While honeymooning in Hawaii, Wayne and I only ate two fancy meals, one on each island we visited (Oahu and Maui). The rest of the time, we looked for local cuisine – and of course, this has to include the Hawaiian plate lunch! Plate lunch is traditionally two scoops of white rice, some type of meat, and a scoop of potato salad.  All the places we went had variations – brown rice, different choices of salads, etc.  We enjoyed a few plate lunch meals while in Hawaii. They were quick, cheap, and always satisfying! The plate lunches below was our last meal before leaving Oahu for Maui.  It’s funny, because we came upon this meal by accident – we had planned on going to a nicer restaurant, but just couldn’t find it – but we found this little shop instead (I can’t remember the name).  I’m so glad, because this was one of my favorite meals while in Hawaii. 

Garlic chicken plate lunch with brown rice and salad - this chicken was slathered in a heavenly sticky, sweet, and garlicky syrup

Teriyaki steak plate lunch with white rice and potato salad

And, of course, we had to seek out shave ice! We came across Matsumoto Shave Ice while driving through the historic town of Hale’iwa. It was an extremely hot day, so we didn’t need much convincing to stop at this little shop for a refreshing treat.

I think this was a lemon, pineapple & coconut shave ice.

While we were in Maui, we were able to walk on the beach to the Hula Grill from our hotel. I will always remember this lunch because we sat outside, enjoyed fresh, casual food with an incredible view of the beach while a cool breeze kept us comfortable.  It made me want to stay in Hawaii forever! 

Gado-Gado salad: fresh, chilled veggies with brown rice, grilled fish, and Thai-peanut dressing

Wayne's fish sandwich - grilled fish on a 9-grain bun with jalapeno aioli and a mac-nut slaw

 I remember, while planning the honeymoon, that a friend who had been to Hawaii a couple of times told me that the food was just awful there.  I think his exact words were, “It’s really not a place to go if you want to eat good food.”  I don’t think he could have been more wrong!  I would love to go back someday. 

The first thing we did when we finally arrived at our hotel in Oahu was eat.  We’d been traveling for almost 12 hours and hadn’t really eaten during that time.  We enjoyed sandwiches at our hotel’s terrace restaurant.

Grilled Island Fish Sandwich

Grilled Chicken & Avocado Sandwich

And then there was breakfast.  In Oahu, we stayed at a resort with a gorgeous breakfast buffet every morning.  So, we woke up every morning and got our day started with tons of fresh fruit, steel cut oatmeal, made-to-order omelets, etc.  Buffets usually don’t appeal to me, but everything was so fresh and high-quality here.  On an unrelated note – if you’re visiting Oahu, I really recommend the resort we stayed at – the Ihilani.  One of the best things about it is that it’s a bit off the beaten path, away from the craziness that is Waikiki.  It’s quieter, the rooms are gorgeous, and the staff was extremely hospitable.  Try to get a vacation package that includes the breakfast buffet every day – otherwise, it’s $30/person! 

This is no ordinary omelet - it's filled with shrimp, crab, tomato, and spinach.

 We toured the Dole Plantation in Oahu and learned about the history of the pineapple industry in Hawaii.  At the end of the tour, we enjoyed a Dole Whip, a soft serve pineapple dessert.  It looks good, and we enjoyed it thorougly, since it was so hot out, but I remember being disappointed that there really wasn’t a strong pineapple flavor. 

On another day, we visited the Shrimp Shack, which was shrimp being served from a truck!  This was some of the best shrimp I’ve ever had!  The shrimp were cooked perfectly, and being drenched in garlic and butter didn’t hurt either. 

Garlic and butter shrimp on white rice.

More to come in my next post!

2Amys seemed like a good place to start. The husband and I made an outing into the city one weekend to try it out.

I kept thing simple and had the margherita (tomato, mozzarella di bufala, and basil). The buffalo mozzarella was creamy and sweet with a salty edge. It’s a huge difference from mozzarella from cow’s milk. The crust had a very nice chew.

The husband was more adventurous and tried the calabrese (Tomato onions, anchovy, fresh mozzarella, parsley, olives). He asked for some prosciutto as an extra topping, as he really wanted a pizza with meat on it, but there weren’t any on the menu. I don’t think this is the husband’s type of pizza – he’s more of a pepperoni pizza type of guy.

All in all, I’m glad we tried 2Amys out, as it’s often touted as one of the best pizza restaurants in Washington, DC – but I definitely found myself longing to be back in New Haven, sitting in a booth at Pepe’s having a clam pizza with friends!