I was having dinner at Mr. Ojisan on Kapahulu Avenue — one of my favorite Japanese restaurants, by the way — and faced a dilemma:
Should I order the chicken katsu or the tonkatsu?
It was a legitimate discussion in my head. On the one hand, the chicken version is juicy and flavorful. But tonkatsu done right is pretty hard to beat.
So I ordered both.
But it got me thinking about the choices we make when it comes to food — and what we would ultimately choose if we had to pay for it.
So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to pair up some foodie choices and let’s see which ones come out on top.
Here’s the list. Respond with your picks!
• Chicken katsu or pork katsu
• Malassadas from Leonard’s Bakery malassadas or Champion Malasadas
• Chunky or creamy peanut butter
• Aloha or Kikkoman shoyu
• Best Foods mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
• Thick crust or thin crust for your pizza
• Spring rolls or summer rolls
• The edges or the inside pieces of brownies
• Heinekin or Primo
• Milk chocolate or dark chocolate
• Saimin or ramen (read Mari Taketa’s post about this)
• Red curry or yellow curry
• Shiromiso (white miso) or akamiso (red miso)
• Ketchup or mustard on hot dogs
• Spaghetti or angel hair pasta
• Chocolate or vanilla ice cream
• Red or white sauce on pizza
• Sweet potatoes or yams
• Hot custard pie or cold custard pie
I’m sure there are way more choices — but let’s stick with this list for now. Part 2 could be coming soon!
***
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29 Comments
CAT: Pork, Champion, chunky, Aloha, Best, thin, summer, edge, Heineken, dark, ramen, yellow, white, mustard, angel, chocolate, white, yam, cold
NSHNL or PULSE?
Chicken, Leonard’s, creamy peanut butter, Aloha shoyu, Best foods mayo, Thin crust, Summer Rolls, edge part, Heineken, Dark chocolate, Ramen, Yellow curry, white miso, mustard, Angel hair, Chocolate ice cream, red sauce, sweet potatoes, cold custard
Cody chooses the following :
Chicken katsu
• Malassadas from Leonard’s Bakery•
creamy peanut butter•
Kikkoman shoyu•
Best Foods mayonnaise
• Thick crust or thin crust for your pizza• either one I”m happy
Spring rolls
• The edges brownies•
Heinekin or Primo• none of these
Milk chocolate•
ramen
yellow curry•
Shiromiso (white miso)
Ketchup or mustard on hot dogs• either one I’m happy
angel hair pasta•
Chocolate ice cream
• Red sauce on pizza•
Sweet potatoes or yams• neither, both are horrid to Cody
cold custard pie
Chicken katsu or pork katsu• Tonkatsu
Malassadas from Leonard’s Bakery malassadas or Champion Malasadas• Leonards
Chunky or creamy peanut butter• Creamy
Aloha or Kikkoman shoyu• Aloha for adding to fuud, Kikkoman for cooking
Best Foods mayonnaise or Miracle Whip• Best Fuuds
Thick crust or thin crust for your pizza• Thin crust
Spring rolls or summer rolls• I’ll have both
The edges or the inside pieces of brownies• I’ll eat the whole thing
Heinekin or Primo• I don’t drink
Milk chocolate or dark chocolate• Milk chocolate
Saimin or ramen (read Mari Taketa’s post about this)• I’ll have both
Red curry or yellow curry• I’ll have both
Shiromiso (white miso) or akamiso (red miso)• I’ll have both
Ketchup or mustard on hot dogs• I’ll have both on my hot dogs
Spaghetti or angel hair pasta• Depends on what I’m have with it.
Chocolate or vanilla ice cream• Chcolate
Red or white sauce on pizza• Red sauce
Sweet potatoes or yams• yams
Hot custard pie or cold custard pie It doesn’t matter hot or cold
Suffering from choice overload on Cat’s menu today, I can only offer that I just had to choose between a tomato and mozarella panini or a ham and swiss panini. Went with the ham and swiss because the mustard is delightful. I know that wasn’t the question. Sorry.
wow…lot’s of “it depends” answers. a few easy ones, though.
• Chicken katsu or pork katsu: if done right, can’t beat tonkatsu. to be sure of decent juicy katsu, though, go with chicken.
• Malassadas from Leonard’s Bakery malassadas or Champion Malasadas: champions, usually, but leonard’s aint bad
• Chunky or creamy peanut butte: chunky
• Aloha or Kikkoman shoyu: Kikkoman
• Best Foods mayonnaise or Miracle Whip: Best Foods
• Thick crust or thin crust for your pizza: thick like “not thin” or thick like chicago style deep dish? deep dish is another genre altogether, and sometimes it hits the spot, but I’ll usually go ny style.
• Spring rolls or summer rolls: again, it depends, but you can’t go wrong with deep fried.
• The edges or the inside pieces of brownie: edges
• Heinekin or Primo: Heinekin
• Milk chocolate or dark chocolate: dark
• Saimin or ramen (read Mari Taketa’s post about this): again…it depends. late night, after a few beverages, saimin. as a meal I look forward to, though, ramen
• Red curry or yellow curry: yellow
• Shiromiso (white miso) or akamiso (red miso): aka
• Ketchup or mustard on hot dog: mustard. chicago style dogs rule
• Spaghetti or angel hair pasta: depends on the sauce.
• Chocolate or vanilla ice cream: chocolate
• Red or white sauce on pizza: red
• Sweet potatoes or yams: sweet potatoes…in a pie
• Hot custard pie or cold custard pie: usually hot, but cold custard pie as a breakfast the next day is hard to beat.
pork, Leonard’s, creamy, Kikkoman, BestFoods (Helman’s), thin (pepperoni always), spring, edges, Heinekin, dark, ramen, yello, shiromiso, mustard, spaghetti, chocolate, red, yams, cold.
wow, i think i’m only one ephiphany away from a paradigm shift. i did not really know myself until this moment. thank you CAT.
This is quite the list!
• pork katsu
• Leonard’s
• Chunky peanut butter
• either shoyu
• neither Best Foods mayonnaise nor Miracle Whip — homemade aioli
• thin crust pizza
• summer rolls
• inside pieces of brownies
• neither Heinekin nor Primo
• milk chocolate
• ramen
• yellow curry
• shiromiso
• mustard
• either spaghetti or angel hair pasta — spaghetti for heartier dishes, and angel hair pasta for lighter ones
• vanilla ice cream
• either red or white sauce on pizza
• either sweet potatoes or yams
• cold custard pie
pork katsu
Tex Drive-In malasadas
chunky peanut butter
Aloha shoyu
Best Foods mayo
Thick crust pizza
Spring rolls
Edge piece brownies
Heineken
dark chocolate
saimin
yellow curry
mustard on hot dogs (ketchup?!?!)
spaghetti
chocolate ice cream
red sauce
yams
cold custard pie
@hawaii2000 You cheated with Tex Drive-In!
@Cat Maybe so but . . . I win! Besides, anyone from Honokaa knows it’s a Portagee town so how could they NOT make the best malasadas?? (I Portagee myself so nobody give me heat!)
Chicken katsu, creamy, Aloha shoyu, Best Foods, thin crust, spring rolls, brownie edges, dark chocolate, ramen, red curry, shiro miso, mustard, angel hair, chocolate ice cream, red sauce, sweet potatoes, cold custard; here’s my cornucopia, or should I say calabash bowl, of pairing preferences in the great debate over island-style foods.
pork katsu, Leonard’s, Chunky, Kikkoman, Best Foods, thin crust, summer rolls, inside pieces, Primo, dark chocolate, ramen, yellow curry, akamiso, Ketchup and mustard on hot dogs, Chocolate, Red, yams, cold custard pie … but there are way too many bees that are some much better than Heine and Primo.
is it too late to vote for Punahou Carnival malasadas?
a worthy foodie post. do not ever tell me again that u’re not a foodie :>
@nonstopMari Mari, Cat actually said she’s not a foodie?! That is just wrong on so many levels.
@Maxcat @nonstopmari I don’t feel like I’m a foodie. I just like to eat. Mari’s a foodie. You have to not only like food but understand it.
Chicken katsu or pork katsu — push, depends on who makes it
Malassadas from Leonard’s Bakery malassadas or Champion Malasadas — Leonard’s
Chunky or creamy peanut butter — creamy, though I like chunky too
Aloha or Kikkoman shoyu — Kikkoman
Best Foods mayonnaise or Miracle Whip — Best foods
Thick crust or thin crust for your pizza — thick crust, but depends on the maker as well
Spring rolls or summer rolls — Spring rolls
The edges or the inside pieces of brownies — edge
Heinekin or Primo — N/A
Milk chocolate or dark chocolate — Milk
Saimin or ramen (read Mari Taketa’s post about this) — push, depends on who makes it
Red curry or yellow curry — yellow
Shiromiso (white miso) or akamiso (red miso) — don’t care
Ketchup or mustard on hot dogs — both
Spaghetti or angel hair pasta — spaghetti, but depends
Chocolate or vanilla ice cream — chocolate
Red or white sauce on pizza — red sauce
Sweet potatoes or yams — sweet potatoes
Hot custard pie or cold custard pie — cold
• Chicken katsu
• Malassadas from Leonard’s Bakery
• Chunky peanut butter
• Aloha or Kikkoman shoyu (take yer pick)
• Best Foods mayonnaise or Miracle Whip (Is this a choice between Best FOods and Kraft, or mayo or Miracle Whip? ’cause only Kraft makes Miracle Whip). I choose Kraft Mayonaise over all–fat free of course!
• Thick crust or thin crust for your pizza (depends on from where? Papa John’s Thin curst, but Pizza Hut’s thick)
• Spring rolls
• the inside pieces of brownies
• Heinekin
• Milk chocolate
• Saimin
• yellow curry
• Shiromiso (white miso) or akamiso (red miso)–ICK!!! Me no like Miso
• Ketchup or mustard on hot dogs–BOTH!!!
• Spaghetti
• Chocolate ice cream
• Red sauce on pizza
• Sweet potatoes
• cold custard pie
pork katsu
Malassadas from Leonard’s Bakery
Chunky peanut butter
Aloha shoyu
No like mayonnaise
Thick crust pizza
Spring rolls
Everything about brownies
Qingdao or Singha
Dark chocolate
ramen
Red curry or yellow curry served at Radisson Panwa Beach
Shiromiso
Chili rice hot dogs
Angel hair pasta
Blue Bunny Pistachio ice cream or B&J Chunky Monkey
Red sauce on pizza
No like sweet potatoes or yams
Hot custard pie or cold custard pie, no matter
pulled pork sandwiches
And life isn’t complete without hot pot served in Chongqing, PRC.
In Japan I ate Tonkatsu from this restaurant and it was so tender it just melted in my mouth and it was so tasty I didn’t use any sauce because it would have ruined it.
@M that sounds exactly like a description for excellent sushi!
.• Chicken katsu •
Champion Malasadas •
Chunky peanut butter
• Aloha shoyu •
Best Foods mayonnaise
thin crust for your pizza •
Spring rolls •
The edges of brownies •
Heinekin
• Milk chocolate
Saimin•
yellow curry •
Shiromiso (white miso)
Ketchup on hot dogs •
angel hair pasta •
vanilla ice cream •
Red sauce on pizza •
Sweet potatoes •
Hot custard pie
pork katsu- it has more flavor and tends to have less fat
Leonards- It’s what I grew up with
Aloha Shoyu-has a sweeter, less salty taste than Kikkoman
Mayonaise-Miracle Whip tastes too “chemical-like”
thin crust on most pizzas, but thicker the better if it’s Chicago-Style
Summer Rolls-it’s more refreshing to me…
Brownie edges-I like the chewier parts.
Primo-don’t much like Heineken, unless it’s Heineken Dark
Dark Chocolate-more chocolate flavor, less sugariness.
Ramen-more stuff, and you can’t go wrong w/ Ramen and Gyoza.
Yellow Curry if I had to choose, but Japanese Curry is the BEST
Akamiso-saltier and more flavorful
neither, I eat my hotdogs plain
Angel Hair w/ browned butter and mizithra cheese please!
chocolate ice cream (Gelato if possible)
Red Sauce on pizza
Sweet Potato Fries FTW
Cold Custard Pie
• Chicken katsu – even though I like tonkatsu, pork is off my diet
• Champion Malasadas
• Chunky peanut butter
• Aloha – local is good
• Best Foods mayonnaise – Miracle Whip – yuck!
• thin crust for your pizza- too much carb not good for me.
• summer rolls – gotta avoid fried
• The edges brownies- I like the crunch
• Heinekin – don’t drink beer but when I did, I didn’t care for Primo
• dark chocolate – either is good but I guess dark is better for the health
• Saimin – if it’s fresh
• yellow curry – no preference but yellow if I have to make a choice
• Shiromiso (white miso) – think I like the milder taste
• mustard on hot dogs – ketchup has sugar – bad for me
• angel hair pasta – I like thin
• Chocolate – I’m a chocoholic
• white sauce on pizza- I don’t care for the tomato sauce in my older years
• Sweet potatoes – but yams at thanksgiving
• cold custard pie – hot is too mushy
Thing I like…
pork katsu
Champion Malasadas
Chunky peanut butter
Kikkoman
Thick crust
Spring rolls
The edges
Heinekin
dark chocolate
Saimin
yellow curry
akamiso (red miso)
mustard on hot dogs
angel hair pasta
Chocolate cream
white sauce on pizza
Sweet potatoes
Hot custard pie
These fun blogs.
I gotta say, this wasn’t easy! And more than that, I’m surprised at how split everyone is on the answers!
So here are my picks: (I can’t believe I didn’t include them earlier!)
• Pork katsu
• I’m going to pick malassadas from Leonard’s Bakery though Champion is probably more consistently good.
• Chunky
• Aloha
• Best Foods mayonnaise
• Thin crust
• Spring rolls
• The edges of brownies
• Heinekin or Primo: NEITHER
• Dark chocolate
• Ramen
• Yellow curry
• Shiromiso (white miso)
• Ketchup (and relish) on hot dogs
• Angel hair pasta
• Chocolate ice cream
• Red sauce on pizza
• Sweet potatoes
• Cold custard pie
Now I’m hungry!
Pork Katsu
Leonard’s Bakery – it’s what I grew up on…
Chunky
Aloha – unless we’re talking Kikkoman Gold
Best Foods mayonnaise
Thick crust – only from Zachary’s or Gino’s East, otherwise Thin crust
Spring rolls
The edges of brownies
Heinekin – it’s what I grew up on…I mean…ahhh…
Milk chocolate
Saimin – if in Hawaii, if not Ramen
Curry – NEITHER
Shiromiso (white miso)
Mustard on hot dogs – Bertman Ballpark Mustard
Angel hair pasta
Chocolate ice cream
Red sauce on pizza
Sweet potatoes
Cold custard pie
I must sound like a friggin’ commercial…
this is a test comment, will delete