Diners, Drive-ins & Dives - Bobby's Hawaiian Style

Monday, November 1, 2010 - 
As you may remember, when I travel, I love to try places that I've seen on the Food Network. The FN is the default channel in my house - even when I'm not watching tv, it is on for background noise.  And when nothing really is on (which is difficult when you have a full DVR like hubs and I,) I turn to FN for something I'm sure to be entertained with (or the Travel Network, the other default.)

When hubs and I were in Seattle, after spending some time on Friday Harbor and at La Conner Brewery, I quickly pulled up the "Guy Ate Here" app and searched for the closest Triple D restaurant - Bobby's Hawaiian Style Restaurant popped up.  I looked at hubs - he nodded - we were on our way!
It was definitely a "hole in the wall, off the main street" type of place, but what do you expect when it has been featured on Triple D?  We made our way inside and were greeted by the nicest woman I have ever been in contact with.  We were warmly greeted and ushered to our table.  There were only two other groups there (one was a large family and the other were three individuals who looked like they belonged in the mafia - no joke) so it was quiet, which is exactly what we were looking for.  Our server (aka - the nicest woman ever) took our order quickly and we enjoyed a great conversation while our tummy's growled in anticipation.
 
We both ordered a two item combo. Hubs got his with the Hawaiian bar-b-que pork and Kalbi ribs...
...while I ordered the Kalbi ribs and Mochi chicken.  'Nicest woman ever' said that these are the two top sellers, so I went for it.

The ribs were meaty and delicious.  Hubs got a better slab then I did, but I couldn't even pick around the bones since it just fell off on its own.  They were really good with a subtle, mild barbecue flavor to them.  But it didn't need a sauce since they were so tender and well seasoned.  And the chicken?  At first, I thought it was the best fried chicken of my life.  But I couldn't eat it all because it quickly got too sweet for me.  The batter that was used to fry the chicken had to have had a lot of sugar to give them the flavor, and it was too much for me to handle after a few bites.  Hubs pulled pork was utterly fantastic.  It was a hefty serving of tender pork that was well seasoned in its own juices.  Think comfort food, because it was not only smoked slowly, but entirely too tender for its own good.  Delicious.  In addition to the generous portions, we were also served a creamy macaroni salad (that lacked in flavor, it was so heavy with mayo) and two scoops of plain rice which was great with the ribs.

Totally reasonable in pricing, we left our "dive" with happy stomachs and a still-full wallet.  It is always great to try places that we would have never found, and if we did, probably never try on our own without some encouragement from the FN.

When you travel, do you research restaurants in advance, drop in on wherever, or do a little bit of both?