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D Green’s BBQ, situated in Old Koloa Town, Koloa, Hawaii, presents itself as a venue for southern-style BBQ, integrated with the unique flavors imparted by local lychee wood. Chef Darren Green, with over three decades in the culinary industry, offers a menu that includes brisket, ribs, and pulled pork among other staple BBQ items, and emphasizes a distinctive, Hawaiian-influenced BBQ approach through a signature slow-and-low lychee wood smoking technique.

In a segment hosted by Amanda Smith on Kaua‘i TV, Chef Darren Green delineated the offerings and practices of D Green’s BBQ. The chef succinctly summed up his menu, stating, “We serve brisket, pulled pork, ribs, chicken, sausage, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, coleslaw, all the staples.” His culinary approach provides a canvas to explore the confluence of traditional BBQ with local ingredients. A particular emphasis is placed on the establishment’s BBQ sauce, which is available in three heat variants and, according to Green, is an amalgamation of “all the regions of barbecue in a bottle” with “the predominant flavor [being] pineapple juice.”

One highlight of the BBQ menu, the brisket, undergoes a 20-hour cooking process and employs a spice rub consisting of around “40 different spices.” Green details the care taken to achieve a specific outcome with the brisket, noting, “you get the best of both worlds, you get a little bit of lean and you get a little bit of fatty. This will turn into like almost bacon when it’s done cooking for another two and a half hours.”

Chef Green also shared his practice of utilizing lychee wood in his smoking technique, acknowledging that it imparts a “sweet smoke” to the meats. The meticulous preparation and cooking processes culminate in dishes that Smith described as having a bacon flavor, being “definitely smoky,” and meat that “melts in my mouth, literally.”

The sauces, which notably incorporate Trinidad Scorpion peppers grown by Green himself, are formulated to deliver recognizable but manageable heat. Describing the spiciest variant, Green said, “It’s insanely hot, so I only use a small amount, just enough so that you know there’s some heat there but not enough so that it’s like, ‘Oh my god, I gotta go get a glass of milk.’”

D Green’s BBQ finds its ethos rooted in a harmonization of traditional Louisiana and southern comfort food with Hawaiian culinary innovation, providing a gastronomic exploration of both familiarity and novelty. Smith noted the establishment’s atmosphere as a “barbecue oasis” and encapsulated the perceptible aroma, suggesting, “we should bottle that bacon, just sell it as perfume.” This suggestion, while ostensibly lighthearted, underscores the deeply ingrained nature of sensory experiences in memory and familiarity, an element inherently tied to the act of dining.

While the segment on Kaua‘i TV concludes with a palpable enthusiasm for the dishes sampled and a spirited endorsement from the host, it nonetheless provides an unscripted and firsthand account of the offerings at D Green’s BBQ, illuminating the culinary philosophies and practices therein. The establishment, through a careful marriage of traditional and innovative practices, seeks to carve out a distinctive space within the culinary tapestry of Hawaii.

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Nestled in Kapa’a town, the Musubi Truck has garnered attention for its unique spin on a longstanding Hawaiian staple: the musubi. SPAM, a protein that found its way into the diets of Hawaiians during the 1940s wartime, evolved into a culinary mainstay, and by the 1980s, it was being crafted into SPAM musubi by local innovators like Barbara of Jonihana, after whom the Musubi Truck is affectionately named. As Nicolette, one of the craftspeople behind the Musubi Truck, shared with Amanda Smith, host of Kauai TV, “Spam came to Hawaii in the 1940s during wartime, and it quickly became the main staple protein for locals.” Nicolette illustrated how the truck has shifted from the classical SPAM, rice, and nori composition towards something more gourmet, yet still anchored in tradition.

While the Musubi Truck pays homage to the traditional SPAM musubi, known colloquially as the OG Spam musubi, its offerings veer into innovative territories. An example of this innovation is the Ahi Katsu Musubi. Nicolette detailed the process, stating, “We got fresh fish from local fishermen. We have a slew of them that keep in touch with us. It’s panko’d and fried and then tucked into the rice and wrapped with the nori with a little furikake again on top and a katsu sauce.” The meticulous crafting of each musubi, from careful rice pressing to adroit nori wrapping, yields a harmonious blend of crunchy and soft textures, warmly enfolding the palate.

Contrastingly, their Ahi poke bowl, which Nicolette described as having “cold, crisp Ahi on the warm rice with the furikake, Hawaiian salt, just a touch of it so that you taste it every other bite,” is a different kind of culinary experience yet still revered by both tourists and locals. The juxtaposition of the cool Ahi with the warmth of the rice provides a notable variation, establishing the Musubi Truck not just as a one-note wonder but a place where tradition and innovation harmoniously reside side by side.

The truck, while primarily a food service entity, extends its influence beyond the culinary realm through community involvement, particularly via their “Feed Our Keiki” program. Nicolette shared with Smith, “Since we’re close to the skatepark and the middle school, they all come flowing through here, and we’ve really become a place for them that’s safe.” Through the program, children in the vicinity, either from the skatepark or the school, are provided with a nourishing meal, comprising of the original Spam musubi, chips, and a drink. The initiative is not just about feeding the youth but also about providing a safe and welcoming space, weaving a tapestry where sustenance and community converge.

In a realm where food, tradition, and community interfuse, the Musubi Truck finds its niche, offering not merely a meal but an experience, a connection to the roots and evolution of Hawaiian culinary arts, and a warm embrace to the community it serves. This synthesis of culinary innovation, respect for tradition, and community integration delineates a unique path in which the Musubi Truck navigates, meandering through the tastes and spirits of Kaua’i, crafting not just food, but narratives enveloped in nori, sprinkled with furikake, and imbued with the essence of aloha.

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