Fish Hopper

We are in beautiful Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii for my youngest brother's wedding. We are staying in a rented house, with a full kitchen, which makes it easier for us to eat gluten free. We have had decent luck with the grocery stores. We went to the KTA in Keauhou and picked up staples, including Corn Chex and gluten free bread. (I prefer Udi's, but they had Rudi's Gluten Free bread and it was refrigerated not frozen, so we were able to eat it right away.  That was a plus.) We also ran over to Target in Kailua-Kona for a new swimsuit and found a gluten free pancake mix (Maple Valley Farms). Eventually we made it to Island Naturals, a natural food grocery store, which did have Udi's and a number of other GF staples, but also had some pretty outrageous prices ($7 for a dozen eggs!?!)

For lunch we headed to The Fish Hopper by the cruise ship pier. They advertised a gluten free menu, so it was on our list of places to try. They did have a printed GF menu, which was great. It had a lot on it, which was great, but some of them were things like "terriyaki chicken -- no teriyaki sauce." Hmmmm....

"Filet Mignon" at the Fish Hopper

My brother James was with me, and he is currently on a GF trial diet. James is already a picky eater, so adding GF to his requirements makes it REALLY hard for him to find food he can eat. The Fish Hopper menu looked pretty good to him though. I suggested the herb-crusted sword-fish, but he decided to go with the filet mingon. The steak he got was tasty, but it would be a large stretch of the imagination to call it a filet mignon. It was also a tad over-cooked.  Nevertheless, it was good, and so were the garlic mashed potatoes that went with it.

Grilled Chicken with Citrus-Lemon sauce and Molokai Potatoes

  I ordered a grilled chicken breast with citrus-lemon sauce with the Molokai potatoes (mashed purple potatoes). The presentation was beautiful -- the chicken on top of mounds of purple mashed potatoes, topped with some steamed spinach -- gorgeous. The chicken was great. The potatoes were interesting. They tasted kind of like a sweet potato. I'd probably get the garlic mashed potatoes if I went back, but it was fun to try the purple potatoes. All in all, it was a successful meal.

 Sandy