A blog about SoCal food and travel, with a spicy Asian flair
Marching along we’re adventurers/ Singing the song of adventurers/ Up or down, North, South, East, or West, an Adventurer’s life is best!
A trip to Costco, a Mai Tai at the pool, a walk on the beach at sunset, before a fancy dinner out. This is the life. Wow what we cook up with these! We stayed at the Aqua Kauai Beach Resort. Just north of Lihue (centrally located); pool bar; nice walking beach with a small natural pool behind a reef;...
This is my new favorite restaurant on Kauai. Every single thing we had was totally delicious, down to the bread and the ice tea. So with no further ado… Passion guava martini, Cruzan guava rum, fresh lilikoi, lemon juice. For Mr A. I think I had just had a (strong) Mai Tai at the resort so I didn’t feel like...
Usually our first stop when we land, as our flight from California puts us on the island before noon. We had to skip Hamura the first day since we were meeting up with friends for snorkeling, but soon enough we were back. Simple, fast, delicious. Small Saimin for me, plain Saimin with extra noodle for Ms S , Special Saimin...
We were very impressed by this little place in Kapa’a. We were just looking for a quick bite but loved the tacos. The fish Tacos were fresh and made for a great light lunch. The carnivores selected the regular, and the plain, Carne Asada. Don’t miss their red and green salsas!
Fresh fish, daily specials. No seating… No problem. Just a stone’s throw away from Ahukini, where everyone comes to eat lunch in their cars. Ginger Miso Ahi
A possibly underrated restaurant at the Kauai Beach Resort. Jazz Flute on Wednesday night in the lobby bar, which serves a complete menu! Here’s the ribs appetizer, which was excellent. They also had a very thoughtful bar menu – serving Old Fashioned’s, and Sazerac’s.
The sun is falling, the tradewinds are blowing, the tiki torches are lit, your toes are in the sand, the stars are coming out. You don’t even notice that the onion rings are soggy, and the alfredo sauce is a little weak. Sometimes a little mediocrity is OK. Especially when Lava Lava Beach Club is 30 steps from the hotel....
Best places to eat in Lihue (in no particular order): Smileys Plate Lunch (til 130) Hamura Saimin Fish Express (fish runs out around lunchtime) Right Slice pies Dukes at the Kauai Marriott Tip Top (until 1:45; Sushi Katsu at night after 5:30) (We didn’t get a chance to try Robs Good Time grill or Roland’s Plate lunch this time –...
Lihue needs more great plate lunch places. Until then we’ll happily keep coming back to Smileys. Our flight was delayed an hour, allowing us to have one more meal before leaving. Woo! Located behind Ace Hardware on Rice Street, Smileys also has some great specials. I tried the Ahi Katsu and it was the 2nd best piece of fish I...
Friday evenings all summer long. Come early, because the tram does not come around even close to every 15 minutes. And you don’t want to park in that lower lot.
2 ruined pairs of pants, 1 ruined backpack. Neoprene surf socks so inundated with mud that they’ve never rinsed clean. My right palm, bruised and tender for days from the weight I put on my hiking stick while ascending and descending the slippery muddy cliffs. But also the most amazing pictures and memories, of the dense tree and fern canopy,...
Salted cheese. On top of milk tea. Who would think to put cheese with iced tea and who would want to drink it again? Happy Lemon is a chain of tea and juice shops from Shanghai. This spot in Kearney Mesa is supposedly their biggest location anywhere – no surprise, shops in Asia are tiny – but both times we...
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-sierra-dead-trees-20170128-story.html As of January 2017, “more than 102 million drought-stressed and beetle-ravaged trees have died across 7.7 million acres of California forest. More than half of those died last year alone. Overall, about a fifth of the trees have died in the ponderosa pine and mixed conifer belt of the park, according to Stephenson and Das. Even after this winter’s...
Is Steamy Piggy just a cute name, or a restaurant with real staying power? We took advantage of happy hour pricing to try their appetizers. Salt and pepper chicken, crispy and salty: 3 cup chicken – super tender stewed chicken in a shoyu/sesame oil sauce. Tastes just like Japanese shoyu chicken to me, a true home cooking dish! Not that...
French restaurants and cafes aren’t really a thing in LA. So I was excited to try Balthazar for weekend brunch. We booked a 1030 reservation which gave us time to get there from Times Square. It was quite busy on Saturday morning and we could see just how close together the tables are set. We’re we going to be squeezed...
I’m not a big fan of museums. I can’t think of anything more boring than wandering thru an endless maze of rooms looking at stuff that has absolutely no meaning to me. It took me way too long to figure out that you can just go see the pieces you want to see. The Rick Steves museum tours are perfect...
One of the hole in the wall restaurants that Tony Bourdain made famous, Xi’an Famous Foods is just south of Central Park. The menu is mostly hand torn noodle dishes with lamb, beef, pork, and a few dumpling dishes. This is very humble eating place with no tables or waiters, only stools and 2 long counters. Similar to what you’d...
As far as I’m concerned, the perfect dinner. A top notch Old Fashioned – nice and sweet and citrusy – and a Joel Gott cabernet. Altho I think I’m going to have to stop mixing my liquors. The bread basket had a nice gingerbread in it as well as some fine whole grain breads. The butter was very rich –...
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I love discovery, adventure, and the unexpected and my partner loves points and miles. Based in San Diego, our goal is to reach every continent, World Heritage Site, and Disneyland park…and everything in between. This blog is our trail of breadcrumbs. Join us…and Kungaloosh!