Our friends are Auntie Pasto’s whores. It seems like they’re there almost every other week. Last week Sara’s sister came over from the big island and where did they go for dinner? Auntie Pasto’s of course. After my first visit here I can see why. A group of us made it out here one night and we all agree, Auntie Pasto’s is the shit.

I was a little surprised at how nice the place was. The candles and dim lights gave this place a charm and glow that makes you feel very welcomed.

Now if you do plan on getting an appetizer you must get the Mozzarella Marinara, $7.00. It’s mozzarella cheese wrapped in fresh crepes and tomato sauce. Basically a little bit of cheesy heaven in your mouth. I’m not even a fan of cheese, if you ask me, when it comes to cheese, less is more, or in most cases I’d rather do without. But this Mozzarella Marinara thing, oh, it’s different, a league of her own, I kid you not. Justin and Sara were like, “try it, it’s good.” As soon as I cut into it, hot melted cheese oozes out like hot lava. I secretly wanted to take the dish all to myself and run and eat while I ran so when I was caught I would turn around with an empty plate in hand and a mouth full of cheese, but instead I decided to be mature about this and took another, rather large bite.

This is the Madeline Salad, $6.25. This salad was sensational. It has a light sweetness that does summer saults on your tongue. My complaint is that it was so small and that within minutes of us finally finding each other I felt alone, abandon and scared wondering what just happen. Are you really gone? How can you be gone already when we just met?
Really, the salad wasn’t much bigger than this, I took one large bite and then realized I had to take a picture. It’s a good salad to start with, but what about those people who don’t start with salad but have it as an entree? There’s no way this could fill anyone up. I guess it’s a good thing this wasn’t my entree.

Sara got a Hail Caesar, $5.50. Again it wasn’t that big, and we took a bite before we realized we had to take a picture.

I was so happy to see a nice array of choices to choose from on the dessert menu. I was torn, tiramisu or creme brulee? It’s been a while since I had really good creme brulee, so creme brulee it was and of course I had to have it as my appetizer, why torture myself and wait till after dinner? Sometimes patience is just stupid. It was everything I had hoped for and so much more. The creme brulee cost $5.00 and even though it was worth every penny it was so not enough. Even Ray was in love with it and he’s not a fan of custard at all. Everyone agreed, it wasn’t enough, more, we need more.

Here’s my main course Creamy Pesto, $9.75. It’s extra green because I added some spinach to it for no extra charge. The waiter waiter goes,”you could have it any way you want.” Yum. It was good, but I would have traded it for the creme brulee in a heart beat.

Shane and Justin got this plate, Gnocchi (nee-okkee) $11.00. It really looked a lot better than the picture looks. Potato dumplings served with meat, mushrooms or a creamy pesto sauce. I think this is with the meat sauce, but no guarantees. Shane had Justin order for him and I don’t live with Justin so I can’t ask him.

This was Sara’s dish and I liked this one better than mine so I kept secretly taking bites of hers. She never notice because she’s a lush and loves red wine. Fried Eggplant & Gorgonzola $9.50.

It’s hard for Ray to pass up good pizza. This is the Margarite, Neapolitan-style, 10.95. I love that they sprinkled basil all over this thing. It was good, but I don’t think it was Oh My God, good.

So time for dessert. If it were up to me I would have picked the tiramisu but it’s not always about me. This was a group decision and we decided upon the Cannoli, $4.00. Here I am modeling the cannoli. I know this picture makes it look like a pile of white shit, but I swear it didn’t look like that in person. Along with the cannoli we orderd another creme brulee.

I gotta say, with all the places I still have yet to visit, I will definitely make it back here. Our friends had friend who worked here so when we got our tab, all five crafts of wine, all the dessert and a few other dishes were left off so it made our dining experience even more satisfying. I don’t know how anyone can’t love this place.

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Auntie Pasto’s Restaurant
1099 S. Beretania St.
Honolulu, HI 96814

O.K. so I’m gonna take this time to be a little racist and stereotypical and I feel totally o.k. being this brutally honest because I’m here at home, safe, behind the screen of my laptop. I’ve devised this theory; Asian people treat their shaved ice the way White people treat their ice cream sundaes. I never come across an Asian that goes crazy over a sundae and vice versa, but Asians love their shaved ice and White people love sundaes, even on Mondays. Also White people go crazy with sundaes, they put all kinds of shit in it: strawberries, pineapple, chocolate, marsh mellow cream, nuts cherries, carmel, whipped cream, the list goes on and on. Well, same goes for Asians and their shaved ice. We put beans, mochi balls, tapioca, fruit, jelly things, condense milk etc.

Here are some pictures of some yummy shaved ice toppings from a Chinese shaved ice cafe in Los Angelos.

You get my point?

Now when it comes to ice cream for Asians, we keep it simple, ice cream and maybe one other topping, otherwise it starts to look like something I regurgitated back up and am still consuming only because I’m too cheap to let it go to waste. I don’t want to fuck up my ice cream by mixing all kinds of crazy shit into it and of course white people feel the same about shaved ice, just ice and flavored syrup. As a matter of fact, most hales have never even heard of shaved ice with anything else. Ray, my half white, half Mexican fiance, who mine as well be white, goes, ” Babe, I never knew Asians loved shaved ice so much and all that crazy shit that you guys put on it. You would hate shaved ice in Texas, just ice and juice. Beans as a desert, it just doesn’t sound right,” he says. Oh, but it taste so good. Now Ray, and Shane still refuse to eat my shaved ice, they just can’t get past the bean thing. Ignorant fools, such poor unfortunate souls. Shaved Ice is not just ice and juice. And yes, I can tell you right now honey, I will despise it in Texas, that’s why I’m here and not there. Shaved ice is an art that I take very seriously. It’s not just about the toppings, but also the consistency, texture, fluffiness, the amount of condense milk in ratio to the amount of ice. You get my point.
Now that I’m done ranting, I’ve found a place that so far is one of my favorites on this island. Tropicana has shaved ice as light and fluffy as the clouds of heaven.

My only gripe was that they didn’t have as many toppings as that Chinese place in L.A.
All their specialty shaved ice comes with azuki beans, ice cream, condense milk, and mochi balls. I ordered the #8 lychee berries shaved ice. It comes with vanilla ice cream and is amazing. Ice cream and shaved ice, the best combo ever. The shaved ice was perfect. The way it dissolved in your mouth, like butter on hot toast. One way of judging good shaved ice is the ice itself. If it’s at all crunchy, or hard, it’s no good, move on, you deserve better than that.

On a separate occasion I got the #3, strawberry flavored shaved ice with strawberry ice cream. This time it came in a different bowl, but still just as yummy.

I had to get another one. This time the #2, Mountain Coffee with coffee ice cream inside. Again, I loved every bite.

And this is what it looks like on the inside

Ray got shaved ice with two flavors for $2.00.

On a separate occasion I got the #12 Green Tea, with green tea ice cream, $4.50. If your a fan of green tea your gonna love this. Its cool, refreshing and who knows, might even be healthy.

Also, all prices include tax, so you don’t have to worry about factoring that in. The price you see is the price you pay. Now if shaved ice just doesn’t excite you, that’s cool. To each one own, right? They also have bubble drinks, floats and a nice selection of ice cream. I suggest the shaved ice. Even Ray agrees that it’s just better here, but he still refused to eat the beans.

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Tropicana
3036 Waialae Ave,
Honolulu, HI
(808) 739-2098

I am a whore of many kinds, amongst a few are shaved ice, condiments, and acai bowls. Anytime I see acai bowls I will instantly become a whore for her sweet sweet love.
Robeks, to me, is like Jamba Juice’s retarded brother; it’s like they’re trying to be as hip and cool as Jamba but somehow it just not happening.

As for the acai bowl, I ordered the Super Acai Bowl, a “blend of 7 oz of Acai, apple juice, bananas, topped with fresh banana slices and organic granola.” It was good, but not what I had expected. Just like with shaved ice, texture and consistency is crucial. If it’s too runny, as it was at Lanikai, then you mine as well toss the utensils out the window and pick up a straw. The acai bowls at Robeks were complete opposite, instead of being too running, they were too thick, so thick that to me it was more like frozen sorbet with granola on it. I seriously had to use a little force just to shovel some up. Now, like I said, it wasn’t bad, actually it was rather tasty, just not what I was expecting.

The bowl didn’t come with honey to top but when I asked for it, the lady behind the counter gladly gave it to me, a generous amount at no additional charge.

Another thing I like about this place is that they have the nutritional information on the back of their to go menus. The only other places that I know of that does this is Jamba Juice and Sub Way.
In conclusion, The Health Bar still wins the “Best Acai Bowl Award,” Although, however orgasmic their acai bowls are, I still refuse to go there; waiting 45 minutes for a smoothie is fucking ridiculous. I wouldn’t doubt if their cute little servers are more talented at the art of fellatio than at the art of blending.
Rebeks is the perfect treat on a hot humid day. Since their acai bowls are super hard and frozen, it’s very likely that it will remain delightfully cold to the very last bite.

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Robeks Fruit Smoothies & Healthy Eats
2919 Kapiolani Blvd #204
Honolulu, HI 96826