Good golly, Miss Molly has kolaches!
Friday - March 02, 2007
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Molly Walker is smokin’
Molly Walker is well on her way to becoming the queen of comfort food in Hawaii. Doesn’t seem to matter if you’re from Kalihi or Kansas, the appeal of her home-cooked plates of chicken fried steak, barbecued ribs and slow smoked pulled pork are enough to tempt almost any taste buds.
And now she’s adding breakfast dishes to the list of comfort foods she’s bringing to Hawaii.
“I think everyone who knows me knows that I am dedicated to bringing a true taste of Texas to Hawaii,” says the irrepressible Molly.
It’s hard to resist Molly’s barbecue. She owns a custom-made smoker that sits outside the restaurant, occasionally sending a puff of sweetly scented barbecue smoke into the air, and she makes some of the greatest barbecued ribs you’ll taste. But while Molly might be the queen of barbecue, it’s her kolaches that are suddenly the talk of the town.
Don’t know what a kolache is? I didn’t either, so I drove up to Molly’s Smokehouse Wahiawa last week and fell in love at first bite.
“They’re Scandinavian in origin, ” says Molly of the perfectly round, warm, oven-fresh kolaches,“but we have them in Texas too. They remind me so much of manapua that I thought they’d fit right in here in Hawaii.”
Portuguese sausage-filled kolaches for breakfast.
Move over, manapua, there’s a new bun in town
So how do they taste? First,imagine a well-stuffed manapua, and then, imagine fillings of barbecued pork, smoked brisket, homemade smoked sausage,Portuguese sausage or ham and cheese. These beautifully round dough balls are then baked in a hot oven until they turn a golden, toasty brown. One bite and you’re in a comfort food coma.At $1.30 each ($14 a dozen), I predict Molly has a huge food hit on her hands.
I tried both the Portuguese sausage mixture and the barbecued pork, and was truly sold in just a couple of mouthfuls. They even reheat well, so while the drive to Wahiawa may be far from town, you’ll be a hero when you arrive home with a dozen.
In their sweeter form, Molly’s kolaches can barely contain the fruit that spills over the top of these warm, sugared breakfast treats. If you enjoy the sweet, gooey sumptuousness of a fresh Danish brimming with fruit, then Molly’s apple, peach and cream cheese delights will seem intoxicating. Order up a hot cup of coffee and enjoy!
Stationed in Wahiawa during one of her husband’s military assignments,Molly fell in love with Hawaii from day one.
“We’d been everywhere,“she says, “but once we came to Hawaii, we just couldn’t leave.We tried to, but couldn’t do it.”
Military residents of Wahiawa and exiled Southerners are thankful that she stayed.
“We get people coming in all the time who want to tell us how much they love the food and the opportunity to eat some real Texas food,” says Molly.
Those in search of other comforting Southern breakfast dishes will be pleased to note that Molly serves Sausage, Egg and Biscuits ($2.99), Country Fried Steak ($9.99) and homemade Biscuits and Gravy ($6.99), in addition to specials that include a Loco Moco ($6.50) and Steak and Eggs ($9.99).
Freshly baked, fruit-filled kolaches. Peaches, apple
and a variety of other flavors are topped with a
drizzle of warm icing sugar and served up hot
“We do grits, too, and we make our own corned beef hash, country potatoes tossed with onions, peppers and cheese, and we make our own sausages for breakfast,“says Molly.“We like to do things that you really can’t find anywhere else.”
And, not content with bringing a contender to the humble manapua to the Islands, Molly has plans for another great Southern dish,soon to grace the menu: chicken and waffles. Light syrupy waffles and some real fried chicken all smothered in a sweet maple syrup.
Molly says it’s just another example of a dish that Texans do best.
Molly’s Smokehouse
23 S. Kamehameha Highway
Wahiawa
621-4858
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