Big Island - Where to Eat?

While on the Island of Hawaii, we had lots of options - including eating in our room as it had a full kitchen.  If you are staying on a resort on the north end of the island, you can always eat there.  We often opted to travel to a different location.  These are a selection of our favorites and, of course, our luau.  One of the biggest thing about any restaurant we went to - they were very serious about taking care of you if you knew they had an allergy.

First, you are in Hawaii, how can you NOT go to a luau?  We went to the luau at the Mauna Kea Beach note.  The there were six buffet lines - two each of cold, hot and dessert.  The hot buffet line offered not only the traditional smoked pork but also a smoked turkey option.  Of course, while there, I tried the traditional Hawaiian dishes, as you must when you visit.  This luau has a wonderful telling of the Polynesian story of how the island came into being.

Next stop - breakfast.  I must say, anywhere that offers coconut syrup, order something that uses it.  First up - The Hawaiian Style Cafe.

The menu is extensive for breakfast or lunch.  The pancakes are plate sized.  If the server asks if you want one or two, I suggest one.  I didn't listed.  I ordered the coconut pancake special with a side of pineapple sausage.  I don't think I managed half.

Next, for breakfast, brunch or lunch, we liked the Island Lava Java.  Particularly, the one in Kona.  How could you not enjoy this view?  

Some of us enjoyed the island pancakes while others had lunch (on our Sunday Brunch visit).  They even offer an eggs Benedict option with fish instead of bacon.  Sadly, I never tried it, but it is still there, right?

For Lunch, drive north to the King's View Cafe.

They make WONDERFUL pizza and, while you might be tempted to order Hawaiian pizza, make sure you also order a barbecue pork pizza.  YUM!

For another lunch, or dinner, there is the Kona Brewing Company - especially if you like craft beer.  They offer a 4 pack sampler so you can try multiple beers OR your party can share them.  I discovered Koko Brown and was delighted to learn I can get it at home - at least seasonally.

Finally, the only place we went to for dinner twice - Pueo's Osteria.

Locally sourced Italian food that is fabulous.  The flat pasta is all made in house and the tube pastas are all from Italy.  They offer a Bolognese sauce that is a mix of beef, boar and veal - delicious!  They offer different specials each night as well as an extensive wine list.  The chef was at another four star restaurant and they wanted to transfer the chef to Minneapolis.  If you lived in Hawaii, would YOU want to move to Minnesota, especially after this winter?  He declined the offer and struck out on his own.  I am glad he did.

Coffee, Fruit, Turtles, and a Drink for a Friend.

Day 1 was a laid back island day.  We headed into Kona to check out the farms market then attended church services at the first Christian church in Hawaii.

Followed by brunch at the Java Lava in Kona.  I highly recommend the coconut syrup...

and the spectacular view.

From there it was off to the Greenwell Farms Kona Coffee for a tour, and a purchase of coffee for the week, of course.

The tour started by looking for chameleons in an orange tree - we failed to find any, but we did see the oranges.

Then, the biggest avocados we have ever seen.

Then, we learned about bananas and banana blossoms.

While none of these are coffee, and none of the plants are used to shade the coffee during the growing season, I am sure that it helps to farm crops that have different ripening and selling seasons.  Then, we came to the coffee productions.  We saw some ancient coffee trees and the former mill.  The red flowers in front of the mill in this photo are poinsettias.  I know, they look like trees...there is also a pineapple in this picture.

Don't believe me about the pineapple?  Here it is.

We then learned about coffee plants, which are currently in blossom.

Due to the landscape, Kona coffee is picked entirely by hand.  They use a stick with a string on the end to gently pull the treetops down to pick.  If trees age too much, they get brittle, so trees are pruned back almost to stumps after three years.  This is done in rotation so there are always two years worth of trees bearing fruit (yes, when they are pruned, they only take a year to begin producing again.  I also learned that coffee plants are related to the gardenia and, on average, it takes 7 lbs of coffee cherries to make 1 pound of roasted coffee.  After learning about coffee growing and processing, we saw the cocoa trees on the farm.

Then we went looking for chameleons again - we found a quick little shy male.  I could only get his back end as he zipped up the branch.

And a good angle on a female.

After a few stops for necessities and a meeting with the concierge, we went to happy hour.  NB, this one was for you - Waikoloa Limeade, hold the umbrella.

After a drink, a walk on the beach, complete with sunsets and sea turtles.

All in all, a great way to start the week.

What Plane Ride?

To borrow from a Facebook post made by our traveling friend - WHAT PLANE RIDE?

From the beginning - at approximately 8 AM EST, we left our house.  Two layovers and three plane rides later, at 1:30 AM EST we touched down.  The longest ride was 6 hours gate to gate.  We arrived after dark, so aside from seeing palm trees in the plane lights, we really couldn't see anything.  Hawaii is DARK and they use amber street lights.  It is fantastic to see the glow from the road when you look into an area with streets.

I was tired, I was hungry, my butt was tired.  We snacked, we unpacked a bit, we went to bed.  I woke up at 3:30 local time.  Yeah, that wasn't happening.  Went back to sleep.  Woke up at 5:30.  This is what was off our balcony just after sunrise.

This made it all worth it - sitting here drinking my coffee, talking to you, looking at at this:

To quote again, WHAT PLANE RIDE?