Tex Drive In (Honoka'a, Hawaii)

We had heard so much about Tex Drive In and their outstanding Malasadas and decided that we just had to try them. We went here twice while staying in Waimea (once before exploring Waipio Road, then again on our way to Akaka Falls the next day), and enjoyed the food both times.

We tried strawberry, bavarian cream, apple and plain: We liked the plain ones the best followed by the bavarian cream. They were just alright. It reminded me of a fresh doughnut many other places, but it wasn't anything to write home about. In fact, I think this picture does it more justice than it probably deserves. It doesn't do anything for me when I see it, by any means. They were good, but not "turn the car around!" good.

The rest of the menu looked pretty good as well, and the second morning we ate there, we ordered a full breakfast (Two Farm Fresh Egg and Meat Plate - the hubby with Ham, and I with the Portuguese Sausage). It was very good and filling, but nothing out of the ordinary for the neighborhood Perkins or similar. My 14-month-old son was not at all fond of the Malasadas, but ate a ton of their Portuguese Sausage.

We also tried the Passion-Orange juice in hopes that it would quench our passion fruit cravings, but it was about as good as passion orange juice from SW Minnesota, just the same price as a half gallon of it would be at home (per cup).

All in all, the place was good, the food was good, but it wasn't unbelievably out of this world or anything. We'd certainly go again given the option, but I haven't been craving it since.

They were doing some construction on the front of the building while we were there, so we had to drive around the back, but it still was very pleasant, and it was nice to enjoy the morning with breakfast on the patio (or inside at the booths if the patio isn't your cup of tea). It's like a fast food place as far as ordering (order, they give you a number, you go get your food from the counter when they call your number), and both times we went, we fortunately arrived just before these huge tour buses came by. It is a huge tourist spot for sure.

If you want to check out their menu or website, here it is!

Hana Hou (Naalehu, Hawaii)

While we were staying at Sea Mountain in Punalu'u, we found ourselves horribly ill-prepared on the food front. Even though we had heard numerous times to stock up on food because there was little to be found in the area, for some reason I thought there was a gas station close by that had a grocery store in it. BIG mistake. Colossal mistake. The grocery store I had in mind (which we had stopped at when we were on The Big Island in 2010) was actually about an hour from Sea Mountain, so we had to improvise.

Thankfully, Hana Hou was there, and they weren't too outrageously priced, because OH MY GOODNESS was the grocery store just ridiculous. I'm talking $8 for a SINGLE red pepper, and $3 for a box of of spaghetti noodles. Ridiculous.

But the exterior was inviting, and the sign touted that this was the "southernmost restaurant in the USA" (not to mention that a salad with supplies from the grocery store would have cost us approximately $20...), so we thought we'd give it a try.

To be honest, we walked in and weren't really expecting much, considering the place looks like an average little diner. We weren't really too impressed with that part of it, but I think part of the issue was that we had a cranky toddler to entertain for a bit too.

But not only was Hana Hou priced reasonably, the food was really delicious! Mark went with the meat loaf with coleslaw and mashed potatoes (which he said was really yummy), while I settled on a Kalua pork sandwich with coleslaw (also really tasty).

We really couldn't leave the place without trying one of their incredible pies, though. We settled on coconut cream, and we were VERY pleased with it (including Cashel - he was impressed!)

If we are ever in the area again, we would definitely be back, but we would also try to plan a little better and pick up supplies either in Kona or in Hilo before heading so far into the middle of nowhere. And we would definitely be picking up multiple pieces of pie to enjoy while lounging on our patio at Sea Mountain :)