Guy’s Top Eats in the Aloha State — Triple D in Hawaii

Pan-Fried Wahoo — Dean’s Drive Inn

With over 40 years of experience, Dean Mishima is cooking up some of the best and freshest food at Dean’s Drive Inn in Oahu, with help from his wife and daughter. Locals love his seafood specialties, like the Pan-Fried Wahoo, or Ono as it’s called in Hawaii. The fish fillets are dusted in flour and seared on the flat top before being topped with a ginger sauce that’s bloomed with hot oil and seasoned with soy sauce.

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Ginger Soy Ono

Fried Boneless Pork Ribs – Thai Mee Up

Guy heads to Thai Mee Up for Thai-inspired Hawaiian food right by the airport. The boneless pork ribs take Guy to new heights. “On a scale of 1 to 100 that’s a 101,” he says of the immaculate dish. “This is like a freight train to Flavortown.”

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Thai Mee Up

Kalbi Short Ribs — Da Kitchen

At Da Kitchen, Chef Les Tomita cooks classic Hawaiian dishes like loco moco, but it’s his Kalbi ribs that are famous. He sells 2,000 pounds of ribs every week. The recipe starts with a house-made teriyaki sauce, in which the short ribs marinate for 24 to 36 hours. They’re then grilled to perfection in just five minutes.

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Kalbi Short Ribs

Lilikoi Pork Pizza — The Outrigger Pizza Company

In Maui you can get terrific pizza in a parking lot at The Outrigger Pizza Company run by Philly native Kevin Laut. Try his Lilikoi (passion fruit) Pork Pizza, which is topped with garlic aioli, braised pork, sweet Maui onions, bell peppers and mozzarella and romano cheese. Once it’s out of his custom-made oven, it’s topped with parmesan cheese and lilikoi sauce. “You can’t get pizza that good in most restaurants,” Guy said after tasting the pizza.

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Outrigger Pizza Company

Oxtail Soup — The Alley Restaurant

A few miles from the Honolulu airport, you’ll find The Alley Restaurant, located in a bowling alley. Chef Glen Ueda used to work in New York City before he came to Hawaii. His oxtail soup, based on his mom’s recipe, is perfumed with dried dates, orange peel, star anise, ginger, peanuts and dried shiitake mushrooms. He spikes the broth with whiskey as it finishes cooking. It’s served with a special sauce made from daikon, soy sauce, lemon juice, chile flakes and sesame seeds. “You win the best oxtail soup in the world award,” Guy told Glenn.

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Alley Restaurant’s Oxtail Soup

Mochiko Chicken — Boots & Kimo’s Homestyle Kitchen

Brothers Rick and Jessie Kiakona honor their father by cooking his recipes at Boots & Kimo’s Homestyle Kitchen in Oahu. While Rick runs font of the house, Jessie is the chef. His Mochiko Chicken uses boneless chicken thighs, cut into pieces, tossed in a marinade of sugar, rice flour, cornstarch, salt, pepper, garlic and soy sauce, plus eggs to act as a binder. The chicken is deep fried and served with rice and macaroni salad.

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Mochiko Chicken

Misiake Beef — He’eia Kea Pier General Store and Deli

At He’eia Kea Pier General Store and Deli, Chef Mark Noguchi prepares Misiake Beef, a dish that practically left Guy speechless. It starts with beef marinated in teriyaki sauce. It’s stir-fried in a wok before getting glazed with a sauce made with sake, mirin, sake kasu, white and red miso pastes, salted black bean sauce and toasted sesame seeds. Served simply with white rice, it’s a taste of Japan in Hawaii.

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Hello, Misiake Beef

Ahi Tuna Poke — Fresh Catch

At Fresh Catch, you’ll find some of the freshest seafood selections, and a wide variety of poke, including octopus, shrimp and the classic Ahi tuna. Chef Reno Henriques butchers tuna himself. Once the fish is cut into cubes, he tosses it with salt and chile flakes, kukui nut, chile pepper water, sesame oil, scallion, white onions and seaweed. “I could sit here and eat this by the bucketful,” said Guy.

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Ahi Tuna Poke With Guy Fieri

Marlin Burger — Nico’s Pier 38

At Nico’s Pier 38, French-born chef Nico Chaize is dishing out fine dining dishes at rock bottom prices. One of his signature menu items is the double-patty marlin burger. Fresh fish is pureed and combined with onion, garlic, Dijon mustard and seasonings before being formed into patties. it’s served on a toasted hamburger bun with cilantro aioli.

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Marlin Burger

Crunchy Shrimp — Big Wave Shrimp Truck

It’s all about shrimp at the Big Wave Shrimp Truck. One of their top dishes is the Crunchy Shrimp. Large fresh shrimp are butterflied, dipped in a tempura batter, and coated in panko before getting pan-fried. The hearty portions keep customers happy, as 10 pieces are served with rice and a sweet-and-spicy dipping sauce.

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Big Wave’s Crunchy Shrimp

Thai Hot Wings — Opal Thai Food

At Opal Thai Food, chef and owner Opal Sirichandhra happily customizes dishes for his customers. For Guy, he made hot wings, which begin with simply deep-frying chicken wings without any coating. But it’s the sauce that’s special. It includes lots of garlic, chile paste, soy sauce and palm nectar. Once the sauce is heated in a pan, the chef adds more garlic and the chicken wings. The dish is topped with deep-fried basil. “That’s the most garlic I’ve had on anything,” said Guy.

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Opal’s Thai Hot Wings

Chicago Dog — Hank’s Haute Dogs

Back in the 1950s, Chicagoan Hank Adaniya’s parents used to run a hot dog joint in Hawaii. It was only natural that Hank open Hank’s Haute Dogs in Honolulu. His top seller is the Chicago dog, which has the classic toppings of yellow mustard, green relish, onion, tomato, pickle, sport peppers and celery salt. He even ships in most of the ingredients from Chicago, so it’s as authentic as it gets.

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Hanks Hawaiian Chicago Dog

Authentic Hawaiian Luau — Germaine’s Luau

For an authentic Hawaiian feast, head to Germaine’s Luau, where a whole pig is cooked the traditional way in an underground oven called an imu. The process starts with preheating the oven with lava rocks and charcoal. Then a whole hog is salted, layered with rocks inside the cavity, and placed on a bed of banana stalks, then covered with banana leaves, burlap, a tarp and finally sand. After eight hours of cooking time, it is ceremonially unearthed and served.

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Authentic Hawaiian Luau

Rotisserie Chicken — Mike’s Huli Huli Chicken

Guy heads back to Mike’s Huli Huli Chicken stand, which inspired him to create his own rotisserie oven at home. Owner Mike Fuse brines birds in salt and lemon juice overnight. They’re then coated with a rub that includes paprika, cumin, oregano, pepper and cayenne, before getting strung on a spit and placed on his custom oven. The chicken cooks for about 40 minutes over local Hawaiian wood. When they’re done, it is “the crispiest chicken that anybody will every try that’s not been fried,” says Guy.

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Mike’s Huli Chicken

Fried Poke — Like Poke…?

At Maui’s Like Poke…?, a food truck run by former pro-surfer Danny Kalahiki, you’ll find the freshest poke around. His classic recipe starts with yellowfin tuna and includes red onion and watercress. But he uses that same dish to create two other dishes: The Poke Bake has a layer of everything sauce on top that’s baked in the oven. And the Fried Poke is thinly coated in flour, fried and topped with crack sauce.

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Like Poke?

Filipino Pork Lechon Special — Elena’s

At Elena’s, owners Richard Butuyan and his sister Melissa Cedillo keep their family heritage alive by cooking their mom Elena’s Filipino favorites, including the Pork Lechon Special. It begins with huge chunks of pork belly, first boiled, then deep fried. It’s cut up into bits and combined with tomatoes, onions, scallions and sea salt, and served atop pork adobo fried rice. “It’s like a chicharron, a rib and bacon at the same time,” Guy said of the pork belly.

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Mama Elena’s Lechon Special

Glazed Mandrian Duck Confit — Uahi Island Grill

At Uahi Island Grill, it’s all about classics with a twist, like the Glazed Mandarin Duck Confit. The recipe begins with cooking the duck in its own fat, but with the addition of star anise. The orange glaze includes rice vinegar, shoyu, ginger and more star anise. Once the duck legs are crisped on the flat top, they’re served with rice, Chinese broccoli and the orange glaze.

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Red Curry Grilled Fish