Hot Dogs in Paradise

HONOLULU, Hawaii --- GlobeGators has temporarily come out of retirement while vacationing in the land of surf and volcanoes, an island paradise popularized by Gidget but growing in stature as the birthplace of Obama. What has prompted this move? Was it the discovery of the Baskin Robbins where our nation's president once held a part-time job? Was it a particularly striking photo of lava and waterfalls that we felt compelled to share with our global readership? No. We resurrected the blog for a more important reason than mere tourism. This one goes back to our days as food critics: We found a really terrific hot-dog stand. Puka Dog, in the mid-Waikiki section of Honolulu, may even have supplanted Mustard's Last Stand (of Evanston, Ill.) as our favorite hot-dog stand of all time.

Technically, the storefront does not actually serve hot dogs per se, but Polish sausages (or, for the island's many vegetarians, meatless dogs). Puka Dog is our favorite kind of eatery, an unassuming hole in the wall behind a seventies-era strip mall. The "puka" in its name means "hole", and comes from the hole poked in a dinner-roll sized bun, toasted to perfection on a special spiky contraption behind the counter that handles several buns at once. Customers choose from an assortment of spices and toppings, injected into the bun from pumps that look like beer taps at a bar. I chose jalapeno spice, star fruit relish and lilikoi Hawaiian mustard. It was heavenly. Our choice was further validated by the guidebook, which told us that celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, when given the opportunity to dine anywhere in Honolulu, set out for Puka Dog.