Entries from March 22nd, 2011

Kona Brewing & Pub

March 24th, 2011 · No Comments

That night Dallas, Danny, Caroline, Cory, Chris and I went to Kona Brewing for dinner. Like the real Kona Brewing Brew Pub… in Kona! We’d been drinking Kona Brewing beer all this trip and we had Kona Brewing’s Fire Rock Pale Ale as one of our wedding beers, so we were all excited to check it out.

There was a little bit of a wait when we arrived, so we headed for the bar. For those of you keeping track, this was about our 13th day of drinking… ahhhh… my liver! But I had to try one beer. I had the Duke’s Blonde Ale (A crisp, light and refreshing ale. An excellent warm weather midday quencher with a delicate touch of hops to balance the light maltiness), which is only available on draft. That was all I had. I think Dallas only had one beer as well. We were losing our steam!

For dinner we all split some pupus: Kalua Pig Naalehu Nachos – White Corn tortilla chips layered with cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, black beans, green chiles, tomatoes, black olives, corn, jalapeños and a side of salsa. These were really good. We also had Pele’s Fire Wings – Fire Rock Pale Ale marinated wings, tossed in your choice of spicy sauces and served with a side of KBC’s ranch dressing. I didn’t try any of these, but I’m going to assume they were HOT since Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of fire. Finally, we had Keauhou Crab Dip – a rich blend of crab meat, cream cheese, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, roasted red peppers, a touch of fresh garlic and a splash of Longboard Island Lager. Served with KBC’s herbed pita bread. Pretty good, the crab meat was plentiful.

For my entree I got Uncle’s Shrimp Tacos – Three soft tacos made with cajun-seasoned shrimp, topped with cabbage, black beans, corn, diced tomato, green onion and cilantro. Drizzled with a chipotle yogurt sauce and avocado aioli. Served with a side of rice pilaf. I think maybe I just made a wrong choice? Or they were having an off night? I really liked our pupus but these tacos just were not doing it for me. The shrimp was way over cooked and had shrunk down to the tough little tiny shrimps. Not good. And I didn’t love the chipotle sauce. I would go back here, though, and we did later on(!) because the beer and the pupus were great.. and because everyone else seemed to like what they had.

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Shopping and Sunbathing on the Big Island

March 23rd, 2011 · No Comments


Hapuna Beach Prince Lanai

On our first day on the Big Island I woke up early so I went to the Cafe Hapuna and got some coffee, yogurt, fruit, juice and snacks. It was so nice to sit out on our private lanai and drink my coffee, eating some breakfast and listening to the ocean. I let Dallas sleep in.


Hapuna Beach Prince, Beach Bar


Club Sandwich

About mid-morning Caroline called me. She, Danny, Cory and Chris were on the Big Island at the same time as us. Dallas, Danny and Chris were all golfing at the Hapuna Beach course that day, so they were on their way driving over. When they arrived we went to the Hapuna Beach Bar for a light lunch before heading out for the day. The guys had Kona Brewing beer. Cory and I had a bloody mary. Caroline and I split a club sandwich. We saved our plastic cups. More on that later.


Hapuna Beach


Hapuna Beach Prince, Looking towards Beach Bar (lower level) and Coast Grille (up above)


Hapuna Beach Prince Pool

While the guys were golfing, Caroline, Cory and I went to Waikoloa to go shopping. We went to both the Queens’ Marketplace and the Kings’ Shops. Kings’ Shops were a little more high-end and by the time we got there I hit a wall where I couldn’t shop any more. I sat outside on a bench trying not to fall asleep like an old lady while Cory and Caroline were inside a store trying on bikinis! Luckily for me, Cory and Caroline realized this was our cue to leave, so we went back to the Hapuna Beach Prince to relax by the pool and beach.


Big Island Chips

Remember when I said we saved our cups? For some reason, Cory and Caroline had like a half bottle of rum that they put into a water bottle for the pool. While we were shopping we picked up some pina colada mix. Then Caroline went to the bar to ask for ice so we could mix some drinks. I never had pina coloda on ice, but it wasn’t bad! Especially with Cory’s generous rum pours! We also snacked on a few Big-Island made chips. Atebara Potato Chips are made in Hilo and are a really good potato chip. Kind of greasy, but good. They reminded me of the Maui made Kitch’n Cook’d potato chips I had a few years ago when visiting Maui. The Maebo’s One-Ton Chips were so good, though. They’re made of fried wonton skins! And they’re made in Hilo.


Gorgeous Hapuna Beach Sunset


Sunset from the hot tub.


Red sky at night….

We hung around the pool and beach for the rest of the afternoon. When Dallas, Danny and Chris were done with golf they joined us for a swim. Nice and relaxing!

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Coast Grille at the Hapuna Beach Prince

March 23rd, 2011 · 1 Comment

We checked into the Hapuna Beach Prince in the early evening and after we were settled we decided to get dinner. We were kind of tired from travel and just wanted to eat at the resort. I looked into our dining options and saw that there were two restaurants open – Ocean Terrace and Coast Grille. Both menus looked good, atmosphere seemed good, both required “resort attire.” I made the executive decision to go to Coast Grille, which was a bit more pricey than Ocean Terrace. I was just in the mood to have a really nice, quiet dinner together since it was the first time we were on our own since the wedding. Heck, the first time in 12 days, probably. And since we were going to be spending upcoming days with friends, it was our only night to have a nice quiet dinner. Plus, we had our fists full of wedding money!

We were not really sure what “resort attire” was. Dallas wore a nice aloha shirt, shorts and leather slippers. I wore a nice shirt and a skirt. When we got there, we seemed a little under dressed, a feeling I never felt before in Hawaii! We didn’t really care, though, and neither did the restaurant. I just think it is funny that Dallas basically wore what he wore to our wedding and he was under dressed. Ha.

The hostess said she’d have to check on a seat for us and I was afraid that it was going to be a long wait, but within 10 minutes we were seated. We were on a terrace, which I think overlooks the ocean, but honestly, it was so dark we couldn’t see anything. I liked that we were at the end of the terrace near a server stand and in an area that was not very trafficked by anyone except our server, so it was nice and quiet.

Our waitress introduced herself. She was a cute older lady that you just wanted to call Aunty! She was very helpful and curteous and I liked that she didn’t stick around and get in our way. We really just wanted to eat a quiet meal in peace. The lighting of the restaurant was really dark out there, but I didn’t mind. I just wanted to sit there and listen to the ocean!

I had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and Dallas had a Kona Brewing Big Wave. Dallas might have had 2 beers, I only had one glass of wine. I think that the vacation was starting to take it’s toll! We had been drinking every day for about 12 days at that point, so we had to lay off!

First off, we were served bread in a bread basket. I had to remind myself not to fill up on bread becuase there was a really good olive loaf in there that I could have wolfed down. It was so salty and yummy with the slightly sweet butter. But, I was really psyched for good seafood, so I laid off!

For pupus, Dallas and I split the Seasonal Oysters in the half shell. I can’t remember where they were from, but they were not local (Sidenote: Do Hawaiian oysters even exist?). Maybe it was the ocean breeze or 12 days of drinking, but even though these oysters were not local, they were the best I ever had, I swear! We also split the Ahi Poke Tempura Roll, which was like maki with poke in the middle, then the whole roll was battered and fried. Good too. Not as good as the oysters.

Dallas and I each got a salad, the same salad, the Kamuela Spinach Salad. Kamuela is a town about 12 miles up the road, so if this spinach was from there, it could not have been more local. The salad also had red onion, goat cheese made on the Big Island, house-made bacon, and a warm mustard vinaigrette. This salad was soooo good. The tanginess of the cheese, saltiness of the bacon, creaminess of the cheese, crispness of the spinach. So good.

For an entree Dallas had the Pan Roasted Kurobuta Pork Chops. I don’t have much info on how this was prepared because it was a special that night, but Dallas seemed to really like it. The Prince is owned by a Japanese company and they have a lot of Japanese guests. The table next to us got a completely different menu than we did, all in Japanese. Anyway, we’re thinking the Kurobuta was served because it is a Japanese name for a certain quality of pork.

I had the Coast Grille Seafood Trio, which was three Hawaiian fish – Mahi, Ahi, and Ono – cooked however the chef wanted with a side of coconut rice. This was really delicious and exactly what I was in the mood for. The fish pieces were on the small side, but there were three of them, so in the end it was just the right size.


Bad lighting, brand new rings

We had a look at the dessert menu, but nothing stood out. Plus, we were rather full, so we decided to skip it. All-in-all it was a great, quiet, romantic dinner.

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Hapuna Beach Prince

March 22nd, 2011 · 1 Comment

The Hapuna Beach Prince is located on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island, just north of Kona and the Kona airport. The Prince and its sister hotel, the Mauna Kea, share 1,839 acres of beachfront property. Getting onto the property is kind of confusing. You have to actually turn right off of the highway, when the beach is to the left. A windy road takes you through the golf course and under the highway back over to the ocean side. We valeted the car and gave the porter our luggage. The hotel lobby is open-air and overlooks the ocean. It was sunset and we could see a few floors down there was a Hawaiian musician playing in an outdoor louge. So nice. I just wanted to go down there and chill out! Checking in was a breeze, though, and we were even given glasses of POG while going thorugh the check in process.

Our room was about as far away from the lobby as you could get. Bad thing about such a big property, I guess! Walk and walk and walk and then walk a little more to get to your room! That’s ok, though. It meant the room was quiet. Also, we figured out a really quick back way to get to our car and never valet-parked again. Self-parking was free and we could park in the way back lot, which was really close to our room, so that worked out great.

Our actual room was fine. A little dated, but nice. The TV had to be at least 10 years old. , but we weren’t actually in our room much anyway. The bathroom was huge, with a full tub, a seperate shower, double sinks and a seperate toilet area. For some reason we had two beds in our room, which I don’t think is what we requested, but it didn’t matter enough for us to complain or want to switch rooms. I was just kind of peeved that they’d give us a room with two beds when I mentioned at check-in that it was our honeymoon. Also, I read online that others on their honeymoon were sent complimentary champagne after check-in. Oh well. We were paying a low kama’aina rate, so what should I expect!

We were on the ground floor of the hotel and had a private lanai. Our room wasn’t exactly oceanview, partial, I think, but it was still nice to have this private outside space. One cool thing was the lanai screen doors locked and had wooden slatted doors that pulled into place so we could leave the glass doors open at night and hear the ocean. The front hotel-room door also had louvered privacy doors that locked so you could get a nice ocean breeze and still be safe and private.

The pool and beach at the Hapuna Prince were top notch and not busy at all. The water in the pool was so warm. Unnaturally warm. Dallas said it felt like 100 little kids took a pee in there, but we still swam away! The pool was huge, not like some of the tiny, overcrowded pools you see in Waikiki. And Hapuna Beach is often ranked one of the top beaches in the US, so it goes without saying that it was gorgeous.

On the night we arrived, we ate at Coast Grille, the high end resort restaurant. It was pricey, but it was our first night alone and we were in the mood to splurge. The next morning I went to the Cafe Hapuna, which was more like a store (no seating) and found out it wasn’t much cheaper. I think I got a coffee, a juice, yogurt, fruit and some chips and it was something like $26! Also, the daytime lunch options were not plentiful. One day we had friends come up and the only lunch option was the Beach Bar. It was fine, but options would have been nice. It’s not like you can get in your car and drive less than 20 minutes to go somewhere else. One other thing – wifi was $10 or $12 per day so we only got it one day.. and it was super slow.

One thing I didn’t realize when we were deciding where to stay is that the Hapuna, and the Kohala Coast in general, are kind of removed and secluded. It took us an hour to drive down to Kona and we did it every day – at 5:30 in the morning, after dinner with drinks, etc. It got to be a long drive. That said, if you were just going to stay on the resort and hang out at the pool and beach, it was pretty amazing. Especially since we got a great kama’aiana rate on the room!

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Kohala Coast, Hawaii

March 22nd, 2011 · 2 Comments

After lunch we stopped a few more places in Lihue and then headed for the airport. While there we saw Loden, Trent, Shannan, Todd, Kelly, Brian, Sara, Adam and Christine – all flying back to the mainland, while we stay in Hawaii for 5 more days. HA! We flew from Lihue to Honolulu and then Honolulu to Kona. I wish you could just fly from Lihue to Kona, but you cannot.

When we landed in Kona we got our rental car, a red Sebring and then got on the road. We were staying at the Hapuna Beach Prince about an hour north, up the coast, from the airport. The drive was easy enough, the only confusing part was that you enter the resort on the eastern side of the roade when the beach is to the west and the resort is on the beach. Ends up the road loops under the main road.

My first impressions of the Kona coast of the Hawaii (the Big Island): Very black from the lava rock and bleak. I mean, it looked like even weeds were having a hard time growing on all of the black rock. I did find this “local-style graffiti” to be pretty interesting. People would spell things out with white rocks, which really stood out from the black lava rock.

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