Hawaii clearly offers more than just poi, plate lunch, shrimp trucks and SPAM. Our 50th State also delivers a number of more inventive dining experiences Ola. Lunch at Fred DeAngelo’s bay-front restaurant at Turtle Bay Resort followed my group’s farm tour of Oahu’s North Shore. Many people make pilgrimages to the North Shore to surf big waves at Pipeline, to swim with sea turtles at Laniakea Beach, or to cool off at Matsumoto’s Shave Ice. I was on the North Shore on a strictly culinary mission. Ola delivered.

DeAngelo and wife Cheryl debuted their open-air restaurant in 2005. The couple has a bunch of fun plays on Hawaiian classics on their menu. Kalua pig is popular at luaus and is traditionally slow-cooked with hot rocks in the ground, in an imu, covered with banana leaves. At Ola, Chef DeAngelo smokes his meat above ground to achieve the same effect. He tops crunchy squares of fried wonton with juicy, shredded pig meat, tart plum sauce, shaved scallions and a tangy dollop of sour cream and goat cheese. Their Kalua pig nachos made a great bar snack that paired well with the ocean breeze and beach views.

Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week.