Tasty Crust

My fourth and final memorable Maui bite was at a spot called Tasty Crust. When my friend first insisted that we go here, I wasn't sure what to expect. Do they have awesome pizza? Or pies? Or quiche? While they do serve up some pies for dessert, Tasty Crust is noticeably famous for one thing: Banana Hotcakes.

First things first, the butter is unnecessary. The syrup is unnecessary. This stack of hotcakes is one of the few that can stand on its own. The pleasant aroma of banana fills your nose every time you reach for the plate and each bite of this fluffy banana cloud of wonder is heavenly. Unlike most banana pancakes, Tasty Crust's cakes strike the perfect balance between the flavor of banana and the comforting flavor of traditional pancakes. The texture is light and avoids the packed density of a banana, and the hotcake melts in your mouth, releasing the flavor of banana inside your mouth like a breath of fresh air. Needless to say, these pancakes are insanely tasty and addictive, so beware.

Tasty Crust also serves up standard breakfast fare with optional Hawaiian takes on things (i.e., rice and spam). I opted to get their Breakfast Special to accompany the hotcakes: two slices of bacon, one slice of spam, two pork sausages, two over-easy eggs, and wheat toast. Overkill? Probably. But getting anything less just didn't seem right. Especially on vacation. Everything on the plate tasted great, and the spam brought me back to countless meals from when I was growing up that were accompanied with spam and Vienna sausage, which is sometimes, or always, a good thing.

Packed with locals and complete with incredibly friendly service, Tasty Crust is clearly a spot that lives to make its community happy. Like Sam Sato's, Tasty Crust can feel a little bit out of the way if you're staying in Lahaina, but it's well worth the drive, and makes for a perfect stop on your way to or from the airport.

That's it for Maui, folks. While Seattle's weather has barely progressed towards anything close to warm, these past four posts have helped to keep me a little more sane this past week. Thanks for letting me indulge in some warm memories.

Tasty Crust

1770 Mill Street

Wailuku, HI 96793

(808) 244-0845

http://tastycrust.com/

GET: Banana Hotcakes.

Aloha Mixed Plate

Memorable Maui bite number three goes to Aloha Mixed Plate for introducing me to one thing: Furikake Garlic Fries. Like Roy Choi's Furikake Kettle Corn, it's one of those ideas that makes so much sense that you wonder why you never thought to do it before. The fries were perfectly crisp, and the tasty topping of sweet seaweed, bonito flakes, and toasted sesame seeds made the ketchup unnecessary. The fries had just the right amount of garlic to give them some kick. I could try to further describe the deliciousness of this, but I'd rather you go get your favorite garlic fries armed with a bottle of your favorite variety of furikake and witness the magic yourself. Simple flavor combinations like this are a big reason why Hawaiian food rocks.

Aloha Mixed Plate also serves up some solid plate lunches. Though I only went here once during my trip to Maui, I would imagine that their food is really consistent. Just from looking around their outdoor deck, I could tell that they have a devoted group of regulars.

My favorite was probably the Shoyu Chicken because the dark meat was so tender and the soy sauce marinade had a great balance between sweet and salty. The plate lunches, in general, were nothing as new and as mind blowing as the fries, but they were definitely very tasty. And they have brown rice, which is always a plus.

Cheeseburger.

Shrimp Stir-Fry.

Chow Funn.

If you're staying in Lahaina, make it a point to go here for some legitimate plate lunch options. Aloha Mixed Plate is very accessible, has a beautiful view of the ocean, is reasonably priced, and is filled with an extremely friendly staff. And never, ever, forget to get the Furikake Garlic Fries.

Aloha Mixed Plate

1285 Front Street

Lahaina, HI 96761

(808) 661-3322

http://www.alohamixedplate.com/

GET: Furikake Garlic Fries.

Tasaka Guri Guri Shop

It's not ice cream, it's not sorbet, it's not sherbert, it's not shaved ice, it's not an icee, it's not gelato. It's guri guri, and it's the second of four memorable eats I had in Maui.

Guri guri is a uniquely Hawaiian treat that combines three simple ingredients: 7UP/Sprite, fruit juice/soda, and condensed milk. That's a pretty solid trio if you ask me. Not the most diabetic-friendly treat, but it's definitely worth having in moderation. Tasaka Guri Guri Shop is apparently the most famous and most popular guri guri provider in Hawaii, and my friend said that we had to go. So we went, and I'm so glad we did.

First of all, check out the prices. Two scoops for $1.10? Awesome. Second, notice the randomness of this shop. This place has everything a run-of-the-mill convenience store has, along with some random trinkets and toys. Third, who in their right mind is getting an icee instead of a scoop of guri guri? One scoop of guri guri, please.

Even though I didn't grow up eating guri guri, it made me feel nostalgic. The combination of soda, fruit juice, and condensed milk really drove home some classic childhood flavors. They only have two flavors: strawberry and pineapple. The strawberry flavor was great. It has all the strangely appealing artificial flavors of its ingredients, and had some hints of a bubblegum. I don't think they use any bubblegum when they make the guri guri, but maybe the extreme nostalgia of it all conjured up some nostalgia for Bazooka Joe, Big League Chew, and Bubble Tape. I've heard the pineapple flavor is really great too, but unfortunately, they were sold out of pineapple that day. I guess I'll have to get that next time.

More than anything, I enjoyed the consistency of it all. I didn't think I'd like the consistency, but it was actually nice having something that was neither sorbet nor ice cream. Each bite started off icy, ended creamy, and had me reaching for another addictive bite.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any guri guri providers in Seattle, but I can't wait for Seattle's weather to get warm enough to start craving some guri guri and other frozen treats.

Tasaka Guri Guri Shop

70 E Kaahumanu Ave.

Suite C13

Kahului, HI 96732

(808) 871-4513

GET: Guri Guri.

Sam Sato's

Seattle's weather is slowly, very slowly, starting to shape up. With the sun making a couple appearances, I can't help but wish I were in Hawaii. Last year, I had the chance to take a weeklong trip to Maui. Even though it was low season, the weather was amazing, and I had four memorable eats. The first of those eats was at Sam Sato's.

If you're staying in Lahaina, Sam Sato's can feel like a far drive. But really, I don't think I mind a drive on Maui, especially when it's sunny, warm, and clear. Even if it's raining, it's well worth the trip. Chipped out of an unassuming building and packed with locals, Sam Sato's serves up some of the best dry noodles, or dry mein, I've ever had.

The components of this renown bowl of Dry Mein are simple: fat al dente ramen noodles, smokey and sweet cha siu barbecue pork, a heavy dose of chopped green onions, and a moderate pile of refreshing bean sprouts. All this comes with a light, dashi-like broth on the side. The noodles were perfect, with just the right amount of chewiness. The noodles weren't so dry that they clung to each other, but if they ever did get too dry, the broth did a good job at loosening them up. The noodles also tasted like they were briefly stir-fried in a little bit of soy sauce. You also have the choice of adding hot sauce, but I liked the noodles the way they came. The bean sprouts and green onions added some welcome texture and good flavors. The pork was heavenly. The appearance of the pork suggests a relatively simple method, but the flavor had a lot of depth and heartiness. The pork also had just the right amount of fat and tender meat.

I saw people dipping the noodles in the broth, pouring some of the broth into the noodles, and sipping the broth on the side. For good measure, I did all three. I think the best way to showcase the noodles, but still incorporate the flavors of the broth, is to lightly pour some broth onto the noodles every few bites and enjoy the broth by itself on the side throughout the meal.

I also got to try a couple Beef Sticks. The amount of beef that comes on one skewer is awesome. You definitely get a lot of bang for your buck, especially because the skewers only cost a little over a buck. The marinade is sweet, like a teriyaki sauce, but not too sweet. In typical teriyaki fashion, the beef was a little overcooked for me, but that didn't stop me from downing the whole thing in one bite.

The Chicken Sticks were not as generous, but made up for it in taste. The chicken had a great, chargrilled taste to it that balanced out any sweetness and made me wish I had ordered just one more.

Conscious of the constant line, my friends and I made our way out. As we neared the exit, I couldn't help but notice some of the plain-looking pastries on display. They didn't look like much, but I thought that if the rest of the meal was any indication of their pastries, the pastries were probably pretty awesome. Lucky for me, my friend knows one of the people who works there (props to that friend for making sure we ate here on our trip, by the way), and before we had a chance to place an order for some pastries, he gave my friends and I a paper bag filled with an assortment of pastries. Score.

The bag included a couple Manju treats. The one pictured here is an Azuki Bean Manju. The outside was amazingly flaky for a manju. The filling was a little bit brittle at the beginning of each bite, but a few milliseconds after taking each bite, the azuki softened up into a delicious paste that was never too sweet.

The bag also contained some Turnovers. These come with a few varieties of fruit filling. I tried the one with apple filling and another one with a peach and pineapple filling. The apple one was like eating an apple pie with a flaky and buttery crust. Like the manju, this one had just the right amount of sweetness. The peach and pineapple turnover had a lot more sweetness to it, mainly because of the inherent sweetness of the fruits. I didn't know how the combination of peach and pineapple would shape up in a turnover, but I really enjoyed how the straightforward sweetness of the peach balanced with the slight tang of the pineapple. I also loved how the crust on both of these turnovers were baked to a darker brown on the edges, giving the turnovers an undeniably homemade pie taste. If I had to choose one, I'd go with the apple one, but they were both pretty solid.

Sam Sato's represents local, cheap, no-frills eating at its best. To this day, the noodles still haunt my taste buds, in the best way possible. This place could definitely get away with marking up the prices, but everyone knows they never will. Their genuineness comes through in their food and service, and it's that genuineness that assures everyone who's ever eaten at Sam Sato's that this spot is going to continue to be around for a long time.

Sam Sato's

1750 Wili Pa Loop

Wailuku, HI 96793

(808) 244-7124

GET: Dry Mein; Azuki Bean Manju; Apple Turnover.