Any trip I take to The Counter at the mall near my house in Hawaii is incomplete without an order of deep-fried dill pickle chips, which come with the most delicious (and unlisted) sweet-and-sour style dipping sauce. As you can see at the top of the picture, The Counter (which is a chain, by the way) gives each customer a clipboard with their build-your-own-burger menu, which you fill out and hand in to your waitress.

When Kiyo and Austin visited me this winter, we of course stopped in for burgers one afternoon. You select a choice of burger, cheese, up to four toppings, a sauce, and the bun. My choice that day (it is so, so difficult to decide what you want when there are so many options and possible combinations… they claim there are 312,120+ possibilities!) was a turkey burger on a whole-wheat bun with provolone cheese, alfalfa sprouts, organic mixed greens and jalapeños (there may have been more toppings but I don’t remember) with roasted garlic aioli sauce. Getting your “fast food” fix while really enjoying real, fresh food at The Counter is never disappointing; and it is fun to visit time and again since the possible burger/cheese/toppings/sauce/bun combinations seem limitless!

The Counter

Open: Sunday-Thursday 11 a.m. – 9 p.m., Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Location: 4211 Waialae Avenue, Honolulu HI 96816 Phone: (808) 739-5102

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