As you may or may not have been able to guess from my last Wordless Wednesday post, I’ve recently spent some time on Kauai with friends and family. Kauai is a very nice island. There are beautiful beaches, mountains, and all of that. But let’s get to the food.

Puka Dog

I have a hard time getting excited about a hot dog. A tube of processed meat product housed in a flavorless potato roll just doesn’t do very much to excite me. Luckily, Puka Dog is far from your typical hot dog.

Take a small loaf of fresh bread, cut the center out to make a “tube” of sorts, fill that with fruit relish and hawaiian mustard, then jam a polish sausage in there. That gives you some idea of what to expect. It tastes better than it sounds.

I tried the mango relish with “active volcano” sauce. It wasn’t spicy at all, really, but it was unbelievably tasty; a creamy meld of mild fruit, garlic, and mustard flavors. Even when my dog was done, I still found myself happily eating the bread and relish.

Anothony Bourdain made a visit here during his Hawaii episode of No Reservations.

Da Crack

A true hole in the wall, this restaurant consists of basically a wooden shutter that opens in the morning and serves incredibly good tacos and burritos out of the side of a building.

Tacos are offered with some basics included, like the meat and shredded cabbage, and most other things are a little extra. and I ordered the beef taco with jalapenos, sour cream, and hot sauce. A few minutes later, it was ready.

The beef I got was not the typical steak or ground beef I would have expected. Instead, it’s slow cooked, melt-in-your-mouth barbecue style beef. Topped with the extras, doused with the spicy sauce and nestled in the fresh, crispy but soft tortilla, this was the best taco I’ve ever had. I only wish we had found Da Crack sooner so that we could have made repeat visits. We loved it.

Hanapepe Friday Night Festival & Art Walk

Every Friday night, the town of Hanapepe turns its Main Street into a walking area filled with artists, entertainers, and – most importantly – food trucks. We just showed up and started walking around. A truck called Mele’s Kusina looked promising, so we waited in the considerable line and ordered the kalua pork platter – barbecued pork shoulder, macaroni salad and white rice.

I like pulled pork, and I’ve had “kalua” hawaiian style pork before, but Mele’s Kusina was definitely a gold standard. I got perfectly tender, flavorful pork; not too sour or sweet but just where it should be. I couldn’t stop eating it. It was great walking around, drinking a beer and eating pork.

Jo Jo’s Anuenue Shave Ice

Shave ice is very popular on Kauai, and no one does it better than Jo Jo’s. It’s a bit hard to find the real one, however. I think the story goes that Jo Jo ran a successful shave ice shop, then sold it to some new owners along with her business name, and became a teacher at the local high school. After a while, she decided she liked her old shop better, so she opened this location, Jo Jo’s Anuenue. So, you will definitely find the “other” Jo Jo’s before you find the real one, which is located down a nondescript alley in Waimea. Make sure you go to this one, it’s great. Her students now run the shop when she is not there.

Whatever the story is, this is damn good shave ice. We got a tropical flavor ice with macademia nut ice cream in the bottom. Excellent.