Sweet Home Waimanalo

Sweet Home Waimanalo, homestyle slow-cooked BBQ. N. Maxwell.

It's about time that a place like Sweet Home Waimanalo opened up in Nalo town.

This simple, sweet little, country-style cafe is definitely worth a stop as you drive along East Oahu's most beautiful coastline on your way between the windward side and town.

Look for a pair of colorful, painted horses, a vintage car, and sign that says "BBQ" (it's right after Bellows if you're coming from Kailua and across from the Polo Field).

Sweet Home shares space with the Naturally Hawaiian Art Gallery, featuring artist Patrick Ching's nature art (it's worth checking out while you're waiting for your order, you'll find unique paintings of turtles, monk seals, dolphins and horses).

You'll see a few colorful picnic tables outside, painted in bright orange, under some umbrellas. If you think the horses are painted differently every other week, that's because they are.

Sweet Home Waimanalo offers a simple menu, but it's stuff you won't soon forget.

There are slow-smoked BBQ plates, with sides of slow-cooked BBQ beans, corn on the cob, black bean and corn salad and bok choi slaw.

There are also smoothies, sandwiches, salads, wraps, tacos and illy coffee (and only one espresso drink, an iced mocha).

Michelle and David Campbell (Sam Choy's brewmaster), along with Patrick Shea, just opened Sweet Home Waimanalo a month ago, with a simple (and very tasty) menu.

The goal of Sweet Home is to feature local produce as much as possible (yes, of course, the greens are Nalo Greens from Dean Okimoto's farm). When we're talking local, we're talking about from Waimanalo, mostly.

The Campbells have their own farm in the back of the valley, and a friend with a catering business specializes in specialty smoked meats. One day, after a cooler full of goods fell off their truck, they started thinking about how great it would be if there was a home-style BBQ nearby. So they started talking, came up with a vision for Sweet Home Waimanalo — now it's a dream come true.

Among the Slow Smoked BBQ Plates are the Trip Tip Steak Plate ($10.25), Pulled BBQ Pork Plate ($8.25), Waimanalo Honey-Citrus Chicken Breast Plate ($8.95) and Kalua Pork Plate ($8.25). Can't decide? You can also get a Combo Plate with two meats for $9.95.

All plates come with rice or cornbread (soft and fluffy, homemade) and two side dishes, plus your choice of homemade BBQ sauces — Guava Chipotle, Honey-Mustard or Beer BQ.

One word describes the Tri Tip Steak Plate — satisfying. I loved the Guava Chipotle sauce. As for the Waimanalo Honey-Citrus Chicken Breast Plate, the chicken breast was tender, and cooked just right,. Maybe not everyone would be into the honey-citrus marinade.

The sides — the Bok Choi slaw was a new twist on your more common cabbage slaw, and it was crisp and fresh, without being too drippy. The slow-cooked BBQ beans were smoky and sweet (and quite addicting). Who wouldn't love the purple Okinawan Sweet Potato and Mango Chutney Salad? This is comfort food that will put you to sleep after you finish.

Smoothies include a rich Peanut Butter Bellows (peanut butter, bananas, soy milk, chocolate) or Makapuu Point made from real fruit (papayas, mangos, pineapple, bananas and pineapple juice). There is also an Acai Bowl (which is becoming more available everywhere from the North Shore to Waikiki), but haven't tried it yet.

Beverages include Waimanalo Plantation iced tea, fountain drinks or coffee.

You can dine at one of the brightly colored picnic tables right outside (after ordering inside) and picking up your order from a trailer next door, or you can go picnic at the beach (which we did).

This place has plenty of potential and promise, and we can't wait to go back to try the other plates. Sweet Home Waimanalo is just what you hope a country cafe would offer — slow-cooked, home-cooked food made from the bounty of the lands at the foot of the Koolaus.

Extra TIDBITS

Listen to "Sweet Home Waimanalo" a play on "Sweet Home Alabama" by comedian BuLa‘ia. Don't take it too seriously.

Sweet Home Waimanalo
41-1025 Kalanianaole Hwy
(808) 259-5737
Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily
www.sweethomewaimanalo.com