Side Street Inn Pork Chops

Yum, fried pork chops. The Mister cooks up a mean pork chop but awhile ago, I decided I wanted to try my hands at the Side Street Inn pork chops. It's their best selling item on the menu. We saw the pork chops while watching the episode of No Reservation where Anthony Bourdain goes to Hawaii for the first time, in his life. What got the Mister was that the dish was served with a side of ketchup. He said "that's so local style!" He also said he understands now why I love ketchup (hehe). Right then, I knew I had to make them.

We've never been to the Side Street Inn (it's on our list to hit the next time we go, which won't be for a while -- boo!) so I had to go on reviews I've read as to how mine will taste compare to the real thing. Besides, I thought, it's fried pork chops and it's a simple recipe, how bad can it be? Or more likely, how bad can I screw it up? You can find the recipe here along with a couple of other more popular Side Street Inn dishes.

I used canola oil instead of cottonseed oil. The only problem I had was keeping the temperature consistent in my cast iron frying pan (dang that stupid stove!). Here's the result. The picture below shows one of the chops right out of the frying pan. You can see a bit of oil on top. I kind of lost the breading on the a couple of them (like the one on the left).

The chops turned out a little greasier than I liked (dang that, oh I already said that) but the taste overall, not bad at all, quite tasty as a matter of fact. I can certainly see this dish being popular with the late night crowd. I served it as the recipe recommended. It was really good with ketchup (what isn't good with ketchup?), even the Mister liked it that way. I have not made it since but will definitely make it again when the weather starts to cool down.

If you're planning a trip to Honolulu, stop by the Side Street Inn. There's several reviews out there you can read. Reid of 'Ono Kine Grindz review is here. Pomai of Tasty Island has a great review here.

Or if you're not planning on going, give these a shot and enjoy a little piece of Hawaii Heaven. Hmm, now I want pork chops. (Oh honey...) Now go and eat well.

Postscript: So after dinner yesterday, the Mister and I watched a No Reservation episode. In the middle of the show, he asks, "we have 2 packs of chops right?" I said, "yes, and I would like some fried pork chops this weekend, please." He says, "Sure, then let's have those chops with the ketchup!" It's moments like these when you know you've been married a long time!