skchai

Please someone help me out regarding the gravy - what exactly accounts for the secret of the pan drippings? Since the steak is bound in coating, presumably few if any of the meat juices end up in the pan. All that's left is the shortening and the browned bits of crust - add milk / cream and flour, voila, a bechamel / veloute hybrid. Wouldn't you need to use lard or clarified butter in order to get some additional flavor into it?

Good idea about putting together our own guide! Speaking of awards - whatever happened to the Advertiser's Ilima awards? The last edition came out November 2002 . . . either it's long delayed or it's kaput. . .

The recipe in Mai Pham's Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table (Harper Collins, 2001), which does an excellent job with the historical background, is similar - the cilantro is added to the broth at the end of cooking; the basil is added at the table. Apparently the pho we know and love has a relatively short history - some argue that it was an adaptation of French pot-au-feu.

This was probably the most bizarre food-patent case ever. RiceTec markets its Basmati under the brands Texmati, Jasmati, and Kasmati, so the Thai media and government got involved as well. The respective governments argued that the rices under patent were not in fact Basmatis. Even Uncle Ben somehow found its way into the mess, being force to issue a statement distancing itself from Hans-Adam and voicing its corporate respect for the great rices of India, Pakistan and Thailand after a rumor spread that they had entered into a marketing deal with RiceTec. Perhaps the only recourse now for Hans-Adam, the last semi-absolute monarch in Europe (who gained his fortune by making his country a haven for money-laundering), is to decree that his subjects must now start to eat biryani instead of knöpfli!

Some places that closed in 2003: Shishido Manju in Wailuku Shishido Manju (another story) Washington Saimin in Makiki Beau Soleil in Manoa Mongolian Bar-B-Q in Kaimuki Jaja in Palama Both Shishido Manju and Washington Saimin had been at their respective locations for over a generation. Shishido Manju was one of the most popular omiyage that people brought home from Maui. As Irwin noted in another thread, Washington Saimin was the prototype that McDonald's tried to imitate when it first introduced Saimin to their own menu. Beau Soleil, Mongolian Bar-B-Q, amd Jaja were not quite as prominent or established, but all had their loyal customers and filled niches in the eating environment that really aren't served very well by other restaurants, so they will be missed. RIP.

BTW, "old-fashioned" Koreanized Western food is very much like "old-fashioned" Japanized Western food - in fact it's a product of the colonial era. E.g. Tonkatsu, Om-Rice, Hash (Hayashi) Rice, Fried Shrimp, etc.

Right - SKorea has gone through a '"superglobalization" in food (as in other areas) over the last six-seven years. Vietnamese places are all over Seoul, not just Kangnam. There are Indian restaurants better than those you can get in most cities in the U.S. . . Anyway, I think chappie's friend was either pulling his leg or exaggerating for effect. I doubt that you can get some of things that he's talking about (even in Itaewon!) in Korea. Or anywhere in the world for that matter. Lack of sophistication is one thing - but anyone who ate gumballs with nacho's wouldn't live to tell about it. "Meat and cheese sandwiches with Cool Whip" are definitely not "ubiquitous in convenience stores" - I've never seen anything remotely like it in my many visits there.

You're right, Lesa, perhaps I'm being a bit too pessimistic. There's nothing surprising, I guess, about the fact that local restauranters are hesitant to abandon a successful commercial formula as long as it keeps on working. And once it stops working, they should be well equipped, as you mention, to move onto to the next level. I've never had the opportunity to go to Brown's Beach House at all or to L'Uraku for dinner, but certaintly from what you describe they are exploring well beyond the standard HRC menu. Along the same lines, the commercialization and mega-"branding" of products that seems rampant among Hawai`i's celebrity chefs too is perhaps understandable given the financial precariousness and overwork that is endemic to the restaurant business. Interesting that you mention Rocco in that light. People who are only familiar with his cheesy on-screen persona (or that of Emeril for that matter) may not realize that they got into a position to ruin their good names by being genuine innovators for many years. BTW, though this is off the point, perhaps the most popular eGullet thread of all time was the one in which seemingly about half of the staff of "Rocco's" registered and posted various insults directed at their boss and the network (and Tony Bourdain posted to quasi-defend - or put in context - his appearance on the show). Not that enlightening but a lot of fun. . . But back to HRC. . . I guess my main question is an "identity" one - once they decide that self-conscious East-West fusion is no longer the paradigm around which want to define local high-end cuisine, is it going to be replaced by a new paradigm, or just a collection of disparate individual styles? And does it matter from a gastronomical point of view? From a commerical point of view? I also had a Trader Vic experience about six or seven years ago - there was one in the basement of the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, where the American Political Science Association conference was going on. Went with a friend of mine from Vancouver, who told me that Trader Vic's was considered the happening place there. Anyway, the tikis were burning brightly that night, and I ordered the pressed duck with almonds and plum sauce. Very sweet, as you might expect (shades of HRC!), but crunchy and addictive. The shadows cast by the heathen idols urged me on, and I couldn't stop eating it. . . BTW, Irwin ("wesza") on this forum (Hawai`i's "Mr. Restaurant" of the 70s and early 80s) has regaled us with his recollections of Vic Bergeron himself. The Trader was quite a colorful fellow, and quite knowledgable about "authentic" traditional Polynesian food - his chapter on lua`u food in this Pacific Islands Cookbook is very well-researched - he just never served it at his restaurants. Sorry for all the digressions. . .

Having been fortunate enough to eat Amma's jackfruit biryani, I can say that it is made with enchor. Here's a (regrettably out-of-focus) picture I took: The biryani was topped by a tandoori grilled lamb chop and accompanied by a wondeful pear chutney. BTW, I'm not even bong but I like ripe jackfruit - chopped up small and added to shaved ice with coconut milk.

Hey - I go Masu's Massive a lot - right across the street. Somehow I hever noticed it. Forced to check it out. . . Mahalo!

Have to admit I've never been to Jane's Fountain - whereabouts on Liliha St. is it?

Chef Sakai is planning to open a chain of casual places in the United States. He now claims the first one will be in Honolulu. There was an article in papers here about it. From the Honolulu Dining digest I posted today:

Some "select" local items from the last couple weeks in the media: By Request: Chinese pretzels can be savory or sweet, by Betty Shimabukuro Recipes for the fried kind, including a savory one with shrimp By Request: Teeny-weeny itsy-bitsy bites, by Betty Shimabukuro A new local mini-bakery, Sugar Rush by Frances, specializes in mini-pastries. Here's her url. ‘Iron Chef’ Sakai’s first U.S. café may be on Oahu, by Betty Shimabukuro "French" Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai made a hole-in-one at Waialae Country Club, and was so happy that he announced that the first of his Chef Sakai cafes would open in Honolulu. He's also working with Royal Kona to put his moniker on one of their lines of pure Kona coffee. QUICK BITES: Roy's will celebrate its 15th anniversary Nobu and others will come to organize a benefit for the Tom and Warren Matsuda Culinary Scholarship Fund. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Got a Perfect Breakfast Spot? Let the rest of us know, by Wanda A. Adams Email her at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com! Some of Nadine Kam's recent restaurant reviews:

Doesn't the word "zydeco" itself come from a corruption of "haricot" as in "the snap beans are not salty"?

I don't know about anybody else, but everytime I walk into Shirokiya, R. Field's, Star Market, Daiei, or even Long's Drugs, it seems that there's a another new brand of locally-made cookies appearing on the shelves. Another brand of small locally-made cookies - both in terms of the size of the producer and the size of the cookie. Seeming to go against the national trend towards pie-size monsters, most locally-produced cookies are no bigger than 1" in diameter, and packaged in a tiny boxes or bag to match. The new brands all seem to have similar names e.g. "Aloha Aunty's Hilo Hula Cookies" and feature tropical flavors like macadamia nut, coconut, etc. If you go back to the real early days, there really weren't that many cookies produced locally, except for those from Diamond Bakery, maker of "Ruff n' Readys" starting from the 1960s. These are caramel cookies with ridges - pretty small, but rectangular! Currently, the biggest local cookie guys are Kauai Kookie, which as a lot people have mentioned make a pretty ordinary product. Not only is their scale of production relatively large; their cookies are massive by local standards at about 2" diameter. They come in the following flavors: Kona Coffee, Macadamia, Almond, Guava Macadamia, Macadamia Nut Shortbread, Coconut Krispies, Chocolate Chip Macadamia, Peanut Butter, and Cornflake Krunch. A recent contender that's getting a lot of distribution is Bits of Aloha cookies in the following flavors: Chocolate Chip BANANABits, Pineapple COCOBits, Passion COCOBits, Mango COCOBits, and Cocoa COCOBits. The "COCOBits" are a mix of coconut, sugar, and artificial flavorings. One local cookie that I really like is School Kine Cookies, which dispense with most of the tropical flavorings but unlike the others use all butter, no hydro shortening or margarine. Their secret ingredient is the malted barley flour that they add to the mix - gives it a special toasty sweetness. Can't get them in the stores; they're for fund-raisers only. Their flavors: Shortbread, Macadamia Nut Chocolate Chip, Macadamia Nut, Peanut Butter, and Cornflake. Of course there are dozens more mini-producers making mini-cookies in Hawai`i that I haven't mentioned. . . My questions are: (1) How did this small cookie trend start? (2) Can Hawai`i sustain so many small (production scale) cookie producers? and, most importantly, (3) What differentiates brands from each another, and what's your favorite?

Maybe somebody has mentioned this already, but here's an article from the NY Times tomorrow: Sichuan Food's Signature Fire Is Becoming Hard to Find, By DENISE LANDIS Quoteth Ms. Landis: Any comments, Eddie?

This is going to be a little polemical but. . . Along with others in this forum, I've been arguing that Hawaiian Regional Cuisine has lost its edge, that it has become cliched, and that the same dishes are being recycled over and over again. It's hard to measure what effect, if any, this has had on the commercial side of things. However, there's no question that some of the excitement that characterized the food community here in the early 90s is starting to wear off. . . What can be done to revitalize the local food scene? IMHO, the one thing that needs to be done is to tie the efforts of high-end restaurants more intrinsically to Hawai`i's popular cuisine. No, I don't mean that HRC places should start to serve chicken katsu, teri beef, and loco moco! At any rate, Wayne Hirabayashi's foie gras, unagi, lobster, and quail egg "loco moco" shows that even that kind of "grass-roots" cuisine can be bent totally out of shape if the only thing that is maintained is name and the outward form. Instead, local high-end chefs should try to do more to inhale the spirit of local cooking, and the kind of blending that comes less from a conscious attempt to fuse East and West and to mark off culinary territory, and more of an attempt to create what tastes good, regardless of provenance, based upon the extremely wide range of ingredients that are available locally. If I would cite a historical precedent for HRC, it would be Trader Vic's "Tiki" Cuisine from the 1950s. Contemporary foodies may view Tiki Cuisine, with its psychedelic cocktails and flaming pupu platters, as kitchy retro, but during its peak era it was considered the height of fashionable eating not only in Hawai`i but throughout the American West Coast. And like HRC, it came out of a conscious attempt to fuse East and West, creating something that was labeled "Polynesian" for a global audience. And, if you'd actually ever eaten at a Trader Vic's, you'd know that some of results do taste very good. However, like much of HRC, it was essentially built upon creating a fantasy vision of Pacific cuisine, once based upon upscaled and Westernized dishes from various parts of East and Southeast Asia. The actual cuisine of the Pacific Islands, while not exactly ignored, was not taken seriously as the basis for something that would be acceptable to the mainland gourmands towards whom the cuisine was aimed. Hence once the novelty faded, there was little to fall back upon to renew the vision and innovation. HRC people may not enjoy the comparison, but in 20 years will "Seared Ahi" and such be viewed with the same mixture of nostalgia and condescension as the Pupu Platter? What do you think? What can be done to create a local high-end cuisine with staying power?

As most of you know, Honolulu Magazine also has an "All-Island Restaurant Guide" that comes out each August. But it's just a long list of places with contact info, prices, and short blurbs. In last August's issue, the only clue to why some restaurants get included and others don't is in the subtitle: "Our restaurant advertisers invite you to enjoy their food and their service" - at least they're somewhat up front about it. AmEx is the sponsor for this issue too. Amidst the puff pieces, there are nonetheless some nice feature articles by Joan Namkoong, former Advertiser Food Editor, in both the Restaurant Guide and the Hale Aina issue. But no real attempt to chart where the local food scene is going, much less to critique current practices. And no substantial coverage of anything other than the upper and upper-middle price level restaurants.

Lesa - You're right about the lack of editorial comment in Hale `Aina awards. Other than the somewhat self-congratulatory essay by John Heckathorn at the beginning, there was no real attempt to put the choices in a larger perspective, much less critique them. Hence you're just stuck with a list of "destinations", travel-guide style. Perhaps that's what they were aiming for? Glad to hear that Honolulu Weekly is ramping up its restaurant coverage - we really need more of this. Maybe also an expanded restaurant list in its "Best of Honolulu?" Looking forward to reading the Willows' Rainbow Room review. . .

Many thanks for joining us Burt. Great to have you here! My nomination probably won't be that surpising to many but it's about as hole-in-the-wall as you can get. It's Mitsu-Ken's on School St. near Houghtailing, in Kalihi. No inside tables or chairs, and just a couple of chairs outside - it pretty much defines the concept. It's an okazuya, so it's not even open for dinner; it closes at 2pm. But if you go around 9am, there's a line snaking out the door, and extending a ways down the street. Most people order the garlic chicken, which is the best on the island - somehow they get it so crisp it can actually hurt your teeth. Lot of people get it for breakfast on top the "normal" Mitsu-ken breakfast - spam fried rice, eggs, and bacon. Makes you so heavy you can't get up again. For Korean food, I would nominate Elim's, which has two locations near each other on Ke`eaumoku St. One is the the "Samsung" Plaza, the other on Makaloa across from Tower Records, each has six tables, max. Both specialize in "bunshik", or Korean snack foods, including a great versions of Korean mochi stir-fried in hot sauce and Korean-style shave ice. They kind of have interesting extremes in clientele - lots of families with small kids during the day, lots of bargirls and such during the night. Will definitely check out Ethel's next chance I get.

So perhaps the idea was taken from the Virginia company after all?!! Then perhaps those kind of chips should actually be called "Shenandoah-style"?

Gary, it's a mystery to me why Maui Kitch'n Cook'd are not more widely available. After Dewey Kobayashi landed on the cover of Gannett's Parade Magazine in 1980, Kitch'n Cook'd Potato Chips for a while became Hawai`i's most famous food export. Even today, many of the nationally distributed potato chip brand carry a thicker style of chip under the "Maui-style" or "Maui" label. The Kobayashis are one of the few small producers in the world that can truthfully claim to have created an entire category of food. In addition, there seem to be several companies around the U.S. nowadays that called themselves "Kitch'n Cook'd", none of them associated with the Kobayashi family. There's a "Furukawa Kitch'n Cook'd" on the Big Island and a "Kitch'n Cook'd" listed for Massillon, Ohio (you can tell, I've been searching the web). Most mysteriously, there's a web site for a potato chip company called "Kitch'n Cook'd" in Staunton, Virginia in which the company claims to have been in business for 50 years! I have a hard time believing that Kobayashi would have copied his brand name from an obscure company in Virginia, so I presume the all these similarly-named companies have at one time or another acquired the "Kitch'n Cook'd" name as a way of acquiring some of the fame of the original company. I wonder if this is because no one had the time or inclination to copyright the name, or a case of one company licensing the name from another. At any rate, this shows that the name still has considerable cachet and demand, so why aren't the original Maui chips being sold everywhere? If I get up enough courage, maybe I'll contact the company and ask. . .

I don't live anywhere near New Jersey, but wondered about new name of the restaurant. Binh Duong (with Marcia Kiesel) is the name of the author of the Simple Art of Vietnamese Cooking (Simon and Schuster, 1991), one of the few comprehensive Vietnamese cookbooks in English (now out of print and selling for big bucks on the used market). But it is also the name of a province in Vietnam, so the restaurant might not have anything to do with him. . . Did any of you hear who the new owners were?

Sorry, I meant chiles, not chili! As in the pod. Chicken with Zippy's chili would be pretty weird. . . or maybe O.K.? I don't know. . . Sorry for the continued confusion.

Ian, on chopstix, you carry a link to an article in the Washington Post: Who Was General Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken? By Michael Browning It has a slightly "different" take on things. To set things straight, he should have asked Eddie!