Entries Tagged as 'dukes'

Drinks at The Beach Bar

March 7th, 2011 · No Comments

When we arrived in Honolulu, we got our rental car*, a Jetta with only 200 miles, and then checked into our hotel. Thanks to Donna and Dustin we were able to get a great friends and family rate at the Moana Surfrider, an awesome Westin resort in Waikiki. We settled in and changed and then headed out for dinner. I know it seems like we ate a lot already, but it was over about a 12 hour timeframe, so really not that much. We checked in at a few of our favorite casual Waikiki spots, Duke’s and the Yard House, but they both had 1-2 hour waits! So we ended up just going to a favorite food court at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. I had some tacos from Maui Tacos and Dallas had some Hawaiian barbecue from Kenny’s.

We went back to our hotel and Dallas was on a second wind, but I was really tired. We decided to just get one drink at The Beach Bar. I had a mai tai** and Dallas had a Kona Brewing Fire Rock Pale Ale, a beer we were going to serve at the wedding. We chatted with the bartender, a local guy who was born and raised on Oahu, and he coined the time there before the wedding as our “pre-honeymoon.” He gave me a flower for my hair and insisted that we get our photo taken. We look very travel weary, but cute still, I think.

Also, so much for weary travelers getting a good night’s sleep. .. the Moana Surfrider gave us not one, but two faulty fire alarm awakenings that night!

* If you are ever going to Hawaii and need a car rental, check out Discount Hawaii Car Rental. The website looks so old and shady, but it really is a great company. They got us the best rates we could find and also found people cars when all the major companies said they were all sold out. Also, the customer service was outstanding and very personal. Thanks to Tien for this find!

** The original Mai Tai was created by Victor J. Bergeron in 1944 by combining 2 ounces of 17-year-old J. Wray Nephew rum with juice from one fresh lime, 1/2 ounce each of Holland DeKuyper Orange Curacao and French Garnier Orgeat, and 1/4 ounce Rock Candy Syrup. The mixture is hand shaken and poured over shaved ice with a fresh mint garnish and 1/2 the lime rind. Bergeron used the recipe in his Trader Vic’s starting in 1948, and later introduced the Mai Tai to Hawaii in 1953 in the Royal Hawaiian, Moana and Surfrider Hotels. This version no doubt derives from that 1953 origin. Source.

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Duke: A Great Hawaiian by Sandra Kimberley Hall

July 11th, 2009 · No Comments


finished 06.10.09

I read this book in the Maui airport. It’s short in length but tells a lot about Duke Kahanamoku’s life. And it’s filled with historic photos, which I enjoyed. If you’re not familiar with Duke, he’s the Hawaiian Olympic swimming champion who popularized the modern sport of surfing and was regarded as a great ambassador of the Hawaiian islands.

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Relaxing Day in Hawaii

June 25th, 2009 · No Comments

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On Friday, our 6th day of vacation, Dallas went golfing with his classmates BJ and Keoni in Waikele. I made a great discovery that day. You might not be able to drink on Oahu beaches, but you can drink by the pools!

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For lunch I went to Duke’s. I think I’m realizing that Duke’s has been a fond Hawaiian memory for me, but the food is actually not that great. My drink was tasty,

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as were the crab and macnut wontons,

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but this was not a great fish taco.

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There was a time a few years ago where if you google image searched for “fish taco” you’d see a photo of Cousin on my website. Maybe that is why I keep ordering the fish tacos at Duke’s even though they’re so sad. Or maybe the quality has just gone down since the last time I was there. In the photos I have from previous trips to Duke’s they look different. See 2004, 2007.

Those sad tacos are nothing that a little shopping and tropical drinks couldn’t fix.

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Duke’s Waikiki

March 28th, 2007 · 1 Comment

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Crab & Mac Nut Wontons with mustard plum sauce, Duke’s, Waikiki, Honolulu

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Baja Fish Tacos, Duke’s, Waikiki, Honolulu

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Allison & Susan, Duke’s, Waikiki, Honolulu

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Rachelle & Susan, Duke’s, Waikiki, Honolulu (photo by Allison)

I hadn’t been to Duke’s for several years when I went with Kristin, Cousin, and Dallas, so it seemed like a good place for Susan, Allison and I to have lunch. Plus it was close to their hotel, where we were hanging out. Duke’s is always a good place to sit in the sun, drink some fruity drinks (pina coladas this time!), and have some decent food. We shared crab & mac nut wontons, which were divine, and I had fish tacos, which also really hit the spot.

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Back

July 17th, 2005 · 5 Comments


Flight from San Francisco to Honolulu – Free Rum Drink


Flight from San Francisco to Honolulu – Hot, wet towels for everyone


Flight from San Francisco to Honolulu – Dinner


Flight from San Francisco to Honolulu – Raspberry Sherbert


Honolulu Airport – Lei from Dallas


Honolulu Airport – Lei from Dallas


Interisland flight to Lihue, Kaua’i


Interisland flight to Lihue, Kaua’i


Interisland flight to Lihue, Kaua’i


Interisland flight to Lihue, Kaua’i


Interisland flight to Lihue, Kaua’i


Lei from Dallas


Lei from Dallas


Lei from Cathy – Waiting for flight back to Chicago via SFO


Mounds of email

Back, but not all that happy to be back. The weather in Chicago is both hotter and more humid than when we left Honolulu on our redeye flight yesterday. Plus I always have a difficult time transitioning. Especially after a really long, fun vacation.

This trip to Hawaii was more family oriented than last year’s trip. Last year was all friends. This year, lots of family parties and a wedding. Also this year, we spent more time in Honolulu. Last year all my time was in Kaua’i except on the last day we caught the inter island flight early and spent about 4 hours in Honolulu. Also, this year I got a bruise on the first day of the trip and I thought I was going to end up as battered as last year, but that was the only bruise I got all vacation. I think it’s because I wasn’t doing all the adventurous hiking and swimming and snorkelling and stuff.

After the flight in to Honolulu Dallas got me a lei made of orchids and some other really fragrant white flower. I think it was pikake. On the way out his mom surprised me with an orchid lei. I never thought to get one on the way out.. it’s nice because I have it here at home now and it’s still fresh and not dried out. I’m keeping it here by the computer while I go through my 3,000 emails.

On the flight from Chicago to San Francisco we got jack squat. A cookie and a soda, no movie, nothing else to eat. But then from San Francisco to Honolulu we got in on some Pleasant Holidays deal where we were all treated like first class. Hot hand towels, a free rum drink, dinner, sherbert, mints, a movie, etc. Same on the way back except on the way back they gave me TWO bottles of rum.

After arriving in Honolulu we had drinks and waited for Dallas’ parents to arrive. Then we took the inter island flight to Lihue, Kaua’i. This year the interisland flights are more strict.. like there’s assigned seating now and you can’t just hop on the next flight if you miss your flight. They charge you to do that now. The best part of these short flights is the juice, although I think last year we had POG (passion/orange/guava) and this year we just had PO. heh.

Dallas’ sister, Caroline, was already in Lihue and picked us up in Grandma’s car at the airport. We also had an SUV rental for the week in Kaua’i. First thing we did was go to Keoki’s for dinner. We tried to go to Duke’s in Lihue, but parking was a bitch so we just went over to Koloa to Keoki’s. I had herb sauteed opakapaka (menu pdf). Really great and a good way to start out the vacation.

Next up was checking into our condo…

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