12th Avenue Grill

On a blustery winter day, the gang headed over to 12th Avenue Grill to try out the wildly popular Mac n cheese.  We met at 5:30 assuming we would be able to get a table since they only opened at 5:00pm, but no way!  The place was packed.  Lucky for us there were some seats at the bar.  Although I did not get to interact with the people on the end as much I would have liked, it was cool to watch the kitchen prep the food and send it out.  The entire menu at 12th Avenue Grill looks super ono.  We each ordered a side of mac n cheese and some ordered some additional treats.  It came out quickly and immediately we could see it was covered with a baked on breadcrumb layer.  Yum!  At first the waiter told me there were like 4 or 5 different cheeses in the sauce but later he came back to confirm that the sauce was just the one cheese, smoked pecorino bechamel sauce.  It was heavenly and coated each piece of the elbow macaroni sufficiently.  The noodles seemed a little too cooked for my taste but with the creaminess of the sauce, they melted in your mouth as one so it ended up working out in their favor.  The mac n cheese is $8 for a side and you can add ham for $3 and hanakua mushrooms for $2. 

Tom:  "I'm super hungry...the mac and cheese rating is probably going to be inflated.  Wow!  Super creamy.  Way better than USNA mac and cheese, which is the only other mac and cheese I have ever had."

Traci:  "First time in the new and improved 12th Avenue Grill location...it's a great space.  The place was packed for a Sunday night, so we sat at the bar - it was fun to watch all the food get prepped!  It all looked AMAZING!  I was way hungry so I ordered the duck corn dogs too, they were ono!  The mac & cheese comes out in a heaping bowl, topped with toasted bread crumbs and a perfect piece of pork on the ham one.  4-5 types of cheese in the sauce (one is smoked pecorino).  It is ooey, velvety goodness that more than adequately coats all the noodles.  I am glad it comes with a spoon so I can scoop the sauce up too!  There is enough breadcrumbs to add crunch to almost every bite.  While the bowl looks small, it is a filling portion."

Jess: "Small but filling and on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 7.  The toppings really added to it, but I do not think it is the best on the island."

Parker: "Not too rich.  Could use some spice, but that's just me.  Maybe some zatarans or something.  The portion is a good size."

Nick Nock:  "Really like the cheese.  NOT sufficiently sized for post-hike post-surf session hunger.  The crunchy stuff on top is really good, but I like my noodles a little more al dente."

Complimentary bread and butter...super ono

Duck corn dog

Gelato

Mac 24/7

After walking to the other side of Waikiki and checking out a fancy penthouse, Tom and I were hungry.  The closest place to us was Mac 24/7.  Once I saw the mac n cheese on the menu, I was pretty committed.  It had 7 kinds of cheese...7!  And of course, we had to add bacon.  Tom got a delicious seared ahi salad to balance out the richness of the pasta.  I went to check in with YELP and we was greeted with a half-off coupon for one of the monstrous drinks they have so of course we had to get one.  Our server, Kailey, was new but super awesome.  She brought us out some bread with chimichurri to dip in that was super nom nom nom.  It had a little kick to it from the fresh ginger and well-balanced flavor.  

When the mac n cheese came out, we both exclaimed, "Holy Shit."  It looked so good and you could see all the chunks of bacon throughout.  And it was made with shells the way moms make mac n cheese, or at least Tom's mom.  You couldn't really taste the individual cheeses but what they became was greater than a sum of their parts.  The fresh parmesan grated on top is super delightful.  The cheese sauce although quite cheesy, doesn't make for stringy cheese strings when you take a bite.  Tom says it is incredibly hard to eat with chopsticks, just grab a fork and dig in.  It retains heat well so that even in an air conditioned room, the bites are still warm and ooey gooey under the top layer.  There was no need to add salt as it was perfectly seasoned and the pasta was cooked not too soft and not too al dente, just right. We took our time nibbling on the salad as well as drinking our monstrous drink.  At the end when we went to finish the last few bites, we were shocked at how even well into the meal, the bacon maintained is glorious crispness even while all the time soaking in cheese sauce.  It may be a pricy mac n cheese ($18 after adding bacon) but it is oh so good and the serving portion is definitely large enough to share with a fellow cheese lover.  

7 cheese white mac & cheese bleu, boursin, white cheddar, gouda, fontina, mascarpone, velveeta $16
add cherry bacon $2, add truffle oil $3, add grilled chicken $4 add short rib $5, add lobster $8

remnants of the chimichurri...we devoured it in seconds

Mac-Cano Eruption: 32 ounces of delicious drink...and ON FIRE

"Fire!"

These thinly sliced radishes were my favorite part of the salad.

Cooking Fresh for you

Cooking Fresh boasts their food is made with healthy and quality ingredients, so delicious Mac n cheese was doubtful. It can't be healthy and cheesy!!! They use elbow macaroni and top it with some sort of crumbs. I could see tomatoes in it, which I'm not a fan of, but I can eat around those. There is definitely no ooey gooeyness to the cheese, it's just pastey like cheese. I added salt and sriracha and was content, especially with price. Only $6 with salad. 

Kissaten Truffle Mac & Cheese

A small gang of us got together with a $50 Living Social Deal in hand and empty bellies ready to be filled with ooey gooey mac and cheese.  Since the truffle mac and cheese was only $10.75 and none of us had been there before, we decided to explore the menu a bit as well.  We ordered a couple orders of the mac and cheese, some tomato bisque (of course with a grilled cheese to dip in it), a beet salad, and cheesecake.  Here's what we thought:

Autumn:  This is my first time visiting Kissaten.  Seems like a nice spot, well lit with not too loud music playing.  I was the last to get there, so the food came quickly.  Which was awesome as I was starving!  The mac and cheese was white cheddar, roast chicken, and bacon.  Amazing!  I really enjoyed it.  Almost seemed more like a pasta dish rather than mac and cheese.  We also had grilled cheese with tomato bisque soup.  Bacon in the sandwich was great too.  I like bacon.  And ooey gooey cheese!  I like that too.

James:  Pretty cheesy and gooey with good truffle flavor, strong but not too much.  Crispy bacon offsets the gooeyness.  Super huge, extra cheesy deliciousness, good quality for the price and size.  Good chicken and pasta ratio of stuff.  It was a little oily though.  Really (surprisingly) good salad.  Excellent tomato bisque but not enough sandwich.  Cheesecake looks pretty picturesque and is tasty too.

Shananigans:  You could really smell the truffle oil on the mac and cheese when it was brought to the table.  Nom nom nom nom nom.  And there was bacon crumbled on top!  Woo Woo!  It consisted of aged white cheddar, penne pasta, and smothered in sauce.  And large portions at that!  The grilled cheese was a little dry to me, but that was fixed by dipping it in the most delicious tomato bisque.  The beet salad was tasty with lots of beets.