Midsummer Natto’s Dream
How do you tell the story of a 10-course natto dinner on July 10, Natto Day? It’s epic, almost, the stuff of legend, practically — I mean, I was there, and I still can’t believe I ate 10 natto dishes.It…
Mari Taketa
Articles
Next Tuesday is Natto Day — let’s celebrate!
UPDATE: The Natto Day dinner is now fullIt came by Facebook message, the kind of note that gets my juices running:Hi Mari!My name is Scott Pang. You don’t know me but I saw an article you wrote about eating natto…
Eat the Street Garlic Fest preview
Get ready for major garlic breath, Kakaako: Eat the Street Garlic Fest happens tonight, a record 45 food trucks and street food vendors amassed on one gigantic lot to pay homage to this most redolent of bulbs.You ETS veterans know…
Foodscene: July
July 6: National Fried Chicken DayWay more than wings and drumsticks: chicken nuggets, Korean fried chicken, chicken katsu, popcorn chicken, Chinese crispy fried chicken…July 6: Puff & BlowWhole Ox Deli327 Keawe St.6:30 to 9:30 p.m.$35 gets you three cigars, three…
New eats: La Cucina
How a straight-up restaurant review morphed into Nonstop’s latest open-invite dinner:April 2012. La Cucina opens in the lobby of Imperial Plaza on Cooke Street, the first solo venture of longtime Mediterraneo chef Don Truong. Pastas made fresh in-house daily. Housemade…
Naked Cow to host cheese dinners
UPDATE: Both dinners are now sold out.Picture this: Sunset, gentle breezes, cows mooing softly in the distance. You’re in the country, wine glass in hand, eating the cheese that came from the milk the cows made. Merci beaucoup! You toast…
It’s International Sushi Day — are you ready?
Yes, people, there is an International Sushi Day, because after all, how could there not be? If Peking duck (Jan. 18), coq au vin (March 22) and pizza with everything except anchovies (Nov. 12) have their days — and none…
Did this: Joy of Sake Kick-Off Party
Joy of Sake Kick-Off Party ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 15 Not yet! The annual Joy of Sake happens next month, a record 360 premium sake making their U.S. debut at Pier 2 at the height of midsummer.No,…
VIDEO: Wildest ice cream in town
What went down in Kakaako last Saturday, you had to be there to understand. How one ice cream can taste like shrimp chips. How another tastes like the scent of banana. How Cap’n Crunch can exude fog. How fast whiskey…
Mangiamo! Nonstop dinner next Tuesday
Pasta lovers of Honolulu, you know the feeling. Where’s the good spaghetti for under $17 a plate? I’m not talking about overboiled strands in runny marinara, or luxurious heaps of frutti di mare or top-of-the-line uni spaghetti. Just a good…
Wildest ice cream in town
If you’ve been to Prima, you’ve probably heard about the Cap’n Crunch gelato. Nestled among other flavors like chocolate, cherry and lilikoi, Cap’n Crunch is baker/pastry chef Alejandro Briceno’s tribute to the peanutty-sweet breakfast cereal, an instant hit when the…
Foodscene: June
June 7: National Chocolate Ice Cream DayJust so you knowJune 9: One-Year Anniversary, Uncle Clay’s House of Pure AlohaAina Haina Shopping Center820-850 W. Hind DriveFrom 10:30 a.m.Buy a shave ice and HOPA will donate one to its “Share-HOPA-Forward” campaignJune 12:…
Tacoako Tuesday: Go
It’s been a while, a good long while since the combo of an obscure law and a police crackdown killed the only weekly food truck scene in town. But now that the City Council has decriminalized Honolulu’s food trucks, I’ve…
Eat the Street Tomatofest
Tomatofest: The food by Tracy Chan & Mari Taketa Eat the Street Tomatofest ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 35 jQuery(function($) { new NggPaginatedGallery('1230ca23a48a11e8fd7be3d1b1679cf0', '.ngg-imagebrowser'); });Tomatofest: The scene by Jonas Maon Tomatofest scenes ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1…
Eat the Street debut: SL2 Delectables
Leonard’s Malasadas is making a tomato cupcake. Jawaiian Irie is stuffing a tomato with jerk chicken topped with melted cheddar and a tangy salsa. EAT Honolulu’s bringing a Shinsato pork sausage slider with green tomato relish, Momo Burger will have…
Eating Kalihi: Hidden sweets
Sometimes, the best treats are hidden from view. Sometimes they come with the best stories and the nicest people. Here are five of Kalihi’s gems. Hidden sweets ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 17 Nisshodo Candy StoreWhat: Home of…
Did this: Hawaii Wine & Food
The tickets came in the mail on Wednesday. “A Celebration of Great Wines, Music, Food & Fashion,” they said. “Includes food, beverages, entertainment and Fashion Fusion Fashion Show by Hawaii designer Valerie Joseph.”Cheehoo! An excuse to head out leeward, for…
M&M eats: Kickin Kajun
Roll up your sleeves, tie back your hair and put on that plastic bib: Melissa Chang and Mari Taketa take you through the no-holds-barred glories of Keeaumoku’s messy new seafood phenom.Kickin Kajun1518 Makaloa St.808-946-2787On Facebook at Kickin Kajun RestaurantYou want…
Pig and the Lady: Not Just a Personal Addiction
The origin story of one of Hawai‘i's hottest restaurants.
Top picks: Islandwide Crafts & Food Expo
Friday afternoon, Nonstop’s Diane Seo — who can easily resist food — was starving after a day of work. I — who cannot — was stuffed after a cross-town eatfest. How our mission to scope out the top 10 finds…
M&M eats: Weird Japanese snacks
Those Japanese. The people who invented scallop-flavored potato chips and chicken wing ice cream are still at it, churning out snackage the world is trying to wrap its brain around. Or not.Fresh off the plane from her trip to Fukuoka,…
Bacon, mon amour
Get ready for a major bacon frenzy, Honolulu: Eat the Street Bacon happens tonight, with 41 food trucks and street food vendors bringing out new creations featuring our favorite strips of salty, meaty goodness.The baconfest kicks off at 4 p.m.,…
Whose tonkatsu reigns supreme?
I don’t know what it is about tonkatsu, but ever since Kimukatsu brought its storied 25-layer pork cutlet to Waikiki in March, the question I’ve been asked most is, Have you tried that new tonkatsu place yet?Yup.What did you think?…
LOL: Holiday spice Spam OnoPop
I laughed out loud over a mouthful of food the other day, which hardly ever happens. In fact, the last time I had food this funny was exactly a year ago — and the thing in question then was a…
Did this: Yelp Uncaged @ Honolulu Zoo
OK, I’ll modify: there were no lions or tigers or bears. Instead we saw a Yelpicorn, a flying gorilla, lots of pandas and leopard prints, and dozens of girls wearing animal ears. Yelp’s latest event Thursday night was a benefit…
Honolulu’s new Japanese hotspots
In Japan, there are no Japanese restaurants — not the kind where you’ll find the whole repertoire of tempura, sushi, udon and sukiyaki, anyway. Restaurants in Japan specialize in one kind of food, sometimes even variations on one dish, the…
Did this: Arabian Nights
Once upon a time, in the fabled land of Kakaako, there arose a storied tent … uh, warehouse … wherein twirled belly dancers fast and furious, where scents from hookah water pipes drifted over golden lamps, and where people dined…
Honolulu’s food trucks get the green light
It’s official: Food trucks are legal on city streets again.After a long winter of being chased off the streets by an obscure, outdated law, trucks on Tuesday got the green light to legally dish up their tacos, yakitori, whoopie pies…
Did this: Off-Premise: HUBurban
Whole Ox deli, Eat the Street Japan, now an Off-Premise gastropub pops up at the Greenhouse: The latest from a whirlwind food week in Kakaako. Off-Premise: HUBurban ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 15 I'm highly liking this stretch…
Eat the Street Japan
Eat the Street came to life on a clear, breezy Friday night in Kakaako. Forty food trucks and street food booths augmented their lineups with one-time Japan-themed dishes, drawing eaters in the thousands. As always when the weather’s good, the…
ETS debut: Il Gelato
Eat the Street is tonight, Honolulu, 40 trucks and street food vendors slinging everything from red bean malasadas and shiitake empanadas to furikake fries and sushi cupcakes. Tonight’s theme, one year after the triple disaster that crippled Tohoku, is Japan,…
Unanimous vote! Food trucks (almost) legal
Good news and more good news for food trucks this week: The Honolulu City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to lift the 15-minute stranglehold on doing business on city streets, and that change is fast-tracked for a final vote in…
Wednesday at 2: Let’s make food trucks legal
People, we are close.It’s several months now since police started citing food trucks over an old law no one knew existed, a month since their warnings shut down Tacoako Tuesday, three weeks since prosecutors pegged the fate of Tiki Truck’s…
Ala Moana has a new sushi bar. Guess where?
Have you been to Shirokiya lately? How many times have I been asking that? First they revamp the entire second floor into a Japanese food mecca and beer garden, then they convert half the first floor into a sweets plaza,…
New(ish) eats: Opal Thai
Yes, we know Opal Thai moved out of its old food truck and into permanent new digs back in October. We’re just glad we finally got back there to check it out. Here’s our report. Opal Thai ◄ Back Next…
VIDEO: A chance for fresh cheese on Oahu
Saturday in Kakaako, I met a cow named Pickles and got to eat her cheese. How amazing is that? I haven’t eaten that close to the breathing source since I was 6 years old and met Lani Moo and ate…
Saving Honolulu’s food trucks: Phew!
I don’t want to jinx anything, but the road ahead is looking a lot better for Honolulu’s food trucks after yesterday at the City Council (knock wood).I know from your responses here, from dozens of retweets of my blog calling…
New eats: Dash Gastropub
Dash Gastropub ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 19 When I made the reservation two weeks ago, there was no phone number. The Facebook page had barely more than an address and some food pics. And this was all…
Where the food trucks aren’t — and what you can do to help
I went to Tacoako Tuesday yesterday, half-knowing in my heart what I’d find, but still stunned at the sight when I got there: at 12:15 p.m., the entire block along Ilalo Street devoid of food trucks, and only two parked…
The One That Got Away
Dear Mrs. P., it goes against nothing in my grain to quash a story that’s not worth telling. But yours is.
