march 9 - honolulu - sidestreet inn

this was a local hawaiian restaurant that my masseuse from the mandara spa pointed me to for some real authentic hawaiian food.

brad and i ventured over after getting an animated approval from the attendant at my hotel who got us a taxi. i am guessing it's not often the hilton guests head over to this dive.

and dive it pretty much was. it was a 'sports bar' according to our server, but it was much less sportsy-bary that what i'm used to seeing. aside from a few tvs tuned to sporting events, it basically just seemed like a divey bar.

but the drinks and food were amazing. we started with lychee flavored vodka, or the eyeball drink as i called it when i spotted it on the bar. delicious, though i am somehow becoming less tolerant of hard alcohol (straight) as i become more and more of a wine drinker.

we split a large salad of local greens with blue cheese and a delicious vinagrette that neither brad nor i could figure out the ingredients for. yummy all the same. we also split a smoked roasted pork dish which was amazingly good. i could have eaten a plate of just that and been quite satisfied. we also shared a plate of clams cooked in a nice garlic butter broth with loads of cilantro (so you know i loved it) and peppers. a nice alternate to the pork but just no where near as good.

a good place to visit - get the pork.