Ray’s been tired of hearing me bitch about not eating enough Vietnamese so today he took me to Pho Pearl so I could get my pho fix. The truth of the matter is, since I’ve moved away from my parents my pho consumption has reached an all time low. I’m ashamed to admit it and my mother says it’s because I have no honor. My mom, she blames everything on honor. I try to explain, “no mom, I have honor, it’s money, I have no money.”

Here’s what it looks like on the inside.

We started off with these Summer Rolls, $4.25. These tasted really fresh, like you knew for certain they were just made and brought right to the table to be consumed. I made a request to have one shrimp roll and one pork roll to switch it up a bit. It wasn’t a problem and ended up being a really good call. Both were equally as scrumptious. Oh, also, the peanut sauce here is up there as one of the best peanut sauces I’ve ever tasted, truly.

I came here for pho so I made it a point not to go over the menu too much. I didn’t want to be deterred. What I love about pho is that it always comes in this ginormous bowl. One bowl is always enough for two. I got the Pho @ Beef Meatball, $6.95. Pho is generally topped with finely chopped white and green onions for optimal flavor.

Also, no pho would ever be able to live up to it’s full potential if it was not accommodated with all the fixings. A dish of limes, in this case lemons, but limes make it so much better. It’s like having a corona with a lime or lemon? Lime just adds better flavor than lemon. Anyhow, like I was saying, a dish of lemons, bean sprouts, slices up raw jalapenos, basil, and mint made a suitable pho partner in crime.

Crispy Fried Egg Noodle with Seafood, $8.50. The flavor of this dish was a winner. I thought it was slightly too salty but I’m weird and sensitive to sodium, but like I said, it was extremely tasty. Ray goes, “the sauce on this is so good I actually want to eat my vegetables.” As for the noodles, they were under-fried. Crispy noodles were a specialty at my family restaurant so I know one key to making a good crispy noodle is the crisp part. The noodles were just fried but not enough, so it tasted a little stale or Styrofoamy. Just a couple more minutes in the deep fryer would have completely transformed this dish.

Anyhow, when we got here, the host/waitress/chef/busser; basically there was one lady there and she was a one woman army, since her husband had just stepped out for a few minutes. She was overly apologetic and would apologize for everything. She apologized for us waiting to be sat, she apologized for her husband being gone, for us waiting for food, for anything she could do to make it better, for her husband being gone again, for how the food turned out, for bringing us the bill. Also, when she did bring us the bill, she was so sorry that she gave us a 10% discount. The point is she apologized for everything that went right. Isn’t it the basic procedure to wait to be sat, order, wait, eat and pay when you go out to eat? The only thing that was out of the norm was her passive attitude. As a matter of fact, we waited less than a minute to be sat, and wait time for the food was about 10 minutes. Normal right? Whatever I wasn’t going to fight the discount. Sure, I’ll take 10% off. I’ll take it as payment of all the unnecessary times I had to say, “it’s o.k,” or “everything’s fine.” All I’m saying is, next time, I go there and I see her husband, I’m expecting the royal celebrity treatment. I want a red carpet, candles, fireworks, the whole shabang.

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Pho Pearl Vietnamese Bistro
804 Kapahulu Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816

After reading Kathy’s food blog about Andy’s one day I had to see what all the fuss was about, so a few days later I rounded up the boys, Ray, Shane, and Justin and we went out in search of this famous sandwich place. Ray’s a sandwich whore. He loves Subway, Quizno’s and just deli’s in general. I’ve eaten more sandwiches in the last two years I’ve been with him than my whole entire existence. I always thought that sandwiches were a bit juvenile, made solely for the younger days of elementary school when we were forced to bring a plastic lunch box that accommodated a matching thermus filled with apple juice. Inside the box would almost always be some kind of monotonous sandwich, usually peanut butter and jelly or baloney and cheese. After the fourth grade I really can’t recall ever eating or having the desire to eat another sandwich, and then I met Ray. I have to admit, sandwiches have grown on me. Although, I can’t eat them all day like Ray can, I do appreciate a good sandwich ever now and then and Andy’s is perfect for those occasions.

Andy’s is a small, family owned and operated deli. The menu is written on super bright fluorescent paper. Sandwiches run around $5.00.

This is the Chicken Burger, $3.85. I think it resembles a sandwich more than it does a burger, but hey, it’s Andy’s store, he could name it whatever the hell he wants.

Roast Beef Sandwich, $4.50.

I ordered the Eggplant Melt, $5.85.

All the sandwiches were amazing. I have to agree with Kathy when she says the sandwiches “leaves you satisfied, not full.” Sometimes it’s liberating not being a glutton whore.
Another reason why I love Andy’s is they have Wifi. You gotta appreciate places that openly give access to free Internet.

Andy’s is another place that proves good food doesn’t mean you have to ass rape your customers just to stay in business

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Andy’s Sandwiches and Smoothies
2904 East Manoa Rd,
Honolulu, HI
(808) 988-6161

There are some people that drive by a really ostentatious place and say, “Wow, that looks fancy, we should go there for dinner one night,” Well, I’m the same way, but with hole in the walls. I say, “Wow, that place looks really dingy, we gotta go there.” That’s exactly how I felt the first time I laid eyes upon Diegos Taco Shop.
It’s a small boxy place. You walk in, menus up above, order at the register, grab a table and wait for your food. Usually places like this is family owned and operated. I remember seeing another Diegos Taco Shop in Pearl City a while back, so they must be doing good for them to want to branch out. I don’t know if the guy that took our order was a “Diego” but I do remember that he was very gracious and friendly.

Ray got a carne asada burrito. It cost $5.95 and was ginormous.

His complaint was that it didn’t come with refried beans inside and it didn’t come with cheese, but you can’t deny that they’re really generous with the amount of meat they give.

I ordered the fish taco for $3.15. I have no complaints, just preferences. While cabbage works, lettuce is just ideal on a taco, or even a burrito for that matter.

And a chicken taco for $1.65.

And of course I scurried the menu for dessert and all I could find was a churro. I believe it was $1.00. It was alright. My mom, who is Chinese, makes a better churro than this.

Overall I’m a fan of this place. The food was a little too salty, yet still tasty and very affordable.

Now that I know how their dishes are prepared I will be better prepared at ordering the next time around; extra, extra, cheese, and please substitute the cabbage with lettuce, spank you very much.

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Diego’s Taco Shop
2239 S. King St.
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 944-2949