Hawaiian Eats 3: Ethel's Grill

By the end of the week and the tail end of our Hawaiian excursion we stopped taking photos of ourseleves on the beach and focused more on the food. By that point all the hard work we've put in the gym was starting to wear off from all the shaved ice and plate lunches, but also because we had a couple other amazing meals we had to document.

Our best meal of the trip was at Ethel's Grill, a local favorite frequented late at night by local chefs who want a great, filling late night meal after they get off work.

We probably should have gone after the beach instead of before the beach. We both had little pot bellies after this meal or maybe just I did because Emi never has a pot belly :)

Emi's Dad thought this was hilarious and wanted me to take a picture of it. Luckily my back was to this while I was eating.

Seriously the best salad dressing ever. It was like a creamy, sweet avocado salad dressing. They wouldn't tell us what was in it, but I'm sure Emi will try to recreate it soon enough.

Ethel's Famous Tataki Sashimi - a side dish of fresh tuna lightly seared served on a bed of bean sprouts and drizzled with sesame oil and Ethel's Garlic-Shoyu Sauce. This tataki was both sweet and salty with a great sesame oil and garlic essence. I also love the texture of seared ahi; lightly cooked on the outside and raw on the inside.

Emi ordered the Garlic Pork Chops - deep fried pork chops smothered in their special Sweet-Garlic Sauce. Emi loved the flavor of this dish which was very unique. We guessed the sweetness came from maple syrup!

My tender sweet and sour spare ribs - extra tender - sweet and tangy was how it was described. Definitely super tender and not too sweet. A great comfort meal, however Steve's (Emi's Dad's) sweet and sour is better.

Steve's Pig's Feet Soup with Saimin. Look at that thing the bowl is bigger than his head! It was humongous! Steve was excited for some pig's feet soup after having oxtail soup earlier in the week. Pig's feet are gelatinous, fatty pieces of meat. It tasted better than my description.

Gail's Mochiko Chicken - crispy mochiko fried chicken served with Ethel's Ginger-Ponzu dipping sauce. Mochiko chicken is usually marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, ginger, etc and then dipped in mochiko which is rice flour and deep fried. The Ginger-Ponzu sauce was both sweet and tart.

Andagi - wikipedia says: sweet deep fried buns of dough similar to donuts, native to Okinawa, but also popular in Hawaii. Made by mixing flour, sugar, and eggs into a ball and then they are deep fried. They fried these up fresh for us. The outside was crispy and hot while the inside was steaming and soft. They aren't as sweet as a donut, but have just enough sugar to serve as a dessert to end our meal.

We highly recommend Ethel's Grill for anyone making any future trips to Honolulu. Just make sure to show up early because you'll probably have to wait in line to get in. It's pretty small so if you go hopefully your group isn't too big. If you're interested in going it's located on 232 Kalihi St. in Honolulu.

- Kyle