Oahu – Waialua General Store and Dole Plantation

Before our last trip "back home", the Missus gave me some "guidelines" and places She wanted to check out. It was kinda strange because some of the places were major tourist spots. But in retrospect, it ended up being fun, because when I lived in Honolulu, we would never go to these places unless we had visitors. But heck, having left the islands a quarter of a century ago, I'm just a tourist these days too right?

One of the places was Dole Plantation. Yeeesh, the last time I was here was with the Missus, back in the late 90's. For me, "Dole" is the cannery in Kalihi, but this ended up being a nice drive to Wahiawa.

For me this was mostly a bunch of shops and stuff.

Coming from the grandson of immigrants who worked for Maui Pine; this seemed more about selling stuff than telling the story of those who worked. After all, my first job was picking pineapple over the summer.

I did enjoy seeing who was "really" in charge.

For those that don't know. You don't mess with the chickens here. There's a real "pecking order" (sorry, couldn't help it) in place. Even the cats know…..

The Missus did enjoy shopping here.

And She ended up buying a really cute bag.

Dole Plantation
64-1550 Kamehameha Hwy.
Wahiawa, HI 96786

In some ways, I really enjoyed driving here. In a previous life I did frozen food delivery. Being the low man on the "totem pole", my route was places like Whitmore Village. Heck, I used to deliver to the Iroquois Point Naval Exchange in Ewa Beach! This is why I always picture "that" Ewa Beach when we're there visiting my In-Laws! 

There was a place I had been wanting to check out near the North Shore. After a short discussion, the Missus and I decided to head on up to Waialua to get some poke at Waialua General Store. From what I recall the town was home to a major sugar mill back in the day.

The little shop in a strip mall, before you get to the "North Shore" kind of stuffs is quite low key. They do a lot of Filipino BBQ and such, but I just wanted some poke.

I could not believe the prices! The woman was so friendly! We got a "bowl" with the Hawaiian Style (aka Limu) and the Secret Spicy Poke. We were kind of hungry and were told to just head over to where the owner's husband was grilling things to sit and eat.

We walked over and the gentleman doing the grilling told us to have a seat. There were several "old timers" (like me) there and I had a blast "talking story" with them.

As for the food; the Missus also got Seaweed Salad, can't tell you about that 'cause I don't like it, and pickled mango which was quite good.

As for the poke, the quality of the fish was decent, wish there was more limu in the Hawaiian style, the secret to the "spicy" was kimchi, but this was still better than what I get here in San Diego. The Missus was hoping for a brown rice option, but c'mon, really?

This was quite good!

I was having a great time chatting with the "old timers"; about how things have changed, what it's like living in SoCal and then coming back home. And then it happened. The gentleman grilling  pulled off two skewers and told us; "here this is for you"! For real? My first thought was to turn him down, after all you want them to make some money or offer to pay….but you just don't do that here, that would be an insult. It was such a beautiful gesture.

The glaze had a nice sweet-salty-sour balance. Nice porkiness, fairly tender meat, it was quite good. The folks here were so friendly….like very old school style. We loved it. In the end I took a spare Hamilton and went into the shop and put it into the tip jar. The woman told me "eh, no need", but I said "no, I need".

This kind gesture made our day; the food was good, I loved the "small town vibe", if you want true Aloha Spirit here it was, or more precisely "lokomaika'i", to be generous, which is what the folks here were. It just puts you in the right frame of mind.

Waialua General Store
67-272 Goodale Ave.
Waialua, HI 96791

It was a wonderful day.

Dinner was, of course Jiaozi!

And after dinner we strolled on over to the beachfront in Ewa Beach.

It was a beautiful evening…..

And for a moment, all seemed right in the world!

Thanks for stopping by!