The day after returning to the Ewa side, the Missus wanted to do more stuff. She also wanted to restock on the Li Hing Mango from the Crack Seed Store. After thinking a bit, I came up with another easy hike walk in an area the Missus wasn't too familiar with. Another place I hadn't been to in decades; Manoa Falls. So, I drove on up H-1, got out on University and drove into the valley. Man, how long since I'd been here? There was a point in time when I used to go to the long defunct Contemporary Cafe to listen to the Guitar Monster do his thing. Another long story that perhaps I'll get to one day.
Anyway, the drive to the parking lot brought back major memories. Here's one for the old timers; remember Paradise Park; all the birds, the duck show, the maze? I know it closed in 1994, it kinda looks haunted now! I also recall scenes from Lost were filmed here as well. Anyway, all those memories came back as I parked the car in the lot that used to be for Paradise Park ($7). And of course, I instantly saw the parking lot "manager" walking over!
I guess my "papers" must have been in order were allowed to pass. And we headed off to the trailhead. But not before seeing this….
Yes, that young lady had a cat on a leash! She was heading off the trail, so I'm guessing the two of them went hiking ?!?!? You never know what you'll see…..
Once past the shipping container entrance; the trail was quite lush, cool, and even though we ran into folks along the way, quite peaceful.
It's a super easy hike to the falls; which was just a trickle on this visit.
I could tell the Missus was a bit underwhelmed by this hike, but I enjoyed it.
After our hike, we headed on over to the crack seed shop. We did make one stop in Manoa with the intent of having what we got there for lunch, but we ended up keeping it in the cooler and having it with dinner. More on that in a future post.
Getting to Kaimuki, parking was hard to come by on this day. I ended up finding a spot in the lot between 11th and 12th avenue and we walked on up to the Crack Seed Store. Mission accomplished, we walked back to the car. Just as we were about to leave I noticed a place I had read about several yards away.
You know, I've been quite sad since my go-to Ono Hawaiian Food closed. I had also been wanting to get some lau lau and I found out the Missus was craving it as well. So, here was our opportunity.
The restaurant is fairly small; like a single hallway. They were somewhat busy, but we had no problem finding a table.
There seemed to be only two women working; one doing the front of house, the other cooking.
We got some lau lau ($16) and an a la carte Tripe Stew ($15).
The Missus enjoyed the poi, it was nice and thick but not too sour. The lomi salmon was interesting; the Missus liked it, but I think it's because it was mostly tomatoes, there was hardly any salmon in this.
As for the lau lau, well there was a good amount of smoky-chlorophyllic-savory luau leaf. The pork was on the dryer side, but not bad. Overall pretty good and much better than what we can get here in San Diego. The Missus enjoyed the haupia.
As for the Tripe Stew.
There was a nice offal-ly funkiness, good acidity, the tripe was a bit on the chewy side, but the savory tones did well.
This was a nice local meal; which is something we were looking forward to.
Oahu Grill
1137 11th Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816
After lunch we took a stroll down Waialae. It was interesting to see the new businesses and yet it was finding the places that had been there since "small kid" time that brought a smile to my face.
And Jade Building is still the tallest in the area.
There's a part of me that will always be from Kaimuki…….
Thanks for stopping by!
