Sure you can get bacon, ham or sausage with breakfast in Hawaii. But the menu also includes spam and often hot dogs. Not just any hot dogs, bright red ones.
The bright red hot dogs are a local favorite. I hear some are popular in other parts of the mainland, but I had never seen got dogs this color before moving to the islands. They show up in musubi at places like FatBoys and are listed as an option for the breakfast sandwich I like to get at Alakea Deli.
Until this week, I was content to pass them by. But I started wondering how they taste. Are they extra spicy? The red color might be a sign of hotness like it often is with candy.
Our campus cafeteria sells breakfast bentos that have a bed of white or brown rice, a slab of scrambled eggs and a variety of breakfast meats. I usually pick bacon but this week I went for the Spam and hot dog combination. It seemed fitting – one reason I was willing to try the hot dogs is that the Spam here is much more tasty than I imagined it would be.
This breakfast bento is more than filling and costs $4.25. I’m not sure how that compares in price to mainland breakfasts but it seems reasonable for the quantity and variety of food.
So, how was the hot dog? It tasted just like a grilled hot dog – the small, thin ones that we ate as kids. Not a fancy brat or large New York or Chicago dog, just generic hot dog. It recalled the taste of white bread buns drenched in catsup, greasy potato chips and Kool-Aid – a flash back to backyard picnics of my youth before kettle-fried chips and artisan rolls were available to upgrade the experience. It wasn’t spicy or hot, just hot-doggy and a little salty.
I’m probably gonna stick with the bacon next time.
