Liberty Grill

1136 Union Mall
Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 537-9192

DMSC: There's a certain style of "sit-down" restaurant that is reflective of the amalgamation of local culture. Liberty Grill is one of the last of it's kind - closed down restaurants like Kelly's by the airport, Colombia Inn, Victoria Inn were some of my favorites..... and then of course those few restaurants that have weathered changing times, namely Dot's and Likelike Drive Inn, as well as Kenny's and Liliha Bakery. And we won't mention that overpriced and not-so-good "Z" restaurant......
APOO: What is the "Z" restaurant? I think this is way before I moved to Hawaii. Anyway, I would like to take this opportunity to thank DMSC for keeping up with this blog. I haven't lost interest in this blog, or blogging at all. I actually have my own personal blog that I haven't been updating for the past 2 months. I blame everything that's been happening with work and with the State. ~sigh.
DMSC: I thought we weren't revealing that we're state employees. Well, now that THAT cat's out of the bag, I guess it's safe to say that we are considering renaming the blog "Where are we going for lunch on Thursday", since most Fridays we will be furloughed. And in fact, we're going to have to start being more economical on our lunches because we'll have 13.8% less pay in our paychecks, 20% less when you factor in the additional medical expenses..... but before I rant on too much, this is a FOOD blog...... oh yeah, so APOO, the "Z" restaurant is Zippy's. I thought that was pretty obvious. Anyway, back on topic - Zippy's WISHES it was Liberty Grill.
APOO: I only mentioned what has been happening with the State and in no way did I say we were State employees. You let the bigger cat out of the bag :)
DMSC: Liberty Grill is great because it's located right in the middle of downtown and it's one of the few places where you sit down for a nice served meal.

DMSC: They also have take out up front.
APOO: I remember the first time we went to this place, we were craving for Hawaiian food. Well, I was craving for Haupia which DMSC graciously offered his piece to me. THANK YOU! In case you haven't noticed, anyone who gives me haupia will make my day super delightful :)

DMSC: IG and I had a roast turkey plate.
APOO: Talk about someone losing interest...hint hint, IG! Where are you IG? I thought we were a team.
DMSC: He claims he forgot his password, but like lunchtime conversations, IG loses interest in things all the time.

APOO: Guess what I had? Spare-rib stew. This dish was so awful I finished it in 10 minutes. Aw, the juicy gravy coupled with the tender spare-ribs, so ono. Not to mention the white rice, which I am always a big fan of because since my fiance decided to switch to brown rice, I rarely eat white rice at home anymore. Stupid healthy diet! All hail white rice!

Lunch Room

DMSC: Today we had lunch in the lunch room. It is hella hot in the office. I think the admin has decided that they would save a lot of money if they turned the air conditioning off on us. Unfortunately, they feel like maybe the LUNCH ROOM (which is only used maybe 10% of the day) should be cold while the rest of the office should be like 84 degrees.

"IG": I still can't remember my password to this place.

DMSC: Thank you, APOO and IG, for keeping me company at lunchtime.

"IG": Let's see, what could my password be..... freezergau? stupidresidentmanager?

DMSC: My and APOO's lunch were home lunches, while IG had a frozen lunch. Obviously nothing worthy of photos.

"IG": ......acupuncturerules? rawfishsucks? ilovetendon?

Skippy's Coffee Shop

1385 Queen Emma St
Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 531-2509

"IG": If you see any of our names in quotation marks it's not really the person typing, it's one of the other two of us, pretending we are the person typing. The reason it's so easy to do this is because IG forgot his password to edit the blog! Ha ha ha!!
DMSC: Today we all wanted to have pho, but lazy ole APOO didn't want to walk all the way across Chinatown. Every day I drive past this place on the way to my parking structure, so I suggested this place, though I've never eaten here before.
APOO: LAZY! You suggested this place before I became lazy :)

DMSC: This restaurant is located next door to Da Kine Bail Bonds, better known as A&E Channel's Dog The Bounty Hunter's office. Notice the sign - I'm glad they are reminding me to keep off the ice. Though with the warm tropical weather here, I'm not too worried about icy sidewalks (yes, that was a joke).
APOO: What? You didn't post the picture of you standing outside with a gangsta sign? Shame on you!
DMSC: I thought we had a pact not to put pics of ourselves on the blog. Okay, I guess you're giving me permission to put yours and IG's pics up! Thanks!

DMSC: At any self respecting vietnamese restaurant, you will get your beansprouts and other assorted weeds :) a full minute before your soup comes out.
"APOO": When the beansprouts come out I can't help but eat them before my soup comes out. Oh yeah, and DMSC is the greatest human being on earth.
"IG": Yes, I agree, DMSC is the greatest human being on earth.
"DMSC": I told APOO and IG that every day I drive past this place on the way to my parking structure and saw that it was crowded. There were only three customers at the store, including us. APOO will kill me!

DMSC: Next you mix your hoisin with various hot sauces.
"IG": I don't like hot sauce.
"APOO": I am afraid of hot sauce.
APOO: I have good reason to be scared of hot sauce - it gives me heartburn and heartburn hurts!

DMSC: Finally our soup came out. The noodles were a tad mushy. The broth had a slightly sweet taste. The meat, just cooked due to the broth heat, was tender and flavorful.
"APOO": I got a piece of meat stuck between my teeth and I started digging it out with my fingernails!!!
APOO: Oh darn, you saw that? Sorry, it was disgusting but that stupid piece of meat was bothering me. The food was bad for me. The noodles were mushy and the meat tasted weird, almost grainy. The broth was good though.

DMSC: Everything was fake here, including the flowers and birds.....

DMSC: ..... as well as the picture "frame", which was really just an illusion and printed onto the same paper as the artwork. Boy, if they tried to pull a fast one over on us about the frame, can you imagine what they must have done to our soup......

"DMSC": "I wonder how hard it would be to pretend to be an engineer?"
APOO: "How hard is it for you?"
"IG": "Look who's the smart ass now! In your face DMSC for always making fun of me."
APOO: The above conversation came about when DMSC suggested all three of us to get a white coat, name tag, and pretend to be doctors so we could eat free food at Queen's Hospital. There was an event at the hospital on our way to lunch and IG went straight to the smoky parking lot, hoping to get some food. I asked one of the guards there and he said the event was for employees only.

Fort Street Cafe

1152 Fort Street Mall
Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 536-0455

DMSC: A late training class was the reason we all had lunch together today. We ran over to Fort Street Cafe, which is a little indoor/outdoor Vietnamese/Thai restaurant located a few doors down from HPU on Fort Street. We sat outside on the busy strip where college kids, business people and homeless people all peacefully coexist.
"APOO": Here is what I ate. It is garlic chicken and pad thai. DMSC rocks!
APOO: Hey, I am the real APOO and yes, DMSC does rock. For once, he is right about himself. Back to the food...I was craving for pad thai and garlic chicken, which was the reason why this dish rocks more than DMSC!

DMSC: I had a mixed plate consisting of garlic chicken, peanut chicken curry and brown rice. The garlic chicken is boneless skinless thighs deep fried, then dipped in a shoyu/sugar/garlic mixture. Unlike most local style garlic chicken, this one didn't have that thick syrupy coating. I actually prefer it this way. The peanut curry was good, mildly spicy but probably totally mild by Thai standards. There were bits of veggies inside and some nice basil. The brown rice is like a jasmine, and it's one of the better brown rices around.
APOO: The garlic chicken was ONO! I could eat this all day!...with the pad thai, eat all day! This garlic chicken reminded me of those at Sugoi, but less oily.

"IG": Here is my chicken curry. DMSC rocks!!
APOO: I tried some of IG's brown rice and it tasted super good! I hate hard brown rice, which happens when the brown rice hasn't been soaked before cooking.

"DMSC": BTW, I am a "santanist" and I can't stop talking about why I am "santanist" and then explaining why I am not a "santanist" but really an angry atheist, all in one long disconnected sentence. Oh, I can't stop talking about myself, blah blah blah, me me me.
THE REAL DMSC: Yes, APOO, sometimes the world revolves around someone OTHER than you.
APOO: We had an interesting conversation about religion and beliefs. The thing is, after all the talk, I still don't know what DMSC and IG believes in. Obviously DMSC is totally confused and IG never really expressed is true beliefs.
DMSC: IG can't even remember his password to update the blog, how do you expect him to share his beliefs?

Mini Garden

50 N Hotel St
Honolulu, HI

(808) 538-1273

DMSC: One of our favorite places to have good Chinese food is Mini Garden. The prices are reasonable and the food is good.

DMSC: Our first dish was chicken crispy noodles. This was okay. It didn't have that smokey wok taste though, which is what makes a good dish great.
APOO: I agree with DMSC on the dish being great, but even without the smokey wok taste. I absolutely love this dish, the juice and everything. I especially like the crispiness of the noodles.

DMSC: Next we had roast duck. This was really good!
"IG": I admire DMSC because he is such a great person and he is so smart!!
APOO: You see, DMSC had this crazy idea that I have lost interest in blogging on this blog. That is why he is writing stuff for IG and I. Well, I do kinda' think IG has lost interest but I haven't. I just had a crazy week with my kitchen drain not working. Do you know how inconvenient it gets when you don't have a functional kitchen drain? Instead of eating in, you have to eat out every day, even on days you are just too tired from work. In any case, I love this blog and I am not tired of blogging on our Friday lunches. Oh and I loved the roast duck.

DMSC: Finally we had Chinese okra. I have never had this before. It was steamed and topped with fried garlic. Now, how can you go wrong when something is topped with garlic? I mean, you could probably put garlic all over a mongoose and.... well, I still wouldn't eat it, but I'm sure it would make it better!! In any case, this dish was just okay.
APOO: At first, I didn't know what Chinese okra was until the waitress told me in Chinese. I really like this veggie - a little slimy but sweet. I think I would've enjoyed this dish a lot more without the garlic and just savor the natural and original taste of okra.

"APOO": DMSC is probably the funniest person I know, and he is so smart too. In fact, he is way smarter than I am. He is also a better cook. And a better photographer. And I bet he can make better cartoons than I can too.
"DMSC": Oh and I wanted to order 3 orders of gai lan but APOO and IG never disapproved of such crazy idea of ordering 3 of the same dish so I ended up not ordering any but getting Chinese okra, which I didn't even enjoy. Darn, I contradicted myself and I wasted my only chance of ordering gan lai x3 without APOO and IG making fun of me. Boo hoo :(
"IG": I love DMSC and APOO so much that I want to treat them to lunch every Friday!!

Lemongrass Cafe

83 N. King Street
Honolulu, HI 968??
Phone: (808) 851-7010

DMSC: A few weeks ago we walked by this place and Island Guy said we'd try it sometime.
APOO: We ended up walking in circles because none of us knew exactly where this place was. Good thing IG kinda remembered :) 
DMSC: Funky! This place was part office, part retail shop, part restaurant. When you first walk in, to your immediate right there are people sitting at desks working on computers! The restaurant portion takes up about half of the space - a counter with food, and seating. There is only one plate per day, and you get what they serve you!!
APOO: When we saw the menu, we were like, "Six bucks for everything on the buffet menu? What are we waiting for!" I sort of expected a bigger plate but we only got one serving of each buffet item. Still good still good. The chicken came with a separate peanut sauce and of course I opted out. Following DMSC's lead, I put chili fish sauce on my plate plus more...and more. IG did the same but not too much. After we took our first bite, DMSC and I were gasping for water. "Dang, the chili sauce is so hot!" we both said. I felt a major heart burn coming. IG was still his normal self because he wasn't stupid enough to ignore the chili part of chili fish sauce.
APOO: Everything tasted great. I especially loved the beef curry. I am guessing that DMSC and IG liked the satay chicken with peanut sauce because they ate it really fast. The cold vegetables were refreshing, especially with the chili fish sauce exploding in your mouth.
APOO: Since the plate was on the small size for big eaters like us, we decided to get the red tapioca dessert. We all thought it was small (AGAIN) and different. The sweetness was pure coconut sauce, unlike the Chinese style tapioca pudding that has sweetness from rock sugar. They also put ice in this red tapioca dessert which I thought was unnecessary because I would rather eat it chilled.
APOO: DMSC took a lot of random pictures of the place. One of the walls was all brick, giving the place an antique old-stylish look.  
APOO: Near the front of the shop was a display of ceramic, food, and other Hawaiian collectables for sale. Since they were all one of a kind, the price tag was super high.

APOO: I gave this restaurant a 4 because the place looked interesting and that the food was great. The red tapioca dessert was just a 3 for me.