Denise Luke and Lee Anne Wong of Hale Ohuna have been busy prepping for a special kaiseki this coming Sunday, featuring hand-picked sake pairings from award-winning Kikusui Brewery — three of which you can’t even get. When brewer Richard Priest got…
I’ve passed this corner store at Kapiolani and Date Street hundreds, if not thousands of times, and always wrote it off as another neighborhood spot selling green bottles, cigarettes and boiled peanuts. Then Michael Watanabe, a good friend and beer…
In a crowded izakaya recently I found myself sitting next to Anderson Le, who flies to film fests all over the world in search of good picks for the Hawaii International Film Festival. “You!” he said. “There’s something I want…
An outdoor bar with craft-your-own-cocktails, specialty drinks, beer, wine and wells.
It’s evening, you’re totally not feeling the heat in your muggy apartment or you’re getting too distracted at home, and you’ve got a big assignment due tomorrow. You want to go somewhere and work, but everywhere is closed … or…
After months of waiting … and waiting … and waiting, chef Lee Anne Wong’s newest restaurant is finally opening to the public Friday night. It seems quite fitting that the name is Hale Ohuna (which means “secret house” in Hawaiian),…
The inaugural Great Waikiki Beer Festival happens at the Hilton Hawaiian Village this weekend, with a paired Brewer’s Dinner on Friday, the big beer event with 100 brews on Saturday and a “recovery day” Brewer’s Brunch on Sunday. Without further…
Juice cleanses have become extremely popular, but with so many different types — cold pressed, fresh squeezed, smoothies, master cleanses — it’s hard to discern between them all. Two of our bloggers Melissa Chang and Olena Heu recently went on…
If you’re like me, your day does not start until you have had coffee. Whether it be an iced quad Americano with Thai walls or a home-brewed cup of joe, it’s what gets our engines going in the morning. For…
Sake lovers came out in full force Friday night for Joy of Sake 2015 at the Hawaii Convention Center. This annual event is the largest public sake-tasting celebration outside Japan, pairing premium sake with exquisite dishes from some of Hawaii’s…
Spending the last couple of years in Southern California, I drank my fair share of milk tea to the point where a boba IV drip stuck in my arm would have been a convenient accessory. Can you say, “boba drunk?”…
Nalo Juice’s daily menu, found outside 24 Hour Fitness on King and Bishop streets. I was about to do a Something New post about Nalo Juice Company, which hit the scene quietly about three months ago, when owner Kale Furuya…
Photo by Eric Baranda. Kampai! Get ready for the largest, most extensive sake-tasting event in the country — the largest in the world outside Japan — as the Joy of Sake kicks off ticket sales for its annual event happening…
With winemaker Rajat Parr Foodies and oenophiles, visitors and locals converged this weekend for the annual Kapalua Wine & Food Festival. Highlighting Maui’s culinary superstars and Hawaii’s sommeliers, the event brings together the best in a tropical, picturesque locale. The…
Whenever I see master sommelier Chuck Furuya, he imparts a little tidbit (or two, or three) of wine knowledge so that I can better appreciate the glass I’m drinking. He describes the hills that the grapes are grown on, the…
I always love the chance to see how new wines and spirits pair with different foods, so when Sten Lilja of Moet Hennessy — who presented a cognac dinner earlier this year — came back to Honolulu, I had to…
Every so often, DK Steakhouse will have special themed events: wine, vodka, Localicious, or tie-ins with holidays. You can find out about these events through their website or newsletter (which unfortunately is hard to find), or on their social media…
With 36 craft beers on tap and a food menu by Du Vin’s former executive chef, Hawaii’s newest brewpub opened over the weekend in Mililani Mauka. You’ll find a rotating selection of solid brews like Goose Island Matilda, Ballast Pt.…
The Honolulu Brewer’s Festival, formerly known as the REAL Beer Festival, gave craft beer lovers a chance to sample 80 beers from Hawaii, the Mainland and international breweries on Saturday at the Kaka’ako Makai Gateway Park. The festival also featured…
Last year, Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa had their first Ocean Vodka cocktail recipe contest and had an intimate, sit-down dinner with their finalists and a handful of people. I’m sure it was nice, but in keeping with the fabulous events…
If you’re headed to Maui this weekend, you may want to check out a fabulous event at the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa with celebrity Hawaii chefs and an amazing array of new Ocean Vodka cocktails. Ocean Vodka’s Shay Smith…
Mike Watanabe lives, breathes and, well, drinks beer. He reads about craft brews, participates in the chats at beerinhawaii.com and often plans his travels around beer — bringing home souvenirs of beer, of course. Given his years of daily experience…
What happens when you give two of this town’s top mixologists Maui’s own organic Ocean Vodka and Deep Island Hawaiian Rum? Livestock Tavern’s Alicia Yamachika and the Pig & the Lady’s Nick Gray took the spirits and ran in totally…
I’ve never been keen on dining and drinking in Waikiki for its never-ending traffic and tough parking, but with a revamped menu by chef Lance Kosaka, and a new director of mixology, Jennifer Ackrill, on board, the Top of Waikiki…
