 S King St. Honolulu, HI 96826
Phone: (808) 947-3707

Everything we ordered was excellent, particularly the spicy inari and the fish patties. So ono!

For dinner we picked up the following:

Fried Chicken – The skin was PERFECTLY crispy!

Teriyaki Beef

Char Siu

Spicy Inari – filled with spicy tuna! This seems to be getting popular lately.

Fried Shrimp – Excellent breading on these!

Fish Patties – A well known Tanioka’s treat!

Tanioka’s Seafood & Catering
94-903 Farrington Highway Waipahu, HI 96797
Phone: (808) 671-3779

http://www.taniokas.com/

This past weekend while driving around to hit spots on the Food Hunt for Charity, I decided to satisfy my burger craving by stopping by Burgers on the Edge. I have long heard about this burger joint from a friend but had never made the time to come down. My wife and I pulled up into a jam packed parking lot. After we negotiated the parking lot and found a stall we walked on over Burgers on the Edge. We found the place packed with people!

As soon as we walked in we experienced the great service you’ll find here. A kind server walked up to us and asked if we were familiar with the menu. Since it was our first time she gave us the overview and highlighted the specials that were currently running. My wife and I took a few minutes to decide what to do get. Upon ordering we, of course, took advantage of the free drink deal by mentioning Hawaii Deals & Freebies.

Burgers on the Edge also runs its own specials, including their “Hungry Hour”:

The “Hungry Hour” Special

A few minutes after being given a number and finding a table outside, our food was delivered. Here is what we enjoyed:

Beefy BLT with 1/2 pound Wagyu Beef

Beefy BLT – Missing a big bite (from me of course)!

The “Love Bite”

Inside the “Love Bite”

Truffle’d Fries with Parmesan and Parsley

Everything we had was great and well prepared. The service was awesome and it felt good to be sitting outside on a nice sunny day with the cool trade wind breeze. Joining us outside were a few less conventional customers:

A cute pack of dogs, probably drawn in by the smell of bacon!

Now that I’ve finally dined here at Burgers on the Edge, I am inspired to enter their Burger Genius contest. Maybe I’ll work up some ideas this weekend and enter! While my rise to burger menu fame is not certain, I am certain that I’ll be back to Burgers on the Edge for more!

Burgers on the Edge
Safeway Kapahulu Shopping Center
890 Kapahulu Ave. Honolulu, Hawaii 96816
Phone: (808) 737-8866
http://www.burgersontheedge.com/

Here’s what we had for our quick dinner:

Fried Gyoza

Spicy kim chee that comes with any order

Wonton Ramen in shoyu broth

Spicy Mabo Tofu with rice

Taiyo Noodles
451 Piikoi St Honolulu, HI 96814
Phone: (808) 589-2123

Pho Bistro 2 is the one place where I love the pho, but never order it. To date I have never ordered pho for myself. Instead I always cave in to ordering the oxtail soup and stealing some pho from my wife! The oxtail soup at Pho Bistro is one of the best, if not the best, I have had here in Hawaii. The portion is large and the broth wonderfully delicious. I’d have to say that Pho Bistro’s oxtail soup would be on my top 10 for “Favorite Rainy Day eats”.

We weren’t the only ones craving the warm, comforting food of Pho Bistro. We arrived at 11:15am and had to circle around the block a couple of times before we snagged some parking. We were lucky to grab a seat because after we placed our order a handful of groups came in looking for their fill of pho. The hostess had to turn some people away because they were so busy!

Combination Pho – The broth here is excellent!

A giant bowl of wonderful Oxtail Soup

Pho Bistro 2
1694-C Kalakaua Ave
Honolulu, HI 96826
Phone: (808) 949-2727

Here in Hawaii we can’t drive up into the misty valleys of Yubara for a relaxing soak in natural hot springs, but we can enjoy the food you’ll find there. The owner of the Hakkei hot spring inn expanded her business into Hawaii with a small restaurant located on Young Street.

Having had the pleasure of dining at the Hakkei inn in Yubara, I was fortunate to enjoy the culinary talents of Chef Seiya Masahara. Chef Masahara is best known for his appearance on the original Japanese version of Iron Chef in which he defeated the Iron Chef by unanimous vote. While Chef Masahara is still in charge of the Hakkei inn’s restaurant, he has sent to Hawaii his talented apprentice, Chef Kouji Kuwa.

I’ve dined at Hakkei many times since it’s opening here in Honolulu. This past week week my visit was sparked by my effort to work through the “Food Hunt for Charity” list, of which Hakkei’s oden is a listed item. Hakkei’s style has always been simple, traditional Japanese cooking. Our visit for lunch was no exception to this. Each day Hakkei features a special item along with a daily grilled fish. I ordered the grilled fish set which included the daily fish and a selection of three oden items.

Inside Hakkei – Limited seating so reservations are recommended!

Variety of oden items simmering in broth. You pick what you feel like having.

Small salad with fresh tofu

Grilled Fish lunch set

Daily grilled fish – Nice crispy skin!

Daily lunch special – Fried chicken with sesame sauce

Dashimaki – So simple but so delicious!

Hakkei has a more extensive dinner menu which changes often based on the local fresh ingredients Chef Kouji Kuwa is able to find. But, no matter what time of day you might decide to dine at Hakkei, you’ll be sure to enjoy great traditional Japanese cooking!

Hakkei Honolulu
1436 Young Street Honolulu, HI 96814
Phone: (808) 944-6688
www.hakkei-honolulu.com

A favorite at parties, these buffalo chicken wings are perfectly moist with a wonderfully crispy exterior. The sauce can be adjusted to suit your preference in spiciness. DO NOT skip placing the breaded wings into the refrigerator! If you do you’ll lose a lot of the crunchy texture!

Buffalo Chicken Wings
Prep Time: 85 minutes Cook Time: 25 minutes Serves: 5-6

• 20 chicken wings (sometimes sold at supermarkets as “party wings”)
• 2 teaspoons Garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon Paprika
• 3/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup All-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Butter
• 1/2 cup Hot sauce

1. Combine garlic powder, pepper, cayenne, paprika, salt, and flour together and mix well.
2. Rinse chicken wings and dry well with paper towels. Place dried wings into a large bowl.
3. Sprinkle wings with flour mixture one handful at a time and coat. Cover with plastic wrap and place bowl in refrigerator for at least 45 minutes, 90 minutes preferred.
4. Heat a pan or deep fryer with oil to 375 degrees. If using a pan pour just enough oil to submerge wings, 1-1.25 inches deep.
5. Add wings to hot oil and fry for 8-12 minutes, or until wings are golden brown and cooked through.
6. While wings are frying melt butter into a saucepan and add hot sauce. Once sauce is heated through remove from heat and set aside.
7. As wings finish frying allow them to sit on a bed of paper towels for a few minutes to drain excess oil. Place cooked wings into a large bowl and drizzle sauce over as desired. Toss wings in the sauce until well coated.
8. Plate and serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing.

“Sugoi! Sugoi! Sugoi!”

The word is no stranger to Zachary Lee, owner of Sugoi Bento & Catering. In following with the old adage, “Behind every great man there’s a great woman”, Zachary actually came up with the name of his popular bento eatery with the help of his wife. When the idea to name his venture “Sugoi” arose, Zachary did some research and found that, much to his surprise, the name was not yet registered to a business. Meaning “awesome” or “excellent” in Japanese, “Sugoi” was a natural name for any local business and Zachary was lucky to scoop it up when he did… REALLY lucky! So lucky in fact that shortly after starting Sugoi, Zachary was contacted by another local businessman that just wanted Zachary to know that he had planned to take the name around that very same time!

The Sugoi staff with owner Zachary Lee (far right)

Armed with an excellent business name and his family’s recipes, Zachary opened Sugoi Bento & Catering in 2000. In the years since its opening Sugoi has lived up to its name and has grown from a small start-up eatery to a well established place for local grinds. In three short years, Sugoi went from being the “new kid on the block” to being featured in the Honolulu Advertiser’s “Hawaii’s Best Restaurants” publication. Sugoi has also placed in the top 3 for “Best Bento” in the Honolulu Advertiser’s “Best of the Best People’s Choice Awards” for the past two years.

Garlic Chicken Bento

Talk to any local diner who knows about Sugoi and the topic of garlic chicken is bound to come up. Sugoi’s great success has come in no small part to the popularity of its ‘onolicious garlic chicken. This popular chicken comes in plate lunch or bento form and is sure to please any garlic aficionados. The golden, tender, crispy, and succulent pieces of fried chicken are packed with a nice punch of garlic flavor. No diner would ever feel cheated of a “garlicky” experience when grinding on a plate of Sugoi’s garlic chicken. Sugoi’s success in frying up this popular dish is evident in their daily order of fresh chicken, which weighs in at a whopping 400 POUNDS!

Those of us that would like to enjoy a perfectly cooked piece of fried chicken without needing a pack of breath mints can rejoice in knowing that Sugoi’s other chicken offerings (mochiko, sesame, and katsu) are cooked using the same delicious care. Additionally, anyone who wants to grab a box of chicken for their next picnic or tailgate can swing by and order Sugoi’s “Chicken to Go”: Fifteen pieces of delectable chicken hot, boxed up, ready to go!

Sugoi Chicken to Go!

After ten years of serving delicious garlic chicken to Hawaii, Sugoi has become nearly synonymous with garlic chicken. When talking to Zachary about Sugoi’s food offerings, I asked him the question: “What do you think is your most underrated dish?” Not two seconds went by when Zachary said, “Our katsu! When someone orders katsu, I’m so happy to give it to them.”

Katsu Plate Lunch

I’m guilty of being in the group of Sugoi customers who only order garlic chicken, but after having a taste of their katsu I can honestly say that my stomach is going to do some wrestling over what to order next time I stop by. Many katsu lovers will attest that two things make or break a katsu: Quality of breading and the breading-to-meat ratio. Sugoi’s katsu delivers on both of these items. The breading is a beautiful golden crispy brown with wonderful flavor and crunch while being in perfect balance with the thickness of the meat within. Combine these elements with Sugoi’s tangy and delicious made-from-scratch katsu dipping sauce, and you’ve got yourself one mean plate lunch.

So far we’ve highlighted just the fried foods on Sugoi’s menu, but Zachary and his staff actually provide a wide assortment of local plate lunch favorites. From local-style breakfast items to loco moco, Sugoi has it all. Something you don’t see at many plate lunch joints is Sugoi’s offering of various fried noodle dishes including yakisoba, yakiudon, and chow fun.

Chow Fun Plate

Zachary strives to bring something new to the menu and his customers every few months. If the new item is popular, Zachary will add it permanently to Sugoi’s menu. The most recent example of a successful new item is Sugoi’s Curry Loco Moco.

Luckily for us in Hawaii, the culinary exploits of Zachary and Sugoi extend well beyond their physical location. As the name suggests Sugoi also takes orders for catering. Popular among birthday celebrations and office parties, Sugoi’s catering services can provide delicious food for a party of any size. Sugoi also offers full service catering, which includes delivery and a full-service attendant.

Sugoi Sauces available at many local retailers!

As if running a bento spot and a catering business wasn’t enough work, Zachary and Sugoi also has their lineup of bottled sauces. Currently you can find three different Sugoi sauces for sale all across the state. These three flavors are Garlic (the most popular of course), Spicy Garlic (Zachary’s personal favorite), and Sesame. You can find these fine sauces on the shelves of many local stores including Don Quijote, Foodland, Longs, Target, and Wholesale Unlimited. They are a great way to enjoy the most popular flavors of Sugoi right at home, or to send as a reminder of home to family on the mainland!

If you’re a fan of local style plate lunch and bento fare, then you’ve got to check out Sugoi Bento & Catering! From their famous garlic chicken to the local favorite plate lunch staples, Sugoi delivers excellent food and big portions at reasonable prices. I can guarantee if you’ve never been there that once you do go, you’ll want to go back for more!

LocoKineGrindz.com EXCLUSIVE Coupon! Printable Version

Sugoi Bento & Catering
City Square Bldg.
1286 Kalani St. #B-106
Honolulu, HI 96817
Phone: (808) 841-7984
http://www.sugoihawaii.com/

Hours
Monday – Thursday: 8:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.
Friday – Saturday: 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
Sunday: Catering Only!

A simple recipe for a tasty dish. Recipe is portioned not as a main dish but for a meal where you might prepare a variety of smaller dishes to share.

Shiitake Beef Fry
Prep Time: 1 hour (marinade time) Cook Time: 10 minutes Serves: 2

• 8 ounces of beef sirloin, diced
• 2 Tablespoons Soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Sherry
• 1/2 teaspoon Sesame oil
• 2-3 Garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon Ginger, minced
• 3-4 Dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 Green onion stalks, chopped
• Salt/pepper to taste

1. Combine beef, soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger. Cover and let marinade for a least 1 hour, 2 or more preferable.
2. 20 minutes prior to cooking place dried shiitake mushrooms into warm water to rehydrate. Slice shiitake mushrooms and remove stems.
3. In a medium pan heat oil and fry beef for 1-2 minutes until browned.
4. Add shiitake mushrooms and continue frying until beef is cooked through.
5. Remove pan from heat and add green onions.
6. Plate and serve.