Delicious Delights: Hawaiian Dishes during Restaurant Week

Restaurant week is almost over and my favorite place so far has been Pau Hana in Savage MN. First off the atmosphere in Pau Hana is laid back with a comfortable and familiar feel to it. Your seating options are the bar, dining area, and the heated patio. As tempting as it was to sit out in the heated patio, no one was out there and we enjoyed sitting at the bar so we could talk to people.

Yet again the service we received was amazing. Even though our server hadn't been there for long she was very attentive and answered our questions about the menu and drinks. My company had ordered a gimlet, which was too spicy for me (I still can't understand why people would drink spicy cocktails) and I had an old-fashioned sort of drink with fig-infused whiskey. I'm not much of a dark liquor drinker but I like to try new things when I go out and it was delightfully good. What bothers me about traditional old fashions is the bourbon, it's one of the only liquors that'll make me turn my head and scrunch my face as it burns down my throat (yikes). However, to my surprise, the fig really carried this drink and added the right amount of sweetness that distracted me from the fact that I was really drinking whiskey on the rocks. I think I even saw a couple of hairs on my chest after that and I'm proud!

Now to the food. Oh man if I have one thing to pick from this restaurant it's the pork lumpia. The meat was so tender a juicy and it was paired with a sweet chili sauce that packed a little punch, nestled on top of a bed of Hawaiian slaw. Once you're done using the sauce for the lumpia pour the rest on the slaw and you're in for a delicious combination of flavors. For my 2nd course, I chose the poke pizza. Now the biggest reason I decided to order this was to try something I won't be offered often. The menu presented for Restaurant Week at Pau Hana was for that alone and none of those dishes are on the regular menu. The poke pizza had a tomato base, cheese, carrots, crispy wontons, and nice-sized thunks of bluefin tuna. Our server told us bluefin tuna is like the steak of the sea and she couldn't be more right. As odd as it would seem to have tuna on a pizza, I was hooked after the first bite. That initial taste had me taken aback as most of my tuna is either canned or raw this had thrown me for a second. But after demolishing my first slice I couldn't stop myself from eating almost the whole thing.

Last but not least our 3rd course was the ube pana cotta. Again, I am trying something I don't really like. While ube is quite delicious they have paired it with a light and smooth coconut cream. I am not a fan of coconut. Unless it's a pina colada I'm not going anywhere near it. However, the urge to try something new and challenge my tastebuds won and I ordered it. I'm so glad I did, the combination of coconut and ube was fascinatingly delightful. The coconut cream wasn't overpowering (thank God) and light enough I could actually handle the cream on its own. The presentation was the best part as it had a thick layer of coconut cream at the bottom, a thin layer of ube cream at the top, and a bit of granola and a small yellow flower at the top.

This is most definitely a restaurant I will return to and make it my mission to try everything on the menu. I was delighted to find out that the owner Chris Ikeda won the 2022 Heritage Fire Festival and now I have an event to track for next year. Thank you Pau Hana for participating in Restaurant Week!