Konnichiwa Osaka!
12:30 a.m. in Japan = 5:30 a.m. in Hawaii. I am so full I cannot breathe. I know you want more than this one photo of the heart of Osaka’s street food district, which throbs in all directions outside my…
Mari Taketa
Articles
Did this: Mangoes at the Moana
Mango fiends were out in force on Saturday, converging on Waikiki for the annual Mangoes at the Moana fest. Recipe contest (free tastings!), best mango contest (more free tastings!), mango seminars and wellness products: The king of summer fruits in…
Next mission: Street food adventures in Osaka
So I’m sitting at my computer after lunch last Wednesday, waiting for the java to snap me out of my fog, when this email lands in my inbox.“Aloha Mari, YOU’RE INVITED TO OSAKA!”Wha—?“Celebrate with Hawaiian Airlines as it launches its…
Summer preview: Best bon dance eats
Summer’s not summer in Hawaii without the sounds of drums and flutes and the scents of beef sticks and andagi wafting across neighborhoods. But what, now? Blueberry andagi? Waffle dogs? Okinawan gumbo?That’s right, bon dance food has evolved way beyond…
Chinese food for non-Chinese: Try these
The most interesting thing about a Chinese dinner I got invited to at Ming’s last year wasn’t the deep-fried chicken knees. It wasn’t the slivered pork belly arrayed around a volcano of pickled mustard cabbage, or even the 110-proof maotai…
Where small kid-time flavors come to life
It’s hard, hard, hard to review a restaurant anonymously these days, when new media has reviewers blogging, tweeting, facebooking, doing video and in general all sorts of handstands to keep up with the digital age. It’s not that I mind…
Eat the Street debut: Tiki Truck
You heard, right? Tonight’s the night for Eat the Street May, THE most happening event for street food in Honolulu. ETS v5 brings to Kakaako 33 trucks and vendors, 10 of them new, with a lineup that introduces ETS’ first-ever…
New eats: da ala cart
da ala cart ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 10 By Mari TaketaNonstopI screech into the parking lot of the Kaheka Street Don Quijote, intent on a mission. A hot tip (thanks @FliptOutEats) has alerted me to a new…
Snout-to-tail: Moving to 12th Ave.
To all who signed on for the snout-to-tail dinner, and to all who may see this and want to join in:Wow. I thought this would be a hard sell, a meal made from the parts of a whole local pig.…
Snout-to-tail dinner: Who’s in?
Who wants offal?This is a legitimate proposition, born of a random question on Twitter that got me wondering why we eat some things and not others, and really why that should be.The question was where to find good offal dishes…
New eats: Let Them Eat Cupcakes
Let Them Eat Cupcakes ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 12 By Mari TaketaNonstopA tale of cupcakes, this, a tale that begins in gritty reality and modern displacement and ends with a motto: When life nips one career in…
Did this: Lei Day for Japan
Lei Day for Japan ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 27 By Mari TaketaNonstopAloha Tower Marketplace last night: Like no other night before. jQuery(function($) { new NggPaginatedGallery('b38ba081711628b45c5f6b0257aac83d', '.ngg-imagebrowser'); });
The day has come … saimin and Spam OnoPops
If you never thought you would see this day, believe me, I didn’t either. That’s why my brain nearly exploded Monday night, when I snuck into the Nonstop content management system for a peek at the lineup for today’s Eat…
NATTO+DURIAN: Just natto meant to be
Ayyy, people, it wasn’t meant to be.It was all so promising, the way it came together. It started with my reveries about Izakaya Naru’s natto ice cream, the stinky fermentation neutralized by black honey and mixed into a delectable goo…
If you love sake…
The email nearly made me cry. It was a blast from the Sake Shop, outlining the tremendous damage to northeastern Japan’s sake breweries from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Warehouses collapsed, tanks toppled, bottling lines broke, fermenting sake was…
Beyond kalbi & mandoo: Night at Duck Butt
I remember the time I talked Anna, my hairstylist, into telling me what hard-core Korean dishes she orders when she goes out. She didn’t want to tell me.“Oh come on, Anna, Hawaii people know kalbi and mandoo, meat jun, fish…
M&M eats: Kissaten
You asked for it, you got it. M&M returns with Melissa Chang and Mari Taketa going at it in another yin-yang review. And this time, we’re taking it up a notch: M&M Eats recently premiered on KITV’s Island Television News…
Did this: Great Hawaiian Lunch Wagon Festival
Great Hawaiian Lunch Wagon Festival ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 31 By Mari TaketaNonstopKakaako yesterday, broiling under a hot sun, and yet an estimated 4,000-plus turn out for the Great Hawaiian Lunch Wagon Festival. The lineup: 21 lunch…
Did this: Taste of Marukai!
Taste of Marukai ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 47 By Mari Taketa and Melissa ChangNonstopYes, it's a warehouse. Yes, it's on Dillingham just past the prison. And yes, you can really taste it.Last night an estimated thousand people…
Self-serve udon hits Waikiki
Ever since the demise of Go Shi Go last year, the loss of Honolulu’s best udon shop has been a gaping hole in my heart. So it leaps when I get word of the impending arrival of a new udon…
Eat the Street Japan: The heart of the matter
Honolulu’s biggest ever food truck rally rolls tonight, and it’s all about Japan.Thirty-two trucks and booths will converge on the massive open lot at South Street and Halekauwila for the third Eat the Street rally. More than half are pushing…
HIFF foodie films: Our take, where to eat
Korean miso stew, French pastries in Tokyo, and honey: Three foodie films made the roster for the Hawaii International Film Festival’s weeklong Spring Showcase, which runs April 1-7 at Dole Cannery, and Nonstop scored preview DVDs. We’re stoked. Not only…
My week of durian love
I love you, durian.I love your fleshy pods of pale yellow goodness. I love you in the hottest kitchens of Vietnam, I love you in a car with the windows rolled up, I love you in windswept fields and on…
New eats: Le Crepe Cafe downtown
Le Crepe Cafe downtown ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 20 By Mari TaketaNonstopLe sigh. Not quite a year and a half ago, deep in breezy Manoa, a tiny creperie came to the valley, and with it a love…
The science of eating a manju
I’m not often in the middle of conversations that include phrases like “the chocolate bacon community” and “I find I don’t care for lamb’s eyeballs.”I wish I were. It can get lonely obsessing about food: the qualities of a perfect…
World on a plate: Addis Ababa Hawaii
Back when I worked at the Associated Press in Tokyo, we all knew the biggest news story out of Japan would be The Big One. Not the death of the World War II emperor, not even the 6.8-magnitude Kobe quake,…
New eats: Umami Cafe
Umami Cafe ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 22 By Mari TaketaNonstopThe buzz from one corner of town starts early."Umami opened today at Harbor Court," @ShawnNakamoto, who works nearby, tweets on Feb. 7.Yeah? What is it?"New sandwich/coffee shop."Ah, so.…
New eats: La Tour Cafe
La Tour Cafe ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 20 By Mari TaketaNonstopThree things I hear about La Tour Cafe before I ever set foot there:1. It's owned by the family that created Ba-Le, which through its 25 Vietnamese…
Eat the Street: Shut out last time, but now I’m amped
I know what you’re saying. I want it too. I want the lines to be sane. I want the food to be appetizer-size, so I can make like Melissa Chang at San Francisco’s Off the Grid street food rally and…
Human flesh and other limits
Andrew Zimmern’s off on a new adventure on his Travel Channel show tonight, but it’s last week’s episode I can’t get out of my head. Bizarre Foods: Madagascar climaxed (sorry) in one of that island nation’s poorest villages with the…
My lovely durian: The reveal
In my euphoria over acquiring a whole 7.4-pound durian over the weekend, I publicly announced my love for the stinky fruit and offered a taste to fellow durian fans. There weren’t many takers.“In Hong Kong, we’re legally allowed to chop…
New eats: Yakitori Yoshi
Yakitori Yoshi ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 32 By Mari TaketaNonstopSo it's not much to look at, easy to miss even, but the word in J-lulu is that Yakitori Yoshi — latest in a string of izakaya openings…
My sweet, lovely durian
Who loves you, durian? Gloppy yellow pods, fragrant with the promise of stinky ripeness, prized by tropical tigers, banned from Singapore subways: I love you!Durian + iced black coffee = one of my Top 3 favorite breakfasts of all time,…
Did this: Night in Chinatown
Night in Chinatown ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 22 By Mari TaketaNonstopChinatown last night, three blocks up Smith, three blocks down Maunakea, plus all of Chinese Cultural Plaza: Were you there? If you were, you know that... jQuery(function($)…
Did this: Eat the Street
Eat the Street ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 33 By Mari TaketaNonstopAn epic night, this town's first Eat the Street food truck rally, and if you were anywhere near the vicinity of Kapiolani Boulevard last night, you knew…
This week’s cupcakes
The silver car drove into my dead end again today. Official business: more cupcakes to taste-test.I take this gig seriously, so I won’t reveal today’s flavors, but I took these photos for you. Just look! Use your imagination and you…
Top picks: 72 hours in Seoul
12:45 a.m. Friday in Hawaii = 7:45 p.m. Friday in Seoul. Myeongdong’s neon canyons are freezing, about 20 degrees tonight, but not so cold really because of all the crowds laughing, eating, surging. K-pop blasts through our earmuffs; warm scents…
M&M eats: Mary’s Kitchen
Mary's Kitchen ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 12 By Mari TaketaNonstopSix p.m. on a rainy Monday. 99 Ranch food court in Mapunapuna may not be the center of the universe, but it's dinnertime! Where is everybody?Melissa: Why did…
Basement food mania: Sunday in Seoul
Basement food mania ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 27 Temperatures in Seoul today have plummeted below zero (that's right, and that's Fahrenheit), but do I know that? I'm underground. This is Lotte Department Store's Premium food basement, just…
Seoul-ful Saturday
Seoul-ful Saturday ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 26 Saturday morning. The sky is bright and clear, the wind gusting and temperatures plunging toward single-digit territory. It's a gorgeous day in Seoul.I'm meeting Ryan, Burt, Aaron and Annie for…
