State Bliss Blog

When you think of Hawaiian food, the first items to come to mind are probably poke and musubi. But brace yourselves, mainlanders, because Slater’s 50/50 wants to add a burger to that list! In celebration of  Hawaiian Foods Week, the award-winning gastropub chain has partnered with the iconic KING'S HAWAIIAN to bring us the mac daddy of patties. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Big Island Feast. 

The burger, which serves a luau’s worth at 4 to 6 people, features a 2 ½ pound, signature 50/50 patty – named for its 50% ground beef, 50% ground bacon composition. It’s then topped with grilled pineapple, a full can of fried SPAM, cole slaw, four sunny side up eggs, and six slices of American cheese. 

Swaddled in a full KING'S HAWAIIAN Round Loaf and drizzled with teriyaki sauce, this meat behemoth is served tableside and cut as if it were a cake, like the glorious spectacle it is. As if that weren’t sufficient, it comes with a SPAM’s can worth of macaroni salad, just in case you have any room left in your stomach at all.

The result is a decadent, but well-balanced tribute to Hawaii’s unique food culture – a culinary lovechild born out of native Hawaiian cuisine blended with various cultural and ethnic influences from the island nation’s thriving immigrant population. 

If you’re not ready to devour this entire behemoth, you can order the smaller version of the burger called the “King’s Luau,” also served on King’s Hawaiian rolls.

The Big Island Feast is available through September at all Slater’s 50/50 locations, so assemble a team of fellow gluttons and indulge before it’s too late. 

Photos by Pete Pham

Created in partnership with King's Hawaiian

Dave & Buster’s has been stepping up their food game introducing new, chef-driven dishes, and they’re continuing that trend with a Hawaiian-inspired menu that features ribs loaded with pineapple and bacon.

While ribs normally come just glazed served with other sides, Dave & Buster’s Smoky BBQ Bacon Hawaiian ribs come topped with grilled pineapple slices and chunks of crispy bacon. The entire rack is glazed with KING'S HAWAIIAN Smoked Bacon BBQ Sauce and comes with caramelized mango pineapple salsa.

You can also order a smaller portion of the ribs that comes with some Crispy Hawaiian Chicken Sliders. These are made with toasted KING'S HAWAIIAN rolls and karaage-style chicken tossed in KING'S HAWAIIAN Sweet Island Ginger BBQ Sauce.

Created in partnership with King's Hawaiian.

Dog Haus, a chain renowned for their unique takes on hot dogs, has just created a fried chicken sandwich that pays tribute to an all-time movie classic.

Their new Karaage Kid, named partly in tribute to the old school karate film, takes karaage chicken, or Japanese-style fried chicken, and places it into a sandwich that has a burst of umami flavor in every bite.

Dog Haus’s Karaage Kid is a special sandwich created for Hawaiian Foods Week, and with the karaage style of frying being popular in the Aloha State, it made sense to bring it to this themed sandwich.

Apart from the karaage chicken, there’s also KING'S HAWAIIAN Sweet Island Ginger Sauce, spicy basil aioli, a layer of furikake seasoning, and an Asian slaw, all piled inside of a toasted KING'S HAWAIIAN Hamburger Bun.

The resulting sandwich is one with a unique combination of flavors and textures, from the crispy, juicy karaage chicken to the creamy and fragrant aioli, crunchy slaw, and pillowy, sweet bun.

You can find the Karaage Kid at Dog Haus locations for a limited time. While it’s on the menu, $1 from every purchase of the sandwich will go to No Kid Hungry, a nonprofit fighting to end childhood hunger in the United States.

Created in partnership with King's Hawaiian.

Who doesn’t love crunchy, caramelized pieces of cheese? The combination of that crunch and taste has become so coveted that today, entire dishes and snacks become famous for being made with these cheesy blankets of deliciousness.

You can now buy snack bars that take full advantage of this crunchy cheese, because a Wisconsin cheese maker is crafting, shredding, and baking their own cheeses into these Just The Cheese® bars.

These Crunchy Cheese Bars are big on both flavor and crunch. You get that intense aroma that baked cheese provides, plus an earth-shattering, crunchy texture that’s like instant ASMR.

While these are designed for portable, on-the-go snacking, there’s a whole variety of usages for them as well. They make great substitutes for cheese and potato chips in a sandwich, can be used to for guac and other party dips, or even as the “crackers” on a custom charcuterie board.

These crunchy cheese bars are great as a low-carb substitute across the board, whether you’re looking to replace crackers or chips, or just a cheese lover looking for a new way to enjoy them that hits all the right sensory notes.

You can find Just The Cheese bars for sale online, including on Amazon.

Photos by Pete Pham

Created in partnership with Just the Cheese

One of the most iconic Hawaiian dishes out there, the Loco Moco, just got turned into a breakfast burger.

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