Grilled steak, prawns, rice, black beans, guacamole, salad, salsa and 4 corn tortillas. $13.50
Zapata Mexican Grill, San Francisco CA
I was pleasantly surprised by this plate – I thought it was going ot suck! The prawns were acutally really good though. They were large, juicy and tender. The grilled steak could have been more tender and less salty, but it still tasted great with everything else. And of course, they make sure to pack the plate! 🙂
December 8, 2013. $13.50
Served with rice, miso soup, and salad. $10.95
Wasabi Bistro, San Francisco CA
This was plenty of food for a lunch set, and decently priced too. I wasn’t a fan of the miso chicken – it was just grilled chicken slices with a miso glaze on top. The saba shioyaki (salt-grilled mackerel) was interesting. It was super crispy on the outside which was nice, but it was also way too salty! The interior was still moist and juicy though.
Side salad.
Miso soup.
“Mixed rice” with soy marinated chicken strips, fried egg, assorted vegetables and served on a hot stone pot with soup. $13.95
K-pop, San Francisco CA
This was pretty good and super hot temperature-wise! I wish the egg was runnier (maybe even raw like other bi bim baps), but it still tasted good and the whole thing was flavorful.
I think this Korean restaurant is a great new option in the Castro. The food is a little on the salty side but the flavors are great. The service also needs improvement. At the end of our meal, we could NOT get our check no matter how hard we tried. We literally stalked all the servers until we could finally flag one down. I hope this places stays open though.
OB Lager beer. I’ve always found Korean beer to be super drinkable!
Served with rice, steamed vegetables and hot and sour soup. $10.95
Harbor Village Kitchen, San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
Ugh, when I think bbq chicken I don’t usually expect some translucent sauce poured all over it. I’m still not sure what that sauce was supposed to be. Anyway, this was barely passable airport food in my opinion.
Hot and sour soup.
Hanging art installation, Terminal 2.
Shredded beef crispy taco, shredded chicken enchilada, and a chile relleno (green pepper stuffed with Monterey jack cheese, covered in egg batter) served wtih rice, black beans and small side salad. $10.85
Puerto Alegre, San Francisco CA
Wow, this was plenty of food to fill me up! I can get pretty hungry though so I love combination plates. You get to try multiple things at a reasonable price.
Szechuan spiced baby back pork ribs and firecracker teppan-yaki local shrimp, Malaysian garlic fried rice, pea shoots. $35
Roy’s, Waikoloa HI
Mmm, now this is what I call surf and turf! Ribs and whole shrimp, noms! My favorite part was the shrimp of course because you could suck on the heads – heavenly. The ribs were also tasty, but the sauteed cabbage and bok choy were plain and forgettable.
Hawaiian artwork, KOA Airport.
Spicy lemon grass chicken with onion, green bell pepper, garlic and dried chilies. Served with rice. $6.95
Little Saigon, South San Francisco CA
Mmm, I love lemon grass chicken! This could have been spicier, but it definitely hit the spot!
Airplane taking off over San Francisco Bay.
Prather Ranch beef patty, steamed rice, sunny egg, green onions and sweet soy. $10
Starbelly, San Francisco CA
Ugh, this was a joke! In my nostalgia for Hawaii, I was stupid enough to order a loco moco from Starbelly. The hamburger patty was tough and bland and there was no yummy gravy! And by the time it made it to the table, it was cold. Gross. I usually love this restaurant, but we were having brunch with a group and the service was terrible! They were super slow and inattentive. Also, more than one of our dishes came out overcooked and they even forgot a couple of our plates. Lame!
Muni wires criss-crossing the intersection at Market and Castro.
Fresh Hawaiian fish, basted with garden herbs and lightly grilled. Served with salad, steamed rice, tropical fresh fruit salsa and tartar sauce.
Bamboo Restaurant, Hawi HI
Sorry that I forgot what kind of fish this was, but it was their catch of the day. It was pretty good and the portions were generous on everything.
Black sand beach at Lololu Valley.
A sampler of their most popular pupus: two chicken sate pot stickers, two grilled shrimp with Thai coconut sauce, and two pieces of kalua pork quesadilla. Served with rice and green salad.. $15.95
Bamboo Restaurant, Hawi HI
Wow, this was a lot of food! But the item that I was most excited about, the chicken sate pot stickers, were the least memorable – lame. Everything else was pretty good and had good flavor. I sadly likened this to an Applebee’s sampler platter though. All the food was just piled onto a small plate and it didn’t look very appetizing.
Bamboo napkin ring.
Stacked rocks, Lololu Valley.
The three items I chose were homemade hamburger patties, roast pork, and spam. Served on a bed of rice tropped with two eggs over medium and homemade brown gravy. $11.25
Big Island Grill, Kailua-Kona HI
Dear lord! This plate was a monster. I honestly didn’t expect it to be this large when I ordered it, partly because it was only $11.25. But I was amazed and a little queasy when I saw it, lol. It tasted amesome though and I loved the brown gravy! Thank goodness we went on a hike that day.
This is how it arrived to the table, just covered in delicious gravy. Lol!
And this is how it left the table. I tried my best but I couldn’t succeed in eating it all. 🙂
Big Island Grill sign.
Served with rice, coleslaw, and baked beans. $18.95
Big Jake’s Island BBQ, Captain Cook HI
This was pretty good. The ribs were tender and juicy, but I wish the bbq sauce had more flavor and punch. It tasted kinda flat. The plate was quite substantial though which I needed after our kayaking adventure. You’ll notice that the pic is kinda foggy – that’s because my iPhone fell into Kealakekus Bay (see story below)!
We spent a wonderful morning kayaking to Captain Cook’s Monument, watching spinner dolphins frolicking near us, and snorkeling around the State Park. On our way back to the pier, we noticed that a rather larger couple had capsized their kayak in the middle of the Bay and were having difficulty getting back in. After some time, the woman was able pull herself back into the kayak only to immediately fall back out. So we paddled to them and noticed they were clearly exhausted from multiple attempts to reboard their vessel. They had lost all their snorkeling gear and were just trying to stay afloat at that point. So we decide to rescue them. David, who was in the rear of our two-seat kayak, grabbed hold of their kayak with the couple in tow, leaving myslef with the only free arms to single-handedly paddle four people and two kayaks back to the pier! Needless to say, this took a LONG time and great amount of effort.
When we finally reached the pier, the couple was helped up by some of the guys working the kayak rentals and I pulled myself back onto the pier. As I did so, my iPhone that I had wedge into my life jacket for easy access to take photos and video of the dolphins, broke loose and dropped straight down into the Bay! Argh! I immediately dove down after it and finally located it at the bottom after multiple attempts. My poor baby! It still turned on, the lens was wet (hence the foggy pics), but I was worried that the damage would slowly reveal itself. When we got back to the hotel, I put my iPhone in a bag of rice that we picked up at Costco and forced myself not to turn it on for an ENTIRE night (this was really hard for me, lol)! The good news is that the iPhone still works and I still have it today. The camera lens eventually dried out. The bad news is that the WiFi connectivity got fried, but thank god I have unlimited data. Lesson learned: No good deed goes unpunished!
Vittle Monster 