'Ono Kine Grindz

2001 Flavours - Vancouver, BC, Canada

Is there good pizza to be had in Canada?

2001 Flavours
595 Pender Street West
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Telephone: 604.689.8847

Boston's North End Pizza

OK, you know that I'm running behind!  *sigh*

Boston's North End Pizza
3506 Waialae Avenue
Telephone: 808.734.1945

Big Kahuna Pizza

Big Kahuna Pizza is located along a stretch of roadway that is home to warehouses, and auto body and repair shops.  Since most of the surrounding area is industrial, one wouldn't expect to find a little green and yellow "shack" serving some of the Island's best pizza here.

A long time destination of both local residents and visitors, you'll have to keep your eyes open for the signs announcing da Big Kahuna's and quickly turn into the gravel parking lot.  If you drive too fast, or aren't looking for it, you'll drive right past it.

Walk past the "porch" and open the screen door to enter the tiny restaurant.  You'll see the menu board above the counter where the orders are placed.  The menu is quite lengthy, and includes a number of pizzas and sandwiches.  If you don't like waiting, take my advice and place your order over the phone -- well in advance of your anticipated pick up time.  But be forewarned.  If it's busy, the wait can be as long as 30 minutes or more!

After placing your order and paying for your meal, you can choose to dine-in (you food will be brought to the table), if one of the four tables inside the restaurant are available.  Otherwise, you'll have to order to go.

Since I had some time to spare, I decided to eat in.  It was busy, and crowded, so I ended up waiting 15 minutes for a table to open up and another 10 minutes for my food to arrive.  What did I order?  I had "da sumo special" (6" personal pan, US$5.95; 12" medium pan, US$16.95).

This perfectly sized pizza contains an extraordinary variety of tasty toppings.  Here's the short list of what's on here: pepperoni, ham, Italian sausage, kalua pig (!), Portuguese sausage, bacon, onions, fresh mushrooms, chopped tomatoes and black olives!  Is that artery clogging goodness or what?  Even with all those toppings, the thick, fluffy and slightly sweet crust remains crisp and crunchy until the last bite.

I also ordered the garlic cheese balls (one dozen, US$3.35).

Fluffy and slightly chewy, these garlic cheese balls are brought to the table straight out of the over.  Rich and buttery, and made flavorful with all of that garlic and cheese, the bottoms of these are crispy, making these so fun to eat.  I do have to tell you that these garlic cheese balls are addictive -- you can't eat just one.  In fact, before you know it, you've eaten them all.

Sometimes when I'm in the area, and don't feel like having a pizza, I'll go for one of Big Kahuna's amazing sub sandwiches.  Here is the surfer sub combo/grinder (with turkey and roast beef, US$6.35).

The paper plate-sized homemade bun was slightly sweet, yet dense and fluffy.  Nicely stuffed with more than a few slices of roast beef and turkey before being topped by some shredded lettuce and tomatoes, this is one heck of a sandwich.

Big Kahuna Pizza
833 Puuloa Road
Telephone:  808.833.5588

Antonio's New York Pizzeria

Hawaii's pizza options are basically limited to the big guys, the national chain restaurants -- Domino's, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, Chuck E. Cheese (for the kids), and California Pizza Kitchen (gourmet).  Of the smaller independent pizza joints, one of my favorites is Antonio's, which is located right across Waialae Avenue from Kahala Mall.  Antonio's serves New York-style pizzas, pasta dishes, calzones, salads, hoagies and Philly cheesesteaks as well as New York cheesecakes and cannoli.

There are many options on the menu here, with most pizzas averaging between $10 and $18 depending on the size of the pie and the number of toppings.  When I stopped by for lunch one recent afternoon, I found the pizzeria mostly empty.

There was just one couple and their two children enjoying some garlic rolls and a large pizza at a table in the corner of the dining area.  After looking over the menu, I decided NOT to order a pizza, but instead decided on having a hoagie.  You're in a pizzeria and you're having a hoagie?  That's just as bad as having a burger at a seafood joint (sound familiar?). 

So to save myself some frustration from having to explain myself, I'm going to start by saying that I did have the pizza here many, many times before.  My favorite is the white pizza, which substitutes olive oil and sweet basil for the usual tomato sauce.  More specifically, though, I usually order the Manhattan Supreme (white sauce, garlic, spinach, tomato, mushroom and Parmesan) or the Antonio's Special (white sauce, garlic, mushroom, pepperoni, black olives, Italian sausage and Parmesan). 

Today, I chose the deluxe hoagie (US$5.99).

A freshly baked 9" Italian roll is stuffed with ham, Genoa salami, pepperoni, lettuce, tomato and cheese, then topped with some tangy Italian dressing.  To me, this hoagie was better than any sandwich from Subway.  Filled with lots of meat and veggies, it almost seemed like I ordered a sandwich and a salad.  After the first few bites, I was confident that I had made the right choice.

How's about another look at the hoagie before I take the first bite?

After I was done with the hoagie, I made my way to the counter for a slice of the homemade NY cheesecake (US$2.99).

I had heard great things about this cheesecake so I was really anxious to try it.  The cheesecake is baked in-house by one of the owners' wives and the recipe for the cheesecake comes from said owner's mother.  Dense, moist, and creamy this cheesecake was perfect.  It was served plain and it was complimented by a thin, slightly sweet crust.  It's been years since I've had cheesecake this good, so I'm really glad that I decided to have this for dessert.

Antonio's New York Pizzeria
4210 Waialae Avenue
Telephone:  808.737.3333

Magoo's Pizza

"No hoo hoos, call Magoo's!"  Anyone remember that slogan from the 70's and 80's?  Well, I for one honestly thought that Magoo's no longer existed, especially since I didn't see the restaurant in Waikiki anymore.  But then a couple of weeks ago, after having dinner, I was walking by Pucks Alley and saw this place full of people.  I honestly thought that this was still Moose McGillycuddy's (and previously Mamma Mia), since it was full of drinking college students, but found that it's now a Magoo's Pizza.

When I came back on Sunday afternoon, there were no crowds here.  In fact, the huge place was virtually empty, save for about 5 other guys having a few beers.  More a bar than a restaurant, I was happy when I discovered that Magoo's still served pizzas and that the original giant-sized "square" pizza was still being served (as indicated on the wall here).

Here are some interior shots of the place.  Notice the TV monitors, the large number of tables/chairs, the huge fish tank and the open air arrangement.

In the evenings this place is packed full of people, mostly college students from the nearby University of Hawaii.  I also noticed that there was a poke/sushi bar which wasn't open when I arrived.  I was told that it was open during the evening hours only.

There's also lots of outdoor seating with shade being provided by a canopy and some ficus trees.

After looking over the menu, I ordered the small Magoo's Famous combination (US$14.50) pizza.

According to the sign/sample on the wall the small pizza contains 8 slices.  The pizza had a nice combination of ingredients including pepperoni, mushrooms, pork sausage, bell peppers and olives.  Here's a better view.

The above pizza arrived about 10 minutes after being ordered and the first thing I noticed was the generous amount of toppings on it.  After taking the first bite, I found the crust to be thick and crunchy, almost like a cracker.  The tomato sauce was a bit sweet, almost too sweet for my tastes, and the mushrooms were virtually non-existent.  The pork sausage had just a touch of spiciness and the olives were plump and flavorful.  Here at Magoo's a combination of cheeses was used to top the pizza.  In addition to the standard mozarella cheese, they also used a bit of cheddar.

To go with the pizza, I ordered a special Caesar salad (US$6.95).

It was delivered in a styrofoam container and contained lots of chopped romaine lettuce that had been sprinkled with grated parmesan cheese and garlic croutons.  In the container in back there was the egg-less Caesar dressing that was made with anchovies.  When I opened the cover of the container, I immediately was overwhelmed by the smell of anchovies.  After tasting the gray-colored dressing, I found that too many anchovies had been used in it's preparation, for my taste anyway, and decided to eat the salad plain.

Years ago, Magoo's used to be one of my favorite pizza shops.  After eating the pizza here this past weekend, I wondered why?  The pizza itself was not outstanding, but it wasn't too bad either.  Rather, I found it to be just middle-of-the-road, it was just OK.  I would have preferred a slightly thinner and crisper crust, although they were very generous with the toppings.  The anchovy-flavored Caesar salad dressing was too overpowering, and I found that the quality of the food here, didn't justify the prices that I paid.

Magoo's Pizza
Puck's Alley
1015 University Avenue
Telephone:  808.946.8830 or 808.949.5381

La Pizza Rina

Since I had a somewhat healthy lunch today, I thought I could indulge a bit more during dinner.  So I called a friend and headed on over to La Pizza Rina. 

This is a fairly small place that has room for about 35-40 people.  It's usually very crowded, and tonight, there was just a tiny bit of breathing room.

It's been a while since I've been here, so tonight, I resort to having my favorites!  For starters, it's a large antipasto salad (US$5.95).

This salad is huge!  It's a bed of iceberg lettuce, topped with rolled ham and cheese, salami, pepperoni, pickled celery, onions, cauliflower and carrots, black olives, and slices of tomato and cucumber.  Then, it's drizzled with La Pizza Rina's own homemade Italian-style dressing.  This dressing is actually one of the best Italian dressings that I've ever had!  Full of herbs and spices, but not over powered by either the olive oil or vinegar.  Two thumbs way up!

Next, we both decide to order the lasagne with meat sauce (US$6.50).

What makes this dish special is the meat sauce.  It's thick and chunky and is served topped with some melting mozarella cheese.  After I load it up with some crushed red pepper and grated parmesian cheese...it was gone in no time!

The lasagne also comes with a side order of garlic bread.

Tonight, the bread is a let down.  It doesn't seem to be cooked at all.  I normally like it to be served nice and hot with a crisp and crunchy crust, but this arrives at our table just mildly warm and lacking any sort of crunchiness. 

For the most part dinner tonight was a success.  The bread, while not to my liking, can't really detract from the overall satisfaction that I got from eating this meal!  After having both the lasagne and antipasto salad, I remember why this is one of my favorite places to eat homestyle Italian food.

La Pizza Rina
1425 South King Street
Telephone:  808.941.6634