After four straight days of seafood and asian cuisine, our cravings took a sharp turn for classic American fare- juicy hamburgers. Jameson’s is a small casual restaurant perched right on the beach overlooking the ocean on the North Shore. While all of our family members can appreciate the classic combination of burgers and beer, our hunger pangs struck earlier than usual today, causing us to stop for an early lunch. Thus, we swapped our beers for some brunch time mimosas. The champagne flutes were served empty with individual champagne bottles and a teapot full of fresh squeezed orange juice. As part of the fun, we were able to mix our own preferred ratios of juice to champagne.
The tender and perfectly cooked burgers topped with large slices of cheddar cheese hit just the spot. The burgers were cooked to the perfect medium and were just the right combination of lean and fatty meat. The cole slaw was tossed with fresh island pineapple and the fries held a piping hot crunch.
To finish up our outing to the North Shore we stopped in town to visit the shave ice joint that we remembered so lovingly from our last visit to Hawaii. Matsumoto’s Shave Ice is located in what appears to be a simple tin-roofed warehouse-like shack. Yet, the popularity of its sweet desserts is evident by the densely packed line spilling from the store and curving down the street. The well trained staff can be seen deftly shaping shave ice mounds and doling them out to their many customers in over 30 flavors.
What we had been anxiously waiting in line for was the Green Tea Special. The special includes a large helping of green tea shave ice topped with vanilla ice cream, azuki beans, mochi balls (chewy white rice cakes), and a topping of sweet condensed milk. The refreshing quality and diversity of textures within the bowl are perhaps the most important aspects of this summer dessert. In a perfect spoonful one would have a bit of the earthy and crunchy ice, a dollop of the creamy ice cream, and one or two of the syrupy azuki. As the ice cream and shave ice melted in the heat, there was a hurried scramble to gather spoonfuls of the treat containing each of the ingredients. 