Portuguese Sausage and Eggs at Eggs ‘N Things (Honolulu, HI)

One of our favorite breakfast spots in Waikiki is Eggs ‘n Things. It also happens to be hugely popular with Japanese tourists who easily could make up over 75 percent of the clientele. Last time, we got seated within 15 minutes after we arrived just before 8. Thinking I had discovered the secret, my wife and I were disappointed instead by a much longer wait. This time, we got into the restaurant almost an hour later. Regardless of when you arrive, a long wait is virtually guaranteed, except when the doors first open at 6am, according to the person taking names. By 6:30, lines already gather. It seems that not even the addition of two branches, one on Kalakaua near Kuhio Beach and another in Ala Moana Shopping Center (open since last October), has eased the situation.

We really like their Portuguese sausage. Our waitress revealed to us that it is specially made for them, a simple enough answer that we didn’t get from two separate waiters on our last visit, who pretended ignorance. We come here for the Portuguese sausage with fried eggs and one (big) scoop of rice. Another possibility for a future visit is Minced Meat (including Portuguese sausage) with Green Onions and Scrambled Eggs, one of my favorite ways that Holiday Bowl in LA used to make it. A large number of customers seem to order the so-called whip pancakes piled with fruit and an obscene amount of whipped cream that sits on top like Marge Simpson’s hair. It was enough for me to sample one of their very good regular pancakes with coconut syrup, which was cloyingly sweet.

Eggs ‘N Things would easily be our go-to breakfast place if it weren’t for the crowds. Is any breakfast worth an hour’s wait? If we really had to, we could always eat breakfast later in the day when the human onslaught is not nearly so bad.