Boots and Kimo's

For someone who lives in Honolulu like me, taking a trip all the way out to Kailua is a rare occasion. However, every single time I do, I have to make a stop at Boots and Kimo's, home of the famous macadamia nut sauce pancakes. Every time I’ve gone I end up waiting for about 15 minutes for a table, because there was always a line outside. However, Boots and Kimo’s recently moved right down the street from their old location to a larger restaurant. So those pesky lines- a thing of the past.

Boots and Kimo’s has a large menu of mostly breakfast foods, which are all very tasty. But if you’re going to make a trip all the way out to Kailua, you are insane if you don’t get the pancakes. The first time you take a bite out of a Boots and Kimo’s pancake, you can’t help but close your eyes and smile. The pancakes are deliciously light and fluffy, but the sauce- oh the sauce! When they serve it to you, the macadamia nut sauce is piled in a large dollop in the center and, ever so slowly, the thick yet fluffy sauce inches to the edges of the pancake and sometimes even off the plate. The best I can describe it is having the consistency of silky molasses whipped with air till it’s a rich and dense fluff. Mmmmm. I always get the tall stack of banana pancakes smothered in sauce (3 pieces for $7.99).

I’ve tried to reproduce the sauce at home, and it has actually come pretty close. So if you can’t make it to Kailua, give the recipe a try for yourself. . .but nothing compares to the real thing! Oh, and by the way, I wouldn’t recommend serving this every day, for it is definitely the path to obesity and diabetes. But once a month makes a wonderful treat!

Macadamia Nut Sauce
1 c. whole milk
2 T butter
1/3 c sugar or 3 T. honey
1 t. vanilla
2 T. flour
pinch salt

Mix and boil for 3 min, stirring continually. Let cool for 5 min. Pour over a stack of pancakes, top with chopped macadamia nuts, and serve.

Boots and Kimo’s

151 Hekili street suite 150
Kailua, HI 96734

(808) 263-7929

Waiola Shave Ice

There’s nothing more refreshing to quench your thirst on a hot Hawaiian day than a shave ice (not snow cones or shaved ice as the say on the mainland). And, if you only have one chance to get a local shave ice, you gotta go with Wailoa. Why is Waiola better than the numerous other shave ice shops out there? Well, first, there’s over 35 flavors of syrup to choose from. They make the syrup in house, so no one else can get their crazy flavors like pina colada, passion fruit, li hing honey, passion orange guava, coffee, and sour apple. There’s something for everybody here. Second, the toppings. Wailoa offers a number of excellent toppings or add-ons, their top sellers including condensed milk, mochi balls, and ice cream. But the real reason why Wailoas is number one is simply, the ice. Oh, how I wish I could get my hands on their ice shaving machine! The ice is super fine, soft, and melt in your mouth delicious – no ice chunks sold here. Here’s a couple of Wailoa’s specialty bowls, which start at $2.50 and cost 50 cents for each add on.

Azuki Bowl: Milk syrup with azuki beans (sweet red beans) and mochi balls


Rainbow Ice cream bowl: Rainbow shave ice with ice cream inside and condensed milk topping

There’s not really any recipe that I can share here, but Waiola does sell some of their more popular flavors of syrup by the bottle so you can make shave ice at home if you so desire. But, honestly, it’s all about the ice, and no shave ice machine that you buy at Target is going to come close to the quality at Waiola. Cause at Waiola, the ice is finer, the choices are wider, and the flavors are bolder than anywhere else, I promise.

Waiola Shave Ice

2135 Waiola Ave
Honolulu, HI 96805

(808) 949-2269

Zippy's

Ask anyone about a local style restauraunt, and I guarantee that Zippy’s will be one of the first names out of their mouths. Starting 40 years ago with only a single restaurant, Zippy's has grown to over 20 locations across Hawaii and into a successful catering business. Zippy’s is known for its chili- perfectly seasoned, meaty, midly spicy, and a recipe that is guarded with lock and key gives Zippy’s a distinctive taste and the best chili on the islands. It’s almost impossible to go to a local potluck and not have Zippy’s chili around (Zippy’s sells about 110 tons of chili a month!). But, besides the chili, Zippy’s has a extensive menu of all the local favorites: saimin, beef stew, chicken katsu, Loco Moco (hamburger steak with gravy and fried egg on rice), fried noodles, teri beef- the list goes on and on.

Zippy’s “Zip Pac” has also become a standard in Hawaii. The Zip Pac is a bento consisting of teri beef, fried chicken, mahi mahi and spam on a bed of rice and furikake (nori seasoning). I remember always having a Zip Pac after sports games as a kid, and till this day I still have a Zip Pac waiting for me in the car whenever I arrive home from college. Zippy’s has definitely become embedded in local culture, and remains a great late night stop for friends, because they are open 24/7.

One thing I would like to share is a recipe that is alllmost as good as Zippy’s Korean fried chicken- tasty, tender pieces of chicken fried to a golden crispy outside and dipped in a mild, spicy shoyu sauce. The chicken might not look very special, but for true foodies, beauty is never skin deep. It’s my favorite thing to get when I’m out for a late night snack with my friends and it's all of my friends’ favorite too. Enjoy!

5 pounds chicken wings
1 tsp Hawaiian salt
1 can beer (or 1/4 c. wine)

Soak chicken for 1/2 hour or more in mixture of beer & salt.
Drain and coat with Cornstarch. Fry crisp and dip in sauce one by one while still hot.

Sauce:
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
3 cloves garlic
1 green onion chopped
1 small red pepper (or pinch of cayenne pepper)
1 tsp sesame seeds