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The Weekly Eater Nadine Kam |
Kua ’Aina’s changed sites,
but not its reason for beingThere's perception and reality, and though you'd think it would be easy to distinguish between the two, it's just not the case. Get 30 people together in a room or at a concert, ask them how it was later and you'll get 30 different "reviews": "It was great!" "It was OK." "I was bored."
It's all relative to experience and expectations. That's why so many people have told me Kua 'Aina's Haleiwa burgers seem to taste better than the ones in town. It has nothing to do with fact. Biting into a burger in the surf town simply conjures associations with sunny days, barely clad babes (of either gender), warm waves and no cares in the world.
A few more years at Ward and people will recall the pre-marriage, pre-mortgage, pre-kids camaraderie of sharing burgers with friends; see if it doesn't taste better then. Imagine the accompanying endorphin rush. It's no wonder people speak of Kua 'Aina's burgers with yearning and reverence. Why, it's like falling in love.
When you're in love -- I'm talking about the early stages, when your flame can do no wrong -- you don't want things to change, so Kua 'Aina founder and president Terry Thompson was taking a chance when he decided to make a leap to new premises last month. People liked the rustic digs. They were superstitious about the old grill. All those years of conditioning -- 28 since Thompson opened the first Kua 'Aina in May 1975 -- left a savory imprint on every pattie that found its way to the grill. You just don't mess with perfection, so the old grill made the move too.
But ... you also can't fight demand. Even with an increase from 28 to 75 seats, you can count on some SRO time any weekend at lunch time. The only thing good about standing in line is people watching and you never know who'll be lured by the winter waves. On a recent Saturday, for instance, there was Kelly Slater bussing his tray like the rest of us mere landlubber mortals.
The drive over there from the Windward side was traffic-free, no doubt because recent bad weather had people cowering at home. If you do head out, look for the shop on the mauka side, about 500 feet from the old, and across from Pizza Bob's. It's in a new building that gives it the same sort of contemporary strip-mall ambience of the Ward location.
CRAG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STAR-BULLETIN
At Kua 'Aina, Stacie Ganigan discovers the smallest burger still represents a complete meal with roll and salad built in.
THE MENU features your basic fistful of foods, like roast turkey ($5.25) and pastrami ($5) sandwiches, but if I'm dropping in, you can be pretty sure it's because I want a burger, and nothing else will do, even now that Mad Cow Disease has entered the public consciousness.
Thompson does know where his beef comes from, swearing by "quality Nebraska beef."
For once, for the sake of research, I had to force myself to examine the other fare. The odd thing is the deli meats like turkey ($5.50 with a giant ortega chili and cheese) and roast beef ($5.25 hot) get their turn on the grill. The turkey is dry, but the roast beef will do for those who prefer to avoid ground beef due to other health concerns. (The number of food phobias is growing daily, don't you think?)
The mahimahi sandwich ($5.80) offered the pleasant surprise of a thick and fresh fillet because most eateries this size have no qualms about serving fish that's been breaded and frozen. The latest addition is a grilled ahi sandwich.
And if you get a BLT ($5.90), you'll get more bacon than normal elsewhere ... but you can also get that perfectly crisp bacon, at least six strips, planted right on a burger for 75 cents. Your basic burger with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on a Kaiser roll is $5.30 for a third pound and $5.70 for a half pound, and those optional toppings include pineapple for 40 cents, grilled peppers for 60 cents, Ortega chilies for 50 cents, and cheese for 40 cents.
Forget about the avocado burger ($6/$6.35) listed. Only once in all the years I've eaten at the town and country Kua 'Ainas have I ever known them to have avocado available, and when they did, I learned why they might run out. True to the company's generous philosophy, there was more than half an avocado on my burger. Awesome when you can get it.
By the time I'm through ordering, my burger is typically 8 inches tall, which is what happens before tamping down that frilly lettuce.
One mild complaint: The fries. I don't mind 'em thin at all, but lately they seem more soggy than usual. Whether that's perception or reality, who knows? It doesn't matter because it's the burgers that keep reeling 'em in.
66-160 Kamehameha Highway (next to Wyland Galleries) in Haleiwa/ 637-6067 Kua 'Aina
Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Food 
Service Ambience Value Cost: About $7 per person Also: At the Ward Village Shops at 1116 Auahi St., open 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Call 591-9133
See some past restaurant reviews in the Columnists section.
Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:
To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to nkam@starbulletin.com
excellent; very good, exceeds expectations; average; below average.
