Kahuku Farm's Country Store / The legacy of the vanilla bean goes something like this: An Aztec princess flees to a forest with her lover. Forbidden by her father from marrying a mortal, she and her beloved are eventually captured and beheaded, and when their blood touches the ground, vanilla planifolia grows.
Shawn Steiman’s mother apparently wasn’t worried about her son rocketing off the walls from heavy caffeine dosage. Her lax regulation of his coffee intake–starting before fifth grade–led to his life as the coffee world’s equivalent of a sommelier.
Let Them Eat Cupcakes, Cake Couture, Hokulani Bakeshop / Do cupcake shops keep opening because we actually keep eating those indulgent, conveniently-shaped treats? While the delicate texture and vibrant colors of macaroons have become a staple, and the cake pop even shows up once in a while, few people will refuse a cupcake solely on the grounds that it’s no longer in vogue.
For those of you who rarely make it past the first few paragraphs, know this: I am about to write a rave review about a place you probably haven’t been to yet. I can actually say, that after one meal, I’ve been inspired.
Anne Burrell / With her bleached, spiky blond hair, Anne Burrell is Food Network’s female version of Guy Fieri. She has her own series, Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, and co-hosts Worst Cooks in America, which puts home cooks through culinary bootcamp.
Food & Drink / What are you having for lunch today? Are you going out to buy a meat jun plate?
Cinco de Mayo / Sure, Cinco de Mayo is a fabricated American holiday, created in the same vein as St. Patrick’s Day–an excuse to party and eat “ethnic” foods and drinks that make us as sloppy as an enchilada.
Zippy’s / As the research and development chef for Zippy’s, Wayne Komamura’s approach to local is unsentimental. We were discussing how Zippy’s came to use local beef in their hamburger patties and Komamura’s answers to my questions are markedly different from other locavore chefs (not that he would identify himself as such).
Tea Farm Cafe / Sometimes it’s nice to see how the other half lives. And by other half, I mean tea drinkers.
Food & Drink / Being sustainable is an uphill battle against hundreds of years of human innovation. No wonder it’s so freakin’ hard.
Henry “Hank” Adaniya / Before he became famous for his gourmet hotdogs, Henry “Hank” Adaniya was renowned for his cutting-edge restaurant, Trio, in Evanston, Ill. Though it’s since closed, Trio was credited with launching the career of several chefs who went on to win James Beard Awards.
Eat the Street / Foodies. Chowhounds.
Downbeat Diner and Lounge / Depleted after making party faces at Next Door? Are things certainly not right with you after you got done getting right at Manifest?
Orchids at the Halekulani Hotel / Everyone, it seems, loves sustainable foods and farmers–but it’s going to take more than affection to save them. Organic comprises just 3.7 percent of all US food sales, while 86 percent of the US corn crop is genetically modified (GM); GM alfalfa and sugar beets won USDA approval this year, while fast-growing GM farmed salmon wait in the wings.
Food & Drink / BYO policies can be a blessing or a curse. You save a lot of money (restaurants typically mark up wine and beer by 100 percent or more of the retail price) and you have freedom to bring whatever beverage strikes your fancy.
Food & Drink / Kevin Hanney and Bob McGee of 12th Ave. Grill were among the chefs in attendance at Aidells’ charcuterie class.
Jesse Greenleaf and Amie Fujiwara / It takes more than a tiki glass and an umbrella garnish to make a truly Hawaiian cocktail. Most cocktails that are considered Hawaiian–like the ubiquitous Mai Tai–were invented elsewhere and adopted onto menus here.
Hawai‘i Chocolate Festival / Hawaii’s new wave of cacao entrepreneurs are geeks. They savor a single square of chocolate, murmuring about tree fruit notes, citrus, caramel and coffee.
Michael Dimock / Recently, Michael Dimock, president of Roots of Change (ROC) in California, met with some of Hawaii’s administrators and organizations involved in agriculture and food, such as Russell Kokubun, chairman of the Board of Agriculture. ROC works to develop a network of leaders and organizations interested in establishing a sustainable food system in California by 2030, connecting food producers with funders, businesses, environmentalists, nonprofits and institutions.
Yogur Story / Yeah, we need another yogurt place like we need another frackin’ food truck. But it’s true.
Food & Drink / We locavores have it good in Hawaii. Not only do we benefit from a year-round growing season, but our unique climate and geography are ideal for crops that simply will not grow elsewhere in the United States.
La Tour Bakehouse / Thanh Quoc Lam shows me an article from 24 years ago, when his only business was a Ba-Le sandwich shop in Chinatown. He was 27 and had been living in the States for only seven years but he told the writer he would grow his business to be as big as Love’s Bakery, then the largest commercial bakery in the state.
Food & Drink / Before you get the wrong idea, let’s get one thing straight from the start: “Dive bar” is not a pejorative term. Quite the contrary, actually.
food & Drink / After a look back last week at food and drink in 2010, I couldn’t resist a look forward to 2011. What was initially intended as a trend prediction for the new year instead became a wish list.
Given the city’s crumbling infrastructure and rail controversy, it’s hard to believe anyone would want to be the next mayor of Honolulu. But a few do want the job, including the incumbent, Mayor Peter Carlisle, the former Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney who won a 2010 special election to fill the remainder of Mufi Hannemann’s term.
I’d never been to a Honolulu City Council meeting until a few weeks ago. Features, not politics, was my beat.
Victoria Holt Takamine is a kumu hula, a cultural activist and a teacher and has an impeccable pedigree to back up all these titles. Born of an alii family whose kuleana was in Moanalua, she graduated as a hula teacher under the legendary Auntie Maiki Aiu Lake and taught hundreds of students in her own halau (Pua Alii ‘Ilima) and at the University of Hawaii.
On April 25, a state judge dismissed trespassing charges against a Kauai man after finding that he had been exercising traditional native Hawaiian rights hunting wild pigs on private land. Kui Palama, 28, was arrested on Jan.
The city plans to dish out $3.5 million from its Affordable Housing Fund and either purchase or renovate a structure to provide transitional housing for Honolulu’s special needs homeless population. “Our community has invested considerable effort and resources in addressing homelessness,” Mayor Peter Carlisle said in a statement, “but there remains a population whose disabilities or chronic conditions make it difficult for them to participate in traditional shelter programs.” Carlisle is referring to those homeless with mental illnesses, addictions and physical disabilities.
Makaweli Poi faces an uncertain future after its owner, a corporate subsidiary of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) ordered the West Kauai mill to suspend operations May 23. Mona Bernardino, chief operating officer of the corporation, Hiipoi LLC, says the move to shut down Makaweli Poi was prompted mainly by financial concerns.
A resolution adopted by the City Council will solidify an agreement between the City and County of Honolulu and the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center (UH-WRRC) to conduct an analysis of impacts from ocean sewer outfalls on the marine environments off of Oahu. The city will pay UH-WRRC as much as $2.5 million for biological and sediment studies in portions between now and June 30, 2017 .
Along with the deep, verdant growth of spring sprouts an unyielding desire to spend more time in the open air. That’s why it should come as no surprise that National Bike Month falls in the sun-drenched time of May.
Of the many letters you publish against rail, how many offer an alternative that won’t send us into further economic demise? Billions of gallons of oil are imported for us from every oil-producing nation on this planet so that we can buy billions of gallons of gasoline.
TheBus is taking a back seat to rail. At the May 3 Downtown Neighborhood Board meeting, an audience member asked city Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka when we could expect the bus route cancellations and changes to be reversed.
Check out the latest Honolulu Weekly email newsletters:
Arts & Entertainment
Food & Drink
Honolulu Green
Signup now to receive these newsletters in your inbox!
Save money and reach a loyal audience of upscale readers. Advertise to reach passionate, active consumers. Our readers outpace the average consumer in purchases of big-ticket items, travel, and recreation.
Weekly readers are premium consumers: educated, affluent, socially active people who work hard, play hard and spend hard. Buy an ad in the Weekly and you’ll be speaking directly to the best audience in Honolulu. For more information check out our advertisers' kit.
