'Ono Kine Grindz

Okata Bento

A while back one of my readers sent me an e-mail recommending the food at Okata Bento.  It's been a while since I've actually been here, so my recollection of the food that I ate here previously isn't what it should be.

Like many of Hawaii's Mom-n-Pop operations, especially those that have been in business for 20+ years, this is your typical hole-in-the-wall -- maybe Okata Bento qualifies for that title more than some of the others....

The entrance on the sidewalk leads to a take-out window.  There are no tables or chairs to sit at here.  You order and take your food away -- to the beach, to the park or home to eat.  I decided to sit and eat my lunch on a bench fronting the shop.  The food here is cooked to order so be prepared to wait for a few minutes.  If it's busy, the wait could be even longer, so if you're in a rush, you may want to call ahead.  Today, I waited for about 10 minutes which isn't too bad considering the food was cooked on the spot.

On this occasion, I ordered the bento with chicken katsu (US$6.75).

In addition to your main dish selection, each bento includes mahi-mahi, luncheon meat, egg roll, fishcake, takuan, ume and shredded cabbage on a bed of white rice.  The chicken katsu was crunchy outside, and moist inside.  It was pounded really thin, which is how I like it.  And even though it was deep-fried it wasn't oily.  The mahi-mahi was lightly floured and pan fried -- fresh and tasty.

On another occasion, I decided to have the bento with teriyaki chicken (US$6.75).

The bento contained the same items as the one above substituting the chicken katsu with teriyaki chicken.  The teriyaki chicken was cut into bite-sized pieces and well marinated.  The chicken was tender and slightly sweet, the marinade reminding me of Mr. Yoshida's sweet teriyaki sauce.

According to the menu - "All foods are cooked to order.  Our beef, chicken, and pork are trimmed of fat, bone and gristle, then cut into bite sized pieces...." - this makes the food here a little healthier, even if it is deep fried.  Oh OK, who am I trying to kid?  The food here is fresh, tasty, and decently priced.  Okata Bento is definitely worth a return visit. 

Okata Bento
3616 Waialae Avenue
Telephone:  808.737.6063

Nippon Take Out & Catering

A couple of weeks ago, a friend in my office told us about a new bento place that he had found out about.  He discovered it purely by accident...well not really, there were people passing out flyers.  So since we were looking for somewhere different for lunch, we decided to place an order.

That first time, I had the mini special #1, which was the mochiko chicken, rice, Spam, gyoza and daikon (US$3.50).  I thought it was a delicious bento and an excellent vaue.  In the weeks that followed, I ate other bentos from Nippon which weren't as good as the first one I had.  These were the salmon (OK), the tempura (not so good) and the BBQ chicken (so-so).

Several days ago, a friend in my office asked if I wanted to order a bento again, and still unsure because of the most recent orders, I told her that I would think about it.  She convinced me when she said that I should definitely have the #26, which was the mochiko chicken and butterfish.  So I said OK and that's what I ordered this time -- the large bento #26, mochiko chicken with butterfish (US$5.50).

The mochiko chicken was the same as before -- four pieces of deep fried boneless mochiko chicken which while flavorful, were a little greasy.  This was probably caused by the bento sitting for a length of time before being delivered.  This bento included some noodles (dry, but tasty), and some pickled vegetables (OK).  The butterfish was the best part.  It was moist,  and just slightly sweet with the subtle flavor of miso.  This was also cooked just the way I liked it, with a bit of carmelization.  I was even so lucky as to have gotten a piece of butterfish that had no bones in it.

I was pleasantly surprised this time.  The bentos from Nippon are a bit hit and miss, with the better tasting selections being the mochiko chicken and the butterfish.  I haven't had the opportunity to sample the other choices on the menu, such as the BBQ short ribs or the chicken katsu, but I think that if I order a bento from here again, I'd just stick to what I know.  The food here is reasonable priced, but nothing to get too excited about.

Nippon Take Out & Catering
Queen's Plaza
801 Alakea Street Suite 119
Telephone:  (808)524-7373

NipponTakeOut&CateringMenu
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Ted's Bakery

Many of you must be wondering what I was doing at Ted's Bakery.  After all, Ted's is on the other side of the island and I can easily buy Ted's Bakery pies at the local supermarket.

I actually took a drive out to the North Shore to eat at Giovanni's Aloha Shrimp, but once there, I discovered that the line was too long.  There was no parking, and judging by the number of people there, the wait was probably in excess of an hour.  Hungry and disappointed, I continued on, down the road, until I got to Ted's.

Ted's occupies most of the space that is/used to be the Sunset Beach Store, which has been around since the late 50's.  Ted's has been here for more years than I can remember and they are most famous for their cream pies -- most notably, the chocolate haupia cream.  When I arrived at the shop with a couple of friends in tow, there were a few tourists, and locals, ordering food and purchasing baked goods.  In addition to the pies and other baked goods, Ted's has a nice selection of sandwiches and plate lunches.

Since we hadn't eaten, and were starving, we decided to eat here.  The bento (US$6.95) sounded good, so that's what we all had.

The bento came with FOUR (!) scoops rice, a few pieces of chicken katsu, a piece of teriyaki beef, a piece of Spam®, and a piece of mahimahi.  The little containers in the middle of all that rice hold some chicken katsu sauce and some tartar sauce.  The first thing I have to say about this bento was that it was huge!  The second thing that I have to say about this bento is that it was delicious.

The contents of this bento were prepared fresh and because Ted's was a little busy, that meant a wait of about 7 minutes.  The chicken katsu was golden brown and crunchy.  Lightly seasoned, and not at all greasy.  The teriyaki beef was cut thick, the sauce was slightly sweet and meat was so tender.  The bento was worth its price for the teriyaki beef alone.  Awesome and delicious.  The mahimahi was dipped in egg, then pan fried -- once again, not greasy.

For dessert, I took home a slice of Ted's famous chocolate haupia cream pie (US$1.95).

Now, this is the best chocolate haupia cream pie that you will ever have.  The chocolate filling is chocolately, smooth and creamy, and doesn't really taste much like the pudding that it's probably made from.  The haupia on top, provides the perfect compliment to the chocolate.  On top of the haupia, is lots of piped whipped cream.  This is one of my favorites.  The only thing that I think needs improving is the "doneness" of the crust.  In my opinion, it could be baked a little darker and made a little flakier.  Other than that, this is one pie that can't be beat!

Next time you're on the North Shore, stop by Ted's for some of their delicious cream pies.  If you haven't yet had lunch, make sure to have one of their awesome plate lunches, or the BIG bento.  You'll be glad you did.

Ted's Bakery
59-024 Kamehameha Highway
Telephone:  (808)638-5974

Imari

Lately, I've been indulging in a unusually large number of Japanese foods -- ramen, sushi, curry rice and now, bentos.  Imari has an excellent selection of bentos on it's menu and it's probably one of the best Japanese-style bento-ya around.

Normally, if you want to eat a bento in the evening, your choices are limited to stores specializing in Japanese foods/goods, such as Daiei, Shirokiya or Marukai.  Most bento shops, or okazuyas as they are called in Hawaii, are open during the early morning to early afternoon hours, closing long before I even have the chance to think of leaving my office. What I really like about Imari is that they are open late enough for me to stop by after work.  In fact, I believe they're open until 9:00 pm daily.

Inside, the shop is homey and filled with knicknacks.  You'll find them virtually everywhere throughout the shop.  To the left of the entrance is a notice board offering Japanese language services, apartment rentals, and deals on used appliances and furnishings -- all posted by the shop's customers.  To the right of the entrance, there are a couple of small tables, in case you want to eat in.  Most often times, people order their bentos to go.  This evening, there are few people inside the shop when I arrived.

Here's the bento that I brought home with me.  Neatly secured with a couple of rubber bands, a packet of tonkatsu sauce was tucked into one end, and a napkin and a pair of chopsticks was tucked into another.

This was the mixed fry bento (US$5.95).  Three pieces karaage fried chicken, one piece pork cutlet (tonkatsu), and one crab cream croquette.  Also included (back from left to right)was some takuwan (pickled daikon), potato salad,; vegetable (sorry couldn't figure out what kind), kinpira gobo (seasoned, sliced burdock root) with carrots, renkon (lotus root) and konnyaku (devil's tongue jelly), hijiki (prepared seaweed), and underneath it all, a lone umeboshi (pickled plum).

The chicken, tonkatsu and croquette were freshly fried and still warm by the time I got home.  The chicken was bite-sized and nicely seasoned.  Although it was a little oily, it was still delicious.  The tonkatsu was crisp and crunchy, and I wished there was more.  It was so good.  And the croquette?  Outside it was crunchy, and inside it was creamy and smooth, with lots of imitation (?) crab chunks.  Delicious.

The size of the bento was just right for dinner.  The combination of the included items provided me with a nice sampling of what Imari has on offer.  The flavor and the freshness of the food was excellent.  The only downside to this whole experience was the wait time.  Since every bento is prepared to order, expect to wait at least 5 minutes, or longer if there are people ahead of you, for your bento to be ready.  Tonight, the wait for me, was just under 20 minutes.  In my opinion, the quality of the food justifies the wait.  Next time, however, I'll make sure to call ahead so that my bento is ready by the time I arrive.

Imari
Samsung Plaza
661 Keeaumoku Street Suite 102
Telephone:  808.941.8866

Saint Louis Drive-In

In an inconspicuous pink building on Waialae Avenue stands St. Louis Drive-In.  There are no signs telling you that you are here, just the window up front where you place your order and the various pieces of paper on the windows announcing specials like Post-It® notes.

Another place from my youth, I'll always remember St. Louis Drive-In for their teriyaki burgers.  The teriyaki, which is loaded with ginger-y flavor, is one of the best.  Since I've been on a quest for bentos lately, I decided to have the KCCN bento.

Named in honor of one of the local radio stations, KCCN (FM 100.3), the bento has the following (clockwise from top left):  luncheon meat, 4 pieces hot fried chicken, 2 pieces fried scallops (with tartar sauce), egg omelet, and teriyaki beef on white rice with furikake and ume.

This bento was just OK.  The deep-fried scallops were nice and crunchy on the outside, and tender on the inside.  The teriyaki beef had a wonderful flavor full of ginger, which I liked and is something that is not so easy to find these days.  The main disappointment for me was the hot fried chicken.  The chicken itself seemed undercooked (I would have liked this a bit crunchier) and not hot (spicy) at all.  It seems as though the hot sauce (?) was added as an after thought.  I could have probably ordered a bento with fried chicken, and loaded up on the hot sauce for a similar, if not spicier, flavor.

Oh well, so much for the bento.  Next time I'll just stick to having the teriburger, which is my favorite.

St. Louis Drive-In
3145 Waialae Avenue
Telephone:  808.734.3673

K's Bento-ya

Today, I got a special treat for lunch.  A friend purchased a delicious looking bento for me!  I don't know what I did to deserve it, but who was I to question a free meal.  Since I didn't have my camera handy, I used a friend's camera to snap the picture...

This bento was packed with food, all for less than US$5.00!  How can you beat that value?  Here's a list of the contents if you can't tell by the photo (clockwise from left):  three pieces boneless fried chicken, fried tofu with kamaboko (fish cake), inari sushi (or cone sushi), musubi (rice ball with nori), maki sushi (rolled sushi), a piece "molded" sushi, luncheon meat (no, not Spam®), hot dog and a small corned beef hash patty.  Oh...and on top of it all...a wonderfully huge shrimp (boiled I think)!

It was a lot of delicious food!  After eating half the bento, I had to give up.  I was so full that a nap would have been so nice just then.  The portion of the bento which was not eaten at lunch time was eaten as a very late afternoon snack. 

Once I find out where this place is, I'll post more details....

UPDATE AUGUST 11, 2004

As Ryan commented, this is definitely a bento from K's Bento-ya in Waipahu.  Here's their information:

K's Bento-ya
94-164 Awalau Street
Telephone:  808.671.0160