I sorry, but I getting tired hear about this place get the best beef stew and that place get the best hamburger steak and over dea get the best poke, or whatevah place get the best whatevah? And then I go try em and it's only OK. On top of that, times are hard and I like try make sure I no waste money on stuffs that not all that ono. So how I going find me where really get the best this and the best that? The other day I had one idea for how I maybe can find out.
What if, all the places that are supposedly the best places to get a certain kind of local food (e.g. best places for beef stew), all went head to head in a blind taste test? Yes, blind. Where the judges tasting the foods don’t know where the foods are from. And yes, head to head. Where the judges are tasting all of em at one location, side by side, so they can compare em right there. And the judges are everyday local folks like you and me. No reader polls, no popularity contests, no local food "experts", no loyalties to your favorite place, no forgetting how the other place went taste cause you ate em last month, no big name chefs, no small kid time memories, no ignorance. No nothing influencing the judges except the food. Which one will the judges like the best? Will the one you thought was the "Winnah" turn out to be the “Winnah of the Winnah”? I don’t know...maybe...we go try find out. Welcome to the Winnah Of the Winnah (WOW) Grinds Blind Taste Test Challenge.
Garlic shrimp is #3 on the online poll of "What Should Be The Next Grinds Challenge?". So when I went to The Alley recently and saw they had garlic shrimp, I had to stray from my usual order (tasty chicken/hamburger steak) and get this luscious dish. Had about 8-10 decent size shrimps along with rice and mac salad. Was one filling meal even for my bottomless pit opu. The shrimps were cooked perfect and the sauce was just right salty, buttery, garlicky, mild peppery goodness. The bonus was dipping the mac salad in the garlic butter sauce...slurp mmmm!
Had some late night pupus at Kiki's the other night. As we scanned the pupu menu, we spotted the "tater tot nachos" and we had to try em. Funny thing that judge Yamanoha DNA, a tater tot lover, was just talking to me about how good it would be to eat tater tots nachos style. So what a koinkidink that Kiki's had it on the menu. The tots was deep fried crispy just like we like em. The raw diced onions, bacon bits and sour cream almost made this taste like a baked potato with all the toppings. If had chili on top, that would've took this grinds to the moon. Killah ono late night bar grinds.
The other thing we had at at Kiki's was the Dynamite Chicken. The bartender told us that their food changed a few months ago when a new cook joined their team and revamped their menu. I guess the Dynamite Chicken was one of the new pupu items he created. Was tender bite sized pieces of chicken fried in a light batter. Kinda karaage style. Not greasy at all. Then they drizzle em with sweet chili sauce and some kind of sweet pinkish mayonnaise sauce. Bust the mouth this one. The server and plenty of the patrons was talking stories with us and told us this is their favorite pupu at Kiki's.
Went Sam Choy's BLC recently for some pau hana pupus. Ordered one ice cold Ehu Ale and the shoyu poke. The description of the Ehu Ale reads, "Select caramel and roasted malts gives this smooth-drinking brew its deep mahogany color and nutty, toffee-like finish." The flavor is so good when you sip the beer, then eat one bite of poke, then a minute later sip the beer again. Something about this combination makes me happy....makes me feel fine. Thanks to bruddah Glen at the bar for the excellent service.
I think Kam Bakery is famous for their haupia donut. But my co-worker raves about their poi donut and she brought a box to work so all us guys could taste. Overall was one good tasting donut. Slightly chewy outside crust with just right amount of sugar glaze. Inside was moist and not too doughy. Had mild poi flavor, but not the sour poi flavor. I like the ultra purple color. The box donuts got wiped out pretty quick by my co-workers.
We had Ono Seafood's Hawaiian Style Poke and Taro Brand Poi at the Pipi Kaula Prestige Pupu Potluck. So judge Soft Warm Juicy gave us a demonstration of how to eat this classic local grinds combo. Some folks say poke taste best with the poi, not with the rice, but with the poi.
At the blind tastings, we usually do a small pupu potluck so we have other stuffs to munch on besides the taste tested food. So far, people been going all out and bringing some winnah grinds. Here's a quick video highlight of some of the pupu potluck at the Pipi Kaula Prestige.
