What makes a great dive?

Written By Robin Wade

Linda and I have eaten at some amazing dives all over the country, and beyond.  Although we've dined at some wonderful fine dining restaurants over the years, the awesome hole in the wall , locals spots are the ones we seem to remember.

My number one rule of what makes a great dive:

1)  the owner is the (or one of the) chef(s).  There are great restaurants and dives that don't qualify here.  But, typically, to me, this is the first tell-tale I look for when I'm accessing a potential new dive to try out.

Pictured here is one of several memorable dives on Kapahulu in Honolulu.  We came sooo close to moving to Honolulu a few years back, and one of the top reasons (excuses) was the food.  Several choices serving fresh fish cooked to perfection, within just a few blocks of almost anywhere in on the island.  You don't have to be a kamaiina to eat like a local.  And, it rarely cost over $10 - many times for both of us!

 

Robin Wade
Robin Wade Furniture is a celebration of nature—a melding of a forward thinking commitment to the environment and a quiet, harmonious design aesthetic. From his "slow studio" in North Alabama, award-winning wood artist Robin Wade designs and crafts one-of-a-kind handmade furniture. Years before a piece is ready to enter a client's home or a gallery, the process begins—naturally—with the tree. Sustainably harvested, each specimen of hardwood is flitch sawn into natural-edge wood slabs, debarked by hand with a draw knife, and stacked to dry, usually for years, before the final cure in the kiln. From here, Wade and his team use both hand and power tools to bring Wade's vision to life, and then finish each piece with a hand-rubbed oil blend. Each organic furniture creation by Robin Wade Furniture balances the raw, natural beauty of environmentally, locally sourced hardwoods with minimally invasive, clean lines—a juxtaposition Wade calls both rustic and modern. “I haven’t yet found a better artist than nature,” he says.
robinwadefurniture.com
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