mmm-yoso!!!

Point Loma Seafoods (again)

mmm-yoso!!! continues to write about food.  Today, Cathy has a brief post about a fairly regular stop.

I've written plenty of posts about Point Loma Seafoods, the most recent in 2019.  This restaurant is an automatic stop when picking up from the airport, and there was plenty of that happening during Covid. 

 In any case, consistency of the quality and flavors is the biggest reason we stop here.  We just know what we order will be the same as always.

 Of course, the prices have increased.  Credit cards are now accepted and you pay when you order, not when picking up the order. 

 A bowl of White Clam Chowder ($6) is always our choice.  Filled with diced potato, celery and plenty of fat, fresh clams, the creamy clam broth is perfect without additions...but those oyster crackers added in about halfway just make the chowder 'fancier'.
 Smoked Fish Cocktail ($8.95) instead of buying random smoked fish by the pound (which we usually do) was a good choice.  There were three types of fish-meaty, firm tuna, a smokey yet sweet halibut and delicately smoke flavored swordfish.  Each tasted great on its own but the house made, light horseradish flavored cocktail sauce, each bite had an additional flavor hint.  Smoked fish as well as smoked meat is proper; smoked cheese is wrong.

 Fish and Chips ($19).  The classic.  Three very large, thick pieces of flaky Alaskan cod coated in a light, crunchy, non-oily batter with plenty of thin, crisp fries and a delightful cabbage-carrot-bell pepper slaw which is lightly dressed in mayonnaise.  The house made tartar sauce is unique and great with the fish as well as the crispy fries.  The serving portion was plenty to share.

Soo was here in June and has more photos.

Point Loma Seafoods 2805 Emerson Street San Diego 92106 (619) 223-1109 Open Daily 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Hot food served beginning at 10 a.m. Website

The Market at HFS has Moved and is Now Hawaiian Fresh Seafood (HFS) At Centerpark Labs

A couple of weeks back, I decided to head on to the Market at HFS. For some reason I went to their website and noticed the name of the place had changed to HFS at Centerpark Labs? I took a look and noticed that the address had changed as well! Strange because I had been to the Weathers Place location just a couple of weeks before! Anyway, I headed on over to make the 10am opening time. The "new" location was one traffic light further east on Mira Mesa Boulevard at Flanders Drive. Driving in, I found the new location with minimal problems because they were setting up as I drove into the parking lot.

I parked and walked on over. There a large outdoor eating area at this location.

And I saw a familiar face setting things up. It was Hope the manager who is from Aiea.

After setting up, it was still before opening time and Hope saw me, waved and came on over to chat! It was great seeing her. Hope told me they had just completely moved things over a couple of weeks before and things were now busier than ever with an expanded menu and hours. The Weathers Place shop still did wholesale and Hope was in charge of both places! Yikes! She was working long hours, but was trying to find some manager candidates.

Meanwhile there was line forming, but I didn't care since I was enjoying my chat with Hope. She even guided me into the shop and had the young lady running the register hand me a menu. Hope told me that they had really expanded the menu with cooked items, I'd already tried the fried ahi belly, but she recommended the Ahi Kama, the collar, which I'll make sure to try on one of my future visits.

Meanwhile, I gave "JeffP" my copy of the menu since he's a fan of HFS and didn't know they had moved, so here's a copy from their site.

These days, you can gaze at the seafood offerings like before.....

But you order at the register, where they also have the available poke as well.

On my two visits, I just went with my typical poke bowl, I always get the rice separate from the fish and I usually avoid the salmon items.

And the portions seem a bit bigger, but the poke is as good as always.

And it makes me miss "home". 

If you have trouble finding the shop, look for the big "6835" on top of the building, or the outdoor eating set-up, and there are signs strategically placed.

And yes, you can get poke for dinner since they're open until 8pm these days. Though I'm not sure what the selection will be like then.

Maybe "FOY" Jason who mentioned stopping by this location as well might know?

HFS at Centerpark Labs
6835 Flanders Dr.
San Diego, CA 92121
Current Hours:
Daily 10am - 8pm

Catching up with the "Fishmonger" at TunaVille Market and Grocery

The one and only Tommy Gomes along with Mitch Conniff of Mitch’s Seafood opened up TunaVille Market and Groceries over a year ago! I have known Tommy for over a decade now and have some great memories of when he was at Catalina Offshore. I basically stopped going to Catalina after he left in 2019. And then of course Covid hit. And then Tommy Gomes got his own television show; the Fishmonger. Look him up now and he's listed as a "Television personality".....well, at least they got the personality part right!

Anyway, a couple of months back Candice asked me if I'd like to meet her at TunaVille and I jumped at the chance! It would be great to see Tommy and interesting to see if time and "fame" had change him at all. Well, it hadn't, to me he's still the same old Tommy. I had a great time and have returned to TunaVille several more times, even when Tommy's out being a "personality"!

I'm just going to breeze thru this post since I'd like you to just drop by the place for yourself.

The shop is located on Driscoll's Wharf in Point Loma. Though getting there the first time using Google Maps was weird as I put in the address and it tried to take me into the gated Government facility there!

My best advice; if you have problems when on North Harbor Drive, just look for the vintage Driscoll's Wharf sign.

Park in the lot, you can get 1 hour of free parking from the machine in the lot. I park in Lot 'F'.

From there you head toward the water and Regatta Walk.

I like walking along the waterfront....a real "working" wharf. On Saturdays boats are selling their tuna along the wharf.

Unlike the owner, TunaVille is fairly discrete. Sometimes there's a sign outside, otherwise just look for this storefront.

On one of the days I visited, Tommy saw me coming and opened the door for me, waving me in:

Tommy: "See a television star is opening a door for you....."

Me: "Wait, I thought PeeWee Herman was dead......"

You get the picture! It's still Tommy!

The shop is spacious, clean, and wonderful.....

With lovely fresh seafood....I've gotten the wild shrimp from here a couple of times. And as always, Tommy is devoted to the local fishing community.

And prepared items as well.

But visit a couple of times and you'll see that there's a special place where Tommy likes to hold court.

It's at the table right across the dry aging cabinet.

Where Tommy will entice and ply you with wonderful samples of dry aged seafood.

And ever the showman, Tommy will extol you with the virtues of what you are tasting.

You can tell Tommye is in his element here. 

And Tommy is really a proponent of what he call "seacuterie", basically charcuterie of the sea.

And strangely enough, the Missus has been into this stuff over the last couple of months too. Here's my last haul from TunaVille. BTW, the Missus loved those percebes that Tommy recommended. It brought back fun memories of Portugal.

And while perhaps his celebrity and success has changed him a bit over the years, he's still Tommy. Recently, I dropped by to get some Salt Farm Ghost Pepper Salt, but they were out. When I asked Tommy about when he was getting more in; he asked me to hang on a minute....and proceeded to call the company and order some for me! His heart is as big as his personality.

So, I'm now a regular customer, whether it's seafood, some stuff for the Missus's "seacuterie" dinner, or just to say hello (which can last up to an hour!).

It was good to see that Mister Grumpy Tommy was doing well!

TunaVille Market and Grocery
4904 N Harbor Drive Suite 102
San Diego, CA 92106
Current Hours:
Wed - Sun 10am - 5pm
Closed on Monday and Tuesday

Mabel's Gone Fishing - A Quick Look

The Missus had been wanting to check out Mabel's Gone Fishing for a while and after learning the restaurant had earned Michelin Bib Gourmand status, well we just had to visit. Of course, first one had to get a table and because of the accolades getting a reservation was a bit difficult, but eventually, we managed to snag some reservations for an al fresco table on bustling 30th street. While the tables were tiny, we enjoyed watching how excited pooches were going to Dexter's Deli, the "Health Food" pet store across the street.

The seafood focused menu is heavily Iberian-influenced, which really excited us as we've always enjoyed the food and ingredients of the Iberian Peninsula/Coast. It was nice to see Jamon Iberico Bellota, but at $42 a plate....and well, the very nice Server didn't understand when I asked if it was "Pata Negra", the really good stuff I always get when visiting Spain, so we decided to pass.

The menu is designed for sharing which we love, and we got 3 small plates and 2 larger sharing plates. I started with the "G and T of the Month".

Which was clean and refreshing if a bit weak in the Gin department.

The staff was very friendly, even though the place filled quickly.

The first dish up was the Stuffed Piquillos ($16). 

In spite of having bacalao, this dish was quite bland. The peppers lacked the smoky-slightly bitter sweetness with a light touch of "heat" that I'm used to with piquillos. As mentioned earlier, the bacalao with breadcrumbs was really bland. I mean, we had four meals with bacalhau in Lisbon and I would never ever call anything I had there "bland" or in need of salt like these were.

Next up was the Mussels Escabeche ($14).

   First off, the grilled sourdough was fantastic, texturally and in taste. As for the mussels, well the shellfish was tender enough, but the "escabeche" was really weak. I'm used to a good acidic, flavorful escabeche, the addition of paprika for smokiness, more points for garlicky-oniony tones, all of which seemed to be missing here. To be honest, any number of tinned mussels from Tunaville (post upcoming) would be more enjoyable to us then this. But heck, that sourdough was good on its own. On a positive note, this brought back wonderful memories of our lunch at Michelin starred Bell's in Los Alamos, so I went ahead and made reservations. We got yet another road trip coming up!

I was curious about the Smoked Potatoes ($18), since I make versions of smoked potatoes at home.

This was not very pleasing. The potatoes were slightly smoky, really hard in texture, and not seasoned enough. Not sure about the katsuobushi since instead of adding a nice savory component, it brought fishiness to the dish. I think having more smokiness, cooking to where the interior is creamy and the exterior of the potatoes crisp, and seasoning well would do the trick.

At this point in time there was a rather long pause for our mains. I decided to order an Old Fashioned which was quite good.

It was about a 30-minute wait for our larger plates.

The Clam Toast ($26) was up next. And like the mussels the toast was the star of this plate as well.

The clams were decently cooked, though there was a bit of grit. The basil and tomatoes added brightness to the dish, but there wasn't enough of it.  We actually tore up the basil so the flavors could be more spread out in the dish. We enjoyed the red pepper, but the dish could have used more in terms of salt and pepper.

Last up was the Grilled Prawns ($28).

This dish could really have been a winnah; the prawns were a tad overcooked, but the flesh was still sweet, and those heads were perfect for imbibing (aka sucking). Below the prawns was crispy (hard) rice but not enough juice, sauce, or anything to really add flavor to the rice.

In the end, we loved the sourdough. In fact, the Missus is wanting me to visit Secret Sister to get some for Her. It's tough when my two favorite things about a meal is the bread and the Old Fashioned.

The service was very nice, the pacing a bit off, and the food...well, if this visit were in those days of yore, when I would always do multiple visits before doing a post (which I still require for myself for more inexpensive places) these photos would have never seen the "light of day". But things have changed over the last couple of years. As it is, I don't see us returning to Mabel's.

Sad because the Missus was really looking forward to our meal here.

For a different view of Mabel's you can read Soo's post here.

Mabel's Gone Fishing
3770 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92104
Hours:
Tues - Fri 4pm - 10pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm, 4pm - 10pm
Sunday 10am - 2pm

Toulouse - Marche Victor Hugo (Again), Lunch at Restaurant Attila, Criollo Chocolatier, a Walk Along Canal de Brienne, and Other Stuffs

We started our last day in Toulouse by taking a short walk in the area.

We had really enjoyed Toulouse, there's a down to earth, relaxed vibe to the place. We spent the morning wandering about.

Nearing 11, we walked on over to the huge March Victor Hugo, which I covered in an earlier post.

We ended up getting some stuffs for a nice self catering dinner for our last evening in the city.

We then headed upstairs where the restaurants are located. Man, the passageway is pretty cramped.

We settled on a seafood place named Restaurant Attila. I really wanted to have some Coques (Cockles) and Langoustines.

Of course there's a plat du jour and other lunch specials as well.

We were guided to our table where we placed our order. The seafood in the marche looked wonderful, so we were quite excited about this meal.

First up was the Salade de Coques Persillade (10€ - $11/US).

The cockles were prepped well, no gritty bits. I was surprised at how tender these were, with a nice hint of savory-sweetness. Strangely, I expected more of a briny flavor, but these had a nice butteriness to them. The greens and such was fine, but those cockles were definitely the star.

The Langoustine with Aioli (13€) was a disappointment.

The langoustine were over cooked and really dry and even though it was supposedly cooked with a court bullion the flavor was lacking. 

Last up were the Huitres ( 9 for 15€ - $16.50/US). These were from Marennes, an area famous for their oysters. These really delivered.

Pleasantly briny with a wonderful clean finish! Definitely a winnah!

Restaurant Attila (in Marche Victor Hugo)
5 Place Victor Hugo
31000 Toulouse, France

After lunch, we headed downstairs.

  And just wandered around. I ended up buying more Tarbais beans in the shop/deli above....yep, 35€ a kilo and I bought another half kilo.

After which we headed back to the chocolate shop that the Missus had enjoyed earlier named Criollo Chocolatier.

Man, the place was humming!

The pieces here are sold by weight and the Missus bought a good sized box of it.

Of there's any reason for us to return to Toulouse, it's so the Missus can restock on chocolate from here.

Criollo Chocolatier Toulouse Victor Hugo
23 Place Victor Hugo
31000 Toulouse, France

We then headed back to the hotel and started doing some packing. 

After which, we decided to go on another walk. I picked out the Canal de Brienne area. The canal which connects to the Garonne is a short 1.6 kilometers in length, but tree lined and quite peaceful. You totally forget you're in the middle of a large city.

Apparently, that building above was an old tobacco factory, which now houses a building the university.

It was a lovely walk and fun to see a different part of Toulouse.

We walked back to our room and just relaxed and then had dinner. Later that evening, we heard singing and chanting. Looking out the window we noticed a endless line of folks, waving the Moroccan flag. Apparently, Morocco had just beaten Belgium in a World Cup match. We decided to head on down to the square. It was a fun parade, one of joy and celebration, peaceful without any antics....a refreshing scene to be sure!

A couple of groups had even set-up around the perimeter of the Christmas Market and were singing and dancing.

We decided to head into the Christmas Market.

To get some Vin Chaud of course! 

Egad! I've posted on Vin Chaud before, we have a kind hate-love-hate relationship with this warm mulled wine drink. We really don't care for the taste....but we love that it really puts you in the holiday spirit.

And perhaps we're developing a (bad) taste for this????

Warm mulled wine in our bellies, we slept soundly, got up early and finished packing. We then took the metro to Toulouse Matabiau. We were a bit early and crossed the street for some coffee.

Before catching our train to our final stop on this month long journey.

We had enjoyed our time in "La Vie en Rose", the Pink City - Toulouse. But next we were spending most of two weeks in....well you know where, right?

Thanks for stopping by!

Crudo Cevicheria & Oyster Bar Revisited

Yes, it's more mariscos. Even though we just got back from Mexico, the Missus was craving....well, Mariscos. We thought we'd just do the trolley thing and get in a nice walk. Of course El Cata would be pretty easy; but we both thought we needed to give the place some time to straighten out the grand opening kinks. The newly opened Fisher's came to mind, but in the end, the Missus was craving aguachile and I thought the version I'd had at Crudo last year was quite good. Plus, it was a lovely day, so we headed over to Little Italy on the trolley for an early dinner.

I was surprised at how busy Crudo was at 345 in the afternoon. What was quite amusing was that we were seated at the same table as on all my previous visits. It was nice to do people (and pooch) watching.....

  The Missus ordered a Savignon Blanc which She enjoyed and I got a Michelada, a nice taste of sunshine on a lovely day. Speaking of sunshine, we were really savoring it. Before we had left for our trip, the the U-T stated that San Diego hadn't had a completely sunny day since February 15th! So much for all the folks who call our city "Sun Diego"!

But on this day, it was indeed nice and sunny. I also noticed that while some of the prices had indeed gone up; it was basically a dollar in most cases.

We placed our order, then sat back and relaxed.

First up, the Ceviche Pescado ($17), which had gone up a dollar since September of last year. In these days of rapidly increasing prices (like GyroGrill), this didn't seem to bad at all.

This wasn't quite as good as I recalled. It was on the dry side, the fish was tough and rubbery, and this was very salty. Not a great start to our meal.

I hoped that one of my favorite dishes from my previous visits, the Aguachile Verde (still $19) would right the ship. Which it did.

While spicier than I recalled, the good dose of acidity in the dish as refreshing and woke me right up. It also worked well on the very tender shrimp, which the Missus said was "perfect". Creamy avocado, mildly sweet onions, and refreshing cucumbers completed things.

The Missus's favorite dish of the meal was the Aguachile Negro ($19). While milder in terms of spice and acidity, the sweetness of the shrimp came thru nicely.

Nice savory, mildly garlicky-smoky tones highlighted the dish. This was very nice and the Missus mentioned that we'll be returning for this again soon.

Like I mentioned earlier, the place was quite busy and our wonderful Server did a good job of holding down the fort. 

Crudo Cevicheria & Oyster Bar
1608 India St.
San Diego, CA 92101
Current Hours:
Sundays        11am - 10pm
Mon -Thurs 1130am - 10pm
Fri - Sat        11am - Midnight

After our meal we took a nice stroll thru Little Italy. While I'm in the area just about every week when we're home, most of the businesses are closed when I visit. The Missus hasn't been in the area in ages. I took Her along Fir Street to the little shops along the area and we did some shopping for upcoming birthdays and such. And I also got my "steps" in as well since we caught the trolley and had to do some walking. It felt like a nice "staycation" evening!

Mariscos El Cata (Old Town)

**** Mariscos el Cata is now Cocinas del Monte.

Back in February, I noticed that Mariscos El Cata was opening on Congress Street in Old Town. Then, at the end of May, while driving thru Old Town after a visit to Old Town Tequila, we noticed that El Cata seemed to be open. Since the parking lot at the corner of Twiggs and Congress was empty, we parked and walked on over. And yes, El Cata was open. At that time we were told that they were open from 11am until 7pm daily. So, we decided to head on over a few days later.

The place was empty except for two folks dining in the vast patio area. 

We didn't quite know what the drill was and I walked in and flagged down the very friendly gentleman working. We got a nice table overlooking Congress Street and were handed menus which were quite vast in the offerings. Also of note was that there were two prices indicated, for cash versus credit card.

We placed our order and some nice chips, with a tangy salsa verde were provided.

We were also asked if we'd be needed "salsas" and for the heat level....of course the Missus said picante. And a couple of bottles of El Cata branded hot sauce were provided.

I really liked the heat of the Chiltepin Rojo.

We placed our order and after a short wait, our dishes started to arrive.

First up was the taco de pescado. Sadly, as you can tell, the fish had been over-fried and was almost black in color. It was also quite dry, probably from being overcooked.

Next up, the Taco de Camaron. In this case the shrimp was perfectly cooked, plump, mildly sweet, and well seasoned.

The sauce wasn't too rich and had a hint of sweetness to it. The tortillas, which were really mild in maize tones, wasn't up to the task here and fell to pieces quite quickly. 

We also ordered the Ceviche de Camaron.

I swear I tasted some soy sauce in this ceviche negro; but I must be imagining things. I liked this refreshing dish. The shrimp had been chopped and for me, it made a nice bite when including the onions, cucumber on a tostada. The Missus thought the dish was short on shrimp and had too much "other stuff" for Her taste.

Right when this dish arrived, the nice gentleman came over and apologized....they had forgotten the other two tacos we ordered. This was soon rectified.

Next to arrive was the Gobernador.

This was pretty mild in flavor overall and it really lacked the layer of flavors that bell peppers add which add crunch with a nice chlorophyllic touch and onions which add a nice sweet pungency provide. Again, the tortillas just gave in and didn't make thru two bites. We also thought this was a bit over-sauced.

Finally, the Taco de Marlyn arrived.

The marlin was much milder than we're used to and this was also over sauced for our taste. Still it wasn't bad, but again, those tortillas didn't make it thru the first bite.

The place seemed to be going thru some opening issues, which is to be expected, though I would think having two other restaurants in Tijuana, the formula for the dishes would be the least of the place's problems. The guy serving us was nice and "El Cata" himself was on hand and came by to say hello.

And so, we were going to give the place a short pause before returning. But then, I saw this episode of Crossing South and we thought, well, why not give them another shot before leaving for our trip to Mexico.

The place was again quite empty, obviously still in soft opening mode. This time a very friendly and cheerful young lady waited on us. We placed our order and soon enough 2 Tacos de Pescado arrived.

The strange thing being, after our previous experience with the fish tacos here, we didn't order any tacos de pescado! We were the only customers in the place, so I don't think this was anyone else's order. In the end, instead of making a big deal out of it, we just had the tacos. Two key points regarding this was that this time the fish wasn't over fried and was moist, if a bit on the fishy side in flavor and El Cata was now using double tortillas which ensured that our tacos wouldn't be falling apart.  the batter was also crisp and light. That's a step in the right direction for us.

In terms of our order; it seems that these two tacos replaced the Camaron a la Diabla and the Pulpo a la Diabla we ordered. On the positive side of things; we were only charged for tacos de pescado, not the more expensive tacos we ordered.

We did get the Taco de Todos Los Mariscos, the most expensive taco at $6.50 (cash price).

Again, double tortillas were used. The shrimp were plump and perfectly cooked and the pulpo was so tender. Loved the addition of red and green bell peppers and onions. Oh man, did I wish we had our pulpo taco! The avocado added a nice slightly sweet creaminess to the taco as well.

The Missus wanted to try the Aguachile. So, I ordered the Aguachile de Camaron with Salsa Verde.

 This was a nice portion of plump shrimp. Though that salsa verde was very mild and really lacked acidity. And because of that; the shrimp never "cooked/cured" in the sauce. It was basically raw shrimp the whole way thru. The tostadas provided were tasty and up to the task, but that sauce was really weak.

We did enjoy the friendly folks working here. I like the quality of the shrimp and the pulpo in the taco was delish, so hopefully the next time I'll actually get pulpo when I order it. It'll be nice to return in a few months to see how things are progressing.

Mariscos El Cata
2543 Congress St.
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Mon - Fri 11am - 7pm
Sat - Sun 11am - 8pm

Big Island - The Volcano Thursday Market, Revisiting Halemaʻumaʻu, and Dinner at Kilauea Lodge Restaurant (Again)

After lunch at Suisan we headed back to the Kilauea Lodge and took a short break. I also made late dinner reservations at the restaurant, this would allow us to spend more time revisiting Kilauea Caldera. We decided to head back out before sunset so we could easily find parking and relax and watch the "show". Before heading back there, I had one more stop in mind. It was Thursday and Volcano Village has a local food and crafts market at the Cooper Center. So, we headed there first.

It's a quaint little market and it seems that a lot of the folks there were locals as folks were having fun socializing.

Food and craft booths were set-up thru the community center.

It was a nice little stop.

Volcano Thursday Market (At Cooper Center)
19-4030 Wright Rd.
Volcano, HI 96785

We then headed back to the Kilauea Overlook and easily found parking adjacent to the lookout. There were folks just arriving to check out the "show".

Folks even brought beach chairs! We chatted with a few folks and they were all locals; some driving all the way from Kona!

Several folks brought offerings for Madame Pele.

We just stood and watched Halemaʻumaʻu doing its thing.

As the sun slowly set the bright red colors became the star of the show.

You could even make out the spatter cone!

We just loved this! We stood our eyes fixated on the crater, just as amazed as we were the night before. Heck, if we stayed another night, we would have returned again!

As it was, we felt blessed to have been able to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience twice!

More folks started arriving and the parking lots were closed. It was time to head back for dinner.

We just wanted to take things easy on this evening and had made dinner reservations at Kilauea Lodge Restaurant again.

The staff here are wonderful, so warm and friendly.

This time we started with the Coconut Brie which came with the bread made inhouse.

 The coconut crust was a bit too sweet for us. There were also spots where the coconut was burnt, adding a rather unpleasant bitterness to the dish.

We enjoyed the bread.

The Missus had the same main as previous night, Crispy Tofu.

Again, we thought the star of the dish was the cauliflower and mushrooms.

This time around, I kind of went against my better judgement and got the Seafood Risotto.

The risotto was the standard par cooked version and some of the arborio rice was under cooked and hard in the center, it was also on the salty side. The Kaua'i Shrimp was outstanding, sweet and briny, cooked perfectly. The mussels were overcooked and dry; but the clams were nice and tender.

Overall, based on our dinner the previous night, we got what we expected. Of dishes, made better by the fantastic staff.

Kilauea Lodge Restaurant
19-3948 Old Volcano Road
Volcano Village, HI 96785

And most of all, we got to witness the glory of Madame Pele and nature!

Big Island - Koana and Mountain View Bakery (Mountain View), Chain of Craters Road, and Suisan (Hilo)

We had a wonderful first day and evening on the Big Island. Man, it's hard to believe that it had been a decade since we last visited.

And since we were staying in Volcano Village, we wanted to resurrect an old tradition we had. But first, the Missus wanted a nice cup o' joe. I had done a bit of research and found a place in Mountain View, about a 15 minute drive from Volcano Village that just seemed perfect for the "coffee snob" in the family. A place named Koana.

This specialty coffee shop only did pour over....like I said, this place would be perfect for the Missus, right?

The bright, rustic space was quite welcoming.

As was the owner; who kindly took time to explain everything they had for the day. 

In addition to the local coffees the place sold....

There were other local kine stuffs as well.

The Missus immediately homed in on the Paradise Coffee Kona Geisha Champagne Natural. The owner of Koana, Brian, told us that this coffee won the 2022 Hawaiian Coffee Association competition. Oh-kay.....

While we waited for our coffee we took a quick look around...the place has a real "old time" feel to it and reminds me of Honolua, way back in the 60's and 70's.

Meanwhile, I felt a bit peckish, so I walked on over to Mountain View Bakery. Man, the last time I was here was back in 90's, before I met the Missus.

This place is famous for their Stone Cookies and has been around since 1936! It's got a real old time, small town feel to it.

I got a taro mochi donut and a Spam Musubi. Breakfast of champions!

The mochi donut is made from glutinous rice and has a bit of a chew to it. It wasn't overly sweet. I liked it, but the Missus did not.

My musubi was perfect!

    The Missus loved Her coffee and wanted to buy a bag. So, we went in and took a look around and could not find the coffee. So we asked Brian who told us he had two bags left behind the counter. He sold us one. It was $95! The Missus just absolutely loved this coffee.

Thus is life in the mmm-yoso household. The Missus gets Her $95 Kona Geisha coffee and I get a......Spam Musubi! Sounds like a fair deal, right?

We also bought some other stuffs as well.

Koana
18-1325 Old Volcano Rd.
Mountain View, HI 96771

Mountain Vewi Bakery
18-1319 Old Volcano Rd.
Mountain View, HI 96771

From here we headed back into Volcanoes National Park and proceeded to do what has become sort a tradition for us; a drive down Chain of Craters Road.

It's something we've done on every visit to the Big Island since we got married years ago.

It all seems familiar, and yet, different on every visit.

It's a reminder of how amazing this "Blue Marble" we live on is. We make stops along the way. At familiar places, like the Hōlei Sea Arch.

And there's another tradition we have or at least had, which I mentioned in my post from all those years ago:

" We always drive to the end of Chain of Craters Road, park, it used to be that you'd park just a couple of yards from the flow, but now you walk about a half mile or so. I always take a photo of the Missus at the point where the lava is covering the road.

When we look back at the older photos, we've noticed that the flow has moved and even though things might seem the same when the picture is taken; looking at the photos all lined up reveals that nature never stays still. For us, this is a nice timeline of sorts....the Missus on the lava flow, moving, maybe at an imperceptible speed, but nevertheless, still slowly moving."

Well, with time comes change. What used to be this:

In 2012, is now this in 2023. Though it's chained off.

Of course soon enough the question of "what's for lunch" came up. Well, the Missus had Her heart set on Suisan, which has long been a favorite of Hers. We'd arrived in Hilo on a day when Suisan was closed. So off we went on an hours drive into Hilo!

    We were interested to see what effect the "time of Covid" had on Suisan and it was soon evident. Gone are the tables out front. You wait in line in front of the shop, there's a limit to the amount of folks they let into a shop at any one time.

Gone are the cold cases and the selection of poke is much smaller now.

We got a poke bowl with the Ahi Hawaiian and Shoyu Ahi ($15.50), a quarter pound Ahi Mango Habanero, and even went and tried the Scallop Lemon Shoyu and the Butter Garlic Prawns. We took our stuffs to the former location of the restaurant outside Suisan which is now closed and went for it.

 In terms of fish quality the ahi in the Ahi Limu and the Mango Habanero was excellent, tender and almost buttery. Some of the pieces in the Shoyu Ahi had "sugi" that made it chewy. I wish there was more limu in the Ahi Hawaiian, though the flavoring for all three poke was spot on, not too salty, but well prepped and seasoned. The Mango Habanero was a nice surprise, fruity spice, perfect salt, without being too sweet.

As for the "pupus", well, the Butter Garlic Prawns were really tough, not much garlic flavor.

The Lemon Shoyu Scallops were also really chewy and there was an amount of "grit" in it that we didn't enjoy.

Still, that poke did "hit the spot". We'd return one more time before leaving the Big Island; though we'd stay with just poke on that visit.

Suisan Company Limited
93 Lihiwai St
Hilo, HI 96720

Big Island - Kilauea Lodge and Restaurant (Volcano Village) and Halemaʻumaʻu Erupts!

After checking out Hilo for a bit we headed to our destination for the next two evenings, Volcano Village. Years ago, the Missus and I spent our honeymoon at Volcano House and we have always had a great affection for the Big Island. One of our traditions is visiting Volcanoes National Park whenever we're on the Big Island, though we both had a hard time believing it had been a decade since our last visit! 

I had been very excited about our visit because at the time I booked this trip, both Halemaʻumaʻu and Mauna Loa were erupting! Something that I had always wanted to see; especially at Halemaʻumaʻu Crater in Kilauea Caldera. Sadly, by the 9th of December, the eruption ended. I was kind of bummed. But to our amazement on January 5th Halemaʻumaʻu Crater started erupting again!

So, we headed right into Volcanoes National Park and stopped at the Visitors Center.

Our experiences with Rangers at National Parks have always been wonderful and this was no different. We were given info and told that the lava activity could be viewed from Kilauea Overlook. To my surprise we easily found parking and just a few yards away was the viewpoint. We enjoyed the view and stayed for a while.

We then headed off to check-in at our accommodations. I wasn't able to get reservations at Volcano House and decided we should stay in Volcano Village near the entrance to the national park. I picked Kilauea Lodge, which turned out to be a wonderful place to stay.

This was the former location of a YMCA Camp and the wonderfully comfortable rooms and amazing staff made staying here a pleasure.

The sound of the birds chirping, surrounded by rain forest.......so different from our "real world". 

The Missus and I wanted to head back to see the eruption at night, so we inquired about dinner reservations. The great staff got us dinner reservations early....the place seemed totally booked, so we could head off to watch the lava action. We then took a short walk around the hotel grounds and rested up for a bit, before walking over to the dining room, which was a large rustic space with the "Fireplace of Friendship" as the centerpiece.

The customers were a mix of Kama'ainas and Tourists. Though it seems the locals come for happy hour and leave early.

We were happy to note that the focus is on local produce and ingredients.

We started with some Crabcakes ($14).

The crabcakes were on the dry and bland side and the panko crust just wasn't crisp enough for us. The crab just lacked the delicate sweetness we look for.

For Her main, the Crispy Tofu ($28). While the tofu wasn't fried and crisp enough, the produce was amazing.

The cauliflower was buttery and sweet and the mushrooms were so meaty and earthy, they were the highlight of the plate.

I got the catch of the day ($35) which was Ahi.

Again, the highlight of the plate were the veggies; the cauliflower and even the potatoes were so tasty. Sadly, the ahi was cooked to death and dry. The lemon-butter sauce could have used a bit more seasoning and acidity as it was quite bland.

Still, the service was so warm and friendly, our water was kept filled....no wine on this evening as we'd be heading back into the park. The staff here is amazing as we saw several very entitled and demanding customers and yet he staff still handled things with grace and aloha. The service made this a nice meal.

Kilauea Lodge Restaurant
19-3948 Old Volcano Road
Volcano Village, HI 96785

After dinner, we headed back into the park. And man, was it busy. We were guided to a field close to Kilauea Military Camp and then took the Kau Desert Trail, much of which is paved to the overlook. And what greeted us was breathtaking.

Words cannot express the drama, beauty, and grandness of it all.

It's something that I've waited all my life to see and it exceeded my expectations. Madame Pele really delivered.

The Missus couldn't understand why I was so taken by this, after all "you grew up in Hawaii, doesn't everyone see this all the time?" I tried to explain to Her how blessed we were to see and experience this. There are folks I grew up with who have never seen anything like this, locals who lived their entire life without being witness the power, the drama we were seeing. We're given a view into how our islands, nay the world, was formed. This was something special. Once you see something like this you'll never forget it. I know I never will.....

Thanks for stopping by!