Hawaii has better pizza than most people realize.
There’s the handcrafted pies from JJ Dolan’s in Chinatown, the kiawe wood-fired pizzas from V Lounge near Ala Moana Center and the wood-fire specialities from the mobile pizzeria Inferno’s now on Kapiolani Boulevard.
But there was this little hole-in-the-wall — literally a grass shake — in Mapunapuna that we’d always head for pizza when I was in college. It has the biggest stacked pizzas around, with interesting toppings you, at the time, couldn’t get anywhere else.
But after 13 years, Big Kahuna’s Pizza moved to the Airport Trade Center — and I never went back.
Not because I didn’t like the pizza. It was just, well, different.
I hadn’t heard much about the place lately until Nonstop’s Mari Taketa wrote about the best pizzas in town — and put Big Kahuna’s in the bottom. (“Listen to everybody who tells you to get the garlic balls. Pizza here, aside from featuring the most cloyingly sweet sauces sitting atop bread — yes, bread — comes closest in composition, taste and texture to school lunch pizza in elementary school.” Ouch.)
I had to check it out for myself.
So I ventured to the airport area the other week and, against my better judgement, ate way more than I should have.
Garlic balls were awesome — but the pizza wasn’t bad, either.
Here’s what we ate:
Big Kahuna's Pizza
Big Kahuna Pizza, Airport Trade Center, 550 Paiea St. Hours: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (or until it sells out). Phone: (808) 833-5588
10 Comments
u remember that fluffy sweet pizza i brought to little oven the nite nonstop launched? THAT was big kahuna. actually ur personal pan pizzas today look like they’re sitting on actual crusts, not bread. how was the sweetness factor of the sauces?
I didn’t mind the pizza you brought to the Nonstop party, actually. Derek and I had that conversation in the car on the way home. You planted the seed early on; I only went to Big Kahuna’s the other day — almost a year later!
Definitely looks better than the school pizza I remember ….. It is amazing how much food you can consume …. LOL!
It scares me to see how much food I’ve eaten in photos later. Really scares me.
wonder how much different Pulp Fiction would have been….if it was this-pizza, and not burgers. Hmmm……
I love Big Kahuna’s! A friend of mine turned me on to it when it was still that hole in the wall in Mapunapuna. Even after the move, Big Kahuna is one of my must-stops whenever I’m in Hawai’i. My all-time favorite is Da Kanaka. Love the kalua pig. The garlic cheese balls are also so ono!
Only one more week till I’ll be able to grind some Big Kahuna’s!
I’ve loved this place for years. Their crust has a nice crunch that most pizzas lack, and they offer shrimp and kalua pig– two toppings you never see anywhere else!
My personal favorite is something I’ve nicknamed the “Shadow over Innsmouth”: their standard shrimp scampi pizza with extra anchovies!
CAT:
Aaaiiiyyyaaahhh! Fuud Pix! Tenks! Have not been since they moved. Will put it on the list of places to check out.
“Airport pizza” has a ring to it like “Amtrak pizza” does on the mainland, but Big Kahuna’s does it right. Excellent post.
Looks like a new pizza place I gotta try… and I have to sample those garlic cheese balls. Mouth is already watering!