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Good to Grill, a closer look
Aloha!
5/3/09 - I guess now's a good time to check out Good to Grill on Kapahulu Ave., at the new Safeway Complex. It's owned by the same guys running the show at the subject of the last closer look, Wes Zane and Elmer Almar Arcano, two guys who've been super-busy recently, opening-up several new restaurants of surprisingly different genres. Pretty bold, is all I can say, as they've chosen not to open new franchise locations of the same name, nor expand a single chain, but to instead create a whole new theme with each new project! Formaggio's is an Italian wine bar/grill; Caliente del Sol, a Mexican eatery; Burgers on the Edge, well, you know; and Good to Grill, an interesting marriage between both a Mainland and local-style bbq restaurant!
Some like to differentiate between barbecuing and grilling, so just to set the record straight - these guys mostly use grilling, which is the kind of cooking we all do in our garages and backyards on the weekends, meaning direct heat and cooking times lasting mere minutes. Barbequing, on the other hand, is often compared to what we in the islands call smoking, which is a process that can take ten hours or more, with meats cooked from smoke and an indirect heat.
There are a few elements of a gool ol' American bbq joint, with Carolina pulled pork and genuine smoked ribs, as well as the use of real wood (kiawe) to cook their meats, but most items are done right over the fire for all to see, behind a glass panel. And it's a good thing, too, because kiawe is just about identical to mesquite, some calling them one and the same, which adds a sharp and bitter taste when left with meats too long. For grilling, however, they are perfect, the strong flavors from the wood penetrating the meats better than mellower woods more popular with bbq'rs (smokers), like oak, apple, maple, and even hickory. Not that kiawe can't be used for smoking, but they tend to go better with bolder meats and larger cuts. I sometimes like using mesquite to infuse salmon with a smoke flavor quickly, then finish it up on the grill.
Besides other meats like lamb, Wagyu hamburger steak, and pork chops, I was surprised to see the Chef throwing six or seven large hamachi kama's (the gill, or collar section of a yellowtail jack) - not something you'll see at a Mainland barbeque, that's for sure!
There's also quite a bit of local favorites on the menu, such as misoyaki chicken, teriyaki ribe eye, hibachi chicken (Asian spices and soy ginger orange glaze), kalbi, and even chicken adobo and kim chee! Sandwich choices can include prime rib, Cajun chicken sausage, and pulled pork; seafoods come from grilled salmon, garlic ahi, or prawns; and there's even a pizza menu with toppings like margherita, bbq chicken, grilled fajita, and chicken puttanesca! Quite the interesting mix, I'd say...
The inside is kinda like a fancy plate lunch house, where you order at the counter and wait for your meals to arrive - although there is a friendly greeter at the door who helps out a bit with those dining in-house.
We opted for take-out today, bringing home one plate each more mom, wifey, and myself. Mom's plate was perhaps the most impressive of all (yes, I am starting with the best first!), a combination prime rib and garlic prawn plate for $17.99. Not bad. It wasn't Ruth's Chris, but it was definitely rib-eye, and a decent-sized one, for the price. The three medium pieces of shrimp were also grilled and placed on-top. Though it's never really fair to judge a Chef's cooking time after their creations are placed in an enclosed styrofoam container and eaten a half-hour later and 10 miles away, I'd say they did a pretty good job not reducing the shrimp to ocean rubber, as well as still leaving a good deal of pink inside of mom's medium steak, which was reasonably flavorful and tender.
Wifey had the urge for some juicy, fatty, kalbi-style ribs, which, in keeping with the Korean origins of kalbi, also come with a small container of kim chee, which wasn't Palama Market, but still decently spicy and not just doused in a few red flakes and saltwater.
I don't know what the deal was with the kalbi, though - I've never had a piece like it before. And I don't mean that in a positive way. I mean, it carried such a gamey, horrific taste to it that I must say, I do not think this was actually the norm. It couldn't be! I mean, it was well-presented, well-cooked, and sauced right - everything was seemingly perfect, but there was this awful after-taste coming from the meat itself. Strange. Who knows what happened, but if you ask me, I'd say it was just a fluke and an off-day. It still looks so pretty, doesn't it?
Grilled meats and seafoods all come with two sides, which come from the choices of potato salad, fries, or white or brown rice. Other sides are offered, such as garlic bread, grilled corn on the cob, and grilled veggies, but you'll have to pay for those separately.
Wifey's two side choices were the potato salad, coming from a great mix of red rose potatoes, mayo, and chopped vegetables, and an attractive mix of mesclun greens.
And finally, my plate, a combination of smoked bbq pork ribs and hibachi chicken. The chicken was generously portioned and cooked well, but flavored very lightly, with the kiawe smoke actually coming as the dominant taste. For plate lunch afficionado's who are used to a strong shoyu/sugar marinade, this may not bode well for you, but for those who tire of the genre, this may be your ticket. The ribs came heavy and fragrant with herbs, as well as that smokey flavor, and like the chicken, was also a bit light on taste - fine as long as you slather the bbq sauce all over, which was more on the darker side and a little tangy, a little sweet, and a little smokey. The char-grilling was definitely over-done, though, the darkened, overly-synged rim of the meat reaching uncomfortable levels.
Not too sure what to think of this place. It has potential, as quality does come through on general presentation, execution, atmosphere, and just by virtue of having items like mesclun greens, a great potato salad, prime rib, Wagyu, hamachi kama, and lamb, but, at least for today, there were a few hiccups that needed some work, the two biggest being the awful taste of those kalbi ribs and the over-charring of the pork ribs right above. If they can smooth a few of these details a bit, I think they'll be fine. Their other operation, Burgers on the Edge, opened-up to a chorus of negative feedback all over the internet initially, but they've since corrected the kinks and are now gaining a lot of positive traction and increasingly greater reviews with each passing day.
The menu isn't large by any means, but it does offer a decent amount of variety and covers most proteins you normally crave - beef, pork, chicken, lamb, hamburger, sausage, fish, and shrimp. The over-all quality is definitely higher than a normal plate lunch, with reasonably-priced plates of more modest items starting at $7.49, but it also carries with it the option of the more expensive choices I've mentioned throughout this entry, the most expensive being my plate and the pulehu rib eye steak, at $17.99.
So check it out for yourselves, fellow meat-eaters, and lemme know what you think!
Take care and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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