FoodNerd!

Duane's Ono Char-burger

oh. my. god. Best Burger Ever.

It may have been the fact that we'd been surfing all morning and were really really hungry, but even in retrospect the Local Girl burger at Duane's is well into the top 5 burgers of all time, no question about it.

First of all, the burger itself is perfect -- not too thick, just thin enough to balance with the toppings, and well-cooked. Then you factor in the usual lettuce-and-tomato being yummy because, well, you're in Hawaii, and then things just get crazy: teriyaki sauce, pineapple, swiss cheese and mayo. These add up to one insanely good treat, but really it is the combo of mayo with teriyaki that makes my eyeballs roll back into my head with the sheer deliciousness of it all. I can hardly stand it just writing about it now. Yum.

tallasiandude revealed his California roots with his choice, a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, sprouts, mayo, cheddar, and vast amounts of buttery Hawaii avocado. This too is a spectacular burger, perfectly executed.

The onion rings are some of the best we've had, super sweet, thick rings with ultra-crunchy batter, and the fries are great too. I loved my papaya-and-i-forget-what-else drink, smoothie-fied with blended ice to become cool, refreshing and energizing. The marionberry shake was the only disappointment -- it was a perfectly fine shake, but not very berry-tasting, and its okayness suffered by comparison to the superlatives of everything else.

We went at about 3 in the afternoon, so the lines weren't too bad. There's a few tables with umbrellas, but if you go when it's busy, you might want to get back in the car and head back to the beach for a picnic.

We ate a lot of good food in Hawaii, but this may rank as the single best meal of the whole trip. Viva Duane's!
Posted by foodnerd at February 5, 2008 12:45 PM