One of my work besties invited me out one evening. We started with dinner at Luquin’s 454 where I enjoyed a carnitas enchilada. On a side note, I had mentioned to my hairdresser Alex that I was headed to Luquin’s and she said they have great burgers. Have you had a burger from Luquin’s? How was it? I will have to go and try one soon. That was my first time at Luquin’s and found that they had a lot of seating but most seats were taken. Parking is great and service is prompt.

After dinner, we headed to Puna Chocolate Company in downtown Hilo where we had tickets for their tequila & mezcal tasting each paired with a chocolate.

We started with a Special Edition Kadota Liquor Dobel Tequila paired with a bourbon caramel turtle. This was my favorite chocolate of the evening. And who would have thought to pair chocolates with tequila! Yum! Next was a Tequila Corralejo Reposado paired with a Maple Cream in Dark Chocolate. Also very yum. Third was the Tanreo Cocoa paired with an eggnog ganache in milk chocolate. This was an interesting tequila with a cocoa flavor to it. Fourth was Xicaru Silver paired with an orange in dark chocolate. This mezcal had some smokiness to it which I wasn’t expecting. The final drink of the night was a Xicaru Pechuga Mole paired with a cinnamon brown sugar in dark chocolate. This one also had a smokiness and earthiness to it. I think my favorite of the evening was the Dobel but I really don’t recall clearly and may have to try all of them again! Curtis was a great teacher and I’m looking forward to the next event at Puna Chocolate! Living Hilo Style.