Makai Bowls - Kailua, HI

Poke and an acai bowl, the wings and beer of island life. 

Makai makes a fantastic Aloha Bowl out of a large box in a parking lot. Banana-berry is all fresh and ripe over açaí ice. Think outside the box and add some peanut butter and honey. It’s the bee’s knees!

The Hibachi - Kailua, HI

When in Hawaii, go grocery! A mini-mart stocked with all kinds of poke and and things on sticks. Poke is scooped to order, and all sorts of meat refrigerates in marinade, ready to go on the grill.

We stuck with the poke today, but I would like revisit the skewers. The variety was impressive, and they all looked irresistible. 

Today is a day for Tako. There's a reason they always run out of the tako first - it's an island special, and these tender, juicy slices are draped in sharp sweet onion and savory limu. The other half is Spicy Tobiko, fresh tuna chunks in roe-laced mayo.

They get pretty creative too. This one is Spicy Oyster Sauce, same fresh ahi with a salty burn that builds. The oyster sauce is sticky, and and it coats your tongue with all that pepper.

Beware the wrath of the Thai Basil. It's flavorful, and it glows red-hot and angry. It'll leave your mouth raw, but those chilies pack the most pleasant heat! 

Wash it all down with an Island Cola. Tastes like regular cola except my can (and maybe my imagination) can tastes a little a more cane. 

A mini-mart with a tiny parking lot and an inconspicuous storefront. That seems to be the MO for great restaurants in O'ahu. So far so good; keep the groceries coming!

Lanikai Beach - Kailua, HI

The food has been incredible, and I would never have found any of it myself. I can navigate my way through a tangle of fine dining, but I’m not so good at the ethnic or the authentic. O’ahu has the fancy stuff, but for the best day to day Hawaiian fare, it’s the small counters that count. 

Thrillist, Cone Nast, and celebrity chefs have no place here. The real deal is the little local places, not these overhyped gourmet grilles with an “e”.

Enter Ben and Marianne. Coordinators collaborative, completists extraordinaire. Think of the couple you most want to be like, and look no further - they are that couple. They bring out the best in everyone and everything they encounter, and no one can flesh out the subtleties of island cuisine, it’s these two. And they have a four-day head start.

After that fantastic breakfast the found at Jack's, we wanted to kayak to the Chinaman's Hat. Denied. The kayak and SUP renter described man o'war jellyfish in graphic detail, with their spectacularly tentacular glory, long appendages that wrap limbs like a stinging vice. 

We went to the beach instead. The hubbies swim, the ladies sit and sun...well, we Asian-sun anyway. That means sitting under the sun with glasses and hats, slathered in the most potent sunscreen money can buy, cowering in fear of UV-induced aging. 

Still, the selfies are good, and it's a relaxing time for all. Even for me, and I don't actually know how to relax.

Uahi Island Grill - Kailua

I try to check off at least one thing off my bucket list every time I travel, and Hawaii was no exception. I had always been dying to take a night dive, and I couldn't imagine a prettier place to take the plunge.

Experienced drivers rave about the rush of embracing the blackness, and treading water over a pitch-black sea armed with only a small flashlight makes every little pufferfish look like a hidden treasure.

I look for the same thrill when looking for places to eat, and after all the hype about Uahi from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, walking in the door and snagging a worn wooden table was the stomach-dropping equivalent of a descent into watery darkness.

I was able to see several snippets of sea life so the dive wasn't entirely a waste. A puffer fish flew by, trumpet fish followed the light, and a wizened turtle watched between the rocks. The Furikake Calamari snuck up on me unexpectedly, like the slipper lobster than paused upon a rock. The furikake was just as hard to find, but the calamari illuminates from beneath, and it makes a decent plate of comfort food over a bed of rice.

I hate the taste of seawater, but the locally-bottled Mango Soda slid down my briny throat in gulps.

The dive started strong, but I lost a fin halfway through. Trying to find a fin in the pitch dark will get you as lost as the flavor in the Grilled Fish, a dried-out mahi mahi with a red curry garnish. The mahi turned to rubber, and it was grilled in no seasoning, relying only on the insufficient quantity of underlying red curry to fill in for flavor. The papaya salad was actually a few shreds on papaya and they forgot the seasoning on that one too.

The compass got stuck, and we ended up lost. And by the end of the half-mile swim to shore, I was exhausted and wondering why I ever endeavored to do this dive. The Korean Steak Salad had a perfectly seared steak for a proteinaceous power-up. Unfortunately, the rest of the salad was probably guided by the same compass.The kimchee viniagrette tasted like viniagrette and viniagrette alone, and the greens are just as generic.

Well between my disastrous night dive and a disappointing night at Uahi, I've become a lot less inclined to buy into other people's raving. It'll be a long time before I dive without the scorching sun, and it'll be even longer before I watch Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

Cinnamon's Restaurant - Kailua, Hawaii

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day...especially when it's served at noon.

I can't think of a righter way to start the day than the Kalua Pork Eggs Benedict. The slow-roasted shredded pork is hot-and-heavy as smooth as the hollandaise sauce on top, and this combination will have you eating long after you're full.

The Guava Chiffon Pancakes may be the worst breakfast for those who slept in, but they're probably the best breakfast I've ever had. Sweet, fruity, and neon-pink  with a batter so light I swear it's whipped from cream, you'll inhale the whole stack and slip into carb coma before you can say "Pass the coconut syrup".

At least you can try to walk it off as you pace around outside because as far as I can see, this place is forever full. A hardcore Harry Potter theme adds a cheerful eccentricity, charming like the Corn Pancakes with Blueberries, which actually taste like they could come from Hogwarts. Cornmeal adds character and savor punctuated with berry-burst. 

Cinnamon's is bright and sweet with an unspeakable charisma I can't begin to describe. I don't get the Harry Potter theme but I like it, and the painstaking attention to decorating detail definitely comes through in the food. If I could eat one meal in Hawaii, this one would be it.

Manoa Chocolate Hawaii - Kailua

I've had chocolate, but I've never had this kind of chocolate. Hershey's isn't exactly gourmet, but these artisans make Godiva seem like crap.

Their chocolate tasting starts with an introduction to different types of cocoa. The different types taste like night and day, ranging from the taste bud shock of the bright and tangy Costa Rican cacao to the heavier, bolder, cherry-tinted Papua New Guinea variety. The Hamakua is Hawaii-born and become impossible creamy and smooth when mixed with milk.

The Breakfast Bar is a simple base, but the crunchy nibs keep it fun. The Hawaiian Sea Salt adds a gritty highlight, and the Goat Milk is surprisingly unique, finishing like chocolate-covered chevre.

The Lavender is the most amazing chocolate I've ever had, a pretty flower that permeates and stays. The Ghost Pepper is not nearly as intimidating as it sounds, but bite into the bar that bites back with caution.

So many chocolate bars, so little time. Yet they do so much more. Their chocolate tea is irresistible, and they even make a brew for beer. I'm hardly new to chocolate, but this was the first time I got to watch the masters work!