Hawaii

Anyone live in Hawaii? This isn't a tsunami thread, but I have to go for a week for work.

Where should I eat? I'll be staying @ the DoubleTree Alana Waikiki in Honolulu.

I have a $25/night budget for dinner and $15 for lunch/breakfast. Seafood and red meat are my favorite foods. Though I'd like to try to new stuff as well.

Spam is not a type of fish, even if they sell it in the fish markets.

Look for the local fast food chain named L&L. It Ttaste's good and is cheap. Here are their Oahu locations http://hawaiianbarbecue.com/live/locations/hawaii/oahu/

We have a local Hawaiian food joint here that I tried once and thought was crap. Food was super-salty, overcooked, etc. A coworker of my wife's grew up in Hawaii, and it turns out he loves the place, and says it's totally authentic.

different strokes for different folks....I ate @ L&L almost every day the last time I was there

Hawaii Plate lunch. Nearly every day for 4 years. My son was born there too,god I miss it. I wish I could afford to live there now...

Waikiki in Honolulu reminded my wife and I alot of South Beach in Miami. There is alot of food to be had a reasonable prices. One of the funnier things with Hawaii is the price of steak, since Maui has alot of cattle, we found prices quite reasonable...

We tried to eat at 'dives' because it was more 'local' and 'fun'.

Find a Leonard's Malasada (Hawaiian donut, if you like that sort of thing) truck. They are very popular in Hawaii, something to try. There has to be one somewhere around Honolulu.

I personally love Spam musubi, but I don't like Sushi, so that is as close as I get.

Is that duct tape wrapped around the Spam?

There's a great bar in Waikiki at Duke's and the Moana Surfrider is also pretty good.

There's a Irish pub on Lewers street that has a great breakfast special. In fact Lewers has a few places to eat along it.

Otherwise, make time to hit all of Pearl Harbor (there's an Air Museum there along with Battleship Missouri and the Arizona Memorial), Punch Bowl (aka National Cemetery of the Pacific) and Diamond Head for a great hike and excellent viewpoints of the island.

The International Marketplace is a trip, lots of people watching and generally cheap crap for sale but if you want some touristy knick-knacks that's not a bad place to get them. The Ferrari shop in the nearby mall is kinda neat to wander through.

There is a Plantation Village/Museum further north that is really very interesting if you're a history buff at all. They have full size workers buildings in situ on site and its really interesting to check out the different building styles for the different cultures that emigrated to the plantations for the duration of their operations. When I went, our tour guide actually grew up on that plantation and his family were Portuguese, so it was great hearing about it from him directly.

My Fiance has a family friend that runs a Filipino restaurant within a few blocks of the Plantation Village, so if you want some Filipino food (lots of meat; chicken, pork, beef) Hit up Thelma's Restaurant.

If you really want to maximize your visit, look at a book called Oahu Revealed:

http://www.amazon.com/Oahu-Revealed-Ultimate-Honolulu-Revisited/dp/0981461026

Thanks yall.

I've had good luck checking roadfood.com for good places to eat before I travel. Never been to Hawaii tho.

Its been a decade or so since my trip there, but I remember being amused by trying to find the largest number of cheap T shirts for $20. I think the record was somewhere around 12.

I was also the only guy I saw wearing Hawaiian shirts. The locals all looked at me funny.

Eggs and Things in Waikiki- open something like 22 hours a day for breakfast.

Hit the Original Pancake House for breakfast and get the Portuguese sausage.