MMMM, Pineapple.
Before visiting Hawaii i made a pit stop in San Diego (Check the Rocky's forum) to visit a friend of mine who coincidentally had spent a few years living on Oahu. After bringing him up to date on BurgerClub, he quickly mentioned Kua Aina Sandwich Shop as his favorite burger on the Islands.
Kua Aina had now expanded into the Honolulu region, but I was instructed by the locals to stick with the original North Shore outpost. Fair enough. The place is settled inside a small development of business that make up one street through the North Shore of Ohahu.
Its a nice clean place serving up fast and fresh options including creative sandwiches, salads, and of course, juicy burgers. The burger is serves on a portugese style roll with a good amount of green lettuce, two slices of tomato and grilled white onions. Being that I was IN Hawaii, i figured i might as well try out the pineapple burger. My partner in Crime dfreshburger opted for the Avocado Burger. I have eaten avocato on burgers before, but never have i seen so much piled on. This baby had at least a half an avo sliced over the patty, wow.
So how was it? Pretty darn good. The grilling on this burger was nicely done. Leaving such nice uniform grill marks on the patty, pinnapple and onion made for a beautiful presentation. On top of that the meat to bun to toping ratio was near perfect. The meat was fairly lean but managed to retain a good amount of juice when cooked medium rare. Between the pinnapple and the juicy patty, it was possibly the most juice i have ever seen drip from a burger. Granted the pineapple made up at least half the juice, it was still a monumental feat that the bun managed to hold everything together with out breaking up into a gooey mess.
So why not an A-? The patty lacked the velvet texture and flavour nuance required to reach the A status on my burger scale. It was a fresh tasting finely constructed burger, but the meat a bit too lean needed more seasoning.
The basket of shoestring fries was very good. Outoor seating a big plus and the friendly walk up service added a nice touch of Aloha. If your ever traveling Oahu, don't miss this one.
