‘Ono Buzz: 3 Dishes You Must Try This Month

Three things you should be eating this month.

July 2, 2015

HONOLULU Magazine Team,

Hope for Mililani

Photo: Lennie Omalza

Mililani residents are used to traveling to town for hip new eateries and bars. But what’s this, a real brewpub right in the suburbs?! For beer enthusiasts, Taps and Apps is a great spot. With more than 30 beers on tap, including a couple of homebrews, there’s something for just about everyone. The premium beer flight allowed us to taste everything from the sweet, almost juicelike Pineapple Cider to the dark, bitter Black Butte Porter. (We loved them all!) We also appreciate the fact that the draft menu lists IBUs, so even beer rookies know what they’re getting themselves into. The food’s good, too—our favorite is the crab dip. Served with housemade crostini, the warm dip has just the right amount of crab and is a perfect pūpū for beer drinking.

Taps and Apps, 95-1830 Meheula Parkway, Mililani, 626-8277, open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily

OMG Burritos

Photo: Gus Downes

If you’ve been holding your breath waiting for Chipotle to hit Hawai‘i, you might want to check out O‘ahu Mexican Grill (otherwise known as OMG). The new Mexican spot goes for that familiar “fast-casual burrito joint” feel, and mostly hits it. The kālua carnitas are made with juicy, smoky pork from Niman ranch. The steak is Big Island beef, hearty and flavorful, if a bit chewy. The chicken is likely to be the most crowd pleasing, with the perfect light texture to showcase a rich chipotle sauce made in house. Guacamole is two dollars extra, and worth it.

O‘ahu Mexican Grill, 2633 S. King St., Suite 105, omg.menu, 724-6683

Ethiopian in Honolulu, Finally

Photo: Kawehi Haug

After a short run as a pop-up on Kapahulu Avenue, Ethiopian Love has opened as a permanent sit-down restaurant in Chinatown. Decorated with white walls, black accents and a large oil painting of an elephant herd, the place is welcoming and very obviously the dining room of people who make Ethiopian food. The menu is a short list of wots, or stews, and tibs, a sort of sauté/stir fry of various chunks of meat. The wots consist mostly of stewed lentils or split peas. The tibs are beef, chicken or lamb, sautéed with various combinations of stewed veggies, including cabbage, potatoes and tomatoes, and then punctuated with garlic, onions, turmeric or berbere, an Ethiopian spice blend made from chili peppers, garlic, ginger, basil and fenugreek. The injera flatbread is not as sour as it could be, but we’ll take it.

Ethiopian Love, 1122 Smith St., entrees $11–$15, 725-7197

This article appears in the July 2015 issue of HONOLULU Magazine.