just had a lunch burger at Whole Ox...added swiss and onion at a buck each to make my plate $15+..... it was good. not totally amazing though. i get the price is for premium dry-aged beef, and i'm not sure if anyone else serves dry-aged burgers around town, so i guess thats fine. it was of decent size, prob 6 oz or so, and the cheese was generous, onions not so much. the housemade sourdough bun was pretty good and a welcome change to the usual forgettable buns, and was served with some pickles and pickled red onion on side....i ordered it medium rare, the dude at the counter said they default to medium rare, but there wasn't a spot of pink in my burger. i should have said something but didnt. sometimes i do, sometimes i cant be bothered. for 15 bucks, in retrospect, i should have. however, being dry-aged, it had plenty of concentrated fat and maintained its juiciness and very nice beefy flavor. however, at least today, the patty was very loosely handled to the point of crumblage in spots....maybe this is why it overcooked. there is a just-right zone of burger patty formation that keeps the patty intact and loose but with good bite and chew, and i think they came up just short of this (the flip side of over-handling is much worse IMO). the strength of this burger is the nice beef, followed by the nice bun. flavor was there but it just didnt fire on all cylinders for me, mostly bc of the overcooking and too-light handling of the patty...

I'm going to have to agree with indelible on the higher fat content in the burger -- however i think the Hank's one i was talking about above was definitely pushing it...had to be around above the 20% mark --- i'm in the 15-20% camp myself. If you slightly overcook a leaner burger, its not very forgiving....which brings me to....

my return to honolulu burger company. wanted to give it another shot so went again last friday...and like K-man, i just went for a straight up bacon cheeseburger keeping it simple. Ordered it medium rare, received a very dry burger pushing well done. This is the 2nd time in a row its happened to me here and has happened off and on on prior visits...didnt say anything last time, but this time i politely asked their policy regarding burger doneness and they were very nice about cooking me another. The 2nd i received was perfectly cooked and juicy....but i dunno. the bread has always bothered me there, and this time the regular bun had to have been a touch stale, wasnt griddled, and was even falling apart a bit. the taste of the bun drastically took away from the burger and really has just turned me off to this place. again, peeps have different tastes and i'm glad HBC does well (my buddy i was with loves that joint and stands by it), but i think i'm done with it.

I've griped about the bun quality with burgers all over town before.... i think Teddys is one place that has good diner/fastfoodie style potato buns that work really well, as does the Momo Burger truck..... the new chef at Whole Ox makes the buns in house these days, and they look great. However last time i was in there the burger ballooned to 16 bucks...too rich for my lunchtime funds at the time. Havent had the burger there since the new guy took over, but that dry aged delight was a fave of mine....i'll have it again soon, maybe payday (tomorrow!), just because.

no prob

http://www.yelp.com/biz/coquitos-lati...

85-773 Farrington Hwy
Waianae, HI 96792
(808) 888-4082

Tue-Sat 11 am - 9 pm

Sun 11 am - 4 pm

just a quick shout-out and recommendation to check out Coquito's should you find yourself out on the west side....Puerto Rican chef, though they grab some influence form the carribean and latin america. They were super nice and the place is an inviting little spot. Me and the lady shared their jerk chicken wings which we loved --- thankfully not breaded and seasoned with a nice jerk dry rub, fried like a buffalo wing would be, then tossed in a sweet sour sauce and served with a little salad. The chicken was slightly overcooked, but the flavors were fantastic. She had the chicken mofongo....the chicken was again slightly overcooked but had wonderful flavor...if you dont know what mofongo is, its essentially a twice cooked garlicky plantain concoction that serves a vessel for toppings (chicken, in this case, could also select pork, beef, shrimp)....REALLY tasty. comes with 2 sides and we got the gandules rice (NICE) and the kidney beans which were an extremely pleasant surprise....served in a steel vessel, this was more of a soupish stew with some other aromatics along with the beans. SO. GOOD. we ended up saucing everything with the beans. I order the pernil (puerto rican roast pork shoulder) sandwich....was delicious. The pernil was lucious and flavorful and complimented by a vibrant sauce and veggies on pressed bread with plaintain chips on the side (to dip into your partner's beans, of course). GOOD STUFF. Its a haul out west for most of us townies, but when I head to the beautiful west side beaches for the day, i'm 100% checking out Coquitos again >>> you should too - keep the good stuff coming! btw, their tres leches and other dessert looked amaze, but we were too stuffed.

i'm glad most people like the Honolulu Burger Company, but its been really hit and miss for me so I've not been particularly motivated to go of late...i will note that safeway always has a buy one get one half off coupon on the back of receipts, so, thats appealing.

i dont have anything new or incredibly interesting to contribute though this topic is a particular passion of mine. The best burgers I've had of late are made in my kitchen, but I digress. If i had to pick one around town, i think maybe the burger at SALT is my fave? A big sucker, usually cooked perfectly as ordered, with high quality ingredients and condiments ( their ketchup and mustard are so freaking good, though their bun could use an upgrade)....plus, sundays are happy hour all night (starting at 5) so the burgers are like 8 bucks or something super reasonable.

i had a fantastic drunken bacon cheeseburger deluxe experience at liliha that did not hold up after a return experience under the influence of sobriety. oh well.

i'm hoping someone throws out a new gem, maybe a burger from a restaurant - like wongs pineapple room, or 12th ave grill, etc etc....i've had the burger from wolfgangs and it was damn good, but i think they only serve at lunch and its just tough to get to waikiki during lunch....i've had the burger at BLT steakhouse at the Trump Tower and its a pretty good burger, but its also a great deal >> for 16 bucks you get their famous popovers, liver pate and crostini, and the fatty burger and fries. totally worth sidling up to the bar. maybe someone knows of a burger worth seeking out at one of these new gastropubs - dash? home bar? had the slider at REAL and its nothing special...i've had the burger at pint&jigger and while i enjoy it, its nothing incredibly noteworthy.

I've had the burger from Hank's Haute Truck...for 5 or 6 bucks you get a quintessential backyard burger. no frills no nonsense charred 1/3 lb burger made with a relatively high fat content patty (lots of clear fatty "juice" drippage) and american cheese if you want...lettuce and tomato and onion. was good.

i dunno --- someone come up with something good! I'm game to run a burger mission.....

FYI:
http://www.nonstophonolulu.com/blogs/...

looks pretty incredible....

Ha - different leagues of burger, there...but yes, wolfgangs is a damn good one...

i've posted a handful of times about burgers around town and I feel like a couple folks keep mentioning getting a burger at Liliha. Well, years ago I gave their locomoco a shot and i considered it subpar on several levels - way overcooked and under-seasoned burger, boring gravy...well, those are the 2 biggies for any locomoco. So I was flat out not a believer that their actual burger on bun could be good....until this past Friday. I am a fan of burgers of all types as long as they are executed well for what they are - whether they are high brow big fat dry aged beef burgers or whether they are mystery meat greasy spoon or even fast food burgers (nod to in'n'out). Liliha's bacon cheeseburger deluxe falls squarely in the latter category, of course...and i was shocked how good it was. Well, it wasn't "good" as ingredients go, but it was good as in a prime example of big flavor low brow diner style soul burger. Granted, it was 2:30 in the morning, but I'll stand by this call. The cheeseburger deluxe consists of a beef patty that spends about 5-10 minutes too long on the grill....in the meanwhile, they fry up some mushrooms and bacon on the griddle....then they put the cooked bacon on the mushrooms while those finish cooking and cover that with american cheese, top the burger on a standard enriched burger bun (which i assume they bake there, seemed quite fresh) that was slathered with what i think was a special sauce (details hazy). served with iceburg, subripe tomatoes, and some crunchy pickle slices. now, the mushrooms were super moist, and as we all know, american cheese turns into burger sauce when used properly...and this combo kept the whole situation quite moist and seriously luscious despite the well done burger. Caveat: I also ordered a side of mac salad and a good scoop of that ended up on my burger, which also played a role in elevating this humble creature (i mean, you're gonna put mayo on the burger anyway, may as well give it some texture in the form of macaroni > this worked quite well and i don't know why I don't see this on any "hawaiian style" burgers around town as it arguably more local kine than slapping some pineapple on a burger. Further, I would be remiss if I didnt mention that the mac salad at Liliha is DAMN good. I love a simple, slightly sweet slightly acidic mac salad that's not too goopy or over-mayo'd - they nail it as does Zippys. But I digress.....)

Actually, nothing left to digress to. Was pretty good and quite satisfying! Thanks to those that keep mentioning it (Russkar?)...its been in the back of my head for awhile.

quick shout out to those griddled liliha butter rolls with fluorescent jelly: hot damn you dangerously tasty!

JJ Dollans is not NY pizza. I mean, the size of their pie alone disqualifies it from being a NY pizza IMO. I've had my quibbles with whether I truly dig their pies for a long time....i've often found them overcooked/burny on the bottom...just inconsistent on the cooking at times. and again, not big enough to get that charcteristic NYC pizza slice flop. That being said, I think the flavor of their pizzas (they have a decent selection and a few specials each night) are generally pretty good, and i accept and appreciate their pizza for what it is: well above average bar pizza with a subtle nod to NYC.

I feel like the only NYC pizza is....Boston's. Of which, I realize is not the best ingredients and ordering reheated slices is never amazing....but i feel like ordering a whole fresh pizza at one of their chains is as close to NYC pizza texture and set-up as we can get around here.

My current fave, although not NY.... is def the Prima/V-lounge neopolitano style duo...

pretty sure "Salt" will do it....i've had some perfectly cooked medium rare burgers there, dont see why they wouldnt go rare.

great report - thanks....reminded me i've been wanting to try nanzan girogiro...date night soon :)

know exactly the place...gonna check it thx

last time i was at the farmers market in town i saw P&L serving several kinds of bahn mi....on baguettes. I passed....i'm sure its still delicious, buy you gotta have the real deal bread.

hey all - just a little tip for lunch next time you're in kakaako....around the corner from the Whole Ox on Auahi St is a little coffee/lunch spot thats been there for years, run by the sweetest Vietnamese couple (they crack me up!). Their lemongrass chicken "french sandwich" is the best bahn mi i've had in town, and currently my favorite sandwich on this island. The chicken is wonderfully seasoned, tender chunks of chicken thigh, served with thicker cut do chua (carrot/daikon pickles), few slices tomato and the perfect amount of cilantro...a little mayo on the requisite crunchy french roll and you've got yourself a perfectly balanced flavorful bahn mi. i like to add a little of the chili garlic paste they have behind the counter....for 6 bucks, cant beat the flavor, and they usually throw in a piece of fruit. I eat one a week and it just doesnt get old. If its a busy day in there you may have to wait a few (everything is made fresh)...I cant vouch for other things on their menu bc i'm obsessed with the sanwich, but Yelpers also seem to enjoy their mongolian beef, boneless pork chops, lemongrass chicken plate, pho, etc....If you feel like going to whole ox for lunch with some coworkers, one of you should wander around the corner and grab this sandwich to compare to the whole ox offerings (which i enjoy): i bet this bahn mi wins.

i also enjoy the bahn mi at Nikki Cafe off Kapahulu...homemade char siu on their signature sammy, but their pork meatball bahn mi is what really does it for me. they use a thinner cut of do chua at nikki's, and i that's the one area that these sandwiches can improve on, IMO...i dont get as much pickle flavor as i'd like. Additionally, their lemon beef and jackfruit salads are fantastic, though will require a few people to knock out...also their jicama and summer rolls are quite nice. this place is run by a couple super sweet sisters, always swell to interact with them.

anyone else have any suggestions for excellent bahn mi? i should say, i never cease to be totally underwhelmed by the bahn mi at every Ba Le i visit. they're do chua is too sweet for me, and the sandwiches tend to be on the skimpy side with average tasting ingredients. that being said, i know theres several of them on island and perhaps some are better than others. i have, however, had a couple pretty good ones at BaLe's La Tour cafe on Nimitz (pork belly, mmmmmm)

just my opinion, but i've never been impressed with uncles. no doubt they have super fresh seafood, but its pricey and nearly everything i've had has been executed amateurly to bad. Some things at Nico's are tasty, some of the stuff is run of the mill. Their furikake ahi is so freakin good and cooked perfectly to order every time, i dont think i'll branch out anymore. but the new space is great, especially during the afternoon.

I like "Salt" in Kaimuki quite a bit, thats about a year old.

alicia's is great - consistently some of the best poke on island....and all the chinese roast meats are really good too - love that spot. i, too, need to return to helena's, its been years. and my experience with their pipikaula was chewy and dryish too....

these guys are moving into diego's old spot on king st in moilili and explanding menu...prob open in a couple months, FYI. i still go once a week or so, and the falafel and kebab never disappoint. recommend you order some 'amba' on the side....amazing thin sauce made with pickled mango and currey-esque seasonings. adds a brilliant twist.

soul's chicken is delicious - but if you go, ask them to fry you up a couple fresh thighs (all pieces are thighs there) -- i think, at peak hours at least, they do big batch fry ups. last couple times i went my chicken arrived awful close to room temp which is a serious let down. i'm not gonna let that happen again.

couple alternatives: not sure if you are a frequent visitor or eat a lot of japanese foods in socal....but maybe you might consider some chicken katsu curry? hit up one of the few coco curry house ichibanya shops in town, get a fried chicken cutlet with spicy curry and add some spinach and mushrooms...load it up with fukujinzuke and togarashi...one of my death row meals right there. or can maybe hunt out some chicken karaage somewhere, though i dont have any recommendations on that...

near pancakes and waffles (mentioned above), Sugoi is supposed to have killer fried garlic chicken.

also, this from honolulu magazine recently:

Best Fried Chicken

A renewed interest in soul food has sent fried chicken’s stock soaring. But long before Southern food was the trend du jour, Ray’s Café was frying up chicken so crispy the skin shatters like a chicharron. There’s no eating this fried chicken in private; one bite into a juicy thigh had our officemates seeking the source of audible, crackly bliss. The chicken is no-frills (no special seasonings or glazes), just like the Kalihi eatery itself. 2033 N. King St., 841-2771.

man, totally blah selection there....i'll give a shout to thai herb kitchen on kapahulu near waikiki, they have some menu items you dont see too often...though i didnt care for their noodle dishes.

other than that, i wouldnt say anything at all is "chow worthy". so much other good stuff here (oahu) to bother with any of that, though the hau tree lanai is def worth a brunch or a sunset dinner as honu2 said (i've only been for brunch, and while overpriced and not particularly creative, its pretty good - never been for other meals)

and while the food at la mariana is whatever, the setting is 100% worth checking out for a mai tai or a zombie. hit that place up as you head into town from the airport, or set aside an hour on your way back to the airport - the last great real deal tiki bar...

2nd mitch's....omakase prob best bang for bucks there....BYOS, too

think they close at 1:30 pm...FYI

only thing i can think of offhand is not really open for dinner dessert -- but REGAL BAKERY near the airport is a funky little donut shop - i think they usually have a maple iced bacon donut...among other fun flavors...worth popping over to during the day - http://www.facebook.com/Regal.Bakery

as of now, they don't....but they're essentially the same, just different bread.

been to and appreciated Serg's Manoa several times....i hit up the Serg's in 'nalo for the first time on saturday, shared an order of chicken tostadas (one of my faves there) and a carne asada taco. the tostadas (2) are a crispy corn tortilla, generous serving of their delish black beans, chicken stewed in a tomato/chipotle sauce, topped with onion, queso fresco, and crema. unlike tostadas at most joints around here, its about the tasty stewed meat and beans, rather than a pile of crappy gray shredded iceberg and unripe tomato. there's a little iceberg on the side as a garnish at serg's, adds a little texture. and the carne asada taco was damn good. simple simple. loaded with smallish diced carne asada, topped with onions, cilantro. super flavorful (especially with their awesome hot avo salsa). nice to see they're maintaining quality out at the new spot. love serg's, so not worth messing around with other mexican joints, though i'll try to remember to hit el palenque next time i'm headed home from north shore.

also, the fish dish with the tropical salsa at el mariache in kaneohe is pretty tasty, and if i remember correctly, i think you get what you pay for with this one, generous serving. dont remember their beans and rice being anything special, though.

and, since you'll be driving back to the airport and can detour through wahiawa, maybe consider Shige's Saimin Stand for a taste of the old school. fresh made noodles daily!

some other north shore snacks for the week, if you got a car to cruise:

-papa ole's in hau'ula for my favorite loco moco > add grilled onion and mushrooms (also have decent plate lunch/hawaiian food as well) -- plus you should prob pop into tamuras next door for the good beer selection/prices...they'll also have some fresh island fish should you want to do some cooking.
-kahuku farms just opened a farm stand/cafe across the street from romy's shrimp shack along the kuhuku shrimp farms. everything they serve was grown there. had the veggie panini and it was quite good. but the grilled banana bread a la mode with caramel was rediculous. plus, great setting, they did a nice job.
-fiji curry and market in kahuku sugar mill. sounds like what it is. roti, lamb, curry, etc
-pupukea grill, truck near sharks cove - they do solid, fresh grub
-ted's bakery at sunset beach for pies..
-opal thai in haleiwa. guy had a successful truck for some time, just open a brick and mortar and its doing quite well, personally never been
-kahuku superette does good poke
-shrimp trucks, pick and try a few, giovanni's is the most famous (in kahuku and haleiwa)
-beet box cafe in back of celestial foods in haleiwa does good vegetarian
-get shave ice at the wailua sugar mill -- they make their toppings with all natural fruits grown up there (as opposed to most places that use artificially flavored syrups) ... try their wailua chocolate sauce (cacao grown in the back yard) on your shave ice mixed with a fruit topping. put ice cream on the bottom, condensed milk on top. hope that the middle aged hawaiian guy is there working the machine when you show, he has some serious touch and makes finer ice than anyone else that works there.
-paalaa kai bakery between wailua and haleiwa is supposed to be great...snow puffies.

enjoy, aloha....

anybody try it yet? had one earlier this week, and it was a good one.

dry-aged hawaiian beef (menu says its served medium), carmelized onion, caper ailoi, soft onion roll. ~10 bucks

why does this not come with cheese? i added gruyere (50 cents) and it was a perfect match, generously melted on the burger. the burger itself is a probably around a 6 oz patty...came with a modest serving of carmelized red onion that turned out to be a bit unwieldy - really my only complaint about the burger....not easy to bite completely through them, so when my teeth latched onto the onion many of them came out, leaving me to restuff 'em back in. i gotta hand it to them, though --- this was the juiciest burger i've had in honolulu. fantastic BEEFiness, now, my burger was arguably medium in the middle, but overall i think they slightly overcooked it to medium well. i may have returned it for a new one at other places (i'd prefer medium rare, but i'm not sure they'd oblige given that the menu states they serve it medium) but this thing still managed to be crazy juicy and flavorful so i really didnt care. juicy levels hint that they are using a nice fatty grind of beef -- just the way a burger should be. highly recommend this burger in its simplicity, stoked to return for another....

swung by this morning right before 11 to grab a sandwich --- chose the porchetta, and i'm glad i did. really good, comforting grub. seemed to me to be a lightly cured, thickly cut roasted pork shoulder (my guess), well seasoned but mildly so, lots of crunchy "bark" on the outside of the chunks and soft fat on the inside...the meat was tender but still had a good chew,and the sandwich was topped with sweet carmelized fennel. the sandwich needed nothing added to it and was really, really good in a mellow earthy umami porky way. the bun, while it looks good in killersmile's pic above, wasn't amazing - sort of a generic bun, though it was buttery and toasty on the inside with a little crunch, but yielding. can't help but think a fresh baked roll of sorts would set this thing off in a big way, but i thought it was wonderful and stuffed with enough meat that i'm happy to pay the 10 or 11 bucks. served with some pickled cuke, onion, and red bell on the side, nice touch. also ordered a slice of the head cheese, which was more or less pork rillettes in terrine form, with bugger chunks of fat. tasty, old school stuff right there, had to add a little salt for my tastes. and i got one of their pickles, which flavorwise, was delish in a NYC jewish deli way, but the cuke didnt hold up to the pickling and was soft on the inside (though crunchy on the outside). totally stoked this place is up and runnin',looking forward to exploring the menu....

went to Salt last week for a throwdown with some visiting friends from LA and NYC, and the restaurant did an excellent job with nearly everything we ordered...and we had fun, impeccable service. was a great night....

but i write bc i think the burger at Salt is the best in town, of the ones i've had. I would probably put wolfgang's in waiks at a slight #2.

we had 6 peeps and we decided to each split a burger with the person sitting across from us, so we wound up with several combinations. the day we were there, the topping options were taleggio or point reyes blue, house cured guanciale "bacon", ali'i mushrooms, red onion jam, and and egg (i think these were $1 each on top of the $12 burger). they use maui cattle co. beef...1/2 pounders, come with lettuce, perfectly ripe tomatoes, onion, a kaiser bun, and housemade ketchup, housemade bread&butter style pickles, and mustard on the side....but what really set this guy apart from everywhere in town was the handling of the meat --- impressive and consistent achievement of a crazy juicy and perfectly medium rare throughout burger with a great flavorful char/crust. i mean....perfect. i think the best combo of the night was the blue + guanciale. my only issue with the burger was the bun wasn't toasted on the inside -- but that was rectified during round 2: on top of everything else we ordered, we wound up ordering 2 more burgers to share at the table and requested the buns be toasted inside, and they happily obliged. and these burgers, once again, were cooked perfectly. got that desired beefy flavor, had a yielding chew indicating proper 'light' handling while forming the patty, lots of juice to soak into the bun, and the ratio of topping to bread to burger was money. the bread was good but not amazing -- i think the only think that would make this burger better would be a better, fresh cooked bun with a slight bit of crustiness to it -- anyway ...great ingredients, great execution and solid construction: whole thing stayed together throughout its demise with minimal mess.

yes, you are going to pay a little more for this one, but if you want a proper burger, i cant recommend it enough

just went to Nonbei with a group of 9 on sunday (after coming home from an amazing maui > lanai camping adventure)....and the folks at Nonbei were on fire. Everything that came out of the kitchen and sushi bar was executed wonderfully. There was so much ordered!!! the quality of the fish was superb (one highlight being the generous servings of uni from hokkaido that were unbelievably unctuous with that perfect briny depth of ocean custard gusto ) and that sushi chef is consistently quite the artist...aji tataki, ankimo, moriawase platters and sashimi platters, rainbow rolls (a bit unusual and beautiful here), whole flounder, lucious sweet kakuni, agedashi tofu. tako sunomonu, crab-avo salad, on and on...nothing remotely disappointed. fantastic service for over 2 hours.
just wanted to give a little shout out to those guys....