Eat @ Heeia Pier

I’d heard about Heeia Pier about a million times before we actually made it out there. For one, I’m never in Kaneohe during the middle of the day, and two, I am total moron. For not coming here sooner.

Don’t be a moron. Eat at Heeia Pier.

Most people don’t take the Kaneohe Bay Drive Road. It’s much quicker to go the highway route, and has less curves. Sometimes you’ll get stuck behind a tourist (slowing down at every view) or just Gramma Tanaka on a Sunday drive. But it is a nice view, and if I wasn’t usually racing everywhere I went, I would take this road slow, too.

We decided to hit the pier to go fishing, as Jake just recently got Amaya a fishing pole, and eat at Heeia pier too. I won’t lie. I went for the food.

Fishing is a funny thing for us. I mostly only like my fish raw, and I only trust other people to serve it to me that way, so we don’t buy fish. And then there’s the fact that Jake doesn’t like fish either. We were planning on a catch and release session, but there wasn’t any catching to do.

An older guy caught two fish in the first 20 minutes that we were there, and we didn’t see anyone else catch a thing. We didn’t try too hard, but the kids liked being there anyway.

We also realized that fishing is one of those things adults want to do with kids—fun in theory, but mostly impractical. Between Mozely trying to climb down right by the edge of the water and Amaya running around, not even holding the pole once, we gave up pretty quick.

I went ahead and ordered. I’d heard about The Cheekeater through other Hawaii foodies, and asked for it, since it’s not on the menu. We got guava chicken and grilled beef and a tomato/eggplant salad.I took the pictures in broad daylight because I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth in.

The salad came out first. I didn’t wait. little crispy (fried? toasted) rice grains dotted the well seasoned smoky eggplant and fresh tomatoes. The flavor combination was unreal. I had to try not to eat it all. When my brother in law accidentally dropped 1 little tomato I cried. He got me another salad.

I claimed the first bites of the hamburger. The Cheekeater is named after another chef (his nickname). The burger itself was soft, lined with onions, and so tender it practically fell to pieces as I ate it. The bun was toasted to a perfect crisp. I kept noticing how crispy the inside of the bun was as I was eating—it didn’t turn into a pile of mush at all. 
The burger also had thin slices of portugeuse sausage, bacon, browned spam (or some spam similar product, shredded lettuce, cheese, fry sauce, tomato, and the most beautiful egg ever. The yolk ooze put me over the top.

I didn’t share much. Maybe a few bites. I encouraged the boys to order another. I could have eaten another one, even though I was stuffed.

The guava chicken and beef were also so yummy, but I really only had eyes for that burger. I almost felt bad for them, having to be compared to the Cheekeater.