Restaurant Week comes to Hawaii
Friday - July 18, 2008
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A bite-sized look at food events in Honolulu.
Hawaii Restaurant Week Nov. 16-22.
Restaurant Week has been celebrated in major cities for more than a decade, and Hawaii is finally joining the party. The first Restaurant Week Hawaii will celebrate food in Hawaii and will showcase everything from fine dining to fast food, French to fusion. Participating restaurants will feature special menu items, promotions and discounts, and guests will be encouraged - through a variety of print, radio and TV ads - to sample Hawaii’s newest restaurants, dine at old favorites and taste a variety of exceptional dishes prepared by Hawaii’s chefs using locally grown produce.
A portion of the proceeds from Restaurant Week Hawaii will support the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Diamond Head.
“We are excited to launch Restaurant Week Hawaii,” says Culinary Institute of the Pacific director Conrad Nonaka.
“Restaurant Week has a reputation nationwide for being one of the most successful events to encourage couples, families and friends to dine out.”
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To participate in Restaurant Week Hawaii, local restaurants can register online at www.restaurantweekhawaii.com and choose from one of five sponsorship levels. Corporate sponsorships also are available.
The Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Diamond Head has a vision to build a world-class institute that sets a new standard for culinary education and creates a strong and viable work force for Hawaii’s future. Restaurant Week Hawaii will support this vision.
Alan Wong’s Farmer Dinner Series features local Aquaculture.
Chef Alan Wong continues his series of farmer dinners at his King Street restaurant this month with a menu that includes cultured butterfish (also known as sablefish or black cod) from Troutlodge Marine in Kona.
Although Troutlodge is a global aquaculture company with fisheries around the world, it has a farm at Keahole Point on the Kona Coast raising butterfish in an environmentally friendly, land-based system.
Jim Parsons and Jackie Zimmerman from Troutlodge Marine will be on hand during the dinner to talk about sustainable aquaculture in Hawaii.
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Mango lovers may want to attend just to taste pastry chef Michelle Karr’s dessert featuring Pirie, Hayden and Rapoza mangoes.
As Chef Wong loves to say, “There are two seasons in Hawaii: mango season and nomango season.”
For reservations for the Wednesday, July 23, dinner:
Alan Wong’s Farmer Series Dinner
Alan Wong’s Restaurant
1857 S. King St.
$75 per person; $100 with wine pairings.
For reservations, call 949-2526.
To learn more about these farmers and their products: www.alanwongs.com.
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Desserts After Dark.
Michele Henry has been attracting a loyal group eager to spread the word about her afternoon teas and quaint Nuuanu tea shop since she opened in 1999. A clothing designer who originally set up shop on Nuuanu Avenue in 1996, she wanted to create light refreshments for her customers as she went through their designs.
“Originally, I wanted a place for people to sit and eat while I was working with them, and tea naturally came to mind,” says Henry.
Every First Friday during the downtown celebration of arts and culture, Henry opens from 5 to 9 p.m. to offer paintings, pastries and pots of tea.
“We call it Desserts after Dark,” she says. “People are surprised when they come in from the bustle of Chinatown to find us.”
Henry’s tea service includes a house spinach salad, tea sandwiches (quartered in the genteel British manner with the crusts removed), homemade scones, clotted cream, jam and a choice of teas. Desserts featured on First Friday may vary monthly.
Desserts After Dark
Tea At 1024
1024 Nuuanu Ave.
521-9596
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Pagoda’s Breakfast Offers Great Deals in Unique Setting.
It’s hard to imagine, as you fight traffic on busy Kapiolani Boulevard or vie for a parking spot at Ala Moana Center, that just minutes away there’s a calm, Japanese-inspired water garden complete with waterfalls and a thriving koi pond. The Japanese garden adds to the relaxing atmosphere around the restaurant, and “floating” tea rooms make breakfast at Pagoda Floating Restaurant a unique experience.
As the early morning sun casts its rays onto the koi and ulua pond and the smell of freshly brewing coffee permeates the air, it’s easy to see why this charming restaurant has remained a favorite through the years.
Breakfast is served Pagoda-style in either the floating tea-rooms or the restaurant daily from 6.30 a.m., with brunch on Sundays.
On Wednesdays, guests are invited to build their own loco moco, and Tuesday mornings, corned beef hash is a feature.
Specialty dishes include chef ‘s special eggs, French toast and house special fried rice. Other breakfast items include fresh fruit bowls, garden greens, tsukemono, pastries, breakfast meats and miso soup. The daily breakfast buffet is $10.95; $8.95 for children.
Pagoda Hotel and Restaurant
1525 Rycroft St.
Honolulu
948-8356
www.pagodahotel.com
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E&O Trading Company: Cocktails with Dinner.
E&O Trading Company has a mixologist who loves to eat and a chef who loves to pair spirits with food - a perfect combination for a series of contemporary dinners featuring the cocktail creations of Joey Gottesman and the cuisine of chef Nicholas Salvi.
The July 28 dinner is billed as five courses, but there’s an intermezzo pause for muddled mint and watermelon between course four and five, and a dessert of warm chocolate soufflés with a white chocolate filling in raspberry pools.
Other courses feature blackened ostrich topped with apple chutney (paired with Gentleman Jack appeltini), citrus thyme-roasted quail over pomeray mustard spatzle and goat cheese fondue (paired with clarified quail drippings, Dirty Idol vodka martini and hand-stuffed spiced feta cheese cocktail olives).
Easily the most approachable course on the menu (and yes, the most traditional) is the cold-water lobster over lobster, corn, smoked bacon and spinach hash paired with white wine.
Reservations are now being taken for the Monday, July 28, dinner.
E&O Trading Company
Ward Centre
591-9555
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