kaukaulesa

McCully Chop Suey closed?!

Well Bento reopened in same spot, with same menu, with new owners, who were fans.

I've heard good things about Tom Selman's Main Street Bistro in Wailuku. Tom was formerly corporate chef for D.K. Kodama's restaurants, and was Vino's original executive chef.

Wow, I'm really sad to hear that! Do you guys remember last year the Willows trying to change its image with a tasting-plates spot in its Rainbow Room? Well, chef Jay Matsukawa, after a stint at the Plaza Club, is back with a new rerstaurant in the Rainbor Room. Now it will be called J at the Willows. He'll be doing a French-Japanese fusion (shades of Hiroshi Fukui?). Opening July 29. Just noticed a Philly cheesesteak place on Bishop Street. It's been there for three months. Ono Cheese Steak. A 7-inch philly classic is $4. They do a Hawaiian style version with kalua pork. Also, Spices on King Street is worth trying for the Laotian curry and Burmese khao soi. Andchef Pony's housemade ice cream is really different for this town. Lemongrass-and-chili ice cream rocks. Spicy cold stuff! I just got an e-mail from Jay Matsukawa. Here's the initial menu of J: Dinner Menu Tuesday thru Saturday 5:30pm-9pm Appetizers Fresh Japan Hamachi Carpaccio Thinly sliced Island Hamachi in a citrus and Hawaiian chili pepper sauce. Garnished with fresh garlic slices, Black sesame seeds, and roasted garlic and Shiso oil 12.00 Oxtail “Pot Au Feu” Slow cooked oxtail served with a flavorful coriander infused broth. Accompanied by Waimanalo micro greens 9.00 Blue Crab and Lobster Cake A blue crab and Lobster cake sautéed and served with a Tarragon vinaigrette and Waimanalo micro greens 9.00 Chilled Portobella Mushroom and Roasted peppers Thinly sliced Portobella mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and mozzarella cheese marinated with an Anchovy and Citrus herb vinaigrette 8.00 Potato and Cheese Croquette with Warm Spicy Scallops Deep fried potato cheese croquettes topped with a scallop and tobiko caviar mixture. Served warm with an Asian style plum sauce 11.00

You might try calling Hubyba Mohamed. She grows herbs for restaurants at her Palolo home. I'm not positive that she grows curry. 735-2875.

Maybe it's just people voting what they know year after year, or after they've had a taste in Vegas or LA. Just look at Zagats...it's a poll. In New York, up until 2003 (when I left there), supposedly sophisticated eater voted for Nobu year after year as best Japanese, even though by then it had been far surpassed by other restaurants. Maybe that has changed with the arrival of Masa and other high-end "Japanese" spots. But it really has to do with familiarity I think. People from Jersey and Long Island thought they were supposed to like it so they did, esp when paying $16 for a little piece of miso glazed butterfish (not THAT much different from the version at Anyplace Lounge!). It's the same reason I still get a strawberry ICEE once a year, or a teri burger and Green River at Sekiya...nostalgia, familiarity. (There, I said it, OK?) But that doesn't explain BluWater Grill does it? OK, it's ballot stuffing. Man, that place sux, to put it eloquently.

Andrea, Yes, thanks for your in-depth knowledge on Vietnamese food! I learned a lot from your posts. When I ate at Bac Nam, I was surprised to see lamb on the menu, and asked the owner if lamb is eaten "back home," and he said yes. But as you pointed out through that cookbook mention, perhaps that's a recent addition to the meat lineup. You're right, I think the husband is from the north, and the wife is from the south (or vice versa). Sun-Ki, I am so happy to see your great photos and thorough coverage of the place. I'm with you...I'm so scared to see them go under. I want to keep eating the lamb curry! aloha Lesa

And next month DK and Chuck Furuya are adding a "Little Vino" section to Sansei at Restaurant Row!

Right on, good goals! My favorite place is Maharani, which is in Moiliili, next to the health food store Down to Earth. It's super casual, no-frills, but not bad South Indian food.

SK's right on. And close or not, coming to Honolulu to eat Indian food is like going to New Delhi for good poke.

Great topic. I went to work in a kalo lo‘i for a day with my Hawaiian class. Our kumu took some kalo home then brought it to class simply steamed and cut up into little squares. We were blown away by the sweetness (due to the type and place...Kahaluu, later, another kalo from Wai‘anae wasn't as tasty). And I wondered the same thing: Why isn't kalo on the supermarket shelves and flying into our shopping carts? It might be because production hardly fulfills poi manufacturing needs. Kalo is humbug to grow, and it's humbug to prepare too. I was just reading an article about how in a remote Marshall Island hardly anyone eats a traditional diet cause it's so much easier to open a can of Spam. And the result is the population is one of the fattest in the world. One thing I miss from New York is the wealth of tomato types. I miss heirloom tomatoes, all sweet with summer's sun.

Worth checking out is the new Cuisine Okonomi Kai. (Reviewed in last week's Weekly.) V. cool space and good food. Also went to Inamas Tei next to Puck's Alley for the first time. Amazing! If you can't afford Sasabune, the sushi there is a good lower-priced alternative. Classic edomaezushi in perfect bite-size pods as it should be. But as I left, i stuck my head into the place next door. So Japanese, stuff like "baked onigiri" (!) and "liver and leek" on the menu. I guess it's izakaya. the chef is from Tokyo, the owner from Kanagawa. It's called Kohnotori.

kismet! one of my resto reviewers just did India Cafe and it'll be in the next Weekly. The picture he took is totally different from yours, Sun Ki...his food came on a thali.

Another golden oldie closing: House of Hong. The Lewers Street restaurant closes its doors at the end of this month, although the bar is staying open.

Ah Chunky's. Why did you have to bring them up? I miss it every time I drive by that big ugly bank. When I used to come home to visit, sometimes I'd make my Mom stop their on the way home, for one of their cheeseburgers and an orange freeze. The burgers were disgusting...premade paper-thin patties, but it was that puke-green special sauce that did it for me. It was junk-food perfection. Thanks for the info on the Chinese restaurant...another late-great landmark gone by the wayside. New spot opened in Hawaii Kai (at the shopping center with Safeway): BluWater Grill. Owned and run by some Ryan's veterans. It opens today. Yes, there are kalua pig tostadas on the menu. You get the HRC drift. heh.

Yup, Keo's first introduced me to Thai food (although I believe Keo is actually Laotian) back in the 70s. And for me Keo's will always be that grand old white-wood building on Kapahulu. All jungly-tropical on the inside, I loved the celebrity photographs of people like Robert Redford who had dined there. Like a lot of people have mentioned in this thread, there is a lot of better Thai food to be had nationwide, but I thank Keo's for my baptism by basil. Unfortunately, my favorite Thai place here, White Elephant, closed. I am hunting for a new fave. Any suggestions? My barometer is green chicken curry. I know I've hit the jackpot when I find that tiger-striped Thai eggplant inside, and the sauce is creamy.

That looks amazing. I've got to try it. SK...I hope you make it to Mary Jane's Kitchen (Fern at Kalakaua) sometime soon. I would really like to hear what you think about it. It is MSG-free, and everything is made in house (except for the shoyu). Ellen Shin, the manager, is an ebullient hostess and her mom runs the kitchen. Their kalbi is different from what I grew up with here...is this the "real stuff" as they claim? And the dor sut bi bim bap...wow! All kinds of exotic (to me) stuff like dried squash, mountain greens, strange roots. It was earthily delicious. (See next week's Weekly for review.)

thanks for that report! I would have liked to attend...just for Floyd Cardoz. What was the soup that he made? How easy was it to graze at the event? You cruised to different booths and took your goodies to scattered tables? Then went back for more?

Thanks for that update Sun-Ki. Here's a brand new place: Japan's oldest bakery has its newest location in Kahala Mall. I haven't checked it out yet, but apparently Japanese expats are crowding it to get their signature item, the name of which escapes me.

Right after returning here from New York in July, I tried an Island Manapua Factory pork manapua. Wow was I disappointed. I had become accustomed to the more richly flavored char siu bao of Mei Lin Coffee Shop in Manhattan's Chinatown. Still just $.60 each, steamed or baked.

Interesting question. It seems to me simply the make up of our population will always lend itself to a blending of East and West in all avenues of life here. A local-born poet, Gary Chang, has his first book out. In one poem, a line describes him, a Chinese American, hunting on Maui and makes a reference to Hemingway's Francis Macomber. It's the literary version of L'Uraku's ikura panna cotta. I feel like that will always be the base, with "disparate individual styles" arising out of that. But, as you say, this HRC has become such an identifiable brand, a wave that I think Yamaguchi et al will ride until the bitter end. It may fall out of fashion, like Calvin Klein jeans. And magazines and newspapers will come up with another convenient term to group a small school of chefs together.

I think I found the best Spam musubi: at Diamond Head Market & Grill. The Spam is marinated in a teriyaki-type sauce, the rice is moist...I never thought I'd crave Spam musubi.

Hey, If you spot a new place in your neighborhood or areas you frequent, tell us about it here. And if you notice a favorite spot of yours has closed, report it. I was really bummed when I went to Kekaulike Coffee Shop yesterday and found out it had new owners, switching from healthy-oriented cheapo plates, specializing in Puerto Rican pasteles, to a run-of-the-mill plate lunch place. Wah! So in case you liked it as a funky, budget spot for good food, it is no longer.

Wow, chicken covers a lot of ground. In the realm of "local food" I'm kind of hung up right now on Fat Boy's garlic chicken. Next on my list to try is the garlic chicken at Gulick's Delicatessen; I hear it's good. That spicy, crunchy coating with a hint of sweetness is what I look for in garlic chicken.

It's just makai of Kuakini Street, Diamond Head side of the street, a couple doors from L&L.