Eating Well on a Budget
I’m figuring that most people are beginning to make budget concessions now that it’s obvious there’s nothing we can really do to fight escalating gas prices and electric bills. Of course it’s easy to find cheap food and huge portions, but sometimes it barely qualifies as food.
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The Skinny On Restaurants
At the risk of sounding like Garrison Keillor, it’s been a quiet month in the restaurant industry. One can only hope that the impending holiday season brings a much-needed boost to all. But while the restaurants may be quiet, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes ...
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Japanese Food And Wine
Late last year I saw plans for new restaurant Kaiwa in Waikiki, and talked at length with Kai owner Isamu Kubota about his dream of being part of the Beach Walk project. Even on paper the restaurant looked beautiful, with a waterfall running the entire length of one wall, design by noted Japanese designer Ken Numatani, and decor complete with fiber-optic curtains and color-changing bar lights. It’s a remarkably sophisticated-looking restaurant and one where the dining experience is enhanced by both food and design. Perfect, really, for Mr. Kubota’s modern Japanese cuisine.
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Celebrating Island Seafood
We’re much luckier in Hawaii. The fishing methods we employ here are a model for the rest of the world, and that’s largely thanks to the efforts of Brooks Takenaka, one of my all-time favorite people in the food industry. Takenaka has all the passion and enthusiasm you find in people who find purpose and meaning in everything they do. If there was any doubt in Takenaka’s mind that a fisher-man’s festival was needed in Hawaii, it was dispelled within the first 10 minutes of the inaugural event last year when thousands of people congregated at Pier 38 eager to eat, drink and learn more about island fishing.
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Putting On The Dog
Most people who start small in the restaurant business have high aspirations. Say, for example you own a hot dog stand. It’s not unlikely that your dreams might include one day owning an award-winning fine-dining restaurant. Not Hank Adaniya. As the owner of Chicago’s famed Trio restaurant, he’s been on the cutting edge of food and restaurant service for decades. But he closed Trio last year to come to Hawaii and sell hot dogs.
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