ryanozawa

Larry, thanks for the head's up on Joan's segment on Eat Feed! Her name and books on Amazon.com are linked on the main page, so we should have the show any moment now. And Reid, I'd love to see (I mean hear) an 'Ono Kine Grindz podcast. Keep us posted! Heck, be sure to join the HAP mailing list. I always wanted food to be a regular part of my podcast, HawaiiUP. I did a dim sum chat with a friend back in March, and my latest show features someone y'all might be familiar with! I'm hoping she starts her own food podcast, too, but hopefully we'll also podcast a lunch for HawaiiUP now and then anyway. Definitely, if you're curious about podcasting, and want to get some fresh air, come down to the park today!

Someone finally did! The Star-Bulletin wins the prize for not only finding Alice of Chicken Alice's (and doing a nice profile of her and her past businesses), but also publishing the recipe! And the secret is wonderfully simple: a specific brand of locally made kim chee sauce! Wow. I get lots of questions about Chicken Alice's on my websites. I've got a lot of people to update!

Crossposted from "Kaukau Corner": The Honolulu Advertiser today has published its "Hawai'i's Best Restaurants" guide, including the readers' picks for best restaurants. The full list is apparently only available in hardcopy to home subscribers, but they've posted the highlights online: Hawai'i's Best Restaurant: Alan Wong's Restaurant Best New Restaurant 2003-2004: Cheesecake Factory Best Fine-Dining Restaurants: Ruth's Chris Steak House, Hy's Steakhouse, John Dominis Best Family Restaurants: Zippy's, Big City Diner, Anna Miller's 24-Hour Restaurant Best for Pasta: Auntie Pasto's Best Bakery: Liliha Bakery & Coffee Shop Best Drinks and Pupu: Ryan's Grill Best Coffee Bar: Starbucks Best Vegetarian: Down to Earth Deli Best Plate Lunch: L & L Drive-Inn Best Central O'ahu Restaurant: Ruby Tuesday Best Windward O'ahu Restaurant: Lucy's Grill & Bar Best North Shore Restaurant: Haleiwa Joe's Seafood Grill, Hale'iwa Best Leeward O'ahu Restaurant: Bravo Restaurant Best East O'ahu Restaurant: Roy's Restaurant, Hawai'i Kai Best Southeast Asian: Keo's in Waikiki Best Italian Restaurant: Assaggio Best Japanese: Kyo-Ya Restaurant Best French restaurant: La Mer, Halekulani hotel Best Chinese: Hee Hing Restaurant Best Korean: Sorabol Restaurant Best Restaurant, Kaua'i: Hamura Saimin Stand Best Restaurant, Maui County: Longhi's Best Restaurant, Big Island: Merriman's Best Hotel Restaurant, O'ahu: Hoku's, Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hawaii hotel Best Hotel Restaurant, Neighbor Islands: Kona Beach Restaurant, King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel Critics' Choice Restaurants: BluWater Grill, 12th Ave. Grill, Hilo Bay Café and Chef Mavro

One question: Where's your local food blog, Sun-Ki?

My family and I went, and saw skchai there, digicam in hand! We enjoyed ourselves. Lots of good food, although we did have to spend $40 to feel well fed. Some photos: More here!

Whatever the name of the place was that followed in the space long held by King's Bakery on S. King Street in McCully? Well, it's something else now. Can't say I miss it, though... never went there. (I'm glad Jimbo's is still going strong.) And Eastern Garden at the base of Waialae has been gone a while. I just noticed today that it's been replaced by a very new-agey, all-black Japanese eatery called "Momono" (or something similar). Anyone know anything about either?

I'll second the Pahke's recommendation. They changed things a little since the "golden days," but it's still good eats. They had a buffet that was pretty reasonable considering how much you can load up. For simple hole-in-the-wall goodness, I like Times Coffee Shop on Hamakua Drive. Open early, great for breakfast. I'm sorry to hear Crouching Lion has deteriorated... Always liked that place.

I like Zaffron, but yes, it is in downtown Honolulu... not quite Waikiki. However, if you find the Aloha Tower Marketplace on your itinerary (there are most likely free shuttles to and from the Hilton or nearby), it's a fairly reasonable walk from the Marketplace to Zaffron, which is only four blocks west and one block in from the harbor.

Wow. This place is right down the street from where I live, and I've never been there. Recognized the sign instantly, though! I wish i knew more about Korean food... I'm pretty indiscriminate in my dining choices in that genre. I've been to Yakiniku Seoul at the corner of S. King and Kalakaua a few times, and liked it, and Han Yang in Kalihi whose name escapes me at the moment... but I wouldn't know "good Korean" from Yummy BBQ, to be honest. What I like about both is the almost frightening number of "little plates" of other things that come with your meal. At Han Yang? My friend an I can barely finish half of them. I wonder if they recycle? Eep. Here's a review of Han Yang. Seven side dishes!

I could never get into I Love Country Cafe, although many of my friends swear by them. I went to the one at Ala Moana a few times, and the one in Mililani (when they had some buffet setup), but both times just something about the overall state of the food didn't sit right with me. I don't know if it was too much oil, or too much vegetables (yes, I'm a meat eater), or too many herbs or seasonings, or what, but... I would pick L&L or any other "mass over quality" plate lunch place first, given a choice. As for bad English on Asian goods, look no further than Engrish.com.

It seemed a simple enough question: "How do you make a spam musubi?" But while the basic recipe wasn't debated much, the HawaiiAnswers.com group was stymied by the follow up: Where did the spam musubi come from? At least a few of us think it's a fairly new development for the musubi, sprouting up as late as the '80s. But, like the loco moco, is there some well-known piece of spam musubi lore that explains its origins?

And now I know! To me, all pickled anything served with rice is 'takuan' because that's what I thought it was called as a kid (yellow pickled radish?). But that fukujinzuke is good stuff. It's tempting to take a whole heaping spoonful of the stuff, little tongs be damned.

I used to eat their curry two, three times a week when I was going to UH. At that Mo`ili`ili location specifically, they had a student special for a while: $4.99 for beef curry with a gyoza, a bit of katsu, and a couple of fried, breaded calimari rings. Sort of a curry mixed plate? Of course it was too good to be true, and they discontinued it after a couple of months. I always have to ask for extra rice, 'cause I can eat a lot more rice than what they give with the curry. Also, they've moved to slightly smaller take-out plates - they used to be these quite generous, specially designed plastic curry "cases." I still often choose them over the other options at the Ala Moana food court (Makai Market). I especially like to savor the takuan (?).

This is only tangentially related, but on a flight this past weekend on Aloha Airlines, they had an article in their in-flight magazine that proudly boasted, "Now With Bigger Cookies!" They've always made a big deal about the fresh-baked cookies served on their flights, and apparently the number one comment they received was, "They're too small!" The new cookies are 25 percent larger... but I suspect that's still not a big cookie by anyone's standards!

It was only last summer that my coworkers introduced me to Pasta Italia, an Italian restaurant run by a friend of theirs in Waikele. They made the absolute best calimari I have ever had, anywhere. I also learned that they served breakfast, something unusual for an Italian joint and therefore making it quite a Sunday morning gem. Sadly, the owner shut its doors in January, to make way for a larger dining chain that shall not be named. I hope he gets the restauranteur bug again soon! Old eateries that are now only fond memories are a very popular talkstory topic. This thread over at HawaiiStories from August 2002 names quite a few.

Thanks for the welcome! Though I'm not a "blogger." I was writing online long before that awful word came into existence. I prefer the term "escribitionist."

Thanks for the welcome! As for the difference between the "original" Cafe 100 loco moco and what I consider to be a genuine loco moco (like the one served at Ken's), it came down to simple size. To me a moco comes in a large saimin bowl, and - if appropriately large and dense - almost takes two hands to carry. What Cafe 100 was serving up was like a small Dairy Queen sundae by comparison - a small styrofoam cup with a sad lump inside. While I'm sure you can probably pay extra to get a "large," frankly I don't think there should be any such thing as a small loco moco!

Breakfast is my favorite type of meal, if not my favorite time of day. My real quest is to find restaurants where one can be served breakfast - bacon and eggs, pancakes/waffles, the works - any time of day. Few places meet that challenge. That said, I love Jack's in Aina Haina, although I think the family shuffled the kitchen team a bit... it's not quite what it was a few years ago. I love how Wanda's article netted a thumbs up for Pasta Italia in Waikele, which was a darn near perfect secret breakfast spot (since most folks didn't think an Italian restaraunt would serve breakfast at all). The fried rice was to die for. Sadly, the owner (a friend of a friend) closed up shop over a month ago... Wanda needs to doublecheck her sources!

Hey, Skchai, thanks for the SPAMMOBILE schedule. Might try and catch it at Safeway Beretania this Saturday. My wife, from Florida, won't touch the stuff, but I'm already cultivating a healthy appreciation for it in our kids. FWIW, I've had some of that Tulip luncheon meat, and it is pretty good. For some purposes, I'd dare say, possibly superior to Spam. There's more to the flavor, and I think they got the texture just right. I'd take it over other Spam-wannabes any day. But there's just something about the real thing!

As a former Hilo resident and a lifelong Hilo fan, I never really saw "Cafe 100" as the definitive spot for a loco moco... I just knew that was what they marketed themselves as. Several hole-in-the-wall eateries served what I considered to be superior versions of the dish. My sentimental favorite was the loco at Ken's House of Pancakes. Big. Heavy. Frighteningly delicious. The UH Hilo cafeteria didn't do a bad rendition either. Skchai, the UH Manoa moco you posted looks tasty, but just not quite right to me. The rice belongs underneath, darn it! And I agree, that gravy is way too thin. Loco mocos have to be artery cloggers, and to do the right amount of damage, the gravy's gotta be thick... possibly lumpy!