Beachgrass Cafe   

Just a few blocks from the beach, the Beach Grass Cafe appears unprepossessing from the street, but offers up tantalizing menu items and soothing decor for those seeking something a bit more adventurous than the average cafe fare. The owners have gone to great lengths to please discerning palates, with offerings that roam through breakfast, lunch and dinner. Starters include savory dishes like spicy fire shrimp with mashed potatoes, tomato and corn relish and cilantro oil and Kailua pork tostados with caramelized red onion and cilantro-jalapeno cream sauce. Breakfast offerings are downright decadent, ranging from chiliquilles made with corn tortillas, homemade red sauce, asiago cheese and scrambled egg to the Beach Benedict with fresh crab cake, tomato slice and poached egg with BGC hollandaise. The most fantastic flapjack in town is their pineapple upside-down pancake. Chunks of pinapple and brown sugar are dropped into the batter on the griddle so that once it's flipped, the sugar caramelizes over the fruit, forming a sureal flavor and candied texture. Lunch and dinner entrees include dishes like the fried calamari roll-up sandwich, homemade scallop and shrimp ravioli with lemon-thyme cream and tomato relish and the spicy pork chop with serrano-apple chutney. The interior is a treat for the eyes, with an open kitchen running the length of the long shining room and friendly, competent wait-staff put the icing on the cake.