Wednesday, May 28, 2014

On the Inundation of Local Eateries by Tourists

Nice little column by Denby Fawcett "lamenting" the tourist inundation of local food joints: "Our Favorite Local Hangouts Are Overrun With Tourists."  Umami doesn't think this makes them "tourist traps" in the sense of "place-that-exploits-tourists."  Rather, these are just good places to eat that worked their way from "good place" to "locals place" to "local foodie place" to "destination foodie place."

Umami, though, is amused that she fails to mention Boot and Kimo's, perhaps the first of the breakfast joints flooded by busloads of tourists.  Boots was crammed into a small space in Kailua and grew so popular that waits easily ran 45 minutes.  In 2009, it moved to a space that was twice as large.  Umami visited the new digs in 2010 (The Post:  Hangover Remedy!) and the wait was still 45 minutes.  Crazy.

Umami doesn't go by Boots much anymore.  He and Elle do go by Moena Cafe (The Post:  Moena Cafe Corned Beef Hash) for breakfast.  If the wait is too long, Zippy's is right next door.  We are talking about breakfast, after all.