Restaurant Review: Kahuku Grill

The front of the place.  Also, look at the boy in the window.  Look at him.

I think I may have found my rebound burger.  Don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to replace the wonderful burgers in Boston (you know who you are), but I'm not in Boston, so I have to move on just a tiny bit.  I went to the Kahuku Grill on the North Shore for lunch after visiting the Laie Temple today.  I was planning on eating a burger in any case, but I also took the advice of many internet reviewers who said to follow the example of the locals and get the burger instead of the "Famous Coconut Shrimp" (which I may try next time, because there will be a next time).

If you close your eyes and imagine "Traditional Hawaii Burger Joint," Kahuku Grill is what you see.  It definitely has that run-down (but not gross) surf shack vibe to it, which I kind of dug.  One can eat outside or inside, depending on how one feels about eating hot burgers on a hot day (I chose to eat inside).  The place is family-owned, and given that it was a family with seven boys with names all starting with the letter "S" with varying degrees of Biblicality (Seth, Shem, Shez...yeah), I'm going to go out on a limb and say they were probably Mormon.  It also seemed to be the regular lunch place for Temple patrons--lots of white shirts and ties on a Saturday afternoon--which makes sense, given that it's only 2.7 miles North of the Temple.

I ordered the Cheeseburger Combo (burger and fries) and a Diet Coke.  The whole order came to eight dollars and change--pretty reasonable for Hawaii!  The girl who waited on me was very friendly, but I kind of wish I'd waited a bit to order, because after I left, the counter was being manned by perhaps the cutest boy I have seen on this entire island.*  At any rate, I got my drink and sat down and waited for my food.  The Diet Coke was not as Diet Coke-y as I like...but maybe it was a fountain issue.  An appropriately-short time later, the girl brought my food out.  Behold:

Look at those fries.  And that fry sauce.  I was all over that fry sauce.

More evidence of the place's Mormonosity:  Fry Sauce.  I was super excited about this.  For people who have not spent any time in Utah, Fry Sauce is one part ketchup, one part mayonnaise, and one part magic.  So good.  And look:  it's garnished!  As you can see, the fries are not the typical stick fries.  They're more like little quarters of potato slices.  They were hot and the perfect balance of crispy-on-the-outside/soft-on-the-inside.  They were very nicely seasoned; my only complaint is that they were a bit too salty--next time I shall ask for less salt.

The burger was great as well!  I even will be so bold to say that it would be able to hold its own in the Boston Burger Arena (an controversial claim, it seems!).  It's definitely a lunch burger,** but it did well in all the important categories:  burger:bun ratio, structural integrity, non-greasy beef patty, yummy melty cheese!  A thing I noticed was that the burger had a lot more lettuce on it than other burgers that I've had.  There were bites that were in danger of being a bit too "lettucey," but the texture was nice!  I highly recommend it to anyone who has any business on the North Shore, and I think that this will become my regular post-Temple lunch place!

The Kahuku Grill is located at 56-565 Kamehameha Highway in Kahuku, on the same property as the Kahuku Sugar Mill.

*You know, if you're into longish-haired tan surfer guys who are probably too young for me...and let's face it, I so am.  We eye-flirted for a good 1.2 seconds.  It was amazing.

**The difference between "lunch burger" and "dinner burger" should be clear to anyone who's ever had a conversation with me...or who has any common sense at all.