Honolulu Weekly

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Editors’ Picks

Best Pizza
King’s Pub

Let’s be honest: The pizza here, generally provided by a glut of chain stores that start with the letter P, isn’t the best. For those in the know, however, there are a few bright spots, and one of the brightest lies in the dark recesses of the Hawaiian Monarch hotel, at The King’s Pub.

As if it weren’t enough to say they’re one of the best, it’s also surprisingly cheap. Eighteen dollars gets you an 18-inch pizza with whatever you want on it (of the ingredients they offer–don’t think you’re funny ordering a pizza with foie gras or Cristal). It’s one of the best deals around, and best of all, if you’re in a bar in the immediate area, they might even walk it over to you, where there’s no doubt you’ll be beset upon by newfound friends hoping you’ll share. But if you’re feeling stingy, make the trek down to the pub, where you can get a quarter-pie slice for only $5. Being anti-social never felt so rewarding. –Dean Carrico

444 Niu St., 949-1606

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Best Pau Hana food
Side Street Inn

To say Side Street Inn is a perfect pau hana spot is a little misleading, because it’s not only a place to head to after work, it’s a place to go when you’re finished with just about anything. Broke up with your boyfriend? They have Dead Guy Ale on tap to help you cope and plot revenge. Just got fired? Sit at the bar and you’re likely to run into somebody who’s hiring. Nothing works better as comfort food than an order of Pocho Clams and fried rice. Side Street already has great atmosphere and servers, but it’s the food that brings in some of the top culinary names, both local and international, on a near-daily basis. –D.C.

1225 Hopaka Street, 596-8282

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Best restaurant chain we’re deprived of
In-N-Out Burger

The famed fast food restaurant with the harmless name serves up some very desirable beef, but for those of us in Hawai’i, it’s hard to love. Once found only in southern California, they’ve gently thrust across the state and have lately begun to surge east. That’s a lot of movement with no payoff as far as we’re concerned. The chain historically squats near freeway exits for the weary traveler, and if you’ve ever navigated the luscious curves of the Hana Highway in Maui, you know they would break the million-dollar mark in record time (it is virgin territory after all.) If New York can get an L & L, it’s only fair that we get our fair share of hot, sweet In-N-Out. If they build it, we will…go. –D.C.

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Best office snack
Anything on sale from Longs

From pistachios to Kinoko No Yama (see CityWise, 8/6) to 5-hour Energy drinks, the closest thing to a 7-Eleven-like quick snack lies in Longs. Yeah, we might have to brave the lines full of punchy senior citizens buying gauze pads in bulk and questionable smelly characters grabbing cold cuts on sale, all for a lousy 8 ounce carton of milk, but sugar and small crunchy things are quite conducive to productivity. –Margot Seeto

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Best hole in the wall
Hole in the Wall

The menu staples of this local-style eatery are already impressive on their own. The garlic chicken gives Mitsu-ken a run for its money, with clean cuts of chicken morsels coated in a well developed batter, fried to perfection in fresh oil and coated with the perfect garlic sauce, just hinting of sweet chili. The chili hot dog plate is a combination of juicy Lil’ Smokies smothered in a rich homemade chili, smothered yet again in cheese and onions, if you like. The moist roast pork with mushrooms accompanied by mashed potatoes and potato-mac salad weighs three pounds. Add a ridiculous number of quality rotating daily specials, ranging from New York steak to furikake chicken (all massive and usually under $8), and you’ve got a place where you can eat everyday and never get tired of the same old thing. Albeit you might put on the pounds, but life is short. Eat what you want. Owners Harrison and Kelly Lai feel like your calabash uncle and auntie–another assurance that Hole in the Wall’s food embodies the definition of comfort. The unassuming eatery recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. Here’s to many more years of tasty success. –M.S.

1154 Fort Street Mall, 532-9911

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Best TOWER OF BABEL
Babylon Cafe

This tiny establishment in the International Marketplace has the most loyal–and civic-minded!–customers in town. It may be named after an ancient kingdom, but it subscribes to an old Chicago principle: “Vote Early, Vote Often.” So please enjoy this year’s Best of Honolulu, then head directly to Babylon Cafe, where, if what this cafe’s supporters wrote on their many, many ballots is true, you’ll get the best service at both the cheapest and most expensive eatery in town while dining alone with good friends over a romantic vegetarian late-night sandwich. –Eds.