Restaurants

Pickle your fancy

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According to Pickle Packers International, we each consume 106 pickles on average per year–about nine pounds per person–mostly on sandwiches and in salads. A pickle refers to any food preserved in vinegar or brine. Pickles generally refer to cucumbers, but almost any vegetable… [»Read]


Hale good offerings

Hale Macrobiotic
Comes with video
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Hale Macrobiotic / I’m an unabashed meat eater. So how do I find myself at Hale Macrobiotic, a mostly vegan restaurant? Not for a need to jump on the health food, veggie bandwagon or for a sudden desire to curtail my soaring cholesterol levels. I’m at Hale because, quite simply, I hear… [»Read]


Absinthe maketh the heart grow fonder

Absinthe
Comes with video
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Absinthe / The word “absinthe” strikes a visceral chord. It brings to mind a crazed Van Gogh seeing the world in yellow and cutting off his ear. It conjures up fear of others (or yourself) hallucinating from a meeting with the “green fairy.” Or it draws curiosity and appreciation… [»Read]


HIFF-ing it down

Hawaii International Film Festival
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Hawaii International Film Festival / Intentionally or not, most of the food film screenings at the Hawaii International Film Festival are scheduled around dinner time. Too bad none of the films feature hot dogs and popcorn; the usual movie concessions probably aren’t going to satiate post-viewing food… [»Read]


Japanese breakfast

Eggs ’n‘ (a lotta other) things

Japanese breakfast
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Japanese breakfast / “What do Japanese people traditionally eat for breakfast anyway?” I asked myself. Rice, miso soup and fish, right? I couldn’t see what was so special about that. Can’t you just grab that at Shirokiya or any izakaya? To my surprise this article proved to be… [»Read]


Keeping it real

Comes with video
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For the hardcore beer enthusiast/amateur chemist/do-it-yourself aficionado, there is home-brewing. People who are fanatically serious about wine can move to Napa and sell their multi-million start-up companies to finance a hillside vineyard. For the rest of us, there are… [»Read]


How green is your box?

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Almost every eco-savvy parent is familiar with the lunch box dilemma–what to send the children to school with that’s nutritious and fun, yet keeps Mother Nature in mind. Sadly, most prepackaged convenience snacks geared towards tykes offer little true nourishment. Plus,… [»Read]


The bánh mì boogie

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Everyone knows at least one sandwich lover. Sometimes this lover is a former sandwich artist or comes from a place where hoagies and cheese steaks rule. Sometimes it’s someone who hails from a city where pork chop sandwiches are king. Or maybe it’s someone who just can’t… [»Read]


Kaimuki cravings

Comes with video
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Waialae Avenue is home to old Kaimuki establishments, a run-down movie theater and a plethora of restaurants. A recent Friday night dinner experience left me in a bit of a parking dilemma, proving once again that everyone eats on Waialae on weekend nights. And why… [»Read]


I see Okinawan food…

Okinawan Festival
Comes with video
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Okinawan Festival / Prior to the Okinawan Festival this past weekend, my exposure to Okinawan food culture has been decidedly limited. First, there’s the bit of trivia that Okinawans have one of the longest life expectancies in the world, a fact often attributed to their diet My sole personal… [»Read]


You better you bet

Better Brands holiday trade show
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Better Brands holiday trade show / A liquor trade show is at once the best and worst situation in which to find your self. The rows upon rows of free booze. The buffet of free pupu. Attractive smiling liquor representatives happy to pour you more. Could this be real? Have you died and gone to alcohol heaven?… [»Read]


Mumbo Jamba

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We’ve all been there. 2pm. Lunch was two hours ago, dinner isn’t until six and your stomach is starting to grumble. As Americans have proven themselves more health conscious and weight-sensitive in the last few years, many of us have started heading for the nearest… [»Read]


Party like it’s 1959

Comes with video
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No matter what one’s feelings about Hawaii’s statehood are, 1959 marked the end of a decade where Pacific and American cultures blended and borrowed on a vast scale, partially via soldiers returning home from abroad. Thanks to factors like the lingering post-WWII… [»Read]


Scratching the Mitch

Mitch’s Sushi Bar
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Mitch’s Sushi Bar / We all have a love affair with hole-in-the-wall eateries, which let us feel like we’re privy to a little secret that only a couple of (thousand) people in Honolulu know about. More to the point, we love them because they are cheap. So what are we to make of a hole-in-the-wall… [»Read]