The Cat Dish

Tag Archives: Food

Hawaii’s best burger

by Catherine Toth on May 14, 2013 in Food

Last night I was suddenly craving a burger.

It helped that my girlfriend suggested Teddy’s Bigger Burger, which ignited my salivary glands.

So I ordered the 5-ounce teri burger with Teddy’s special sauce, onions and lettuce. (No tomatoes.) And it hit the spot.

But when I posted the photo on Instagram and Facebook, the question came up: does Teddy’s have the best burgers?

Well, I guess it depends on what you like and what you’re comparing it to.

Better than In ‘N Out or Five Guys? Maybe not. Better than most burger joints in Hawaii? Possible.

Three are lots of burger shops and restaurants them at serve stellar sandwiches, from Village Burger in Waimea to the signature burger at The Pineapple Room in Ala Moana Center.

So I’m throwing it out there: who’s got the best burgers in Hawaii? Post ‘em here and I’ll see if I can try them all.

In the next year or so. Lol

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FUUD: Underdogs Sports Bar & Grill in Kalihi

by Catherine Toth on May 7, 2013 in Food

Yes, FUUD blog and it’s not even Friday!

Most of my friends know it’s hard to get me to go out late at night, especially when the surf’s up.

So it probably shocked my gal pal, Melissa Chang (@melissa808), when I agreed to meet up with her and Olena Heu (@OlenaHeu), part of the Wake Up 2day morning crew, at a fairly new sports bar in Kalihi, a full 14 miles from where I live.

Underdogs Sports Bar & Grill opened several months ago in a spot vacated by, well, another kind of bar. It’s right next to Fujiya, the popular candy- and mochi-maker, on Waiakamilo Road.

Even though I’m from the area — I was born and raised in Kalihi Valley — I don’t usually venture into this ‘hood after hours.

But Olena assured us this spot was worth it. (Melissa wrote about the sports bar, too, on her blog, Urban Mix Plate on Nonstop Honolulu.) It’s been her go-to spot lately, mostly due to its proximity between the station and her home. (Those are good enough reasons for me!) She loves the pork-and-tots and the Melona cocktail.

And why wouldn’t the food be good? One of the owners is Jensen Hirota, who used to work at Alan Wong’s and was one of the partners at Kanpai Bar & Grill (my old haunt).

So I hopped in my car and drove aaaaaaaall the way to Kalihi — and after hiking up Makapuu with my dogs! — to sample a sports bar menu that folks have been raving about.

Here’s what our recent eating excursion looked like:

Inside

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Underdogs Sports Bar & Grill is your typical local-style sports bar with flat-screen TVs, dart boards, karaoke and a great happy hour with cheap drinks.

Underdogs Sports Bar & Grill, 508 Waiakamilo Road in Kalihi. Hours: 2 p.m.-2 a.m. daily. Phone: (808) 888-2873

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FUUD: Shaloha in Kaimuki

by Catherine Toth on May 3, 2013 in Food

When I was going to the University of Hawaii, I would grab lunch at JR’s Bar-B-Q on Waialae Avenue so often the owner would know my order as soon as I walked through the glass doors.

So I was disappointed when the Korean take-out shop closed awhile back.

That is, until I found out a new eatery opened in the same spot, one that serves classic Israeli street food like shawarma and falafel.

Shaloha — a blend of “shalom” and “aloha” — offers Middle Eastern cuisine with a Hawaiian twist — or so the menu says. It’s got the regional staples of Turkey and Egypt with local adaptations of traditional dishes brought to Israel by Jewish immigrants.

So it’s truly a Middle Eastern mix plate!

And if you’re not into that kind of cuisine, you gotta at least go for the homemade pita bread. It’s light and fluffily and airy and so good I could eat an entire bag myself.

Here’s what our recent lunch looked like — and yes, we’ll be back!

Shaloha

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Open last year, Shaloha in Kaimuki is one of only a few restaurants on Oahu serving Middle Eastern cuisine — this one with a local twist.

Shaloha, 3133 Waialae Ave. Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Phone: (808) 744-4222.

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Calling all mayo haters

by Catherine Toth on April 16, 2013 in Food, Musings

I didn’t realize a simple sandwich could be so controversial.

The other day I posted a photo on Instagram (above) of a sandwich I had made with a piece of teriyaki chicken and a scoop of macaroni salad.

I thought it was a clever idea to use macaroni salad in place of mayonnaise — since it IS mostly mayo anyway — and wanted to share it with folks on social media.

I didn’t anticipate such a backlash, actually. I thought everyone in Hawaii loved mayonnaise.

Turns out, I was wrong. There are A LOT of mayo haters in Hawaii. A lot. And they’re all on social media!

I was pretty sure most folks loved mayonnaise. And not just any mayo, either. Best Foods is king here. I don’t even know anyone who’s eaten Miracle Whip. (I’m considering doing a new blog post on that, actually.)

But surprisingly, a large number of people on Facebook and Instagram decided to unleash their distaste for the sandwich spread.

Like many local folks, I grew up eating mayonnaise — and on everything. I blame my mom for that. She raised us to believe that the more mayo (and this applies to butter, too), the better. She eats just about everything with mayo, including battered and fried eggplant, asparagus and green beans straight from the can.

I love mayo, too. There’s nothing that goes better in a teri burger, in a roast beef sandwich, with tuna, with chicken than mayo. So it was a no brainer, I thought, to put a dollop of macaroni salad, traditionally made with tons of mayonnaise, would be near genius.

Oh, not to mayo haters.

So I’m throwing it out there: you love mayo and all its gloriousness — or are you a hater of the mayonater?

Let’s take this to the blog!

Just wanted to send a shout-out to Ed Sugimoto, who was watching me blog while shooting a TV commercial for Oceanic Time Warner Cable Internet in Mililani. He couldn’t believe I was actually blogging while shooting. Hey, I’m a woman! I multitask!

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Weekend Dish: Bacon candy

by Catherine Toth on April 14, 2013 in Food, Weekend Dish

Lately, I’ve been on a mission to find new potluck dishes.

I tend to make the same things — bruschetta, lumpia, any number of desserts, and this Mexican vegetarian dish with eggplant, corn and tomatoes that I’ve been obsessed with — and was desperate to come up with something different to take to parties.

So when I got invited to a potluck birthday get-together this weekend, I decided it was time to debut something new.

And that something new was bacon candy.

I knew it was going to be a controversial dish. I was going to a dinner party of folks who shop almost exclusively at farmer’s markets and at Whole Foods. They compost, recycle and ride their bikes to work. I wasn’t sure how they would feel about a platter — yes, a platter! — full of candied bacon.

Oh, it was a hit.

The platter was nearly licked clean by the time I left.

I found the recipe was browsing the December 2012 issue of Food & Wine. All the credit goes to Bronson van Wyck (@bronsonvanwyck), who came up with the recipe below.

It’s easy, it’s tasty, it’s a showstopper — and you can even make it ahead of time and store it at room temperature for later.

Meaning, it’s really the perfect potluck dish.

So bake away. You can thank me later.

Starts with bacon

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I followed the recipe and bought center cut bacon. But I did use about half a pack of regular bacon and it turned out fine. So use whatever you've got.

Bacon candy
Contributed by Bronson van Wyck in Food & Wine, December 2012

Ingredients:

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons chile powder
20 slices of thick-cut bacon (1 1/2 pounds)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Line two rimmed baking sheets with foil.

In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar with the chile powder.

Arrange the bacon strips on the foil and coat the tops with the chile sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until caramelized and almost crisp. Transfer the bacon to a rack set over a sheet of foil to cool completely. Great on salads, too.

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