THELMA'S RESTAURANT Waipahu, Hawaii

Monday, June 26, 2017. My flight from Maui to Honolulu, landed at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, a.k.a. Honolulu International Airport, fricken really? I mean he served the US in the 2nd World War, he lost his arm, was a true servant of our state, very admirable. But why couldn't we just name something new under his name. Like a new swimming pool, or a new arts venue, or sports complex. Oh well, enough of my rants, God Bless Danny, seriously, he was one of a kind.

Now I'm at OGG a.k.a. Kahului Airport, my buddy dropped me off early in the morning. As I wait to board the Bombardier Q-400 like this baby below.

The Q-400 rides smoothly

I'll cut to the chase, I land in Honolulu, my buddy Peter Pao picks me up, Peter by the way owns Prime Sandwiches in Honolulu's China Town, the most unique sandwiches, go check them out. So Peter wants to eat Filipino food, so we head to Waipahu, and we ate at Thelma's Restaurant. As soon as we opened the door, the place was packed with foodies, and the aroma in the air? Ginger, garlic, onions, bitter melons, egg plant, tomatoes, and patis (fermented fish sauce).

Peter ordered five dishes, and all of them tasted perfect, not too overbearing on the patis, just right on the garlic and ginger. There was a young couple behind us, when I took a peak at what they were eating, I found out it was the Adobo Fried Rice Omelet. (I think that was it). Anyway, that's what it was. Peter cut that sucker in half, and we both had a half.

Then the Pancit Bihon, long rice noodles, with bits of pork and veggies, with some patis. That was good, despite I like the Panict Canton style better, the difference is the noodles are made with wheat and eggs, like chow mein. But the other dish for the first three was Dinuguan, hog's blood stew, bits of cubed pork, intestine, spices, and that was great over white rice. Check out this pic below.

Top left Adobo Fried Rice Omelet, Top Right Pancit Bihon

Bottom Dinuguan

Then next and last two dishes came over, and it was a braised dish called Pinacbet, with pork, herbs and spices, beans, tomatoes, awesome. And then the Mungo Beans, also with bits of pork, with fish sauce too. Okay, most of the dishes had fish sauce, that's Filipino cooking for you. Once you get past the aroma in a Filipino kitchen, you'll be fine, you'll be eating the foods like it was nothing new. The picture below is the Pinacbet (left), and Mungo Beans (right). 

If you can't decide what to get for your first Filipino foodie

experience, you won't go wrong with these two.

Thelma's Restaurant

94-366 Pupupani St. #116

Waipahu, HI 96797

808-677-0443

© 2017

CRAPPIES PAN FRIED

"Hey Ron, my buddy and his ohana is coming to Maui man, please check them out, tell them where to eat and stuff like that ok?"

"Sure Todd, anytime man."

"Doyle is from Texas, I'll text you his number and please connect man."

"Will do Todd, easy bro."

My bro from high school got a hold of me, his buddy and his family was coming to Maui, so I texted Doyle, and we became friends. Our conversation went like this, of course at this point we were actually speaking on the phone.

"Hey Ron, you ever ate Crappies?"

"No Doyle, never had it before."

"Well I tell you what, in a few weeks I'll bring you two pounds frozen, and you come meet me at the resort, take em home and fry them up."

At this point, I had no idea what Crappies were, well it was a fish says Doyle, so ok then, I got some frozen filets of Crappies coming in, cool. So when I finally met Doyle and his wife Mary Sue, I had to give them something. So I went to Foodland and got them a pound of poke. Cubed raw Ahi, a half pound of Spicy Ahi Poke, and a half pound of Hawaiian Style Ahi Poke.

Upon getting to Doyle's condo in South Maui, I was wondering how our first meeting will go. I mean, I really haven't seen a picture of Doyle or his wife, for that matter his family. So here I am in my company delivery van heading up the hill to this condo complex. I finally find his building, now I gotta find his assigned room. As I got out of the van, I noticed a young couple getting into a rental car with a young child. I didn't think nothing of it, I made my way to his home away from home. Ah, there it is... it's in the corner of the building, and here's Doyle smiling.

"Hey you're Ron?"

"Yeah you Doyle?"

"Yes I am, hey you just missed my kids."

"Oh that was them in the car?"

"Yeah they're going for a ride, too bad,  we all could have met all at once."

"No problem, maybe next time."

"Hey come inside, meet my wife."

I enter the room, and here comes Mary Sue, "Hi I'm Mary Sue."

"Ron, nice to meet you."

Well after the pleasantries, we started to get to know each other, it was cool. Spent about 45 minutes there. But Doyle was adamant about the Crappies. He went to the freezer.

"Ron, here you go man, two pounds of Crappies. You thaw them out, salt and pepper them, and dredge them in cornmeal. I use peanut oil, heat it to three hundred fifty, fry them, when it's all golden it's done. No need to overcook them, once it turns golden, flip em."

"Ok, easy, so ah-what else can I use a tartar sauce?"

"Oh yeah, make your own if you want, but tartar sauce goes well with this fish."

So Doyle gave me the insights on frying Crappies. He also told me, where he comes from that's the prize fried fish. Being from Maui, I'm used to salt water game, the Ahi, Onagas, Ulua, Opaka, Ono (wahoo), Mahi, so I didn't really know what the flavor would be like.

So I went home, and in a couple weeks when I had some time, I fried up the Crappies like Doyle said, minus the peanut oil. I used canola instead and it turned out good. My neighbors loved it. Not a strong aroma when frying, though you know it's fish in the pan for sure. It was tasty with the salt and pepper, in fact I doused the salt on a few filets, but it didn't hurt. I guess fresh water fish needs a tad more salt which is fine, and fine black pepper made it balance out. I used Masa Harina, and a store bought tartar sauce. Here's a few pictures.

Crappies done and resting with lemons

A good dousing of tartar sauce with lemons

The prep station, salt and peppered Crappie filets on the 

left, and the masa harina on the right

As Doyle says, "Dredge em in cornmeal"

Very hot canola oil frying the last filets.

So what was my opinion of Crappies? I tell you what, it's very mild, so you can really play with flavors, herbs and spices. But not too much. It's really a good eat, wasn't bad at all. It's a good fish for like kids that want chicken fingers, but the chicken ranch went out of business. Just kidding. Crappies are really a good fry fish like Doyle said, and it was a good treat. Not bad at all. Thanks Doyle!

© 2017

Maui's Krispy Kreme

Life is a dozen doughnuts right? Right? I mean who doesn't love a fresh fried sugary sweet doughnut? What red blooded American doesn't want one? Sure cops gave doughnuts a good name in those old t.v. shows. "Hey where's Kojack?" He's sucking on a lollipop and whacking a glazed doughnut.

Maui, who would have thought Krispy Kreme would succeed on Maui? I mean we have a lot of diabetics here, in fact my sugar count is pretty elevated, that's why I run a lot, like ten miles a day. No shitting. 

I don't know how long this store has been opened, but it's been a few long years. Me I'm not much of doughnut lover, but occasionally I'll stop by this place and get a couple of Old Fashion doughnuts, and maybe two Original Glazed. The latter is preferred. That and a cup of black coffee hits the spot. Yeah I could go for a vegan mango bread, but that doesn't do well dunking it in hot black coffee, it's gotta be a doughnut.

Located at 433 Kele St. Kahului, HI 96732, usually opened from 5 am to 10 pm, call em up at 808-893-0883. They are super close to Costco and OGG (Kahului Airport).

No I didn't eat all 6, though I did nail 3, my buddy ate the other 3!

Haha... don't tell my doctor that shit!

The counter service is good, friendly staff, all kinds of doughnuts 

to satisfy the most finicky doughnut connoisseur.

The doughnut fryer, producing fresh sweets, a glass

window separates the work area from the lobby, 

makes for an entertaining time. If you are stoned!

After the glazed is added, it is boxed and ready to be dunked 

in hot coffee!

A poster hanging in the lobby of the mascot,

I don't know his name but kind of looks

Dr. Seusseee.

They got t-shirts and fundraisers too.

Krispy Kreme's store is clean, and I think they got wifi too, I see people with computers in there. Having a sugar rush is good sometimes, especially on the drive back to Lahaina, it's about an hour's drive with traffic. Stalled traffic makes me tired and drowsy. But wait! I wasn't even driving on this day, my buddy was. And he needed a sugar rush. I just ate for the hell of it. I was just thinking, is there a book on the proper way to dunk a doughnut? 

Have a nice day my friends!

© 2017

THE SAD TRUTH OF BUSINESS ON MAUI

As I sit in a Lahaina Starbucks with my iPad Air 2, thinking about what subject to blog, I must discuss one thing. An issue that is of concern. The business climate here does not favor the small business owner. I do understand that all business people are out to make a buck, that's fact and not fiction. However I've said this many of times, if a local business starts up, and if that business does not have sufficient funds, it will shut down. 

Over the las few weeks, a local pizza joint closed down right in our hood. Italian Delight in business for a few years went under. When they first opened, my thoughts were, "how long will they last?" In my mind, I gave them two years max, they fooled me and stayed open a little longer, however eventually closed down.

Since my blog is about food, then let's stick to the restaurant business shall we? One must consider the rising cost of shipping as a key factor, next would be the power bills, and all other overheads, like the biggest one, the rent/lease. Let's just say, in previous studies by well known business media, Maui and Hawaii in general is not a conducive spot to do business, unless one has deep, deep pockets to weather any storm. One major storm of any kind can put a business under really quick.

Here is one factor to consider if you want to open an eatery here. First of all what are you going to sell? Is it something so uncommon that instead of selling it on opening day, will you find yourself explaining your product to the masses? If so this will be disaster from the get go. There was a Malay restaurant in Kahana that recently closed down. The owners claim they studied Malay food or the street foods of Malaysia and spent time there learning the craft. Well that's fine and dandy, but Malay foods aren't too popular here on Maui. I could have told them that. Well for one thing, they opened upstairs in a Kahana shopping mall. Upstairs? Forget it, plus that room they rented was once the space occupied by Roy's the master himself of Pacific Rim cuisine, Roy Yamaguchi's ghost remains. Foodies in the know, well they just know, you can't put something similar to Roy's in an ex-Roy's space.

The other factor? Your landlord. There's really good landlords that want the best for a business to take off, as they understand if you do well, they get their money. However there are landlords that will cut your throat once you start to make a profit. It looks something like this.

* A restaurant makes a certain amount per month, they pay the regular monthly rent
* If that restaurant makes a certain amount over the agreed payments, they will have to pay the landlord an agreed percentage.

So for every extra dollar a business makes, they will lose more money, let's say it's a big ass 20%, that's .20 for every dollar, that's robbery. Why stay in business to make the landlords rich? Greed is detrimental. In the olden days, and I'm not promoting violence. In days gone by, greedy landlords could be killed. When you push a hard working man to the wall, and he is not profitable because of greedy landlords, you can see his point of view if he did off a landlord.

Maui is not a business friendly location unless you have deep pockets. Sure it can be said for anywhere in the country, however Maui with its aloha mentality, where everything is so nice, like a fairytale, reality is reality. Honest small business owners especially in the food industry is shutting down shop, and that is Un-American. Put it this way, if I owned buildings to lease out to small business owners, I'd just make sure their rents covered all of my expenses, and enough to profit. The better off my tennants, the better off the economy.

Copyright 2017

PRIME SANDWICHES CHINA TOWN HONOLULU

CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME SANDWICH SHOP

LOCATED IN CHINA TOWN HONOLULU

PRIME SANDWICHES

ONE OF HAWAII'S MOST INNOVATIVE AND CREATIVE SANDWICH SHOPS

NEWLY OPENED, YOU GOTTA GO AND EAT HERE!

IF YOU ARE A FOODIE, YOU GO HERE, YOU WILL START A NEW TREND!

CHECK IT OUT ON Facebook

WEI WEI BAR B Q & NOODLE HOUSE Roast Duck Saimin

It was time for lunch, I was craving some good soup with some noodles. But what kind? My thoughts were deep, I was in another dimension, nothing could have broken my concentration, absolutely nothing. In fact I crossed the center line on the highway without me realizing it. It took a tourist couple in a Mustang convertible at the next stop light to inform me, "Hey sir... did you know you almost killed yourself and some others? You crossed the center line back there. By the way are you thinking about food?" I smiled and winked at them, why of course I was thinking about food.

Now back to my deep thoughts, I could have driven to some Thai place and got some Tom Yum, that hot and spicy Thai style soup with some rice noodles added in. But nah, I wanted something that I was more familiar with, something I grew up on. Ah, I know I'll get some saimin. Saimin. Not ramen. Saimin. What's the difference? Who cares, I don't know go look it up. All I know is I went to Wei Wei Bar B Q & Noodle House in Wailuku, Maui. I glanced at the menu and there it was, a divine moment in time, I just had to order this stuff. Yes, homemade broth, made by simmering bones of beef, veggies, whatever the cook had to simmer. As long as it wasn't someones pet named Fluffy. Hah hah.

I order, "Yes mam, nice day eh? Can I have the Roast Duck Saimin?" Perfect. I also ordered a large Coke, the kind lady at the counter gave me a large cup and I filled it with ice, and Coke. Then I made my way to a table, and went back to the counter to fill a ramekin with some soy sauce, and got me some chop sticks and a few napkins. As I sat there, now in not so deep thought, I was thinking of stupid things like, I need to order some Vic Firth drumsticks, but what model? Should I get the 5b barrel tips? Or the American Classic Rock model? Stupid me, I don't even own a drum set. 

Then the moment of truth, the kind lady is coming towards me with my food, my roast duck saimin, and I'm ready to devour it! "Here you go." I say thanks. And I look around with my game face, others glance at me in slow motion. They know what I am about to do, and that is mop my food. In other words, DO NOT BOTHER MR. FOODIE!

The bowl was steaming! The crispy roast duck was looking good. I took one bite of the duck, and man it was good. The skin was crispy. Then, I took some noodles, those thin noodles made from wheat, and I twirled it around my chop sticks, and man that was delicious, the flavor of the broth stuck to it. Then I got a piece of broccoli and it was fresh. Then I took my soup spoon and scooped some of that hot steamy broth. Oh man it was good, epic, to the max tastylishous. 

I gotta admit, the Roast Duck Saimin at Wei Wei is awesome, well that day anyway, who knows the next time I go there, the cook might be in a deep funk. But on that day it was very good. Check them out Wei Wei Bar B Q & Noodle House on Maui, located at 210 Imi Kala St. #201, Wailuku, HI 96793; 808-242-7928

The Roast Duck Saimin, the noodles are under all the other stuff!

© 2017

BREAKFAST AT JACK'S INN Maui

Local's want simple breakfast, and it does not have to be organic. Seriously. Organic? What the hell is organic? We just want the stuff, like a druggie binging big time, we need a good local breakfast fix, and if it has a big label on the plate that says, "Made with GMO" we would look past it and say to each other, "Hey the Raiders really are moving to Vegas, pass the salt please."

Well there's a place that's been around a long time in Kahului, Maui. Minutes from OGG in case you are landing here early, or taking a mid-morning flight out to wherever. Jack's Inn located on Alamaha Street, close to the Ace Hardware store. It's not a place where you would be looking for modern decor. F that! The seats and tables are ____ing worn out but who gives a shit? It's local food that's affordable. 

It was a Thursday in the latter part of May 2017, me and my friend Ronny decided to skip IHOP in favor of Jack's Inn. Why? Why does a dolphin swim? Why does Clayton Kershaw pitch left handed? I rest my case. We just did it man. As we sat in the corner booth, Ronny  is looking at me, "What you ordering?" I glanced at the menu, and boom! I knew what the ____ I was gonna eat. "I'm getting the corned beef hash, two eggs over easy with some hash browns, and one _____ing hot cake on the side. Ronny nods his head in total agreement, "Shit, that's beautiful brah, I like cry." Yes, I know how to orate. I mean that. I know how to orate.

As we waited, an older gentleman got his plate of spaghetti, huge! I mean he was a skinny old fellow, shy of a hundred, more than eighty-five. Man that shit looked good. We were serious, if we were still hungry after our breakfast, we'd hit up an order of that and split it, you know ask for two plates. 

But then, the moment had arrived as I sipped on not so appealing coffee, but what the _____, we didn't give a shit about the coffee, we wanted FOOD! And food appeared, hot and steamy. Now mind you, I do not believe the corned beef hash was homemade, I think it was the Libby's canned ones, but who gives a shit? My eggs (LOL), yes, my eggs were nicely done, but, I placed the eggs over the corned beef hash, and then slathered the hot cake with butter, rich unadulterated butter, creamy shit. And then dousing the whole thing with maple syrup. Yee ha! Yes man, we were in total foodie mode, no holding back.

But wait, what the ______ is Ronny doing? Shit he's dousing his hot cake with maple syrup, all good, but what else? Are you kidding me? Ketchup? No! NO! Ronny what the _____ are you doing? "Oh man I love ketchup on my hot cakes." No I will not be seen with this lunatic again. I love this brother man, but seriously? OK, to each his own, he's enjoying his ketchup on hot cakes, and we are styling, just enjoying local kine grines, the kind that says, "Mom made this shit when we were kids remember?" Yep yep yep... This is all good man, totally good. We are the foodies, and we don't full around, we don't come up for air, we devour the eggs and crisp corned beef hash, and the potatoes, and the hot cakes. Did we have room for that spaghetti? No sir, we were stuffed! Ronny had to go to the restroom for obvious reasons, me, I got a tooth pick and enjoyed the scenery, the old walls, and my fellow local foodies having ourselves a foodie orgasm. What a Thursday at Jack's Inn Maui.

To the left is my eggs with corned beef hash, to the right is the hot cake!

Me getting my game face on with messy hair and my Dodgers cammo cap.

Look behind me, that's the older gentleman whacking his thing.

Visit Jack's Inn 312 Alamaha St. Kahului, HI 96732 808-877-3610

Cash only- I think, I never seen a CC machine

© 2017