The best things to see on Molokai are Kalaupapa, the Nature Conservancy guided hike into the Kamakou Preserve, and the uncrowded beaches. I think it's worth more than a day trip. The Kualapuu Cookhouse was definitely the best place to eat.

I have seen frozen ducks at Y. Hata's retail store. Unless Whole Foods carries it, I'm guessing duck fat probably won't be easy to find.

I had the crackseed lemon peel pop and a taste of the butter mochi pop, both were very tasty. I had the seafood jambalaya from Soul Patrol, and others in our party had the gumbo with the works (with cornbread and a piece of fried chicken) and the sparerib plate with collard greens. All of the dishes garnered rave reviews, with the fried chicken, even not freshly fried, ranking higher than the chicken that came with the fried musubi.

Thank you to everyone who replied. I tried Ono Pops and thought it was very good, with a really great selection of flavors. The Soul Patrol truck was there, and while the prices were a bit on the high side, the food was delicious. Kohnotori, unfortunately, was pretty middle of the road. We also had a mini Hawaiian plate from Laverne's that was really good, with some of the tastiest chicken long rice I've ever had.

I'm planning to go to Eat the Street for the first time tomorrow in Mililani. Does anyone have any food truck recommendations? I am not at all familiar with this scene.
Thank you!

Hey, Waiahole poi taro would be fine too. Any poi taro. I have seen cooked Hanalei taro at the Mililani farmer's market, so I was hoping there might be somewhere that sold it uncooked on this island.

I like getting baked manapua and rice cake to go from Royal Kitchen on my way out of Chinatown. Delicious. Char Hung Sut is also on my list.

I've seen Samoan taro at Tamashiro's, which I am not sure would work for poi or not, plus dryland taro and Japanese taro, which are not good for poi. I purchased Lehua poi taro from them once, but it didn't make a poi as delicious as the Hanalei taro tuber from the Punahou Carnival, which is why I am trying to find a source.

Does anyone know where on Oahu I can buy uncooked Hanalei taro roots for making poi? Any other variety of poi taro would be fine too.

Ice Palace is great but has offerings that are very different from your typical local style shave ice. My favorites are taro milk with mochi balls, pudding milk with mochi balls, and combo shave ice.

Maybe...they were smaller than normal bananas, and red. I had trouble telling when they were ripe, as I had no prior experience with red bananas, and I seem to recall they did not change color much as they ripened. I had white pineapple a few times growing up on Oahu (absolutely delicious, by the way...if you see one, get it!), but only yellow bananas until Minnesota. I know, it's weird, but it's the truth.

No really. I had red apple bananas from Cub Foods on Lake Street in Minneapolis too. Dragon Star Asian grocery in St Paul had at various times of the year, sugar cane, breadfruit, taro leaves, mangosteen, guava....It was not the freshest, but I could barely believe it myself. I am not sure if it was because of the large Hmong population or what.

United Noodle in Minneapolis has a Hawaiian food section with frozen poi, li hing mui powder (Jade brand), saloon pilot crackers, Noh poke mix, etc.

Minneapolis/St Paul is nothing like Prairie Home Companion makes it out to be. That was one of the first things I learned when I moved there.

You can get apple bananas at Cub Foods in Minneapolis, and likely in St. Paul as well.

No reservations are taken for the Bachelor Farmer's brunch, which is excellent, by the way. I recommend the pork shoulder with rye pyttipanna.

Call Sweetland Orchard to see when they will be making cider this year. They are only open on weekends, and it's about 40 miles from the cities, but they have really good pick your own apples, Spring Grove soda, donuts, and a cute little picnic basket with a small loaf of bread, a chunk of sheep's milk cheese, and a container of heirloom cherry tomatoes. I didn't get the picnic, but I thought it was a great idea.

Anyway, they usually have really delicious unpasteurized cider, but they didn't have any yet last weekend.

Patisserie 46 makes a cake called the Rory cake, with meringue layers instead of sponge cake. It is delicious, beautiful, gluten-free and definitely more reasonably priced.

United Noodle carries mochi filled with red bean paste in their refrigerator case. It's not super fresh, but it will certainly do if you have a hankering for such things. Mochi was one of my favorite treats as a child.

I've also had it at Tanpopo in St Paul. It's a bit pricey there.

Aesop's Table in St Paul?

I wasn't trying to express a desire for a local-only fish restaurant, only that I love to eat lake fish and have no fishing skills or equipment. It's hard to find restaurants that serve lake trout and herring in the Twin Cities, so I make sure to try to get my fill anytime I am along Hwy 61.

I like Sea Salt, for what it's worth.

I want a restaurant in the Twin Cities that serves all of the fish dishes you described! Sounds great.

I think that in terms of value, MSP is fantastic for fine dining. Food of comparable quality is so much more expensive in larger cities, probably because the markets there tolerate a higher price point. At the lower end of the market we don't measure up so well, with the possible exception of the Vietnamese and Hmong restaurant scene.

We are, however, unusually blessed with co-op markets, CSA subscriptions and farmer's markets with reasonable prices. It's a good place for the avid home cook.

I recommend the pasta negra with sea urchin, mussels and tomato and the red wine spaghetti, along with the lobster and egg bruschetta.

As a more general recommendation, I would say stick with the pastas and the bruschettas and skip the secondi. The half portions of pastas are great for variety, and for two people three half portions and one bruschetta was plenty of food. I know many people love the gnocchi, but if you don't like a strong orange flavor in your pasta you may not care for it.

I went to St Paul Corner Drug recently. It may be an old soda fountain from 1920, but the place generally lacked charm and worst of all, the phosphates were not good at all.

Rustica sells cakes in four and six inch sizes, but they have a pretty limited selection of cakes at any given time. Still, it may be worth a look as the quality there is pretty high.

I live in an area bordering the east side of the Como neighborhood (a part that used to be listed as Como on the MLS, but now is not). There really isn't much to walk to in terms of bakeries and restaurants, if that is important to you, but there are several good places in close driving distance.

For baked goods I go down to Selby to Bars Bakery and A Piece of Cake. Bread and Chocolate and Cafe Latte isn't far from there either. The Mississippi Market on Selby carries Rustica Bread, and the St Paul Farmer's Market is a short drive as well, with some good bread vendors.

It is also easy to get to good restaurants on University Ave (Big Daddy's, Ngon, Bangkok Thai Deli), Selby (W.A. Frost, Cheeky Monkey, Mango Thai, etc.), Grand Ave (Tavern on Grand, Brasa, Punch), and downtown (Meritage, Heartland). The Strip Club is also not too far. Plus, it's pretty close to both Hmong markets.

I'm guessing parts of Mac/Groveland would be just as close or closer to most of the places I am talking about, and would probably be the neighborhood I would choose just based on culinary appeal. The nicest thing about the Como neighborhood is Como Park and Lake Como, really.

My favorite croissant is made by Bars Bakery in St Paul on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only. They have a delicious ham and cheese version. You need to go well before noon for the best chance to get one. They taste deceptively light, even though you know they are packed full of butter.

Patisserie 46 is my second choice for a ham and cheese croissant. It's a close second, mind you. To be honest, when I go to Patisserie 46 I prefer getting one of their ornate sweets, like a Mont Blanc, or their quiche for lunch, so it could be the ham and cheese croissant pales in comparison to their other offerings, as opposed to other croissants in the Twin Cities.

I'm pretty sure both bakeries make their croissants on site.

A place called Soul Food Heaven opened recently on Maryland Ave in St. Paul, near the Marydale Park. I haven't been yet, so I don't know if it is any good.

Nope. I thought Bachelor Farmer was overrated as well. The food wasn't bad, but at that price point (higher than suggested by the statement on the online menu quoted above, btw), it should be much more exciting.

I vote for Saffron! I don't think I will ever have a more delicious dish of green beans.

The smoked lake trout at Cub Foods, of all places, is good and inexpensive. Cub foods in Roseville has it, I'm not sure about other store locations.

This may sound strange, but I would consider Ngon Bistro. They have a Steak au Poivre on the menu as well as veggie options, and their food is consistently good. I have not ordered the steak myself, but I have dined with people who were very pleased by it.