Tag Archives: Poke Bowl

Hawaii – Oahu 2025 Day 6 and 7

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Last full day in Oahu! We started the day by picking up our rental car from Enterprise (they are located at the hotel so pick up / drop off is easy, and don’t have to pay for parking), and then going back to the Ala Moana Center to buy a Grand Seiko watch (a friend needed to sleep on the decision). I also got a chance to try out the poke bowl at Foodland Farms. Details here:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2025/12/01/foodland-farms-poke-bowl-station/

We then headed to the north part of the island to check out surfers at The Banzai Pipeline. 

Along the way was stopped by the Dole Plantation to eat some Dole Whip (ice cream), and walk around the pineapple gardens. 

We also stopped by Shark’s Cove to see the waves (although didn’t see any sharks… apparently there are non-human eating sharks there).

When we finally got to The Banzai Pipeline, we spent 40 minutes there. There were lots of surfers, but only saw a handful actually riding the large waves (waves can get up to 20 feet). Was able to capture 2 videos though!

From the pipeline we were gonna head over to Lanakai Beach, but didn’t have enough time in terms of sunlight to do so, so we ended up heading back.

When we got back, we dropped of the car and headed to the International Marketplace to eat at a place called Herringbone. Here are the details:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2025/12/01/herringbone/

And that meal ended the night for us.

For the actual last day in Oahu (ie 3 hours before heading to the airport), checked out Waikiki beach and went into the water for 30 minutes. Then had our last (quick) meal at this poke bowl place:

https://food.johnmatienzo.com/2025/12/01/paradise-poke-hawaii/

So this trip was awesome. There was a few things I didn’t get to do that I plan to prioritize for next time. This includes:

  • District / Republic Club
  • Lanakai Beach (east part of the island)
  • Ko Olina (for catermeran and snorkeling)

Hawaii – Kona Day 6

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We started off the day moving out of our current AirBnb, and then storing our luggage at Dersu’s place. We then headed over to Janie’s place to figure out what to do. The original plan was to go to Hilo, but the forecast was basically 100% chance of rain.

We ended up deciding on going to Makalawena beach (where Sam had his “near death” experience). It probably took us 4 hours to mobilize (as the others wanted to go camping and picked up supplies and grill). We then headed out, but went through the wrong off-road entrance, and had to come back.

After finally finding the real off-road entrance, it was clear this was the craziest off-roading drive of the trip so far.

We ended up getting to the beach at 4:30pm, and had an hour to do whatever. Did a late lunch with Poke shack to (which was amazing. Will go back there and do a proper review). And then some of us dropped a, which of course enhanced things.

In terms of the beach, it’s interesting since it’s divided into three “sections”. One is really good for body boarding, while the second one you can snorkel in. The third one is full of sea urchins, and you want to avoid that one!

We ended up leaving at night, and the off road experience was not as bad as I thought it would be. Perhaps because I was less sober?

When we got to the main road, we picked up our bags and checked into our new AirBnb, which is pretty fire (compared to our previous place).

After, rolled out to Magic Sands Beach for the moon set, and to ride the rest of the a out.

Hawaii – Kona Day 5

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Started off the day by going to Janie’s place, which as I may have mentioned before has an awesome view from higher ground of the water.

We then went to grab some poke (first time) at a new place called Kona Grill house (interestingly enough I didn’t order any red meat, only sea food). Here are the details: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/21/kona-grill-house/

After picking up the food we drove to a Kahalu’u beach, where we ate said food (and then NJ and ben snorkled… which Ben mentioned was the best place to snorkel as of Day 8 of our trip). Shortly after, had my first Kona Coffee and Tea experience, where you can read a out it here: http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/21/kona-coffee-tea/

Shortly after, we made our way to Green Sands Beach, where along the way we drove to the southern most point of the United States!

When we got to the entrance of Green Sands Beach, we met our second off road challenge (and my first time driving off-road!). This one was definitely much more of an experience than the previous day. Not only where there more sudden drops, but there were multiple ways to go (so trying to choose the less bumpy one was sometimes challenging). The secret though (which we found out on the way back) is to follow the paths closest to the only wired fence.

When we got to the beach, we basically had the beach to ourselves (one other group left shortly after we arrived). To be honest, I didn’t think the sand was super green, but Justin was mentioning it’s because of how late in the day it was. We only spent 40 minutes in the water, but I did body boarding for the first time, and got 1 really good wave.

We then headed back to Holualoa (right before sunset), and checked out the Ola Brewery:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2020/11/22/ola-brewery/

After, we went to a bar/”club” called MyBar, which was a reminding experience during COVID times.

We finished if day watching the moon set at 11:28pm at Magic Sands Beach. That one was a first for me, which was really beautiful.

New York City, second day

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This day was probably the most fun day I’ve had in New York.

For the entire afternoon we spent our time in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met). We had a great time looking at all different types of art from various eras (Greek, European, Egyptian). I gotta say, the European section was the best part based on how we were feeling 😉

After the Met, we went to this place for dinner:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2018/11/19/chikarashi/

After dinner, we went to pick up some hard liquor at a Wine and Liquor store around broadway and 22nd (note that in New York City, hard liquor is not usually available in grocery stores. We also found the price is kinda expensive compared to California).

For most of the night we spent at our friend Jonathan’s place for a pre-Thanksgiving party (Sam was DJing and there were a couple of kegs plus rage cafe and beer pong).

After around 12am we headed over to a place called House of Yes in Brooklyn. It was sort of a burning man type crowd. From what I remember, it was pretty crowded, but I would check out it again (they usually have themes every single weekend. We were definitely not dressed up for the occasion).

At the end of the night, we went to a pizza place called Artichoke Basille pizza where we got some artichoke pizza (also in Brooklyn). It was great, from what I remember .