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.  

Kincaids Lobster Mac 'N' Cheese!

Ginger Face invited me out for pau hana at Kincaid’s.  They did not have nachos or mac ‘n’ cheese on the Happy Hour menu, but we did notice on the full dinner menu that mac ‘n’ cheese came with an entrée.  And so the macaroni and cheese blog begins…

Shananigans:
The view at Kincaid’s is awesome.  Located on the top floor, Makai side of the Ward Warehouse, the windows look out to the harbor and the long-forgotten Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant.  If you come at sunset, you will not be disappointed.

And you can get happy hour food/drinks anywhere in the lounge area, so there is plenty of seating.  I saw some sweet potato fries get delivered at the table next to us and they looked delicious, served with 2 dipping sauces.  I love dipping things in stuff. They brought us some bread (I guess cause we ordered the sides of mac ‘n’ cheese from the dinner menu?) that was delicious.  Warm with melted butter atop and strong flavor of rosemary.   

Since we ordered a side each, we opted to just share the French dip sliders which came out first anyway.  The meat was super juicy and when dipped in the au jus was heavenly drippy messy. 

And then came out our - what we thought were small - sides of mac ‘n’ cheese.  But no, they were large.  And we were already getting full.  And to our surprise topped with little bits of lobster bonus.  The cheese sauce was white and we could never remember to ask the waitress what kinds it was actually made of.  At first bite, I thought the dish needed some salt, but after a few bites realized my palette was just over salted by the au jus of the French dip.  It was perfectly seasoned and the traditional elbow macaroni was perfectly cooked.  They must have used gobs of real cheese because stringy deliciousness formed when you brought a bite from the plate to your mouth, but only for about an inch.  The noodles maintained a consistent coating of ooey gooey cheesy nom nom ness till the last bite.  Be prepared though…this lovely delight of a macaroni and cheese side dish does not run cheap.  $15.95 per bowl.

Ginger Face:
I am pretty familiar with Kincaid's happy hour.  With delicious, discounted pupus, $4-5 drinks and ample free parking, you should probably familiarize yourself with it, too.  This time I opted for the Basil Gimlet, which is the perfect blend of savory basil, gin and sweetness.  Goes down easy.  Too easy.  

The mac n cheese is not on the happy hour menu and not cheap - one bowl costs more that three happy hour drinks!  While a bit pricey, it's not for no reason.  This is not your childhood mac n cheese.  And I would consider it a dinner-sized portion.  It came out topped with lobster and parsley and then gets topped with fresh-ground pepper table side, a classy touch.  The lobster flavor is throughout the dish and gives it a sophisticated flare.  The cheese sauce was hot, stringy and rich in flavor, but pooled under the noodles - it was a stir and bite dish!  

It's so cheesy!

Kincaid's has definitely upped the mac n cheese ante.

Someone is too full and cannot finish!