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Kona Brewing Company, a closer look
 Kona Brewing Co. Koko Marina site! |
 Kona Brewing Company on Yelp! |
 Official fb page on Kona Brewing Co.! |
Aloha!
8/22/11 - It's so pretty out here on the pond. Kuapa Pond, or more commonly the Hawaii Kai Marina, is a big reason mom loves going to Zippy's so much in the morning - it shares much the same views as does Kona Brewing Company! Besides being right on the shores of the widest strip of water in the entire marina, there's also an impressive and stunning backdrop in the form of the Koolau mountain range:
It's hard to imagine what this place looked like before Henry J. Kaiser, a name all folks on the mean streets of Hawaii Kai are well acquainted with. Across the nation, the visionary magnate built roads, schools, hospitals, medical centers, aluminum companies, even National automobile companies and entire shipyards! In Hawaii, he is famous for beginning what is now the biggest resort in the State and one of the biggest in the world, Hilton Hawaiian Village, as well as Kaiser High School, Kaiser Permanente, Kaiser Foundation, and the entire Hawaii Kai area as a single, master-planned community! Quite the mover and shaker, he was.
The pond, traditionally known as Keahupua O Maunalua, was not only the largest fishpond in Hawaii, but in all of Polynesia! The vast combination of freshwater springs, mountain water, and ocean was all of 523 acres and consumed a huge chunk of low-land Hawaii Kai, from Mauna Lua Bay up into Hahaione and all the way down to the farms in Kamiloiki Valley. My late neighbor, who used to take us fishing for tohei and crabbing in the marina as kids, always enchanted us with tales of giant Samoan crabs raising their "bats" out of shallow waters, awa and mullet caught with impunity, and oysters and clams found as easily as gathering broken shells. Old caretakers of the pond even said it was connected to Kaelupulu Pond in Kailua (Enchanted Lakes) via an underground tunnel, as large groups of fish on one side would all disappear at once, only to appear suddenly on the other side!
If you ever have time, be sure to check out www.maunalua.net, an awesome website that kept me busy for the last three hours! It details the rich history of the area, and tells stories of pondkeepers like Tad Hara, Mahoe Napahi, Joe Young, and of course, Joe Lukela, perhaps the most famous of them all and who even has a street named after him. Like my late neighbor but going back even further, they spoke of menehunes helping to build the pond, opening and closing rushing gates at different tides, 3-4 lb. mullet, piles of giant Samoan crab caught within an easy hour, and fish flopping on the road after flooding. Seeing some of the pics and movies, I remember the simplicity of my own younger days, and it almost makes me wish I coulda lived back then! For sure, if there's something I could do all day, every day, it'd definitely be fishing, crabbing, surfing, and just playing in and near the water! And throwing our catch on the fire afterwards, of course! There were no microbreweries and designer beers back then, but I'm sure a can of Primo or Oly tasted just as good with a 1/2-pound crab claw on the grill, steamed mullet, fried aholehole, and the great outdoors!
Yeah, yeah. All talk. Give up the comforts of today and being spoiled with cold draft, great food, unbelievable views, and being served our every whim? Without breaking a sweat? Hmm.... Still, it's fun to romanticize, if anything...
Kona Brewing Company Koko Marina is a self-standing building that, judging by the crowds, is showing much more promise than the slew of folded restaurants here in the past, which includes familiar names like Pepper's, John Richards, Chuck's Steakhouse, and even Akasaka!
The place is large and attractive in a contemporary, yet casual way. There's old Hawaiiana pictures everywhere, along with genuine Koa and Ohia woods, copper fixtures, open ceilings, and even recycled brew kettles and mash tuns from its original brewery in Kona.
Here's the main dining area, both by night and by day:
And a smaller section:
Whatever you say about the food here, good or bad, there's one thing any sane person will never deny - the beer is excellent! No offense to the other great brewers in Hawaii, but without a doubt, Kona Brewing Company has been no ka oi since 1995. They now circulate over 4,000 kegs per year just in the islands, and have been sending their liquid gold all over the world through secured contracts with Anheuser-Busch (InBev), the mother of all beer partners! I remember when Kona Longboard and Fire Rock Pale Ale were the only offerings (there was also Pacific Ale, now called Big Wave Golden Ale, but I guess it didn't attract me enough to notice!), but now, they've got a whole slew of excellent choices. There's Bikini Blonde, Wailua Wheat, Castaway IPA, Pipeline Porter, Koko Brown Nut Ale, and even a bunch of choices periodically opening, some seasonally and some more experientially, that don't even appear on their website but are found at either Koko Marina or Kailua-Kona locations.
Perhaps I should, but I'm not gonna do a play-by-play on their beers, only a quick generalization. If you want light, stick with Bikini Blonde or Wailua Wheat. If you want dark, both Koko Brown and Pipeline Porter are great, the first coming with a distinct coconut taste and the second, of a smooth, roasty chocolate. If you want smooth with a small trace of hop, Kona Longboard is a great all-around, easy-drinking choice that still has taste and personality. And if you prefer lots of hop, my favorite Kona Fire Rock is simply unbeatable. And if you still can't decide, you can always order a sampler of four different small pours!
Here's the very roomy bar area, with plenty of table seating all around as well:
A really good Happy Hour, from Monday-Friday 3pm-6pm, offers 50 percent off a few appetizers, a few wine and spirits choices, and, best of all, $3 16oz tap! Right here in the bar, on Thursday-Sunday nights, there's live entertainment, including Ledward Ka'apana on Sunday's. Not sure who this is below, but they were pretty good:
And a no-brainer during Happy Hour is their roasted garlic, going for the very excellent price of $3.50:
In case you're wondering, there's a method involved in the partaking of this particular dish. First, pull off a slice of that fresh-baked focaccia bread, which is actually made with Kona Fire Rock beer. Then, grabbing a whole half-garlic bulb, squeeze the soft, paste-like meat, which comes out almost as easily as a tube of toothpaste, onto the bread. And finally, top it all of with a portion of creamy gorgonzola cheese. It's a simple process very much worth it, and for some reason, the serious body odor and toxic gas from this much garlic has never been as potent as I'd expected. At home, I notice that when I combine a lot of ginger with a lot of garlic, it also has the same effect of reducing later stinkiness in the body. Stinky or not, though, I'd pay the piper anytime for something this good! Here's a shot of the process and the final product as it should look on your plate:
From the menu, one of the very intriguing items we found difficult passing-up was an Ahi Aloha Tower, made with three different styles of ahi tartare. And you can bet I have a few things to say about this stack of fancified fish:
First of all, this guy is listed as market price, which meant $16 on this particular visit. A bit steep for something this size, by any definition. The presentation was nice, with pretty dots of chili sauce and a nicely-patterned covering of a sweet shoyu wasabi sauce. The tower itself? Well... First of all, I'm glad they called it tartare. That's because here in Hawaii, there are two kinds of chopped ahi that reign supreme - local-style, which is basically a poke, albeit usually with larger cubes instead of relatively small chops (though it can be small, as in an oio poke or mayo-covered spicy ahi poke), or Japanese-style, which is mostly associated with the term negi. Though negi means scallion or green onion, the dish usually (not always!) comes with a variety of raw, small-chopped fish like ahi, toro, or hamachi - thus the names negi-ahi, negi-toro, negi-hamachi.
Here at Kona Brewing Company, I couldn't associate their ahi stack with either local or Japanese styles, as it simply wasn't flavored deeply enough to compare. To be fair, this is basically an American-style place, thus the name tartare. But then again-again, the fine print below describes each as, from left to right, a sesame oil, a spicy tobiko, and a wasabi honey, all very local/Japanese-kine stuff!
I'm confuuused!!! But rather than thinking too deeply, I did what I do best - listen to my own taste-buds! And my taste-buds wished the same thing for each topped wonton chip - more taste, even while including the sauces patterned on the bottom of the plate! The wasabi-honey was an interesting take, though, and something I'd like to try again, so long as there was more genuine sesame oil, which I couldn't sense at all. The other two basically utilized the same ingredients as a spicy ahi, but basically needed more of one more thing - everything! More sesame oil, more chili sauce, more saltiness in general, and, most of all - more ahi! And the rice on the bottom? Oy vey. Definitely, this is an American-style place!
More enjoyable was the Aina Haina Ahi, also market price, but I forgot what that price was!
Dusted and blackened ever-so-slightly on the outside, the beautiful, grade-A ahi shone brightly in all its glory, while garnishes/sides amounted to a small mound of pickled green papaya and sprouts, pickled ginger, and a dip of shoyu/wasabi. The fish was as fresh as in any sushi restaurant and the dish as a whole, good as in any Hawaii Regional Cuisine restaurant. The papaya slaw brought a refreshing Southeast Asian touch, making it a tad more contemporary, fusion, and healthy:
On the pupu side, there's also an interesting set of names, such as Pele's Fire Wings, Hanauma Bay Hummus, Powai Pepperoni Rolls, and Big Wave Spinach and Shrimp Dip, to name a few. For the entire menu, not just pupu's, check out their on-line menu page.
By far, the largest class of food here, and the only one varied enough to merit its own full page, is pizza. 11-inch pies range from $11-$18 and 14-inch pies are $16-$26. You can even order any of the 20 different set-varieties, or any build-your-own pizza, and stuff their contents in a calzone for $3 more!
We ordered three different pizza's over a quick span, and here is the only one I didn't particularly care for:
My fault, actually. I think I took the name "Paniolo Pizza" and ran with it a little too far, the immediate impression in my mind being a hearty, Hawaiian-style creation. Most likely, I had one too many Kona Fire Rocks, as the ingredients were listed right there on the menu - house-made salsa, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, ground beef, bell peppers, tomatoes, fresh romaine lettuce, and crushed tortilla chips. Paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy), did ya say? There was absolutely nothing Hawaiian about this particular pie! One bite, and the clear and immediate presence was Mexican, all the way. Don't get me wrong - I love Mexican, but in this case, there was very little if anything redeeming outside the crust. The hamburger bits were over-cooked and really quite sad, while the entire combination of toppings was uneventful, at best.
A week or two before the Paniolo let-down, it was a completely different situation. I guess that's what happens when mixing pizza and pepperoni! Or are the two words synonymous?
Now this was an excellent pizza. Not only was there pepperoni, but also parmesan sausage, Canadian bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, and olives. The crust was medium bodied, not too thin and not too thick, and it stood-up perfectly to the generously provided, well-balanced mix of toppings. The slightly sweet, slightly tangy tomato sauce, the smoked and cured meats, the gooey mozzarella, and the fresh-baked bread all combined for a very tasty, very substantive pie. Yep, I'd definitely do it again.
Coming pretty close was a Pele's own:
Can't go wrong with shrimp and andouille sausage, right? Combine that with a Cajun tomato sauce, roasted red peppers, roasted red onions, and regular and smoked mozzarella, and there's a ticket to lasting success, for sure! Once again, it was a hearty and substantive pizza full of delicious flavors and perfectly-matching combinations.
Being an American-style brew-pub, there's lots of familiar items like fish and shrimp tacos, salads, wraps, fresh fish, ribs, lasagna, and sandwiches like a Cubano, club, and bbq chicken. Here's one of their more exotic choices, a Big Wave Shrimp Melt:
A creamy risotto lay at the bottom-center of the plate, while a few slices of garlic toast lay off to one side and the tender, succulent tails, each braised in Big Wave Golden Ale and garlic, stood neatly impaled around its inner rim. A rich, tasty broth packed with capers, onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms was a bit too strong to consume like a soup, but did provide a concentrated boost of delicious, almost bouillabaisse-like flavors.
While the food here at Kona Brewing Company is good, its location is prime, the atmosphere is great, Happy Hour is killer, and its island-brewed beer makes it a location-destination in itself! I have no doubt that they will remain a fixture here in Hawaii Kai for as long as I'm still kicking! Heck, even if the restaurant somehow ran into tough times, the brewery alone could easily pick-up the slack, right?
On a final note, did anyone check out the Matsuri Festival, at the Pacific Beach Hotel in Waikiki? The hotel is one of my favorite places to stay since it's so cheap yet still has a decent resort kind of feel, while the all-you-can-eat snow crab is reason alone to pay a visit! It's been quite the happening place with the festival being held these past few weeks, which was icing on the cake since we actually knew nothing about it previous to arriving at our weekend staycation. There's really good Japanese food, games for the kids, a little store, and live entertainment - some ukulele, hula, and Hawaiiana, yes, but mostly, it's a giant bon dance around the stage, complete with a band of taiko drummers that get your heart pumping and ready to bon-bon!
Who knows, maybe I'll post a page about it. We'll see. It'll be held for one more weekend, though, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so do check it out. We rented a couple of rooms and brought a bunch of kids, and we all had a blast! Good fun!
Hey, hope you're having a great and wonderful week! Been impressed with a really great Italian place as well as a good Filipino spot, and soon enough, you'll see what I've been seeing at both of 'em!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
Aku
Kona Brewing Company
7192 Kalanianaole Hwy. at the Koko Marina Shopping Center in Hawaii Kai
394-5662
11am-10pm daily
Parking in Shopping Center lot
