Hawaii Eats: Alan Wong

Alan Wong is the godfather of Hawaiian cuisine. Around twenty years ago, he and a handful of other chefs created a new haute cuisine, blending classical technique with the global intersection of foods and the fresh produce that can be found in the islands. It had been ten years since I visited his flagship restaurant located in a nondescript office building on King Street, and I wondered if it was still great or had faded. I needn't have worried.

Alan Wong offers an a la carte menu as well as two tasting menus: one made up of classic dishes from the restaurant and a pricier chef's tasting menu. Since I hadn't been in a decade or so, I chose the classics, and I was not disappointed.

I won't run through all of the dishes but there are a few that were really memorable. A "soup and sandwich" included a mini kalua pig and foie gras sandwich served with a tomato soup. I expected to love the sandwich, but while it was good, I really found myself loving the soup, which had two parts, a tangy red soup and a rich, cream colored soup, served in a yin yang design.

The seafood lasagna featured lobster and scallops in a cream sauce wrapped in a single lasagna noodle. It looked very rich but the distinct flavors of the perfectly cooked shellfish cut through the richness.

Lastly, the "mini coconut" dessert consisted of a haupia sorbet in a chocolate shell, cut to look like a coconut. It was both amusingly presented and delicious. Haupia is a traditional Hawaiian coconut gelatin-type dessert. I'm generally a big fan of coconut sorbet and this one was as smooth and rich with coconut flavor as I could have wanted and it was well complemented by the dark chocolate shell, like a sophisticated Mounds bar.

Alan Wong, he's still got it.

Alan Wong
1857 South King Street
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 949-2526

Hawaii: Shave Ice Update

I've been a big fan of Hawaiian shave ice since I was a kid and discovered the old Island Snow chain in Waikiki. Even though those were likely sub-par examples, it was a revelation. A snow cone that was actually soft like snow, not hard and icy, with tropical flavors and ice cream on the bottom (only later on the North Shore would I experience the beauty of sweet beans mixed into the ice cream). I would sometimes eat a couple per day. When I go to Hawaii for vacation, I still eat an embarrassing amount of shave ice. Here's a run down of a few old favorites and some new ones from this trip. In tasting note fashion, each Shave Ice will be rated on three categories as follows.

1. Ice. The ice should be soft and melt in your mouth. This isn't a snow cone. Points off for big ice crystals or hardness.

2. Flavors. How do the syrups taste. My favorite flavors are strawberry, strawberry and cream and lilikoi, but I reserve the right to try whatever I feel like.

3. Add-ons. I like ice cream and azuki beans (sweet black beans) on the bottom of my cone. The beans should be sweet and soft so that they form a beany, fruity milkshake at the bottom of the cone. This is really the best part of a shave ice.

So, here they are in the order I consumed them.

Waiola Shave Ice, Kaimuki, Honolulu (pictured above right): This is an old favorite but many say it's gone down hill since a change in location a few years ago (there is another branch in Moilili). That's certainly true of the service, which was pretty bad and disorganized, but the shave ice is still very good.
Ice: Near perfect. Soft all the way through.
Flavors: Fantastic. Strong flavors that last through the whole shave ice.
Add-ons: Meh. The beans are too hard and not sweet enough which means they don't blend well with the ice cream and deny you of that lovely beany milkshake. It's like having canned kidney beans at the bottom.


Keneke's, Waimanolo: This storefront plate lunch stand makes a solid shave ice.
Ice: Good, some hardness and an ice chip or two, but mostly soft.
Flavors: Good. Nothing homemade tasting but solid stuff.
Add-ons: Good. Beans are a mashed paste, ice cream is fine, nothing to complain about. And hey, where else are you gonna' get shave ice if you're out there anyway.


Shimazu Store, Kalihi, Honolulu: This is one of the most popular shave ice places on Oahu. It's only been around for a few years but it's definitely got foodie cred. The shave ices here are enormous, the flavor list extensive with lots of innovative flavors. It's also a fun place and the proprietor is very friendly.
Ice: Very good. The inside of the cone is as soft as can be, but the outside of the cone tends to harden, possibly due to the size of the thing. This encourages you to burrow into the middle which leaves you with an icy outside shell, which is not a great situation to be in.
Flavors: I was actually not very impressed with the flavors. The lilikoi had an artificial-candy taste instead of a natural lilikoi flavor. The strawberry and cream was fine but not as rich as the Waiola version.
Add-ons: Beans were good, ice cream seemed a bit too sweet.

Aoki's, Haleiwa: I've stopped hitting the more famous Matsumoto's on my trips to the North Shore because the lines are just too long so instead, I went to nearby Aoki's.
Ice: Okay. Not super soft.
Flavors: Not very good. Flavors were weak and indistinct. Everything just tasted like sugar and citric acid.
Add-ons: Very good. Beans were sweet and mixed in well. Proportions of beans and ice cream were perfect.

Bonus - Snow Factory, Moiliili (pictured above). Technically, this isn't shave ice, it's shave ice cream, but the format is similar. Instead of ice, they shave a giant block of ice cream and add syrups and other add on such as mochi, cookies, etc. The add ons here are more similar to a Korean bingsu then a traditional Hawaiian shave ice.
Ice/Snow: The shaving of the ice cream creates a great, melt in your mouth flavors.
Flavors: Fruit flavors tended to be better than more traditional ice cream flavors. Maybe it's just the psychology of eating this as a shave ice, but I thought the lilikoi worked better in the shaved format, then say peanut butter.
Add-ons: Most were pretty good. The mochi balls go well with the ice cream, but the best were passion fruit pops. Little gelatinous balls that explode with passion fruit when you bite them. These reminded me of the "cherries" they serve at Jose Andreas' Bazaar and other molecular gastronomy treats.


Summary: Overall, I would say Waiola still has the best flavors and ice. Keneke's may be my favorite for the add-ons. Even though Shimazu is a big hit with pretty much everyone these days, I didn't think it lived up to the hype.

Hawaii Fish Market Smackdown: Nico's vs. Uncle's

Out on Pier 38, just off the Nimitz Highway, are two well loved fish restaurants: Nico's and Uncle's. Literally across the paring lot from each other, hese places are very similar, offering a range of poke, fish & chips and fresh seafood dishes. Nico's seems to get more tourist love while Uncle's seems to be more favored by locals. I'd never tried either of these spots on previous visits, so I figured I would give both a try.

Nico's has a sort of sports bar vibe and a more limited menu. I had a special of furikake seared ahi which was very good, but the other dishes were mostly just okay. A fish chowder was fairly bland.

Uncle's fish dishes reminded me a lot of the old Sam Choy's on Kapahulu. I really enjoyed a dish of opakapaka in garlic cream sauce with crab meat. The fish was well cooked and the sauce was rich and full of garlic. We also tried the butterfish with miso dressing. The butterfish was cooked well but the miso dressing was overly sweet. We also enjoyed a poke trio, including a spicy poke and a kukui nut poke. And Uncle's does a great li hing mui maragarita - just the right amount sour and salty and not too sweet.

Overall, I liked Uncle's better than Nico's, but I didn't go nuts over either place as some people seem to, and both are fairly expensive, though fresh fish does tend to be pricy.

Nico's Pier 38
1133 North Nimitz Highway
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 540-1377

Uncle's Fish Market
1135 North Nimitz Highway
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 275-0063

Hawaii Eats: The Whole Ox

The Whole Ox is a gourmet butcher shop that serves breakfast and lunch on wooden picnic tables out of a store front on Keawe Street just off of Ala Moana Boulevard.

The food is similar to what Angelenos would be familiar with from places like Animal with a casual vibe. In fact, this place would fit in well in LA with its emphasis on local produce and organic meats.

We stopped in for breakfast and tried a sampling. The menu is limited, but all of the dishes looked good. Less than a month after the California foie gras ban went into effect I was excited to get my foie fix with the eggs benedict foie gras (pictured below), which was an eggs benedict on a homemade biscuit with foie in place of the Canadian Bacon (they offer the Canadian Bacon version as well) and some stewed dried apricots, all covered in a light hollandaise. The foie was just slightly overcooked but the poached eggs were perfect, and the whole dish worked well.

Sausages with biscuits and gravy was not quite as strong a dish. The gravy lacked flavor. The sausages were a very dense, merguez type sausage which I liked a lot. The biscuits, the same ones used on the benedict, were a bit dense as well, lacking the fluffiness I tend to like in biscuits, which made the whole dish a bit heavy.

Smoky pork hash (pictured, top) was fantastic. Hash dishes are very popular on the islands and this pork hash had chunks of shredded, smoky pork, reminiscent of kalua pig, with nicely cubed potatoes. Corn beef hash was good but not as good as the smoky pork hash.

A special of "piggy grill cakes" (or something like that) was a rectangular pattie made from pork and steel cut oats. It was fried crisp and had a nice porky flavor. The oats provided texture more than anything else.

Most breakfast dishes were in the $10 range (the foie gras benedict was $19).

Overall, this was a fun place and one I'd definitely return to. I appreciated both the creativity of the dishes and the emphasis on local and organic ingredients.

The Whole Ox
327 Keawe St
Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 699-6328

Hawaii Food Week

I just got back from a wonderful vacation in Oahu, Hawaii and will spend the week writing up some of the great food I had (not including the above). Stay tuned.

Check out all my previous Hawaii coverage here.

Hilo Sweets

Part two of my Hilo, Hawaii Report focuses on desserts.


SHAVE ICE

Wilson's By the Bay aka Wilson's Ice Shave

That most popular of Hawaii frozen treats, the shave ice, is referred to in Hilo as ice shave. Wilson's, located in the touristy strip of Kamehameha Avenue, had fabulous shave ice, certainly comparable to the best I've had on Oahu. Wilson's had everything you want in great shave ice: soft ice with the texture of fresh snow, strong flavors and goodly portions of ice cream and sweet azuki beans. Like most shave ice places, it takes its time but is definitely worth the wait.

Wilson's By the Bay
224 Kamehameha Ave.
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 969-9191


Kawate Seed Shop

Kawate Seed Shop, for some inexplicable reason, seems to have a better reputation for shave ice than Wilson's. I thought it was just okay. The ice was more coarse than I like and the flavors were lacking, with the exception of their li hing mui, the sour/salty/sweet dried plum that is probably the most popular variety of the Hawaiian snack known as "crackseed." My standard shave ice flavors are strawberry, coconut and li hing mui. While most li hing mui syrups are sweet with a vague saltiness, Kawate's version was boldly sweet, sour and salty with little bits of li hing mui in it; it gave you the true flavor of the real LHM. You would expect that, I suppose, from a crackseed shop with such a wide variety of plums and powders (the picture above is from Kawate). Now if I could only get their li hing mui on a Wilson's ice shave...that would be icy heaven.

Kawate Seed Shop
1990 Kinoole St
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 959-8313


NUTS AND SNACKS

Mauna Loa Visitor Center

I don't tend to frequent tourist traps or factory tours, and I didn't have much in the way of expectations for the Hershey-owned Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Visitor Center, but it's actually fairly unobtrusive. The Visitor Center is a three mile drive through the Mac Nut fileds off Highway 11, south of Hilo. The Visitor Center experience is a fairly simple affair, including (1) a self-guided factory tour in which you get to look through the factory windows and watch videos narrated by an animated, talking Mac Nut; (2) a small garden of unlabeled tropical plants and Mac Nut trees; and (3) a large store stocked with every imaginable flavor of Mac Nuts and a few choice samples. The whole experience takes only 15 to 20 minutes, so if you love Mac Nuts, why not do it.

Mauna Loa Visitor Center
16-701 Macadamia Road (off Hwy 11 - you'll see the sign)
Keaau, Hawaii 96749
(888) 628-6256


Big Island Candies

Big Island Candies is sort of a local version of the Mauna Loa Center. Big Island Candies specializes in shortbread and assorted chocolate dipped snacks. The factory includes a large store with a window onto the factory floor where you can see workers dipping all manner of things in chocolate. The store is as big as Mauna Loa's, but Big Island Candies is more generous with the samples. The shortbread is excellent, sweet and vanillay with that melt-in-your-mouth quality that great shortbread has. They have it in a variety of flavors, such as guava, ginger and olive oil, all of which were good, but I think I liked the plain shortbread the best. Oh, and when I said they have all manner of chocolate dipped snacks, did I mention the chocolate dipped dried squid? Sorry folks, I left it on the shelf for braver souls than I.

Big Island Candies
585 Hinano Street
Hilo, HI 96720
(800) 935-5510


PASTRIES

Puff City



One of my favorite Hilo finds was Puff City, a downtown pastry shop specializing in cream puffs. Their standard puff is a chocoalte custard with a chantilly topping. Hawaii locals and frequent visitors will immediately recognize this as a direct challenge to the famous Liliha Bakery and their famous coco puffs. So how did Puff City compare? Well, their pastry was excellent. Liliha is so big now that most of their puffs come out of the fridge and the pastry gets soggy, but Puff City's pastry was fresh and had more flavor than the Liliha standard. The Puff City chocolate filling was good but a bit too sweet for me, and while I liked Puff City's chantilly topping, it didn't have the complex sweet/salty flavor that makes Liliha's chantilly so compelling, but hey, you're in Hilo so it's not like you're going to fly out to Lilhia, so you should enjoy these puffs. Puff City also makes an excellent lilikoi puff with a fabulous lilikoi cream filling and a nice mini-chocolate silk pie with a well made, sweet pie crust filled with chocolate cream and whipped cream. Puff City has some lunch items as well, but I stuck to the sweets.

Puff City
187 Kilauea Ave.
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 961-6964

Hilo, Hawaii Eats

Hilo may be the largest city on the Big Island of Hawaii, but this 40,000 person burg still has the feel of a small town. Partly, by Hawaii standards, Hilo is off the beaten track. Most tourists opt for the Kona Coast on the sunny side of the island. In Hilo, nestled on the northeast side of the island, it rains nearly every day. The coast, while beautiful, is made up of volcanic rock, not sand, and the only redeeming factor for most tourists is the city's proximity to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. But I'm a big fan of Hilo with its lush rain forests and craggy coasts.

Foodwise, Hilo isn't in the league of the population center on Oahu, but it has some good stuff if you know where to look. The culinary ethnic mix is pretty similar to Oahu but with more of an emphasis on Native Hawaiian flavors where Oahu's cuisine tends to be tilted more heavily toward Asian.

I'll run through some of the better eats I experienced in and around Hilo today with a wrap up of Hilo sweets on Friday.


Ken's House of Pancakes



Ken's is a classic local diner, and it's open 24 hours which is a huge boon to the jetlagged mainlander waking up at 4:00 am. I actually didn't think the pancakes were that great, but Ken's is a haven for great local food. The loco moco (pictured above) really hit the spot. The Hawaiian breakfast classic of two eggs over a hamburger patty and rice smothered in brown sauce is the kind of thing that lasts several meals. The Ken's version has a well charred burger and a meaty brown sauce. Ken's also does a great saimin, the Hawaiian ramen with a shrimp-based broth, and I enjoyed the blood sausage breakfast, with two nicely seasoned blood sausages, eggs, and hash browns.

Ken's House of Pancakes
1730 Kamehameha Ave,
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-8711


Cafe 100



Cafe 100 is a bustling lunch spot that specializes in loco mocos, but I found it lacking. We got two mocos, a traditiona and a Kalua Pig version. At $1.99, it's hard to beat the value on the loco moco, and the burger patty had a nice peppery flavor to it, but the sauce was disappointing, tasting like it came out of a packet. The Kalua Pig was bland and unexciting. A regular hamburger at Cafe 100 tasted remarkably similar to a McDonald's burger, paper thin patty and all. Given its popularity, I was disappointed that Cafe 100 just didn't measure up.

Cafe 100
969 Kilauea Ave
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-8683


Verna's III

Verna's is a small plate lunch chain that has the advantage of being open 24 hours on weekends. The Kalua Pig with cabbage is ultra-smoky and mixes well with the cabbage, and the shoyu chicken, lean chicken marinated in soy sauce, was also excellent. Not the best plate lunch in Hawaii, but good stuff, and you have to love the motto: If no can, no can...if can, Verna's.

Verna's III
1765 Kamehameha Ave
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-2776


Asami's Kitchen

Asami's Kitchen is an okazuya in downtown Hilo, just a few blocks from the farmers' market. Most of the choices will be familiar to any fan of okazu (spam musubi, shoyu chicken, tempura shrimp, hash patties, etc.), but my favorite thing was the shoyu pork, same as shoyu chicken, but pork. The pork was moist and full of ginger/garlic/soy/pork flavor. They also did a great nori chicken, fried chicken wrapped in seaweed. Asami's was the best okazu I had in Hilo, and I liked it better than the more popular Hilo Lunch Shop on Kalanikoa.

Asami's Kitchen
308 Kilauea Ave.
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-2242


Suisan Fish Market

What's a Hawaiian vacation without poke? I loved the poke variety at Suisan Company. The ahi in the shoyu poke was fresh and clean tasting; the salmon chunks in the smoked salmon poke tasted like chunks of fresh lox, and the kimchee mussel poke had a great flavor with a bit of spice from the kimchee. The fish market is right on the water and most of the poke is super-fresh, but watch the signage as some of their dishes are previously frozen.

Suisan Fish Market
96 Lihiwai St.
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-9349


Queen's Court Seafood Buffet

I wouldn't necessarily recommend the seafood buffet which is weekends only at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel on beautiful Banyan Drive. Most of it is pretty standard hotel buffet fare, but it's notable for two things. First, the centerpieces of the mostly Hawaiian food hot side of the buffet is a whole roasted suckling pig stuffed with Kalua Pig. You can tear into the glistening red skin to reach the tender, white roast pork or you can dip some tongs into the space where its rib cage would be, which has been hollowed out and filled with the Kalua Pig. Mmmm, pork stuffed pig, and the Kalua pig is nicely done, salty and light on the smoke; take a bowl of poi and enjoy. Oh, and the second thing of note, the buffet comes with a bottomless pitcher of beer. What's not to like?

Queen's Court Restaurant at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel
71 Banyan Dr
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 935-9361

On Friday: Hilo Sweets.

Vacation Break

Coming next week: Hilo Eats.



Pictured above top: The beautiful Waipi'o Valley on the north of the Island of Hawaii.

Pictured above bottom: Smoke billowing from Kilauea Volcano.

Vacation Journal: New Hawaii Finds

Another fine trip to Hawaii!. Here is a list of some of my new and exciting finds on this trip.

Sconees Bakery. This Kaimuki bakery makes light and flaky scones as well as absolutely amazing lilikoi bars. The bars are nice and tangy with a good lilikoi flavor on a rich, buttery shortbread crust...mouth wateringly good.

Sconees Bakery
1117 12th Ave. (between Harding and Waialae)
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 734-4024


Kauai Chocolate. I wasn't a huge fan of the two Hawaiian chocolates I tried earlier this year, which I found too sweet, but I enjoyed the Kauai Chocolate Company's 72% bar. According the their website, Kauai company chocolate is a blend of Peters, Callebaut and Hawaiian chocolate (though no word on the percentages of each. It has a clean, dark flavor with a good mouth feel. The 72% bar is available at the Shirokiya store in Ala Moana at $7 for a 5 ounce bar.


Fatty's Chinese Kitchen. Good food is hard to find in the Waikiki area, but Fatty's is a solid Chinese lunch stand adjacent to, of all things, the International Market Place. A popular spot for local hospitality workers, Fatty's has tasty noodle plates and a particularly good pork chop on rice. The pork is spiced with peppers, scallions and a touch of anise, almost a Shanghai meets Sichuan preparation minus the peppercorns.

Fatty's Chinese Kitchen
2345 Kuhio Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 922-9600


Liliha Bakery. Every time I visit I buy some excellent coco puffs at Kalihi's Liliha Bakery, but I also try something new there and have yet to be disappointed. Last year, it was chantilly cake. This year, it was the guava chiffon pie (pictured above). The pie is as light as air, like a very light mousse, with a strong, sweet guava flavor, topped with a sweet, guava glaze and whipped cream. It's like biting into a guava flavored cloud.

Liliha Bakery
515 N. Kuakini Street
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 531-1651

Well, it's back to the Mainland and back to work, but I always savor my bites of the Aloha State.

Vacation Journal: Honloulu Farmers Market

The Honolulu Saturday Farmers' Market at Kapiolani Community College is a thing to behold. Operating from 7:30 to 11:00am, the market is packed from the very start, making our own Hollywood Market seem sparsely attended.



The market has a wondrous selection of tropical fruit, including many varieties of mango and papaya, lychee, longan, dragonfruit, local pineapple and other produce. About 50% of the stalls are prepared food, including every sort of island delight from a lovely locally made butter to butterfish to spam musubi.



I was thrilled to see these fresh abalone on the grill at the Big Island Abalone stand. The size of large oysters, these plump beauties are farmed on the Big Island and explode with juice when you bite into them. At 2 for $5, you won't find a better deal on abalone.

Vacation Journal: North Shore Updates

On every trip to Oahu, I make a mandatory pilgrimage to the North Shore to partake of fresh shrimp and shave ice. Not much has changed since last year's sojourn, but I have a few updates:


Giovanni's Shrimp Truck

They now have hot dogs! The dogs are dipped in the garlic scampi sauce, and no, I didn't try one. I just couldn't resist the shrimp, but they looked good.


Shave Ice

A new shave ice vendor, Haleiwa Shave Ice, joins Matsumoto's and Aoki's, but doesn't bring much to the table. Haleiwa's flavors were weak and watery and they skimped on the azuki beans. I'm always looking for a North Shore alternative to the lines at Matsumoto's, but this wasn't it.


Pickled Mangos

This was the hit of the North Shore visit. I'd long seen the small sign advertising pickled mangos at the corner of Haleiwa Road and Kamehameha Highway but had never before acted on it. Just up the road on Haleiwa, across from the boat entrance to Ali'i Beach Park, there is another sign identifying the house where the mangos are. This isn't a fruit stand; it's just a house with a mango tree. The folks who live there make amazing pickles from their home grown mangos, pickling them in sugar and vinegar, with a li hing mui plum in the traditional style for home cured pickled mango. The mango slices are firm and crunchy with a perfect sweet/sour balance and a very slight mango inflection. They are sold in one pound bags for $9 and are highly addictive. Check it out!


Next Week: Farmers Markets, Hilo and More.

Vacation Journal: Hawaii Updates

I'm back in Hawaii for vacation. Last year, I did an extensive journal of my island eats. This year, I'll stick to a few updates and some new finds. Our original plan was to head to the Big Island today and do some excellent local eating in Hilo, which I haven't visited in years, but between being laid up with a bad case of food poisoning (an occupational hazard of the food blogging hobby) and the impending visit of Hurricane Felicia, it looks like that will have to wait for next year.

Today, a few Oahu updates:

• Eggs 'n Things. My traditional first day breakfast spot has changed ownership and location since my last visit. (It's now located at 343 Saratoga Road, right off Kalakaua on the west side of Waikiki). Thankfully, the food hasn't changed. My beloved mac nut pancakes were as delicious as ever and the loco moco special was a solid traditional version of the great island dish. The staff seems largely the same and the new location is more spacious, with a nice balcony area. My only complaint is that the new ownership changed the hours. Eggs 'n Things used to close only from 2pm to 11pm, making it the perfect spot for jetlagged mainlanders. Now it opens at 6:00am, making it less of an option when I'm up at 4:00 on my first morning (Luckily, the excellent Liliha Bakery is open 24 hours). Parking is also difficult at the new location.



• Diamond Head Grill, which I loved
  last year, now has pancakes. I loved the coconut pancakes, studded with shredded coconut throughout and topped with coconut syrup. Luscious. Between Eggs 'n Things, Liliha and now Diamond Head Grill, is it possible that Honolulu is becoming the pancake capital of the US?



• Sam Choy's Breakfast Lunch and Crab gets worse every year. Nearly everything I had was salted into submission, though my favorite kalbi marinated butterfish was still good. It's sad how Choy has fallen and my hopes for a resurrection are beginning to wane.





• The popular Chinatown bakery Shung Chong Yuein has reopened as Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery, with the same layout and wares of the bakery that closed up shop last year. They make moon cakes and various traditional Chinese cookies, though these weren't as good as I remembered from the previous store. Of particular note, though, are their macadamia nut caramel candies which come in several varieties; I especially like the coconut-Mac candies.

On Friday, an update from the North Shore of Oahu.

Hawaiian Chocolate

I love Hawaii and I love Chocolate, so trying Hawaiian chocolate was a natural for me. As our most tropical state, Hawaii is the only state that can actually grow things like coffee and chocolate.

About ten years ago, I tasted my some excellent chocolate from Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate, which arrived early to the American artisanal chocolate movement. For whatever reason, while craft chocolate has exploded in the US, Hawaiian Vintage has moved toward a commercial sales model which deemphasizes retail sales. They only sell chocolate to the public through their website and have only a limited selection with no bars.

There are some other Hawaiian bars on the market and today we will sample three chocolate bars from two makers.



Malie Kai Chocolates, Single Origin Waialua Estate, 55% cacao

Dole's Malie Kai Chocolates are made from cacao grown at the Waialua Estate on the North Shore of Oahu. While the beans are grown in Hawaii, they are processed by the old Guittard chocolate company in San Francisco.

The Malie Kai had a nice chocolate scent and a good mouthfeel, but it was much too sweet, even for the relatively low 55% cacao level. I generally like Guittard and this definitely tastes like at Guittard product. I'll have to try the 70% bar.


Original Hawaiian Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, 60% cacao

Unlike Malie Kai, Original Hawaiian Chocolate both grows its cacao and makes its chocolate in Hawaii. They have single estate bars, but the bar I'm sampling is a blend. The cacao is grown on the Big Island.

The Original Hawaiian Chocolate (OHC) bar was also quite sweet and had a sort of clay-like mouth feel that I didn't care for. It also had a bit of a chemically taste. It uses both soy lecithin and vanilla powder in place of vanilla beans. Possibly the off tastes and mouthfeel I get from this bar came from those ingredients.


Malie Kai Kona Coffee Espresso

Malie Kai also makes a Kona coffee bar made with "Kona blend" beans. I enjoyed this bar which had a nice strong coffee taste. It was almost like the bar form of a chocolate covered espresso bean. As with all of these bars, though, it is on the sweet side.

I'm still waiting to try a truly remarkable Hawaiian chocolate bar. For now, these chocolates aren't yet playing in the big leagues.

And a Spammy Christmas to you to Mr. President!

We know the President Elect is a fan of the local favorites of his home state, including Zippy's and Rainbow Drive Inn, but only now do we have evidence of his love of one of my island favorites, Spam musubi.

As reported by the Washington Post in describing a golf game played during Obama's holiday vacation:

About midway through the course, Obama stopped by the snack bar, where he purchased two hot dogs, two passion-orange sodas, one Powerade and one Coke. He also bought two Spam musubi, a sushi-like Hawaiian delicacy consisting of Spam and fried egg on a slab of rice, all held together with a dried seaweed wrap. (He paid a total of $17.75, but it was unclear whether the president-elect ate a Spam musubi.)

Damn straight he ate those musubis. Although, I guess you don't get pecks like these from eating a lot of Spam.

Next week: The year in review.

Hawaii Journal: Wrap Up

Thanks for following along with Sku's Vacation Eats. I hope you enjoyed reading about it half as much as I enjoyed eating it. Here are a few last thoughts to anyone who is inspired to visit (or revisit) Hawaii with an eye toward food.

First, if you missed anything, here is a handy index to my Hawaii Journal:

Day 1: Eggs 'n Things*, Gina's B-B-Q, Poke at Tamura's

Day 2: Leonard's Malassadas, Keneke's, Waiola Shave Ice, Mekong

Day 3: Diamond Head Market & Grill, Honolulu Coffee Co., Kua 'Aina Sandwich Shop, Island Fruit

Day 4: Ono Hawaiian Food, Chinatown Report

Day 5: Sekiya's Okazuya, Northshore Report (Giovanni's Shrimp Truck & Matsumoto's), Coco Puffs at Liliha Bakery

Day 6: Ode on a Spam Musubi, Gyotaku, Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin

Day 7: Sanoya Ramen, Side Street Inn

Day 8: Brunch at the Prince Court, Tokkuri Tei

Day 9: Dim Sum at Mei Sum, Gulick Deli, Shave Ice at Keneke's, Diamondhead Market and Grill

Day 10: Roadside fruit, Romy's Shrimp Hut, Chantilly Cake at Liliha Bakery and Sam Choy's

Day 11: Fukuya for the Plane

*Shortly after my trip, Eggs 'n Things announced on its website that it would be closing at the end of August and reopening with new ownership and at a new location this fall. I just hope the new owners don't fool with the mac nut pancake recipe.



Hawaii Food Resources

If you are interested in more Hawaiian food tips, there are a few excellent resources out there.


1. Books

Over the years, there have been many, many Hawaii restaurant guides, but two of the best that are currently in print are, in no particular order:

The Food Lover's Guide to Honolulu by Joan Namkoong is one of the best Hawaii food books I've ever seen. More than a restaurant guide, it discusses the various foods of Hawaii and tells you where to shop for and eat them. It is full to the brim with all you need to know to understand and seek out the best that Honolulu has to offer. Namkoong is clearly our type of people as reflected by the excellent recommendations in her book.

The Puka Guide: 100 Hawaiian-Style Hole-in-the-Wall Restaurants by Donovan M. Dela Cruz and Jodi Endo Chai is a massive list of diners, okazuyas and other little joints with excellent local food. The 2007 edition is an expanded update of their first Puka guide and their companion guide to Okazuya. The descriptions are pretty bare bones, but they give you all the information you need to find good cheap eats in Hawaii. Unlike Namkoong's book, this guide covers the entire state, though the emphasis is certainly on Oahu.


2. Blogs

There are a number of Hawaii food blogs, and I can't claim to have fluency with the whole world of them. After all, I'm already reading LA food blogs and whiskey blogs...I do have a day job, you know. But there are a couple of Hawaii blogs that are definitely worth following:

Ono Kine Grindz is the granddaddy of Hawaiian food blogs, one of the first and best on the scene. Unfortunately, a few months ago, the blogger announced that he no longer had time to post there and would discontinue the blog. Since then, the postings have picked up a bit, though they are much more sporadic than they used to be. The fantastic blog archive is still up though and is a great resource. Google nearly any restaurant in Hawaii and you're likely to come up with an Ono Kine Grindz posting.

The Tasty Island is another excellent Hawaii food blog. Along with restaurant reviews, they do fun things like taste tests of the different lunch meat musubis. And you've got to love a blog that, instead of rating with stars, uses little spam musubis.



Island Travel Tips for Good Eats

This is just my two cents based on many years of travelling to Hawaii as a tourist who wants to eat like a local:

• Locate yourself for maximum eating. There are good eats to be found all over the islands, but there is a greater concentration where the people are concentrated, in the greater Honolulu area. If you are staying in the North Shore or Ko'olina, you will have to do more seeking and more travelling to get a wide variety.


• Get a car and get out of Waikiki. Waikiki is a beautiful beach and, while there are a few good eateries on the strip, it is dominated by chain restaurants and tourist traps. Hawaii has not only great eats but amazingly beautiful mountains and remote beaches that you can access by car. Ninety-five percent of tourists never leave Waikiki except for quick jaunts to Haunama Bay, the Dole Plantation and Pearl Harbor. Don't be one of those people. Many of the great eats in my journal were just a ten to fifteen minute car ride from Waikiki. Your exploration will be rewarded.


• Do you keep kosher or halal or are you a vegetarian? If so, you may want to consider another vacation spot.


• Consider a condo or a hotel room with a refrigerator and microwave. Taste more variety by taking home leftovers


• Don't pay to go to a luau. Don't! You will see a cheesy show with mediocre food. Instead, get yourself to Ono Hawaiian. For a fraction of the price of some hotel luau, you will get far better food. If you are interested in Hawaiian culture, check out the Bishop Museum which includes displays on Hawaiian history and culture and sponsors hula and other cultural activities for all ages.


• Mahi Mahi is not dolphin. It is dolphin fish, totally different creature, so don't sweat it; you're not eating Flipper.


• Lastly, love the pig and do not fear the spam!

Shout-Outs

To just a few of the places I missed this trip but that are worth a visit:

Young's Fish Market
1286 Kalani Street
Hololulu, HI

Hawaiian food joint, kalua pig, lau lau, Okinawan sweet potato, etc.

Spices
2671 S. King Street
Honolulu, HI

Creative pan-Southeast Asian fusion and great ice creams. Mid-level price wise.

Alan Wong's
1857 S. King Street
Honolulu, HI
(808) 949-2526

If you have room to splurge for a meal, you must go to Alan Wong. More than any individual chef, he brought Hawaiian cuisine to a new level by blending classic techniques with local ingredients and traditional dishes. And if you are used to the occasional splurge on a high end restaurant in LA, you will be pleased with the price.

Agnes' Portuguese Bake Shop
46 Ho'olai St.
Kailua, HI
(808) 262-5367

The best malassadas on the island come from this Kailua bakery. Being doughnut shaped, rather than spherical, allows for more surface area to be fried crispy and delicious. I am probably sadder to have missed this place than anyplace else this trip.


What a great vacation! I hope you enjoyed my virtual meals. Thanks to all the Hawaii residents who have made the islands such a food-lovers paradise.

Hawaii Journal Day 11: Something Special in the Air

Day 11: Wednesday

Well, this is it, the end of vacation in which we say a fond farewell to the beautiful beaches, mountains and plate lunches of Hawaii, but not without a parting taste.

Given that airlines no longer provide any free food, making you shell out money for a collection of sub-par chips and cheese-food products, it pays to bring meals on long flights. And what better meal to bring on a flight than okazu?

Airplane Lunch: Fukuya Delicatessen and Catering

In years past, my favorite okazuya was Ebisu on King Street, but I was sad to learn that it was no more. As a result, as you may have noticed, I spent much of this trip searching for new okazuya, places with reliable musubi, fried foods and other delectables. One of the best I found was Fukuya. In front of our jealous fellow passengers we devoured mochiko and regular fried chicken, buttery shoyu fish, musubis and various fried bits. A fitting end to a lovely trip.

Fukuya Delicatessen and Catering
2710 S. King Street
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 946-2073


Tomorrow: A Hawaii Wrap-Up

Hawaii Journal Day 10: Of Shrimp Trucks and Celebrity Chefs

Day 10: Tuesday (The last full day of our vacation)

We enjoyed the North Shore so much that we headed back up to hang out at the beach, hike up to some Hawaiian ruins and eat shrimp.


Breakfast: Roadside Fruit



Before there were farmers' markets in Hawaii, there were unofficial farmers markets. Across the windward (east) side of the island, there were little stands where people would sell the mangoes, guavas, coconuts and bananas from their backyard trees. This network of stands still exists, and they are a great place to get fresh Hawaiian fruit. At the stand pictured, between Kahuku and Haleiwa on the North Shore, we got fresh, young coconut and beautiful, pink fleshed guavas. My favorite part is, after you drink your coconut juice, watching the proprietor bust open the nut with a giant machete, making moves that would surely cost me a limb or too, to get the precious young, gelatinous flesh.

Beware though, that roadside stands that offer pineapple probably picked them up at the supermarket or the Dole plantation. Unlike the rest of these fruit, which grow on backyard trees, it is takes a fair amount of cultivation to grow pineapple (at the stand I stopped at, they were still in the Dole boxes).


Lunch: Romy's Kahuku Prawns and Shrimp Hut

If I had enough time or if I ever move to Hawaii, my first chowish adventure will be to try all of the shrimp trucks on the North Shore. But since I only go for a few weeks and often make only one or two North Shore trips, I always end up at the irresistible Giovanni's (see Day 5).

This time, I swore it would be different, so I stopped at Romy's in Kahuku. Though technically a hut and not a truck, Romy's serves the shrimp scampi and spicy shrimp dishes that are shrimp truck staples. I ordered the scampi so as to better do a direct comparison with the beloved Giovanni's.



The shrimp at Romy's, which is located in a field of shrimp farming ponds, is excellent. They are bigger, more succulent and seem fresher than Giovanni's, and Romy's gets points for leaving the heads attached. I also enjoyed the spicy shoyu sauce accompaniment. In terms of the totality of the dish, however, there is no comparison. Giovanni's takes it away. There is something about the Giovanni's preparation that makes the oil and garlic cling to the shrimp, while Romy's less garlicky sauce spills off onto the rice. At Giovanni's, you want to suck every last morsel of sauce off of the shrimp before peeling it. At Romy's, the flavor just isn't there. It's a nicely cooked shrimp in a nice setting, but it's no Giovanni's.


Romy's Kahuku Prawns and Shrimp Hut
56-781 Kamehameha Highway
Kahuku, HI


Dessert: Liliha Chantilly Cake

For dessert we headed back to the Liliha Bakery on our way back from the North Shore. As I discussed on Day 5, I love the Liliha Coco Puff, and I am intrigued by the mind blowing chantilly topping. Traditionally, chantilly is a vanilla whipped cream, but Liliha's chantilly is so much more than that. It is more gloppy and grainy than a whipped cream. It is at once sweet and salty. I stop, mid-bite, to savor and ponder its flavor.



Given my fascination with this topping, I decided I must try Liliha's chantilly cake. The cake is a chocolate chiffon layer cake, layered with what is probably vanilla pudding and frosted with my beloved chantilly. I was grateful to have all of that chantilly in one place, but I have to say that the combination did not work as well as the coco puff. I missed the sweet, richness of the chocolate pudding that contrasted so well with the saltiness of the chantilly. On top of that, I'm not a huge fan of chiffon cake; I find it light and flavorless. When a cake is brown, I expect it to taste like chocolate, and chiffon cake has only the slightest hint of flavor. But I still scraped off every last bit of chantilly.

Liliha Bakery
515 North Kuakini Street
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 531-1651



Dinner: Sam Choy's Brekfast, Lunch and Crab

Sam Choy is sort of the clown prince of Hawaiian cuisine. He was one of the new wave of chefs, with Alan Wong and Roy Yamaguchi, who pioneered the mixture of Hawaiian traditional foods with classical techniques. I was a big fan of his Diamondhead restaurant back in its heyday, with its brie won tons, fried poke and macadamia nut crusted opakapaka. In the process, Choy became sort of the Emeril of Hawaii. He appeared on TV (including on Emeril Live), and he even has a motto: "Never trust a skinny chef."

But it appears that Choy has fallen on hard times. Earlier this year, his more formal Diamondhead restaurant (formal for Hawaii, that is) closed and his original Big Island eatery is also gone. That leaves Choy's brewpub, Breakfast, Lunch and Crab, as his only Hawaii outlet (he has one other restaurant on Guam). In the fall, he will rename Breakfast, Lunch and Crab "Sam Choy's" and renovate it. For now, some of the aforementioned classics have been added to the BLC menu.

We stopped by Breakfast, Lunch and Crab for their regular keiki (kid's) night. The concept is simple and delightful to parents - we get to eat good food, the kids get to play, get balloon animals, etc. Of course, if you don't have kids you should stay away unless you simply love the thought of huge numbers of children running around and yelling. (Though it must be said that Chris da Clown makes the best balloon animals anywhere).

I've been to Choy's many times and it's always enjoyable, but it has lost much of its excitement. The classic dishes have been around a long time and there has not been much effort to expand the menu with new and exciting fare. Fifteen years ago, Choy's food felt fresh, exciting and, perhaps most of all, playful. Now it seems old and worn out. He is in need of inspiration.

Still, the food was good, if not innovative. Choy is a master with island fish and the kalbi cooked butterfish was a nice piece of butterfish, seasoned to taste exactly like Korean kalbi. Fried oysters were thick and meaty and crab stuffed fish with a shitake cream sauce was nicely done.

I'm hoping that the renovation will reinspire Choy to create some new and exciting menu options. I know he has it in him, and I look forward to the new Sam Choy's.


Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch and Crab
580 N. Nimitz Highway
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 545-7979

Tomorrow: Something Special in the Air

Hawaii Journal Day 9: Dim Sum and More

Day 9: Monday

So, the trip is winding down. Today is the second to last full day. It's time to start winnowing the choices and going back to any places we simply can't resist.


Breakfast: Mei Sum Dim Sum Looks Fun



If you are a regular reader, you know that both my oldest daughter and I are big dim sum fans, so we headed back to Chinatown for a morning of dim sum. Mei Sum is a small restaurant, a far cry from the usual palaces, with a fairly typical dim sum menu; while they do have carts, at least during off hours, you order off the menu. We had all the standards, served in bamboo steamers, which was refreshing as most everywhere you go these days has metal steamers. The dim sum was good, though nothing too different from what we're used to in the San Gabriel Valley. The one thing Mei Sum excelled at was look fun, the wide rice noodles that encase various meats. The look fun at Mei Sum were delightfully greasy and porky with a great, chewy texture. We had two look fun dishes: shrimp and char siu. The char siu was stuffed with julienned pork strips...great stuff. My guess is that these were hand made look fun, either made in-house, or more likely, made by the nearby Ying Leong Look Funn Factory, one of the last factories making handmade fun.

Mei Sum
65 N. Pauahi St.
Honolulu, Hawaii 96817
(808) 531-3268


Lunch: Gulick Deli

With our time here growing short, we really had to start getting to places if we wanted to visit. One of the things we definitely wanted to do was spend a day on the beautiful beaches of Kailua on the windward (east) side of the island. Unfortunately, we chose to do this on a Monday, and my two favorite Kailua eateries, Kuulei Delicatessen and Agnes' Portuguese Bake Shop (for malassadas), are closed on Monday.

Instead, we brought food from yet another Honolulu okazuya. There is really no better beach food than okazu. You pick it up early, it's good luke warm, and you can wipe the grease off your fingers in the ocean.



Gulick Deli is an esteemed okazuya in the Kalihi neighborhood which now has a branch on King Street. We stocked up for the beach trip with all manner of okazu from chow fun to fried shrimp. Unfortunately, most of it was just average. There were a few stand outs, though. The spicy chicken, a fried, sweet glazed chicken was very good, as was the butter fish. Butter fish is an extremely oily fish, related to Chilean sea bass and black cod. The appropriately named fish melts in your mouth like...margarine. My experience has been that it's good almost everywhere; Gulick served its butter fish as broiled steaks.

Gulick Deli
1936 S. King Street
Honolulu, HI 96826


Dessert: Shave Ice at Keneke's

On our way back from Kailua, we had a hankering for shave ice, so we stopped by Keneke's in Waimanaolo (see Day 2 for a review of their excellent plate lunch). I know I've had Keneke's shave ice before, but I had no discernible memory of it, which means it was at least 20 years ago.

Well, it turns out, they do a fantastic shave ice. The flavors were crisp and rich, the ice texture was soft and the quantity of ice cream and beans was good. Instead of whole azukis, Keneke's uses a mashed beans paste, which has the unfortunate quality of looking much like canned, refried beans, but the taste is pure azuki. This shave ice certainly rivals the best on the island. It will become a regular part of my Keneke's visits.

Keneke's
41-857 Kalanianaole Highway
Waimanalo, HI 96795
(808) 259-9804


Dinner & Dessert: Diamondhead Market and Grill

Ever since my first visit to Diamondhead Market and Grill on Day 3, I've been obsessing over it. It's definitely the most exciting new place I've been this trip, and I know that the next time I eat a scone in LA, I will sigh dreamily thinking of the wonder that is the Diamondhead blueberry scone.



Given all of this, I wanted to try their dinner plates. We ordered a teriyaki chicken burger, a teri hamburger and a kalbi plate. All of these were good, but none was excellent. Breakfast is definitely the thing to get at the Grill.




For dessert, we bought a few treats at the adjacent market. These were great. The blueberry cheesecake is lusciously creamy with just a dollop of pureed blueberries. The haupia sweet potato pie is a shortbread crust topped with a layer of Okinawan sweet potato and some very good haupia (coconut pudding) - a dessert with real Polynesian roots. The Diamondhead tort is essentially a banana cream pie with peanut butter; even though I'm not a big banana fan, and it was very strongly banana flavored, the salt of the peanut butter served such a good counterpoint to the bananas that I munched it down.

So got to Diamondhead Market and Grill for breakfast and dessert, but skip the dinner plates.


Diamondhead Market and Grill
3158 Monsarrat Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 732-0077

Tomorrow: North Shore Part II and a Rotund Chef

Hawaii Journal Day 8: Sunday Brunch

Day 8: Sunday

Brunch: Prince Court at the Hawaii Prince Hotel



One of the things I like to do on vacation is go to a Sunday brunch buffet. I'm usually not a buffet-fan, but I like the selection of sweet and savory. On Oahu, the universally acclaimed best brunch is the Orchid Restaurant at the Halekulani Hotel, but Orchid is expensive ($50 per person) and it is hard to get reservations.

My alternative choice for brunch is the Prince Court at the Hawaii Prince Hotel. It serves a diverse selection highlighting both traditional brunch foods and Hawaii's native and Asian influenced cuisine. Surprisingly, for a hotel brunch spot, the crowd is heavily local (mostly there for special occasions), and it has a nice view of the harbor below. In addition, the Prince Court is easier on the wallet ($35 per person) and while you still need reservations, you can usually get them by calling a week in advance.

This year's Prince Court Buffet featured hot and cold buffets as well as stations for sushi, omelettes, prime rib, saimin and dessert. Highlights were two excellent pokes (ahi and tako), a very good Korean barbecued kalbi and sushi rolls made to order. Among the desserts, there was excellent bread pudding and a good coconut haupia cake. My favorite dessert, though, was the macadamia nut cream pie. It had a shortbread crust with a caramel and mac nut center and was topped with chocolate and then whipped cream. Usually, a hotel buffet contains competent versions of a standard repertoire of desserts, but the mac nut cream pie stood on its own.

Prince Court
Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki
100 Holomoana St.
Honolulu, HI
Make Reservations: (808) 944-4494


Dinner: Tokkuri Tei



After a huge lunch, we opted for sushi for dinner from Tokkuri Tei, a Kapahulu joint with a menu featuring not just sushi but a variety of hot dishes as well. They also offered a dish intriguingly called the Baked Alaska Roll. Still being fairly stuffed, we opted for a pretty standard sushi dinner. The stand out was definitely the toro. It was a fattier cut of fatty tuna than I'd ever had before, literally melting in your mouth. Unfortunately, the uni was off, and that left a literal bad taste in my mouth.

Tokkuri Tei
611 Kapahulu Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 739-2800

Tomorrow: Dim Sum and More

Hawaii Journal Day 7: The Side Street Inn Fried Pork Chop

Day 7: Saturday

Lunch: Sanoya Ramen

We were feeling like ramen for lunch so we headed to Sanoya, a small joint with a sign touting handmade noodles. Pork ramen came in a rich, ultra-fatty pork stock. The noodles were nice and chewy. Yakisoba was a bit too charred and had a burnt, carbony taste which I didn't like. Gyoza, though, were quite nice.

Ramen is one of those things where I've never found anything in Hawaii better than we can get at the best places in LA, but we keep searching.

1785 S King St, #4
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 947-6065


Dinner: Side Street Inn

A few years ago, when I first visited the Side Street Inn, it was sort of a local secret. A typical plate lunch service by day, at night, it turned into a bar with amazing food that attracted some of Hawaii's greatest chefs after hours. It was bar food with a Hawaiian twist. Lilikoi basted spare ribs, fried rice and a marvelous fried, breaded pork chop. Well, the jig is up. Side Street Inn is officially on the map, at least the foodie tourist map. It's in Frommer's, Anthony Bourdain went there on his Travel Channel Show, and so on and so forth. The good news is that none of this has affected the food or atmosphere at Side Street.

Literally housed on a side street, a semi-industrial strip of Hopaka with no parking whatsoever (park at the east side of the Ala Moana Shopping Center), Side Street is a great little place. The fried pork chop is all it's chopped up to be, a well seasoned, breaded chop served sliced on the bone. Compared to yesterday's Japanese tonkatsu, a pounded piece of cutlet, the Side Street pork retains more of its natural pork flavor; it's less about fried and more about pork.

Side Street also dishes out excellent yakisoba, served with pink strips of char siu and fish cake and topped with cilantro.

One of the things I look forward to most at Side Street is the fried rice, probably the best I've ever had. It's cooked with bacon and has big pieces of sausage mixed throughout. All of this, of course, pairs well with cold beer, as it should be. It may no longer be a hip secret, but it's still a great meal.

Side Street Inn
1225 Hopaka
Honolulu, HI
(808) 591-0253

Tomorrow: Sunday Brunch