grindz

“What good are fans? You can’t eat applause for breakfast, you can’t sleep with it.”
~ Bob Dylan

http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/

(Just like any of the other songs that Richie Havens ever sang, his covers of familiar tunes sound uniquely original.

R.I.P., Richie. January 21, 1941 - April 22, 2013)


Shane Victorino (Who knew there were Eyetalianos in Hawai'i[1]?) would have been proud of my choice of breakfastary destinations this morning, I went back again to grindz (see last 'blog-entry from February 16th, 2013) on Clement Street. They have been open for almost one year now (I think they opened some time in May 2012). There is seating for exactly 40 people (plus a few babies in high chairs if needed; or you could always just leave the noisy little rug-rats tied up outside, just be sure to check on them once in a while and leave them enough water).

grindz doesn't have a very extensive breakfast menu and I have tried most of the vegetarian options already that they have, but what they do offer are usually very tasty. For those of you that aren't averse to eating of the dead, decaying marine insects, on the Weekend "Brunch" Specials was Crab Cake Benedicts. As it was one of the last dishes that I hadn't tried yet, I ordered the Hawai'ian French Toast ~ Portuguese sweet bread, pure maple syrup, vanilla-poached pineapples. I also had a side of Plantation Potatoes and a cuppa Bicycle Coffee Co., Medium Roast (always a decent cuppa coffee).

This was made with three slices of Portuguese sweet bread (because Spanish kidneys would just be totally gross with pure maple syrup ~ whether it be from Vermont or Canadialand), which was a very good basis to start. The Portuguese sweet bread is already lightly sweetened and they season it with a decent amount of cinnamon. Of course, it is the vanilla-poached pineapple that truly makes this Hawai'ian, not Portuguese (that would be with vanilla-poached chouriço, of course). The Plantation Potatoes were good as always, with lots of red bell peppers, onions, and celery in them.

For pre-bottled condimentary supplementation grindz has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) and a Sriracha-style hot sauce. They also have their own very decent Hawai'ian Ketchup that I didn't remember about until after I had already used a few of my own hot sauces on the potatoes (D'oh!). I went with a little Serious Food… Silly Prices Mango Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) and also a little Youk's Hot Sauce (Thanks, Brian!); half and half on the pile.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Hawai'ian French Toast ~ 6.6 


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, bra':

The word "Hawai'i" comes from Hawai'ian, from Proto-Polynesian "*hawaiki"; said to mean "Place of the Gods" and be named in reference to Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

Of note, from Wikipedia:

"A somewhat divisive political issue arose when the constitution of the state of Hawaii added Hawaiian as a second official state language: the exact spelling of the state's name, which in the islands' language is Hawai'i (the 'okina marking a Hawaiian consonant, a cut-off of breath before the final i). In the Hawaii Admission Act that granted Hawaiian statehood, the federal government recognized Hawaii to be the official state name. Official government publications, as well as department and office titles, use the traditional Hawaiian spelling, with no symbols for glottal stops or vowel length. In contrast, the National and State Parks Services, the University of Hawai'i, and some private entities, including a local newspaper, do use such symbols."

I'i prefer the "Hawai'i" spelli'ing, though. I'if you have a problem wi'ith that, tough shi'it.