Every once in awhile, when traveling, you have to take a break from exotic hearty fare and hone in on comfort food. “To thine own self be true.” There’s nothing quite like it. That’s when we set the GPS for Pizza Parlors. Thank goodness for cell phone navigation. Never mind the fact that we practically attacked the tall lanky guy in the hotel parking lot when we saw him strolling toward the elevator with a pizza box in hand. But we wanted to find out where to get true Italian pizza. Oh sure, we asked around. Between the staff and the locals, no one pretty much had an opinion. And if they did, it was the same response. “You can’t”, they echoed. “There aren’t any on the island.” Essentially they couldn’t understand why anyone would fly over fourteen hours to get to a tropical island and then desire to eat, of all things……….pizza.

The guy at the burger hut asked if we were going to get fish or shrimp on it if he told us where to find his favorite pizzeria. “Think about Snapper, Ono, Tuna, or Mahi Mahi if you do”, he offered. “It’s so fresh, you’ll think you died and went to Heaven.” We were getting desperate, so I agreed to anything. “Okay, sure,” I ventured, “as long as I can get a crispy thin crust and a smattering of mozzarella-provolone mix.” In the end, our trusty GPS put us in the parking lot of a Brick Oven Pizza Parlor in Wailua. Inside our waitress, Shana, shook her head and smiled when I ordered the Bay Shrimp & Fresh Garlic combination. I could tell she was pleased that a tourist had listened to someone from the area. After dinner I sent a quick text to our Italian friend, Steven. “You could make a killing on Kauai with your Italian pizza culinary skills.” Since Steven learned how to make pizza dough at the age of five, tied to his mother’s apron strings, he promptly replied, “I am on my way!” Grazie, grazie molto!