Boots and Kimo's

This past Sunday my mom was craving pancakes and I was looking for an excuse to take my new car out for a drive (yes, I bought a brand new car!) so I suggested that we take a drive out to Kailua to eat at Cinnamon's. To our disappointment, once we finally made it out there we were turned away by the hostess. They were unusually busy and decided to close a half hour early. I wasn't very happy about their customer service; but they were nice enough to suggest some other Kailua hot spots for a late breakfast. And so we discovered Boots and Kimo's...

Boots and Kimo's is a very local homestyle kitchen serving breakfast all day as well as a number of plate lunch items. According to the menu, its "Maui Homestyle Cooking." How Maui cooking differs from "Oahu" cooking, I'm not sure, but that's what they call it. This place was voted "Hawaii's Best" place for pancakes by the readers of the Honolulu Advertiser as they're famous for their Macadamia Nut Pancake Sauce.



The restaurant is quite small, with diner style seating and walls lined with football memorabilia and Wheaties cereal boxes. It wasn't quite the ambience for quality mother-daughter time (the cozy, country feel of Cinnamon's would have been nicer), but the menu offerings were enough to draw us in. Now if a father and son wanted to have some male bonding time over a hot plate of hamburger steak and garlic chicken, this place might be perfect! Nonetheless, Mom and I shared a couple of dishes that were good enough to satisfy my mom's craving for breakfast food.



We had to order pancakes with the famous macadamia sauce, so we chose the short stack of Banana Pancakes ($6.99). The sauce is usually smothered over the top, but it looked a bit too sweet for my tastes, so we ordered it on the side. The pancakes were lightly sweet and filled with gooey ripe banana chunks. After tasting the sauce I think I made the right choice to order it on the side because its really rich and sweet.--its more of a frosting than a sauce. I found that the sauce was perfect for a light dip, because as the warm pancake hit the sauce, it melted and gave it a nice buttery coating. Other pancakes include regular pancakes, guava jelly pancake crepes, and strawberry pancake crepes. They also offer french toast and waffles.



Aside from their famous pancakes, Boots and Kimo's are also known for their omelettes. Our omelette was called the "Maui Wowie Omelette" which included charcoal roasted jalepeno peppers, fresh mushrooms, Kula onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, and melted swiss cheese.



The egg was cooked slightly runny, making a nice consistency for the warm, melty cheese. I especially liked the smoky flavor of the jalepenos. There are eleven other omelettes to choose from, with fillings like fresh crab with butter and mushrooms, or fresh herbs and vegetables with honey cured ham, or corned beef with onions and cheese, or chili and beans. Choose from sides of toast, hash browns, or steamed rice.

If you're not in the mood for breakfast, Boots and Kimo's also has a number of plate lunch items like grilled pork chops, teri chicken, and korean chicken. Overall, the food was nothing spectacular, it was more about the experience, really. Mom and I had a nice drive over the scenic H-3 and got to explore a side of the island that we hardly visit. It appeared to be a popular spot because people kept trying to get a seat even after they stopped seating people for the day. If local style food is your thing, its worth a try. I might prefer to check out the new crepe shop next door the next time I visit Kailua.

Boots and Kimo's
131 Hekili Street
Kailua HI 96734