Sunday, January 01, 2012

Find #2 of 2011: Home Bar

Home Bar

OMG. Find #2 of the year (along with Tanioka’s and Monarch Seafood). And this one is actually in town. Home Bar is in a kinda random spot (think old sketchy hostess bar on Kapiolani near Don Quixote on Kaheka) but at least there is some parking (free lot on Kapiolani side, valet on the backside, plus you could find lot / street parking over by Don Quixote and walk over).

I think of Home Bar as a Side Street Inn (the old one) but in a more party / drinking / sports bar atmosphere. Depending on what day you go (i.e., if there is an MMA fight going on) it can be more sports bar, vs. on other days it’s more office co-workers going for happy hour after work.

No beers on tap (if I recall correctly) and no fancy drinks, but a basic drink list of beers, spirits (don’t recall seeing wine, but they must have…). I always get a Blue Moon, because otherwise it’s a choice of Heineken / Bud / Bud Light / Coors Light etc.

But the real reason to go (other than people watching, which is very fun here) is the pupus. My go-to’s are the Tater Tot Nachos and the Negitoro Poke (poke with a green cilantro sauce). NOM both are to die for. Also tried the garlic chicken (so-so, really fatty pieces of chicken), fried rice (excellent), kim chee fried rice (good but really wet), parmesan truffle fries (with fried pepperoni!!), the ribeye steak (fatty), and the hamburger steak plate. Everything is delicious, easy to share, affordable, and the wait staff are all super friendly. I went every weekend in a row for a month, introducing different groups of friends to the place, because I couldn’t get enough of the food there  :)

1683 Kalakaua Ave., by Kapiolani
 Inside decor: sports bar
 Kim chee poke (but I prefer the negi toro)
 Fried rice
 Hamburger steak
 Biggest salad ever!
 TATER TOT NACHOS. Tater tots, jalapenos, olives, sour cream, salsa and that nasty nacho cheese. But so delicious together.
 Pepperoni (fried and crispy) truffle oil fries
Yelp

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