Final Four Matchup #2: Hula Hands vs. Gumbo House

One finalist is set as Bear Tooth is entrenched in the first slot, but who will they face? The Hawaiian delight of Hula Hands or the Southern comfort provided by Gumbo House? Both are lunch favorites. Both provide special versions of comfort foods. But there can only be one! Who will it be?!

Find out below.

Hula Hands: After dining at Hula Hands at their bar (a tiny little nook up by the kitchen), I've now pretty much had every experience I can get at this restaurant. I went with my friend Eric and I had my standard food (Kahlua Pig and Pulehu Chicken with mac salad and rice) while Eric took a stab at adventure (fried poke - tuna that is flash fried and raw in the middle - with mac and rice), and unsurprisingly both meals were fantastic. We even had a pitcher of Midnight Sun Brewing Co's. Sockeye Red IPA with it, and it paired to be an exceptional meal.

Even with a restaurant full of people thanks to the review the Anchorage Daily News wrote on Friday, our service was still very friendly and very fast. It consistently astounds me how a place can be so quick and so delicious no matter how busy they are. They must have the most well run kitchen that has ever been created.

So why did I write about this one experience? Because this is how it always is at Hula Hands. I'll stop raving about them when they give me a reason to. I don't see that time coming any time soon.

Gumbo House: When my Dad and I go to Gumbo House, the man who (I believe) owns the restaurant as well as serves every table always comes to us and knows what we want regardless of however long it's been since we were last there.

Owner: "Fried Chicken Poboy isn't on special today."
Us: "Come on, you know we love it."
Owner: "Ugh...let me see if the kitchen is okay with it."

The answer is always yes to a question they have no reason to say yes to. They always give us this food that isn't even on their menu just because they have genuinely great service. That the fried chicken poboys are almost comically good (I choose to think the combo of mayo and fried chicken isn't making my heart hurt, it's making my heart sing) is almost just icing on the cake here. The food is superb, they have a great spot, and they deliver! Come on now! This place is as gold as their delicious corn muffins.

The Showdown: This is like choosing between my unborn sons Biscuits and Gravy (yes, that is right. I plan on naming one child "Biscuits" and the other "Gravy". Have I mentioned I'm available ladies?). Superb, inexpensive comfort food that is incredibly close to me and served with a smile and unwavering speed. It's ridiculous.

However, when it gets down to it Hula Hands does everything just a little bit better and I simply like Hawaiian food more than Southern food. And I love my Southern food, or my middle name isn't Leroy (that is actually true).

So sorry to Gumbo House, but Hula Hands moves on to the final.

Hula Hands will meet Bear Tooth in the finale tomorrow!

General Bracket #2 Final: (4) Villa Nova vs. (2) Gumbo House

This matchup finalizes the Final Four, as a classy Italian joint that is supremely underrated (aka Villa Nova) squares off against Gumbo House, a down home southern joint in my neck of the woods. Who wins this vaunted matchup? Check it below.

Villa Nova: This hidden restaurant off International and Arctic stays fairly busy thanks to a few simple truths: great food and great service. While other places may get more rep, Villa Nova goes back to the basics and just makes their meals a great value by loading up on food, giving you a diverse menu to choose from (my favorites: their spinach side, the Tournedos Bolognese entree, the Minestrone, and their calamari), and gives you service that is genuine, friendly and fast. It's like "The Secret" from Bill Simmons' The Book of Basketball...it's a simple recipe for success yet a lot of restaurants choose to avoid it.

However, I must note: my most recent experience was not an exceptional one. It was fairly tasty but mitigated my strong feelings from early rounds.

Gumbo House: As I recently said, this place quickly went from a spot I passed often and contemplated eating at to being one of my go-to lunch spots. It even earned the vaunted "birthday restaurant" spot in 2009, which in itself is a hell of a thing. They do it with friendly service, delicious and varied food, a quaint setup, good prices, and awesome proximity to me. It's one of my favorite places in town and definitely one of the most vastly underrated ones, even if it is pretty damn bad for you.

But why must something so bad for me be so damn good. C'est la vie...you only live once. Might as well make the most of it.

The Showdown: Gumbo House...Villa Nova...two restaurants that subscribe to the secret of good restauranteering (made up word?) manage to face off for the last spot in the Final Four. While they're both incredible, the winner has to be the one that is more consistent and the one that I've most recently had great experiences. That means Gumbo House takes it in a close one, winning me over with their metronome like gloriousness.

General Bracket #2 Winner: Gumbo House

General Bracket #2 (Round 2): (1) Lucky Wishbone vs. (4) Villa Nova PLUS (6) Tommy's Burger Stop vs. (2) Gumbo House

Today's matchups pits two of my long time favorites against each other (Lucky Wishbone and Villa Nova) while two recent favorites in Tommy's Burger Stop and Gumbo House square off in a throwdown of deliciousness. The real tourney may be resting but I'm not. This is the last matchup before the Elite 8! Let's see who moves on.

Matchup #1
Lucky Wishbone: Lucky Wishbone is a phenomenal performer and has been for a long time, but is it a restaurant that peaked early in the tournament and may not have anything left for their round two matchup (sort of like Pitt getting beat by Xavier)? Well, it is a premium lunch and dinner spot still just because of the tried and true fried chicken, burgers, fries and milkshake combination. Yet, earlier in my life a week would rarely pass by without me eating there. Now? I go months without it. I'm not sure if their recipe has diminished or perhaps my tastes have moved on a bit, but I don't love it as much as I used to.

Villa Nova: This place was looking like an absolute sure shot for the Final Four until a recent performance. While Villa Nova has long excelled in secrecy due to its exceptional blend of tasty food, decent prices (for what you get), and great atmosphere and service, my experience this past weekend was perhaps...less of quality than I'm used to.

Two of the staples that I'm used to loving in my experience (the Minestrone and the Calamari) were less flavorful and more generic than I was used to (or perhaps just remembered), and this was a damper on the equation. Still, the entree of Tournedos Bolegnese was superb and my friend Joanne really enjoyed her Veal entree. That is without mentioning absolutely phenomenal service (including the waitress bringing us a special garlic topping for our bread). It was a bit up and down, but to be fair, I had eaten lunch late in the day and that may have affected it.

The Showdown: In the tourney, all it takes is one bad experience for a good team to get knocked out in the tourney. Villa Nova is not that team, as they are still a very strong contender even with the recent mediocre experience. Lucky Wishbone is still very good and holds a very special place in my heart, but I genuinely think Villa Nova is just a better place to eat. At least Villa Nova made it out of the second round iny my tourney.

Matchup #2
Tommy's Burger Stop: There's a lot of credibility to be thrown towards a place that has the best burger in town in my book. I mean, I'm a burger guy. I love them in any way: Aloha Burgers, Bacon Burgers, double pattie, triple pattie, hell, I even love the Garbage Grinder in Cooper Landing (it's loaded with ham, bacon, a fried egg and all kinds of other stuff). Burger me and I'm a happy man.

I've also heard their poboys and their philly cheesesteaks are good, but I cannot corroborate that with my own sentiment. I've just never had one. Still, the burger is perhaps enough, even if the service is pretty much standoffish but semi-fast and the sides are not perfect in any way.

Gumbo House: Service with a smile, a really nice mix of southern foods (poboys, gumbo, jambalaya, catfish and red beans), beer (BEER!), and a great and entertaining location make this place a personal favorite. Really, when I recount my experiences there, perhaps the only real negatives tie into the fact that people are sometimes jerks in the winter and leave the door open for way too long. Outside of that, it comes up roses for this quaint and delicious joint.

The Showdown: As much as I love my burgers, Gumbo House is just top to bottom a better establishment. I've never had a bad experience there and the people who run it are just outstanding. Plus, the food is awesome. For my birthday last year, my celebratory lunch took place here. That's how you know it's good. So it's Villa Nova vs. Gumbo House to decide this bracket!

General Bracket #2: (2) Gumbo House vs. (7) Harley's Old Thyme Cafe

I have a soft spot for down home food. Something about fried foods and epic portions really gets to me (wonder what that could be?), and those are two things that Gumbo House and Harley's Old Thyme Cafe do with incredible skill. But who is better at slowly but surely clogging my arteries while making me smile ear to ear? Let's find out.

Gumbo House: This tiny little place is located in a house on 9th and F and has long drawn my interest. I drove by it over and over and always wanted to try it out, yet never did. Well, until I did...and then I fell in love.

This spot serves classic southern style poboys with ranges of meats in them: fried chicken (off menu, but always on for my dad and I), blackened halibut, oysters, shrimp...you name it. They also serve gumbo, jambalaya, catfish with red beans, and all kinds of other southern classics, and I am glad to say that they are all remarkably tasty.

The service is also consistently great, with the owner doing almost all of the serving himself and almost always remembering repeat visitors. It's kind of like a homecoming every time, and not just because it's in a small little house. Pricing is decent and hell, they even deliver. This is a place that doesn't have a lot of negatives, save for the fact it is most definitely not healthy (which is a pretty big negative in today's more health conscious world for me).

Harley's Old Thyme Cafe: This is the most underrated breakfast place in Anchorage, as it once was great because of the best brunch in town and has quickly transitioned into being the best place for classic breakfast foods in town. I dare you to go to Harley's on a Sunday morning and tell me that this isn't about as good as you can get for breakfast staples in town. Their Country Bumpkin Breakfast that comes loaded with chicken fried steak, hash browns, three eggs, your choice of toast or biscuits and gravy (BISCUITS AND GRAVY!), AND a Harley Cake (only on Sunday) is perhaps the best way to clog your arteries in town. Sure, you may feel like you need to have a quadruple bypass by the time you're done, but it's a small price to pay to satisfy your taste buds in such an incredible way.

However, their lunch is not quite as phenomenal. While the breakfast is what I go to them for, I have tried the lunch before and it was far less impressive. While they do have an almost absurd amount of sides to choose from, nothing on the menu really impressed me so far. Evidently quantity does not make quality. Throw in some occasional service hiccups (speed, not niceness), and we have some negatives in there that are hard to ignore.

The Showdown: In the battle of down home joints, the spotless appeal of Gumbo House brings in the quick win against Harley's. While I love me some breakfast, I prefer to have my arteries clogged and my reaction times assassinated later in the day, thank you very much.