I'm back with another culinary love letter to Hawaii. It may have taken me traveling to Arizona to discover this love, but it is going strong. I discovered Golden Hawaiian BBQ on a delivery app, and wasted no time placing an order.



I bought an entire smorgasbord: crab puffs, egg roll, manapua and a chicken katsu combo with steamed rice, macaroni salad, and cabbage.



The eggroll and crab puffs were standard – fried to a golden brown with a tasty filling. But the manapua was a soft bun filled with barbecued pork, and it was amazing. I love the toothsome, pillowy texture of the bun with that rich, meaty interior. The combo entrée was the real star. There's not a better way to cook chicken, and when there's a rich sauce to bring everything together, it is just *chef's kiss*. And the mac salad is key; the fattiness helps break through the fried flavors



Grade: A

If there's one cuisine sorely lacking in Appalachia, it may be Hawaiian. Prior to my visit to Aloha Kitchen in Arizona, the extent of my Hawaiian food experience consisted of "Hawaiian chicken" in a pineapple sauce at the local mall food court.



This fast-casual restaurant has been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. And, it was fairly busy when I visited. The decor is minimal and well-worn. The menu has a bajillion options that all looked amazing: coconut shrimp, saimin, kalbi and more.



I went with Mixed Plate #4: Bulkogi Beef and Teriyaki Chicken with two scoops of rice and macaroni-potato salad. Plus spam musubi. Plus manapua.



The mixed plate teriyaki chicken was charbroiled then drizzled in a teriyaki sauce, which was a delicious bittersweet flavor. The bulgpgi could've done with a drizzle of the teriyaki as well. But so tasty, and I love the cool, creamy macaroni-potato salad on the side to add some balance. The spam musubi is just spam, rice and nori - and it's glorious. It's the freshness of a sushi roll with the salinity of SPAM. The manapua had the perfect barbecue pork filling inside that fluffy bun. so, so good.



Grade: A

It was only proper that I round out the food court at the Charleston Town Center, right? I've reviewed both China Max and Sakkio Japan. Next on my list was Hawaiian Grille.

Their sign says burgers, hot dogs and chicken. It definitely has items influenced with what I think of as  Asian flavors - the eggrolls, noodles and sweet/sour chicken. When I went up to the counter, I received samples of the pineapple chicken and Hawaiian chicken. They're barely discernible, but both sweet and tangy. I got half and half with noodles and an egg roll.

So it's food court food, made in large batches which means things probably aren't totally measured out and are made to feed large amounts of people quickly. But, it's good. It's tasty, that is.

The chicken is clobbered in a thick, sweet, tangy sauce that could probably make anything taste decent. But I enjoy that sweet and sour combo, so I'm happy. Noodles were not bad. They were a little cooler by the time I got them, but flavor was decent. The egg roll was full of mushy celery and other things I didn't know, so I'd stay away from that one. That was bad. But the main meat entrees and noodles, I'd definitely try again.

Grade: B