Brothers~ 10 cents chicken wings!

$5 for 50 chicken wings. How does that sound to you? If you said "awesome," then you would be correct. At $.10 a wing, it is hard to beat this bar food special. When you compound it with the $1 beers, it's downright untouchable. Lauren (best wife ever! she doesn't even like wings!) and I went here for a date last week. We went 1 hour early, and played Nintendo DS together while everyone looked at us like we were complete dorks. I guess that's one advantage to being short and Asian....everyone already expects you to be a dork, so it's okay when you are. Hey, I didn't make the stereotypes, I don't like the stereotypes, but I'll use them to my advantage when I can :). I had a Miller High Life, and she had a cherry fish-bowl so at least we fit in a little.
There were 4 wing flavors: Hawaiian Barbecue, Original, Parmesan Garlic, and Red Hot Ass-Burner. We got a some of everything. The Hawaiian Barbecue and Red Hot Ass-Burner were the best. The other two were average, and tasted almost the same. None were outstanding, but for $.10, who's complaining? None of these wings were very spicy. The Red Hot Ass-Burner wings were about 2/3 as spicy as the normal buffalo wings at Chile's.

All-in-all, it was a great experience. Lauren's labmate showed up later to help us eat the wings. Lauren and I had tried to come here a few times earlier, but the line was too long. Well, it didn't look long until the guy in front of us ordered 600 wings. Anyway, this time we got there an hour early and were first in line. For the price, definitely worth the wait!


How much would I pay?

Mike: $.20 a wing. They're pretty small. That was, $5 can get you 25, which is a pretty good bar snack (not enough for a meal)
Lauren: N/A, I don't eat chicken wings. I must really love Mike to go to a bar to go eat a dinner consisting of chicken wings!

Brothers Bar and Grill
613 E. Green St
Urbana IL, 61801
217-328-5531

Hawaii Restaurants~Palace Buffet

For our last meal in Hawaii before going up to Illinois, Lauren and I went to lunch at Palace Buffet, a Yakiniku restaurant in Mililani. It was $12.95/person for lunch, which was quite reasonable for the amount of food they had.

Someone told us that this restaurant was Michelle Wie's favorite. That's actually why we ended up going to it. I think that they were slightly misinformed. I'd venture to say that Ms. Wie has probably never been to this restaurant. There was an article in the Midweek about Palace Buffet, and it mentions that Michelle was a fan of the owner (who also owns another restaurant). But it doesn't say that she liked this restaurant. Also, if I was making 19 million a year , I'd probably eat at some place better.
The hot food line (shown above) was just okay. The fried shrimp was soggy, oily, and its consistency suggested it may have been fried the day before, and steamed in the morning to heat it up. That is saying a lot, because I really like shrimp. Actually, a lot of the fried items were soggy, which was disappointing because I thought they would have been excellent if they were freshly cooked. I'm giving Palace Buffet the benefit of the doubt here and saying that it was just a bad batch of fried stuff. We did get there just as it was opening, so I'm sure that as they made more food throughout the day it'd be fresher and better. The meat jun was good though. Since I'm in the complaining mood, I'll complain a little more and get it out of my system before I move on. Complaint #2, there was a fly in our food (shown above). It was dead and a little bit smashed. Okay, so you're probably thinking "Isn't it a buffet? Don't you take your own food? Why would you take food with a fly on it?" My opinion is that there should not be food out with flies on it on a buffet line. And, we took several pieces of lettuce together, with the fly smashed between them. Kind of like an Atkins fly-sandwich.

Last complaint. The ice cream machine was broken. It was like condensed milk with honey added frozen to a sticky, melty-gooey slush. Okay, complaints are done.

On to the good stuff. The yakiniku meats (kalbi, bbq beef, and chicken) were excellent! If I go back to this place, that is all I am going to eat. Some people think it's silly to pay to cook your own food, but I really enjoy eating great stuff when it's hot and juicy, right off the grill! Plus, what you're really paying them for is to clean up after you :).
The panchan was also really good. Kimchee tasted great!
This is some of the other food that we had. There were more than 2 people in our party. Lauren and I can't eat that much! Lauren's plate is shown below.
Keep in mind that despite the fly incident, I did enjoy my experience at Palace Buffet, and would in fact recommend it. I can hear the detractors now saying "oh my gosh, he would recommend a restaurant that serves flies." But let's be honest here people. Most restaurants are going to have bugs get into their food sometimes. The key is to know which restaurants it accidentally happens in, and which ones it regularly happens in. In my opinion, Palace Buffet falls into the "accidental" category, or I wouldn't recommend it. To have a good experience, you just have to stick mainly to the meats. That way you don't have soggy fried stuff, and if there is a fly in your food, at least it'll end up being a cooked fly!


How much would I pay?

Mike: $8-for my experience that day. $17-no flies guaranteed.
Lauren: $10, because I'm a small eater and do not really eat meat.

Palace Buffet

94-780 Meheula Parkway

Mililani, HI, 96789

(808) 623-3000

Lanai~Afternoon Tea

High Tea at the Koele Lodge was one of my favorite memories from a family vacation we took to Lanai when I was little. Back then, it was a informal occasion for guests including tea, sandwiches, scones and cookies served buffet style. Oh, and it was free before too. On our honeymoon, Lauren and I decided to have tea on our last day there. We saw some people eating

delicious looking hamburgers a little while earlier, but decided to forgo a late lunch since we would be having tea. Perhaps I was just upset because I was really hungry, or because the lunch places were already closed and I kept thinking about that hamburger with avocado and bacon, but I did not have a good time. I'm always going to give my honest opinion, but to be fair here's a link to some people who did have a good time.

There were several noticeable differences in the High Tea. First off, it was now served in the Great Hall (Translation: Hotel Lobby) . Secondly, it cost $19, which is more than free. However, this still seemed reasonable to us for the whole "experience." Thirdly, the food was very elegant and dainty (Translation: limited, small, and smaller)
As you can see, the whole setup was rather fancy. I did think it was pretty cool that there were candles under the teapots. Unnecessary, but innovative. It's only a really good idea if you plan to sit and drink tea for several hours. Otherwise, it's not that vital to drinking hot tea. I think that if you did actually sit there for 3 hours or so, and the candle lasted that long, then your teapot would evaporate dry before you were done, even if you didn't drink anything. The teapots (like everything else) were small.....they're only slightly bigger than the cups themselves.
The tea service is started by picking your tea. There are all kinds of teas, and everyone gets their own teapot. Just as a side note, much of the same tea is served for free every morning in the complimentary coffee/tea station. The tea was actually pretty good, but it was no better than the one I had for free in the morning.
On to the food. For clarification, please remember that even though in the picture, the food fills up the plates, it's because all of the plates were really small. The food was also very small.
Starting with the top tier. Sandwiches. There were 3 varieties of sandwiches for our gastronomic pleasure. First (bottom), the cucumber sandwich. Tasty in my opinion. Lauren didn't like it and I ate hers. It was a paper thin slice of cucumber (so thin that there was no crunch in the cucumber) in bread with mayonnaise on it and probably some salt and pepper. Secondly (middle) there was the cheese cracker. It was cheddar cheese with apple pieces mixed in mayonnaise on a toasted (stale) piece of bread with garnishes. I like cheese, so I thought it was tasty. Again, Lauren was less than impressed, and I finished hers. Lastly, there was the smoked salmon sandwich. Nothing special here, just cream cheese, smoked salmon and bread. All in all, the sandwiches tasted good in my opinion, but were nothing special, and I was disappointed by how small they were. All of the sandwiches (Lauren's and mine) could have been made out of 1-1.5 slices of white bread. Each person gets less than 3/4 of a slice of bread.
The second tier looked more promising. Cookies, a lemon/white chocolate dessert, and chocolate. Both chocolates were pretty mediocre (Lauren and I didn't finish either). The shortbread cookies were rather good.
Lastly, the scones. What High Tea would be complete without scones? These scones weren't that great. They were very heavy, with very little taste. They were served with lemon curd, berry jam and Devonshire cream. The lemon curd and jam were very good, but it didn't make up for the rest of the Tea. Lauren licked those bowls clean (not literally), without using her scones.
This is probably the most negative blog I've written to date, and I hope the last for a while. The experience was just not up to par with what I expected.

How Much Would I Pay?

Mike: $10 because it was fancy. And only if there wasn't a Burger King around the corner.
Lauren: $14, because Tea is expensive in general. My advice is to go to Tea at 1024 instead.

Lanai~ Cafe 565

Lauren and I were going to go and eat at another fancy restaurant to celebrate our honeymoon, but we were tired, and decided to sample more of the local cuisine. We tried our luck at Cafe 565, because we saw a friendly couple eating food that looked pretty good outside. Their food, some kind of chicken sandwich and ceasar salad, looked amazing.

Here's a picture of me. As you can clearly see, I'm grumpy. It's because I'm tired and hungry. Luckily, we got our food soon after the picture was taken, and went back to our hotel room to eat and watch the Olympics.
Lauren got a Crabcake plate. It was $8.50. She thought it was pretty good. She liked it better than her fancy dinner at the "Main Dining Room." I didn't like it. It was made of breaded canned crab. They added a lot of sugar. I thought it was too sweet. It tasted like really sweet frozen shumai. Lauren really likes shumai. Also, there was no dressing on the salad.
I got a Greek calzone for $9. It looked good, but was actually (dare I say it) a little too cheesy. The first third was delicious, but it started to taste weird after that. I think it was a little too salty. There was a lot of feta mixed in with other cheeses. There were also artichokes, chicken, olives and spinach in it. Lauren liked eating the crust.

How much would I pay?

Mike: Crabcakes - $4, but I still probably wouldn't eat them, Calzone - $7.50, because it was big
Lauren: Crabcakes - $4.50, Calzone - $8

Cafe 565
408 8th St
Lanai City, Lanai, HI 96763
808-565-6622

Lanai~Blue Ginger Cafe

On our first day out and about in Lanai, Lauren and I ate at the Blue Ginger Cafe. It came highly recommended, and we were excited to go there. I had been there when I was really young, but couldn't remember anything about it.

Here's a picture of the front counter. It's a cozy little restaurant, with lots of food. It is pricey, but that's to be expected in an outer-island. A plate of chicken katsu is $10, and they don't give a lot. Lauren and I settled on fried saimin and calamari.
The fried saimin was $4. I thought it was tasty, but heavy on the sesame oil. The portion was pretty small. In flavor, Zippy's is comparable and maybe a little bit better. As much as I'm complaining about the high prices in Lanai, it probably cost the same at Zippy's.
The calamari was also $4. There were only 8 rings. That's $.50 a ring. Plus, they weren't that good. Crunchy and freshly fried, but just not that good. At least it came with lettuce!
Blue Ginger was disappointing, but maybe we should have tried a burger or a plate lunch. I guess it's also tough for them because I'm comparing them to Oahu restaurants that can afford to give far more food for the same price.


How much would I pay?

Mike: Fried Saimin - $3, Calamari - $2.50
Lauren: Fried Saimin - $4, Calamari - $4, but only because it was on Lanai. $3.50 for the saimin and $3 for the calamari if it was on Oahu

Blue Ginger Cafe
409 7th St,
Lanai City, Lanai, HI 96763
808-565-6363

Lanai~Lodge at Koele Restaurant

Lauren and I honeymooned on Lanai at the Four Season's Lodge at Koele. It was beautiful. I hear that Oprah bought out the whole place the week before for a retreat. For our "fancy" dinner," Lauren and I went to the (drum roll please!) "Main Dining Room." When I first found it online, I kept looking for the restaurant's name. 10 minutes, and one call to the Four Seasons later I was finally convinced that the "Main Dining Room," was in fact it's real name. I guess they spent so much building the rest of the resort, that they didn't have any money left over to hire someone to come up with and original name.
Our first course was an amuse bouche of cold potato cream soup with smoked salmon in it. Lauren thought it was too heavy and tasted like someone put salt in heavy cream with a few pieces of salmon, then brought it to the table. I didn't like it at first either, but I thought that the dish worked when you ate the salmon with the soup.
Lauren had pan-fried Onaga, topped with radish sprouts, on a crab artichoke slaw, in a Worcestershire sauce reduction, topped with an onion chip. Lauren really liked the slaw, and I agreed. In my opinion, the flavor was great, but the fish quality was mushy. I thought it was like eating overcooked potatoes. Lauren says, if you want to eat good fish, go to Roy's, Alan Wong's, or Nick's.
I decided to go for the gusto, and have the lobster. It was served out of its shell, in a hollandaise sauce, over mashed potatoes, garnished with asparagus, and caviar. Tasty, but small. I think there was the equivalent of 2/3 of an asparagus stalk in it, and it was a really small lobster.
Our meal was finished with a small desert for the two of us to share. Two pistachio cookies, and two chocolates. That pretty much summed up the entire meal. Nothing special. I was more tempted by the bacon and avocado burger I saw someone having the next day when we were having tea. (see other blog post)

How much would I pay?

Mike: Fish - $25 (I'd pay $42 for it if they used a quality piece of fish), Lobster - $30, Tea - until I become rich, I'll never do it again
Lauren: Fish - $20, Lobster - $25

Hawaii Restaurants~Ichiriki

Ichiriki is quickly becoming one of my favorite restaurants in Hawaii. It is so good! Lauren and I went here with our parents after we got married. I've been there 3 times so far, and always had that same thing. I'm normally the type of person who likes to switch it up, but it was just that good! I get the Kei's Pirikara broth with the ingredients from the Ichiriki Original Nabe. The broth is sweet and spicy (I love it!), and I also get the meats and vegetables I want. You have to ask to do the switcharoo, but they'll let you do it. You just have to pay for the more expensive item. I've tried other broths I didn't like them as much.
People get Shabu-shabu and Nabe mixed up. In general, Shabu-shabu is when you cook ingredients in water, then flavor them in a dipping sauce. Nabe is cooked in a soup or broth that provides the flavor. At Ichiriki, you get a pot of broth on a burner (one pot serves 2 people and you can have different broths), and you cook your food in it. When you're done, they bring you ramen or udon (thicker) noodles for you to cook and eat in the remaining broth.
The waiters/waitresses are very nice, although sometimes you have to check your tray because they'll forget to give you an ingredient or two. Usually you have to add the meatballs first because they take the longest (gingery and very good). Everything else cooks pretty fast. The beef is super thin so it cooks really quickly.
To be fair and accurate, I read some reviews where people complained about the appetizers. Specifically, the chicken karaage was raw inside. I've never tried it so I can't comment on that specifically, but I wouldn't recommend getting appetizers anyway, because the main course is so much food. Some other people said that the broth was lacking in flavor. I had that problem once. At first I was disappointed because my new favorite restaurant was failing, but then I figured it out. Trick was to turn the burner on high and let the broth boil down for a few minutes. That made it wonderful, and the world was right again.

How much would I pay?

Mike: Whatever it says on my bill (about $25 a person after tax, tip and parking)
Lauren: Regular price. It's pricey but good!

Ichiriki

510 Piikoi Street
Honolulu, HI 96814

(808) 589-2299

Bangkok Chef

I've been wanting to try out this hole-in-the-wall restaurant for a while now. It's located on Nuuanu Ave. right after the Hungry Lion and next to Sam's Delicatessen (good cheap Korean food).
Whenever I want to check out a restaurant, my strategy is to search online for any information about the popular dishes to order. If this strategy fails, I resort to my second strategy. Scan the restaurant and see what everyone else is eating. Also if the customers look friendly I usually ask them what they ordered. Based on my second strategy, the curries, pad thai, and the spring rolls are probably the most popular dishes. The parking lot is quite tiny here, so I just jumped out of the car and ordered my default dish that I order at Thai restaurants...Green Curry. Mmmm...it was delicious! There was a lot of basil, bamboo shoots, sliced chicken breast all for just $5.60. I paid an extra $0.50 for sticky rice instead of jasmine rice so my plate cost a little over $6.00.
Mike and I shared the plate and it was enough for two of us. And let me tell you, Mike can eat! The green curry was more than enough for one person.
I just checked out their website, and the good news is Bangkok Chef will be opening up a new location in Manoa! If the prices remain the same, I'm sure this restaurant will do well since the UH-Manoa campus is nearby.

Mike and I are going to start implementing our "How much would I pay"(HMWIP) portion of the blog.
Actual Price: $6.10 + tax
Mike: $6.50
Laur: $8.00

Bangkok Chef
1627 Nuuanu Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808)585-8839