Dakine Sugar Shack

Hawaii is always referred to as the melting pot of the Pacific. Why? Because the islands are comprised of the many cultures which settled there...the Hawaiians, first. Followed in no particular order by the different ethnic races, Asians who came over to labor under the haole, (that's whitey to you), in the sugar cane and pineapple fields, along with the assortment of smaller waves of immigrants as word of the islands flew around the sailing nations. With each arrival came the defining foods of the migrating cultures. In 1876, the first band of Portuguese arrived from the Azores. Never mind their linguisa. Or the sweet bread. The 'Portugees' (the locals never EVA call them by any other name) brought with them a small doughy fried bread product which leap frogged right into Hawaiian legend lore: the malasada. In 1952 Leonard's Bakery of Kapahulu started frying up those golden balls of deliciousness. It was like, well, the 2nd coming. Pink boxes filled with the round pastry (no hole) nuggets flew off the shelves. You can take the motley donut, and the other malasada wannabe, the benet and stuff it. Eaten warm or hot, the malasada is a little spongy, a bit chewy and covered in granules and granules of sugar which coats your car seat, your favorite t-shirt, or your tutu's (grandmother) kitchen table. It's the one of the first places locals go to sweeten up their day. I always return to the malasada whenever I'm in the islands. Like Proust's madeline, it's deja vu all over again.