Sandwich/Deli
 |
Famous for their house-made soups and for actually being a Christian bookstore, at Covenant, there's also great deli items like this chicken pesto sandwich. |
Da Big Boy’z: Covenant for a home-made-tasting soup and sandwich combo; Contemporary Café and Pavilion Café for slightly upscale, modern sandwiches and other stylish dishes as well; Buffalo Boys Hoagies for hoagie's and some great Buffalo wings.
Recent Closings: Taste of New York, Brent's Deli.
Covenant Books & Coffee. A Closer Look. 1142 12th Ave. in Kaimuki. 732-4600. 7am-5pm daily, except closed on Sunday. Parking in lot behind store or on street. Prices: $. Map. This little jewel is actually owned by a church and originally meant to be a Christian bookstore. I guess business wasn’t the greatest, so they simply added sandwiches, salads, soups, smoothies, and sweet bakery treats. The new items were a hit, and word spread like wildfire. The healthy sandwiches are excellent and offer many varieties, but it is the soup that built this house of devotion. David Yoshimura is called “the Godfather of soup,” and whips up only one type of soup per day, but changes the varieties daily while listing them beforehand on a monthly schedule. Items like potato/roasted garlic, shrimp bisque, minestrone, Kahuku corn, Portuguese bean, and many, many more always seems to hit the spot!
| Soup, sandwich, salads, and more, along with lots of inspiration at Covenant Books and Coffee in Kaimuki. |
 |
CJ’s New York Style Deli. 2005 Kulia rd. at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki. 942-0027. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. Parking in hotel lot. Prices: $$. Map. Lox ‘n bagels, hoagie’s, rueben’s, and the rest of your New York culprits are all found here on a large, assorted menu of items. Besides your classic deli items, there is also an impressive breakfast menu, with gourmet omelets, pancakes, waffles, and breakfast meats with eggs done any style. While on the Hilton grounds, roam the surroundings and find the family of live flamingo’s, penguins, and ibis’ at the Hilton pond, and while you’re at it look into the water for beautiful, ornately-colored koi and the biggest grey carps you have ever seen! There are also several different lounges that offer nightly live music. I tell you, it’s always a party at the Hilton!
Island Sub & Burger. 2752 Woodlawn Dr. at the Manoa Marketplace in Manoa. 988-2685. Lunch and dinner daily, except lunch only on Sunday. Parking in center lot. Prices: $. Map. Formerly Bonacasa’s, which was famous for its pastrami, it has since been sold but continues with basically the same menu. There are great Cuban-style meatball sandwiches, as well as torpedo-shaped buns full of roast pork, turkey, ham, cheese, veggies, and much more, all portrayed in large, full-color pictures pasted onto the glass walls outside the store.
| Andy's in Manoa is a very popular hide-away for all kinds of healthy fare, including this all-vegetable manoa delight sandwich. |
 |
Andy’s. 2904 E. Manoa Rd. in Manoa. 988-6161. Breakfast and lunch daily except closed on Saturday. Parking in small lot behind store or on street. Prices: $. Map. Andy and Norma Rodrigues have been running this small shop since 1977, and have been very successful with their health-conscious menu of soups, salads, sandwiches, and fresh fruit smoothies. There is a great home-made whole wheat bread, soy meat substitute patties, a small fruit stand, and even vitamins and other health-conscious items for sale. Great home-style feel and taste. Can get surprisingly crowded during peak hours.
Pavilion Café. A Closer Look. 900 S. Beretania st. at the Honolulu Academy of Arts in Makiki. 532-8734. Lunch Tuesday-Saturday and every third Sunday of each month. Parking after MacDonald’s lot on left- side from Beretania St. (one way) before the Honolulu Academy of Arts building, or on street. Prices: $$. Map. There is a delightful menu of mostly sandwiches, soups, salads, and Mediterranean plates. Dishes are modern, healthy offerings like grilled eggplant with goat cheese and basil; Anaheim peppers with capers, anchovies, and garlic; loaded Fiadina flatbreads, and filet mignon sandwiches. The open-air dining room is classy and comfortable, with nice views and soothing sounds coming from a short but wide waterfall that almost covers the entire length of the cafe. There are admission charges to the museum itself, but no charges if you are going straight to the restaurant.
|
|
Pavilion Cafe at the Honolulu Academy of Arts is a delightful shop featuring modern, light fare like this piadina flatbread sandwich, filled with bby greens, tomatoes, celery, mozzarella cheese, prosciutto, and pesto. |
Panini Grill. Kahala Mall S.C. (map shown) and Ala Moana S.C. 732-7700. Lunch and dinner daily, except closed at 6pm on Sundays. Parking in center lots. Prices: $. Map. Panini grills are a couple of kiosks serving up a variety of herb-infused focaccia bread sandwiches, pressed and grilled in a special device, along with veggie and pasta salads. They also have a decent rotisserie chicken, held in a heated glass container for closer inspection. At the Kahala location, the Gourmet Express sits within eye-shot across from the kiosk and is owned by the same company, and has a number of low fat, high fiber healthy fare like Ahi wraps, ginger-miso chicken, and fresh salads.
Storto’s Deli. A Closer Look. 2 locations: 66-215 Kamehameha Hwy. in Haleiwa, 637-6633; and 3184 Waialae Ave. in Kaimuki, 739-2009. Lunch and dinner daily. Parking next to stores. Prices: $. Map. Long a favorite in the North Shore town of Haleiwa, Storto’s has brought its game to town, right next to Garlic House Ninnikuya in Kaimuki. With sandwich names like Rocky Point, Sunset, Pipeline, and Velzyland, its surf culture remains strong and alive, with slices of roast beef, pepperoni, pastrami, salami, ham, turkey, and more mixing well with a variety of veggies, dressings, and cheeses. Side dishes include potato salad, dill pickles, pepperoncini, chips, and even a chocolate mousse dessert. Simple stuff, but done well and at decent prices, with a soft, delicious bread that comes either white, whole wheat, or dark or light rye, but watch out for the darker bread varieties - they do not come in billy-club, sub-form, but in regular sandwich slices.
 |
Storto's has a simple, great-tasting sandwich with a pillow-soft, light-as-a-cloud bread. |
Matters of Taste. 560 N. Nimitz Hwy. at the Gentry Pacific Design Center near the airport. 538-0597. Lunch daily except closed on Sunday, continental-style breakfast available weekdays from 7:30am. Parking in center lot. Prices: $$. Map. This casual, contemporary shop has some unique sandwich creations like a rare roast beef, a beef gyros, and a Mexicano sandwich with turkey or roast beef, pepper jack cheese, cream cheese, and salsa. Besides sandwiches, the special entrees are also very popular, with items like boneless chicken with mushroom marsala on linguini, teri chicken meatball and veggie skewers, and grilled hebi with wasabi aioli. The free wi-fi and decent number of tables available are also very appealing. Before or after lunch peruse the Gentry Design Center for the latest in modern Hawaiian building designs.
The Contemporary Café. 2411 Makiki Heights Dr. at the Contemporary Museum in Makiki. 523-3362. Lunch daily except closed Monday. Parking in museum lot. Prices: $$. Map. This museum in Makiki Heights is dedicated only to contemporary art, and the small cafe within offers equally contemporary dishes and light meals of salads, dips, and sandwiches. Hummus, panini, focaccia, polenta, soba buckwheat noodles, chicken namasu salad, artichoke relish sandwiches, and other modern delights await.
| Buffalo Boys Hoagies fixes two East Coast specialties, Buffalo wings and hoagies, like you see here in this toasted chicken hoagie. |
 |
Buffalo Boys Hoagies. A Closer Look. 2671 S. King St. in McCully/Moiliili. 983-3870. Lunch and dinner daily, late-night till 12am Monday-Thursday, till 3am Thursday-Saturday. Parking on street. Prices: $$. Map. Let’s not get too deep into the definition of a hoagie, but here at Buffalo Boys Hoagies, it means an 8 or 12-inch white bread roll that is toasted and filled with steak, mushroom, chicken, white American cheese, and other such items – simple enough! Extra’s like lettuce, tomato, fried onions, bell peppers, and more can be added for an additional small charge. Other than that, they also have subs, chicken fingers, simple salads, sides of fries, onion rings, or chips, and that other famous aspect of this store, Buffalo wings. Here, they are about as good as it gets on the island, with plump, tender wings, a great hot sauce (although not very spicy at all, even the hottest choice), and a smooth, mellow bleu cheese that matches-up well. Order at the counter and dine-in, but for some reason, it gets pretty hot inside, so you may wanna consider take-out.
Kulia Grill. 651 Ilalo st. at the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kakaako. 692-0803. 7am-6pm Monday-Thursday, Friday 7am-2pm. Parking at school or surrounding area. Prices: $. Map. Kulia Grill is a sort of lab staffed by students from the respected culinary program at Kapiolani Community College. It is a clean, modern, very spacious cafeteria servicing the medical school it is housed in but also the public, as well. Dishes come very cheap (as low as $5 for an entire meal) and are done well, as these aspiring chefs are careful to provide simple, yet quality meals as stepping stones for their futures. There are rotating menus of fresh island fish, beef stroganoff, meatloaf, and broiled salmon, to name a few, along with daily bento’s, salads, fresh fruits, pizza, and a North Shore Cattle Company burger with home-made, thick-cut potato chips, both of which have been getting rave reviews.
Kono's. A Closer Look. 66-250 Kamehameha Hwy. in Haleiwa. 637-9211. 8am-3:30pm daily. Parking in center lot. Prices: $. Map. This North Shore sandwich shop features oven-baked sandwiches, mostly on a large, sub-shaped, French-type roll. They are stuffed with kalua pig, macadamia nut pesto chicken, turkey avocado, crab cakes, roast beef and cheese "Philly-style", tuna, and a few other selections. Besides that, they also have jumbo hotdogs, wraps, salads, smoothies, and an entire line of breakfast items. In fact, this is a sandwich shop, but I don't know if it should be considered a breakfast shop, with dishes like a banana macadamia nut waffle, smoked salmon bagels, biscuits w/gravy, and six different breakfast burritos. Maybe it's because there are no omelets and only two egg, rice, and breakfast meat plates - one with Porturguese sausage and the other with bacon.
Back to American Foods main page
Back to Aku Eats Home
