Goofy Cafe and Dine - Waikiki, Honolulu, HI

You don’t enter a place named Goofy with a lot of expectations. And on the outside, Goofy’s doesn’t look like much; just a casual, shopping-center cafe.

Sit down inside and you immediately feel at home. It’s a welcoming, cozy, bustling breakfast bar, and there isn’t a single thing I tried that wasn’t absolutely exceptional. 

I’m still full from an incredible dinner buffet so I’m looking for something light and full of fiber. Their Açaí Bowl gets the job done. The açaí itself is incredible, and their fresh local fruits are in a league of their own. The pineapple is so sweet and barely has any acid, and the papaya is silky-smooth. 

There’s more where that came from. More pineapple and papaya crowd around fluffy slices of Big Island Honey French Toast.

The bread is fluffy, eggy with just the right breath of fresh bread. The Dark Chocolate Lava iteration is rich with banana and cocao. 

It gets heavier. The Big Island Beef Loco Moco...wow! It’s the most delicious brick of tender beef and runny egg on rice, and the gravy is divine!

The food doesn’t get any better than this. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and at Goofy’s, it’s the best meal of the day, the week, and maybe even the year. I’m especially impressed at them accommodating our party of nine in a very reasonable amount of time. Plus the service is good, and the food is amazing. When in Hawaii, Goofy’s is a meal you don’t want to miss!

Matcha Stand Maiko - Waikiki, O’ahu

Matcha. Ice cream. Hawaii. All the best words in the very best place. Only the creamiest ice cream comes from this somewhat randomly-placed stand, and it's definitely worth a visit.

To satisfy your snack or dessert craving, you have a few options. You can always keep it simple with a waffle cone and a swirl of matcha and milk, especially if you're taking it to go. The flavors amplify each other for an extra creamy hit. Bonus points if you wear a shirt to match your matcha like Ben.

There's shaved ice too, but this Maiko Special mixed parfait is where it's at. You get the same matcha and vanilla swirl ice cream atop complex layers of varying textures and tastes. They add airy cubes of matcha chiffon cake, sweet and gooey chestnuts, and chewy shiratama mochi.

Be aware: there's very little actual seating so you will literally have to stand for your matcha, but I'll always stand up for what’s right, and Maiko does everything right!

Moku Kitchen - Waikiki, O’ahu

Waikiki may be the only place in the world where you can enter almost any respectable establishment covered in sand and multiple layers of mud. We owe Moku Kitchen for accepting our gifts from Koko Crater and the afternoon of hot humidity and sun we spent in it. They even gave us the choice of inside seating when even I wouldn’t have let me past the patio. 

The cool down continues as we devour the Hapa Poke starter. The ono is an oyes, and its brightness offsets the ahi. Both fish are super fob, and they show you a silky coat of sesame and shoyu. 

Everything is made in the kitchen at Moku Kitchen. Props for making everything in house, even the ketchup. Their iteration does have more body with a heavier tomato tang compared to your garden-variety Heinz, and it cuts through the gloriously-Garlic Truffle Oil Fries. Can’t go wrong with Parmesan and truffle oil, and the pairing of a sharp mustard aioli is smart.

I love the Duck Tacos. The duck is tender, and the chunks show that size matters. Each taco is filled and filling, and that pineapple habanero salsa hurts so good. If you’re weak-sauce for hot sauce like me, get it on the side and control your pain. 

The pizza special is Buffalo Chicken. I’m rarely impressed by this particular pie, but they know what they’re doing. This one tastes like Saturday-night, watch-the-game at a higher-end bar hardly-hot wings on a fold of flatbread, and it makes me want a beer on tap to wash it down.

The Hamakua Wild Mushroom Pizza is a more polished piece, strong on the truffle oil, with an undercurrent of white sauce that runs through it all. The mushrooms are the main event, and no amount of truffle can take away from these juicy wonders.

I am not a fan of Waikiki. It is probably the most controversial place on the island from what my local friends are saying. Full of shops and hot spots, ritz and glitz, these mega-million shopping malls are hardly in keeping with the loving lull of island life. But while I don’t need a designer bag to carry my water during my become-one-with-nature hike, I definitely need to eat, and I would gladly eat at Moku Kitchen again.