What’s with it that this is the second product I walk out of Whole Foods with that has Olives in it? Perhaps it’s the interior design of the store that puts me into “Mediterranean Mode”. Who knows.
Anyhow, this past weekend I paid (dearly) another visit to Whole Foods while on the same Kahala Mall excursion day that took me to The Counter Custom Built Burger restaurant. This time at Whole Foods getting what I promised myself I’d return for from the last visit, which is this Taro Delight Smoked Taro Dip.
Doesn’t SMOKED TARO sound intriguing to you? Well, it does to me!
So there I was again in the Kahala Mall Whole Foods like a kid in a candy store going ga-ga over all the cool exotic groceries I’ve never seen in any other supermarket, returning back at that refrigerator case isolated in the back section of the deli area near the sushi counter, where they have an entire line of Taro Delight Smoked Taro Dip varieties.
With exotic flavors such as Sun Dried Tomatoes, Curry and “Taronnaise”, I could not resist picking one of these up to try myself.
What Whole Foods needs to consider with so many unusual products on their shelves is having sample stations on a regular basis like Costco. I heard they have them on Sundays, but I didn’t see any when I was there. What if this sucks? Then what? I hope you have a good return policy or I’m gonna’ be very upset. Especially after being left $8 in the hole for it. Or should I say “whole” for it. I mean where else do you have to spend over $16 for dip and crackers? Only at Whole Foods! They should just rename this supermarket “Whole Wallet” or “Whole Spending Cash”, as that’s what it’ll cost ya’ to shop there. lol
Just kidding. Seriously though, yes this dip costs $7.99 plus tax, then add the La Panzanella Croccantini crackers to go along with it, and it indeed all rang up over $16 for crackers ‘n dip. Ouch.
Of course this isn’t your everyday Joe crackers ‘n dip. We’re talking here Croccantini and SMOKED TARO DIP. Well, ehem, OK, now you’ve got my attention!
Here’s the Croccantini crackers I bought at Whole Foods to accompany this dip….
Here it is unwrapped….
Notice on the package it says ROSEMARY. Yum, one of my favorite herbs. You can see distinctive pieces of Rosemary sprinkled throughout the surface of the cracker that’s been mixed into the dough, and taste it too! While $8 is a chunk of change to pay for a package of crackers, I must say, these certainly have the crispness, flavor and quality to just about justify the cost. Depending on your perspective of course. La Panzanella is based in Seattle, Washington, so that’s good too, as we’re supporting made in the USA products.
OK, back to the star of the show, the Taro Delight Smoked Taro Dip. As you see I chose “Olive the Above”. No, not all the flavors they have in stock, as I’d certainly be in the “Whole” if I did that! lol No, it’s cleverly named “Olive the Above”, which essentially is the core smoked taro dip with minced olives in it. Here’s a view of the 12 oz. container from top view…
Here’s the ingredients…
Let’s open it up and take a look…
Wow, I wish Poi nowadays were this thick! Actually this was the only flavor that had a similar purplish-gray color like poi. Most of the other flavors took on their said type such as light green, light pink and tan.
Nothing else to do now but spread some on the Croccantini and sample some, cuz!
It certainly tastes like what it’s labeled as, with a distinctive flavor combination of lightly-smoked taro and olives, yet it’s not too outspoken, but more on the mellow side.The smoked flavor is very subtle as well, yet you can certainly tell it’s there, giving the dip a full-bodied flavor, which would certainly be missed if it weren’t smoked. The olives actually match quite well with the taro. I was skeptical at first, but now after trying it, I’m convinced the Olive the Above flavor combo is a keeper.
The taro flavor is a bit strange in combination with the rosemary-infused Croccantini, but after a few bites, your palate acclimates to it.
The slight essence of garlic salt in it, as well as the consistency of the dip as a spread also sort of reminds me of hummus, so this should work equally well on Pita Chips. Probably wonton chips too. Whichever cracker or chip you get to accompany it, make sure it’s low sodium because the smoked taro dip has enough garlic salt in it already.
Here’s another sample at a different angle…
No shortage of minced black olives in it, that’s for sure.
Let’s try jazzing it up with some roasted red bell peppers and fresh chopped scallions…
Oh yes, that’s money right there. The peppers and onions really bring more life to the party here, not just visually, but flavorwise as well. This is definitely a pupu you could serve at a VIP party.
One more sample…
That’s pretty.
According to Tom Purdy, the man behind this product, you can also make this into a creamy salad dressing by whisking it together with Olive Oil and Vinegar. That sounds interesting. I think I’ll try that next and will add it here after I do so.
I’m thinkin’ a smoked taro and olive dressing might also taste good tossed with pasta like say, linguine or fetuccine.Perhaps just add some fresh herbs like Italian Parsley and Basil.
Tom uses Chinese Dryland Taro for this product, which he claims yields the right poi-like creaminess, even after the addition of the various flavorings.
As mentioned earlier, there’s a variety of flavors that Whole Foods carries, including Taronnaise, Poke (yes, Poke!), Smoked Salmon, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Thai Chili and a few others I can’t remember. I’m glad I chose Olive the Above. It makes me feel like I got all of them in one container. lol They’re all $7.99 each per 12 oz. container.
Diner AC bought a container of the Smoked Taro Dip Poke flavor, which she said was delicious. Da’ buggah even get ogo inside… how’s dat?!
According to their website, Tom also sells his Taro Delight products at the Kapiolani Community College Farmer’s Market on Saturdays. I’m not sure if it’s cheaper there than at Whole Wallet Foods, but that’s one venue I seriously need to attend soon (maybe tomorrow if I can get up early enough) and blog it.
Here’s the store front of Whole Foods at Kahala Mall…
Whole Foods Kahala Mall
Now that I think about it, on this last visit, I didn’t lock my radar on what next to try at Whole Foods, but once I walk in there again, it won’t take long to find something expensive and interesting!
What? Taro Delight Smoked Taro Dip – Olive the Above flavor
Where did you buy it and how much? Whole Foods Kahala Mall, $7.99/12 oz. container
Big Shaka to: Distinctive mildly-smoked taro and olive flavors work together quite well. Good body (thickness). A good foundation for creative cracker toppings (see one example above). Can also be used to make a creamy salad dressing and other creative culinary applications. The “Smoked Taro” name can garner high price tag as a menu item (if you’re a restaurant manager or owner). Made in Hawaii.
No shaka to: Relatively expensive (especially at Whole Wallet Foods). Olive the Above flavor doesn’t include all of the above flavors. lol No sample stations in the store so I can try before I buy.
The Tasty Island rating: 3 SPAM Musubi
What? La Panzanella Croccantini – Rosemary flavor
Where did you buy it and how much? Whole Foods Kahala Mall, $7.99/8 oz. package (includes eight 4″x7″ Crocantini)
Big Shaka to: Very crispy and fresh tasting. Distinctive Rosemary flavor featuring real chopped Rosemary blended in. Nicely toasted. Marries well with most spreads, including the smoked taro after you acclimate to it. Sturdy enough for thick spreads like the Smoked Taro dip. Breaks apart into smaller pieces cleanly (doesn’t crumble). Made in the USA.
No shaka to: Relatively expensive (especially at Whole Wallet Foods). Not made in Hawaii.
The Tasty Island rating: 3 SPAM Musubi
Strolling through the Kaheka Don Quijote the other day, I noticed they had these Redondo’s Arabiki Hot Dogs on the shelf next to the Arabiki sausages. Oh, something new? The Hawaii Winter Baseball theme on the packaging had me presuming these were some sort of limited time promotional offer, so I checked both the Redondo’s and the H.W.B. website to get more information about this product, to no avail.
Therefore, I ended up calling them by phone to see what’s da’ scoops. According to the person at Redondo’s who I spoke with, it turns out the Arabiki Hot Dogs are indeed a new, permanent item added to their product line that began distribution to stores some time late last year 2008.
Since as of yet there’s not much online coverage of even the original Arabiki Sausage from Redondo’s (which has been around for some time now), I figured this was a good opportunity to try them both side-by-side and do a comparo’.
I actually did a little featurette on Redondo’s Arabiki Sausage way back when in the infamous “Great Portuguese Sausage Shootout“, but this time we’ll get a bit more in-depth.
Arabiki are described as Japanese style coarse grind sausages, which are also touted on Redondo’s TV commercials for having a juicy, snappy crunch when you bite into them.
Here’s how Redondo’s Arabiki Sausages are packaged…
Redondo’s “Mo ‘Ono Selection” Arabiki Sausage
Let’s remove them from the vacuum packaging and see how their appearance is, starting with the Arabiki Hot Dogs…
Redondo’s Arabiki Hot Dogs (unheated)
Yes, count them: there’s EIGHT HOT DOGS included in each pack – not ten like many of the leading national brands. So finally we have the correct pairing with the standard package of EIGHT HOT DOG BUNS. A-ha!
If you remember the film FATHER of the BRIDE, Steve Martin got arrested for tearing open hot dog bun packages in the grocery store, frustrated about the fact that hot dogs are often packaged disproportionate in quantity to buns. That was probably my favorite part of the movie. LOL!
Here’s how the Redondo’s Arabiki Sausages look unpacked…
Redondo’s Arabiki Sausages (unheated)
Notice there’s just 6 sausages here, which is fine, as these are intended to be eaten by themselves as a pupu, not inside of a bun, although we’ll see about that a little later! Also note they’re a bit smaller than the standard-sized Arabiki Hot Dogs. To provide you an idea of their actual size in scale, here they are next to a Blu-ray disc (I would have preferred to use a Betamax or 8-track cassette, but couldn’t find any)…
Arabiki Sausage on far left and Arabiki Hot Dog to the right of it, shown in scale next to a standard DVD-sized Blu-ray disc. No Horton, you can’t have any Arabiki sausages… you’re an herbivore, remember?
One less obvious, yet very critical difference between the Arabiki sausage and Arabiki Hot Dog is that the sausages have a natural sheep’s casing on them, while the Arabiki Hot Dogs have no casing at all; they’re removed at the factory and packaged “caseless”. We’ll see how that weighs in a little later.
I could have cooked (actually heated) them the “normal” way, which is to boil them in water for a few minutes, but decided to kick up the flavor a notch by “grilling” them on our Yakiniku-style indoor propane gas grill top. Heating it this method gave some nice sear marks on the casing, while providing an overall more browned finish, hence mo’ flavah’.
Here’s the Arabiki Hot Dogs, served-up in toasted hot dog buns, with the one on the left garnished in my own Japanese style creation, and the one on the right a more traditional American style…
Pomai’s Tonkrazy! Dog on the left, and an American style Arabiki Hot Dog on the right. The hot dog buns are standard Love’s Bakery brand
Before I explain the Tonkrazy Dog, let me explain the taste of the Arabiki Hot Dog weiner itself. It tastes very similar to the Arabiki sausage, with both of them having a distinctive Teriyaki-like (there’s shoyu and sugar in it), lightly-smoked pork flavor profile. The pork-based filling isn’t as dense and tightly packed as the sausage, and they don’t have the snap and crunch afforded by that natural casing, so you’ll have to compensate that by jazzing it up with enhanced cooking methods and garnishes like I attempted to do.
Now you probably think my Arabiki Tonkrazy! Dog on the left looks either really scary, or really oishii, depending whether or not you’re a fan of Japanese pickled vegetables called Tsukemono. Obviously I am.
The Tonkrazy! Dog is easy to make. Simply place finely-julienned cabbage inside a toasted hot dog bun as a bed. Then place a grilled Arabiki Hot Dog on that, then garnish it on one side with juleinned slices of Takuwan (pickled Daikon radish; the yellow stuff) and on the other side Beni Shoga (Umezu-picked ginger; the red stuff), then finish it off by drizzling some Tonkatsu sauce (Ikari brand) down the center.
Here’s a cross-cut view of my soon-to-be famous Arabiki Tonkrazy! Dog…
Pomai’s Arabiki Tonkrazy! Dog
In planning this Arabiki Tonkrazy! Dog out, My train-of-thought was that since these sausages are pork-based with a sort of Japanese theme to it, I’d simply apply how traditional Japanese Tonkatsu is served and transpose that into hot dog form. Well I’m happy to report the Tonkrazy! Dog ROCKS! Well I think it does. You try make one yourself and you be the judge.
I was afraid the tangy Beni Shoga and/or pungent Takuwan (a.k.a. Takuan) would dominate all else, or simply just taste GROSS when combined, but somehow they both sort of just blended right in like one happy family.
I think the Tonkatsu sauce was the “glue” that brought it all together. That, while, just like a plate of Tonkatsu, the bite and crispness of the bed of cabbage underneath in the bun offers a refreshing contrast to the meaty hot dog above it. I tell you, try making this. I’m willing to bet at least 55% of you out there will really dig it.
Actually, the blending of these kind of ingredients in a hot dog is nothing new, as Hank’s Haute Dogs has several similar offerings, with their Lobster Hot Dog using Takuan, and their Kobe Hot Dog using Napa Cabbage and Daikon.
As for the other Arabiki Hot Dog with the dill relish and deli style mustard, NEXT. Nope, those condiments do not match at all with the Teriyaki-like Arabiki Hot Dog. Adding ketchup kinda’ helped. Next time I’ll try it without the mustard, which is what I think was the deal-breaker in this particular application. And I LOVE mustard on hot dogs, so it’s not me.
Now let’s try the Yakiniku-grilled Arabiki Sausages…
Arabiki sausage served with various Tsukemono
This may look simply like the Arabiki Tonkrazy! Dog, sans the bun, except the Arabiki sausages themselves are much better than the Arabiki Hot Dogs. The clincher being that the Arabiki sausages do in fact have that SNAP and CRUNCH, along with just a little burst of juice that explodes in your mouth upon each bite. As advertised and good stuff!
This all comes down to the casing, where the smaller Arabiki sausages reap the flavor and texture benefit of that natural sheep’s casing, while the course-ground pork filling also seems to have a tighter, denser “bite” to it. In contrast, the Arabiki hot dogs almost seem “mushy”. They’re still acceptably-good and certainly unique hot dogs in their own right, yet just can’t compare to the better quality filling and “snap” of the casing the smaller sausages offer.
Here’s a cross-cut view of the “cooked” Arabiki sausages…
Redondo’s Arabiki Sausage – cut view
I tried them with three different condiments to dip, including Deli-style mustard, Cocktail Sauce (ketchup and horseradish based) and Tonkatsu sauce….
Dipping condiments to the left include deli mustard, cocktail sauce and tonkatsu sauce
Like the Arabiki Hot Dogs, the deli mustard didn’t work with the sausages. The cocktail sauce wasn’t bad with it. Not bad. Yet still again, the Tonkatsu “fruit & vegetable” sauce is the magic that worked so great with these little sweetened pork sausages. It’s the perfect marriage.
Try setting a huge platter of grilled Arabiki sausages (if you can afford it), along with tonkatsu dipping sauce (served in a squeeze bottle) on the side on the pupu table at your next party and see how long that lasts.
The reason why I say “if you can afford it”, is because they’re not exactly cheap, at just around $3 regular retail price for a small 5 oz. package of six sausages. Costco and Sam’s Club carry them in a bulk 20 ounce size, with the cheaper per-pound price that goes with it, so definitely go there if you’re feeding a crowd. Otherwise most (if not all) Hawaii supermarkets carry the 5 oz. package shown here.
While the “regular” Arabiki sausage is the most popular, Redondo’s also makes this Lemon & Parsley Arabiki sausage variety…
Redondo’s Arabiki Sauce Lemon & Parsley variety
These are not as widely distributed as the regular Arabiki, so you may not find them in your neighborhood store.
Notice they’re much lighter in color than the regular Arabiki. Here they are out of the wrapper…
They’re the same size and same price as the regular Arabiki. Here they are heated up, this time by boiling in water for a few minutes as instructed on the label…
Lemon & Parsley Arabiki Sausage (heated up), served with Tonkatsu sauce and Beni Shoga
Trying them out, they’ve got the same snap and crunch as the regular arabiki, thanks to having the same natural sheep’s casing, and also equally juicy. It’s the creamy white (fat) colored filling inside that tastes rather strange in my opinion, which also lacks the teriyaki style shoyu-sugar flavor profile of the classic Arabiki. It also tasted more artificial than natural. Especially when eaten by itself without the help of the Tonkatsu sauce. I think the high amount of back fat its made with has a lot do with these attributes. As for the addition of lemon and parsley, it’s there, albeit very subtle, and otherwise couldn’t balance it out as an entire package.
So for the non-smoke flavored Lemon and Parsley Arabiki, I’ll just say, glad I tried it, but no thanks next time. I’ll stick with the regular Arabiki sausages, thank you very much.
Putting my Dr. Frankenstein coat back on, since my girlfriend had just broke open a fresh canister of Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuit Dough for breakfast the prior morning, I decided to take some the leftover dough and make Pig-in-a-Blankets out of these babies…
Arabiki Hot Dog and Arabiki Sausage Pig-in-the-Blanket style, ala Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits
Those may just go down as being the UGLIEST Pig-in-a-Blanket examples ever posted on the web. lol Yet know what? They were all pretty darned TASTY! I think with a little more experimentation as far as type of dough, as well some honing of my PITB dough-wrappin’ skillz, we just might have some potential here! The fresh-baked biscuit “bun” takes on some of the fatty juices that sizzle out of the Arabiki sausage casing and hot dogs as it bakes, making the entire thing just packed with flavor as you bite through it.
Summing it up, Redondo’s new Arabiki Hot Dogs pretty much have the same teriyaki style, mildy-smoked pork flavor as the Arabiki sausage, sans that signature snappy-crunch, while also being much cheaper per given ounce due them not having that more costly natural sheeps casing on them. There’s certainly some tasty applications for it as you seen by my Tonkrazy! Dog creation. If anything, pick up a pack and try that one out!
While I’m glad I tried the Parsley Lemon variety of Arabiki, it’s rather odd flavor profile and higher fat content makes it one I’d likely not buy again.
The winner here, and probably one of my favorite products to come out of the Redondo’s factory to date is their now-classic Arabiki Sausage. The teriyaki style, tightly-packed pork filling, along with the snappy-crunch of that natural casing and subtle smoked accent sets it apart from the rest.
What? Redondo’s Arabiki Hot Dog
Where did you buy it and how much? Ward Marukai, $3.29 reg. retail price/12 oz. package (8 hot dogs)
Big shaka to: Very tasty “Teriyaki-ish” smoked pork flavor. A very unique hot dog with potential. Excellent when grilled and placed in a bun with shredded cabbage, Takuwan, Beni Shoga and Tonkatsu Sauce (Tonkrazy Dog). 8 hot dog count in package matches 8 hot dog bun count in package. Steve Martin as Father of the Bride. Supporting local sports and local products.
No shaka to: Really missing that crunchy-snappy natural casing of the smaller sausage version. Pork not as tightly packed and tastes more “filler-like”. Leading brand of hot dogs’ standard 10/package count doesn’t match standard 8-hot dog bun/package count.
The Tasty Island rating: 2 SPAM Musubi (plain), 4 SPAM Musubi as a Tonkrazy! Dog
What? Redondo’s Arabiki Sausage
Where did you buy it and how much? Ward Marukai, $2.79 reg. retail price/5 oz. package (6 sausages)
Big shaka to: Snappy crunch. Juicy. Hint of smoke, yet not overpowering. Tightly-packed, lightly sweetened pork filling. Tastes like a high quality product (with price that reflects that). Excellent with Tonkatsu sauce.
No shaka to: Not big enough to fill a standard-size hot dog bun. Doesn’t match with Deli Mustard. Partygoers eating them too fast. High fat and sodium content and 0% essential vitamins & minerals (like most sausages)
The Tasty Island rating: 4 SPAM Musubi
What? Redondo’s Arabiki Sausage Lemon & Parsley
Where did you buy it and how much? Ward Marukai, $2.79 reg. retail price/5 oz. package (6 sausages)
Big shaka to: Snappy crunch. Juicy. Tightly-packed pork filling.
No shaka to: Strange, non-descript flavor. Scary-looking color. Lemon & Parsley rather subtle and doesn’t help it much. Much higher fat content than regular Arabiki sausage.
The Tasty Island rating: n/a
Related links:
• Redondos.com – official site (English version)
• Arabiki – Kitchen Forager blog review of Redondo’s Arabiki
The Counter® Custom Built Burgers™ restaurant recently opened in Kahala Mall on February 16th, located on the mauka-side of the mall, on the corner adjacent to Whole Foods (formerly Star Market) and Chili’s across the parking lot roadway…
Actually there’s major star power behind the folks who own the joint, with investors including D.K Kodama of Sansei and D.K Steak House fame (as well as a few other ventures) and Daniel Dae Kim of the hit TV series LOST, while its co-owners are Ed Robles and Pablo Buckingham. Like D.K’s restaurants, Chuck Furuya is also the wine consultant for The Counter.
Wait, wine consultant at a burger joint? Yesa. See this place is breaking the mold of the retro style joint like say, Teddy’s, and going with a more progressive, modern industrial concept, as they explain like this: “Anti-Established in 2003, The Counter® is the 21st century’s bold answer to the classic burger joint. Ushering in a fresh era of industrial decor, today’s music, cold beer, unique wines, cocktails, and burger options that are only limited by your imagination.”
A full bar occupies the entire span of the right side wall of the dining room…
I swear, there is not one restaurant that can resist the temptation to install giant flat panel TVs in their establishment nowadays. Whatever happened to drinkin’ a beer, eatin’ a burger and boring the bartender and/or wait staff with your sad sob stories? lol
Those folks sitting at the bar aren’t necessarily drinkers either, but probably sat there as the only option, as the place was packed to full capacity, including a line of folks waiting outside to get a table….
Folks waiting outside wating to be seated at The Counter
As you might expect with any new and hip eatery, there was plenty of hype as was indicated by the people arriving in droves to eat here.
Getting back into the dining room, the back wall is adorned with truckless skateboards…
Urban Graffitti art is splashed on each board…
So as you’ve seen looking around the establishment, aside of a couple surf and beach photos on the bar side of the wall, for the most part the decor gives the impression of being a cookie-cutter model of their mainland locations, with hardly anything trying to be tropical, Hawaiian, island-themed or Tiki Bar kitchy.
Neither is the menu, except for a couple of unique only-in-Hawaii items. One would be the Loco Moco, listed as one of their Signature Burgers. Their Loco Moco is made up of an all-natural ground beef patty, fried egg, fried onion strings, & brown gravy on a bed of rice for just $8.95. In the sauces, you’ll also see the Kahala menu has Teriyaki sauce, while the mainland locations version is the form of a Ginger Soy Glaze. Also, in honor of Daniel Dae Kim’s Korean roots, you can also get that with Kim Chee on da’ side (for just $1 more). Ohw’right!
Let’s get right to the menu, which they have the set selections (non-customizable) printed on a plastic card kept at the tables, as well as the BUILD YOUR OWN BURGER™ ordering sheets printed on disposable paper that are brought to you on a clipboard by your server…
You’re given a pencil along with this, then left to answer the 312,120-choice question: how do you want your burger built?
• Step 1) Choose a Burger: Beef, Turkey, Veggie or Grilled Chicken meat/patty. Here you also choose size: 1/3, 2/3 or 1 lb. Or, skip step 5 (later) and Build your burger in a bowl
• Step 2) Choose a Choose a Cheese (1 included – extra cheese $1)
• Step 3) Choose up to 4 toppings
• Step 4) Choose a sauce
• Step 5) Choose a Bun
Somehow their accountants and/or marketing experts have figured out there’s exactly 312,120 different burger combinations possible with the available options they have listed on their Build Your Own Burger™ ordering sheet. Was I baffled by the choices that lay before me? You bet! It almost came to down to “eeny, meeny, miny, moe”. lol
They really should do this Vegas style! (you know Hawaii loves Vegas). Put each step on a slot machine wheel, with the set of options on them. To order, you simply walk up to the slot machine and pull the handle, where the slot machine lands on a random set of options for your burger. You can “lock” in certain criteria like the type and size of burger, as well as bun. Other than, purely random. What ya’ think? Could work, eh? lol
But seriously, I knew I didn’t want the beef patty too big, so went for the smallest option, which as you see is still HUGE at 1/3 pound. There was a teenager sitting next to us that must have ordered the 2/3 pound patty, as his burger was massive – way bigger than ours – and he struggled to get his mouth around it, which we didn’t think he could pull it off, but he did! Reminded me of my nephew when he polished off an 18 oz. Teddy’s Burger in just a couple bites.
For cheese, I chose Gruyere. For toppings went with dill pickle chips, mixed baby greens, grilled onions and tomato. For sauce went with Peppercorn Steak Sauce, then finally for bun chose the most unusual sounding option, the Honey Wheat Bun.
I tried to convince my girlfriend to order off the Build Your Own Burger™ option sheet, but I think the idea that there were over 300,000 possibilities on there was too daunting, and she instead decided to play it “safe” and ordered a burger from their set menu, going for The Counter’s Signature “Old School” Burger.
To go along with this, we odered the “Fifty-Fifty”, which is a half ‘n half order of fries and onion strings (not rings, STRINGS).
We then placed our order with our overworked server, then waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally after about one full hour (not exaggerating, we eventually started clocking it), our Fifty-Fifty fries finally arrived. That’s it? Where’s the burgers? Obviously something was very wrong back in the kitchen on this visit. In fact, if you looked around the busy restaurant, there was an upset look on many folks’ faces. We obviously weren’t the only ones who waited a long time to get our order.
As we suspected, they were short staffed in the kitchen, as confirmed by our also-hustling server, with only ONE COOK back there turning out orders for the entire, packed house. Poor guy. We almost felt like asking the manager if we could go back there and help the poor chap out. He sure needed it.
Man, good thing they serve beer, so I ordered a couple Stella’s along the way just to help kill the time.
Fortunately we’re the understanding type (especially my girlfriend, who’s works in the industry) and just rode out the wait. I believe there were a couple people who walked out.
So finally our Fifty-Fifty fries and onion strings arrive…
THe Counter “Fifty-Fifty” Fries & Onion Strings, $5.50
This better be good. It is good. Perfectly cooked fries, golden crispy outside and moist ‘n tender inside.
The star though are the onion strings. Notice the batter is that crumbly-flaky type, similar to the Onion Loaf at Tony Roma’s. That, dipped into the zesty and smokey, tangy-sweet BBQ sauce is fantastic. The ranch dipping sauce had a great flavor, but it was thinned out beyond usability, to the viscosity of, oh, say, evaporated milk (cream). With the price of admission here, common’ guys, don’t be cutting corners thinning out dipping sauces like that.
But the strings and BBQ sauce is a winning combo’ right there…
We didn’t order these, but a neighboring table just got a tray of the “Fifty-Fifty” with the sweet potato fries…
A KGMB reviewer raved about the Sweet Potato Fries here.
Also next to us, these folks ordered the Chili Fries…
Notice how tall the burger stands on the plate on the right.
Finally after another half-hour wait (another 30 minutes!), our burgers finally arrived (that totals 1 hour and 30 minutes elapsed time to get our main course). Here’s mine…
The Counter’s Build Your Own Burger™ “Pomai” combo (a.k.a. combo #214,977), $8.95
Again, my choices on this visit was the 1/3 pound beef patty, Gruyere Cheese, Dill Pickles, Grilled Onions, Mixed Baby Greens and Tomatoes on a Honey Wheat Bun with Peppercorn Steaksauce on the side.
Just kidding about the “combo #214,977”, although what they should do is run all of the 312,120 combination possibilities through a data base program and number each one, or better yet, name each one. Kinda’ like Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. So I got dibs already on the one I ordered, which is now officially the “Pomai Combo”. lol
Here’s a better angle to see the Honey Wheat Bun…
The Counter’s Build Your Own Burger™ “Pomai” combo (a.k.a. combo #214,977), $8.95
Let’s cut it in half so we can get a look at the beef patty…
The Counter Build Your Own Burger™ combo: 1/3 pound Beef Patty, Gruyere Cheese, Dill Pickles, Grilled Onions, Mixed Baby Greens and Tomatoes on a Honey Wheat Bun with Peppercorn Steaksauce on the side.
According to their menu, their burgers are described as such: “Our 100% natural ground angus beef is raised on a vegetarian diet without hormones or antibiotics” and are “Certified humane raised and handled”.
Kudos to the cook bustin’ okole back there, gotta’ say, with all that pressure on him or her, my burger came out looking and tasting fantastic! The beef patty here is delicious. Char-grilled and cooked to medium perfection, while being perfectly seasoned. Just a great burger. And juicy! While I can’t remember how to describe each element such as the Sauteed Onions, Gruyere or the Honey Wheat Bun, I do remember the sum of its parts worked quite well, and one bite, even after that hour-and-a-half long wait, brought a “this a good burger” smile to my face.
Next let’s take a close look at my girlfriend’s “Old School” burger…
The Counter “Old School” Signature Burger, $8.95
The “Old School” Signature Burger is described as such: “All natural ground beef, Tillamook Cheddar Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Pickle and Red Relish.”
Look at that molten Tillamook Cheddar just oozing and drippin’ over the sides. That’s “money” right there. Also take notice how the bun is perfectly toasted on the insides, an oh-so-critical step that I stressed not long ago with Kiawe Grill’s Kobe Burger.
At this angle, you can see how nicely dome-shaped their “standard” hamburger bun is shaped on top…
The Counter “Old School” Signature Burger
That’s one pretty bun. Now let’s cut it in half…
Again, perfectly seared, just hovering medium doneness. She enjoyed this quite a bit as well. While she didn’t think it toppled the best burger she had to date, which was one from Jameson’s in Haleiwa, she did note it as being competitive with the best out there.
Portion-wise, even the 1/3-pounders are massive, and we only could finish half our burgers. Especially after filling up eating the fries and onion strings while waiting for them. We think our experience eating the burgers would have been so much better had they arrived the same time with the fries and strings, so you could eat them as a complete meal. Not as it turned out where the fries and strings ended up being our appetizer.
Growing pains aside, we most certainly will return here. I’ll just make sure before accepting a table to ask the server, “How’s the kitchen staff today? You folks got enough people back there?”. Make you sure you do that too. Confirming some sort of logistical issues, even the KGMB review of this place said they waited over 45 minutes for their order to arrive, so I’m not sure how often this happens.
Bottom line, the burgers, fries and onion strings were fantastic, so Amen to that. When given the Build Your Own Burger™ menu to make your selections, it becomes an unusually entertaining and refreshing dining experience, having you spin your mind into trying to think what would go good with what to, as advertised, “Build Your Own Burger™”. Plus there’s enough healthful options for those living it, including turkey or veggie patties.
Ambiance-wise, the moderate-sized, industrial designed dining room is very clean (it’s new, it better be!), while being crowded and hustled, with the noise that goes along with it, so don’t come here if you have important business to discuss, as you’ll be distracted. Still it’s a fun atmosphere, made even more fun as you get amused and awed seeing people (some very tiny) try to wolf down burgers half the side of their head.
With over 300,ooo options to consider, along with a loco moco thrown into the mix for those who gotta’ have rice, surely there’s a something for everyone to get their burger groove on at The Counter® Custom Built Burgers in Kahala Mall.
The Counter® Custom Built Burgers
Kahala Mall
4211 Waialae Avenue #E-1
Honolulu HI 96816
Tel. 739-5100
Fax. 739-5102
Open Daily
Monday-Thursday 11am-10pm
Friday-Saturday 11am-11pm
Sunday 11am-9pm
The Tasty Island rating:
(3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)
*Note: They would have got a higher rating had the gears in the kitchen been oiled properly, but it’s forgivable since they’re new, hence a 3, which is generous, considering.
I work with quite a few ladies in our office, and have seen many a flower arrangement delivered come through our doors, but this is absolutely the first time I’ve ever seen one of these Edible Arrangements. How sweet is that!
Diner AC was the lucky girl recipient, with her boyfriend now officially nominated as the “BEST BOYFRIEND IN THE WORLD”! Common ladies, if you’re man had these delivered to you at your workplace, wouldn’t you think he’s the GREATEST?!
What I especially appreciate about this, being the practical-thinking guy that I am, is that not only is it pretty to look at, but you can also eat it! Plus it’s healthy for you to boot. Try eating a dozen roses and baby’s breath then tell me how you feel afterward. lol
Here’s another angle of it…
Diner AC was so kind to share this with us, and I must note, the strawberries, pineapple and grapes selected for this were in prime condition, perfectly ripe, sweet, juicy and delicious. They were also flawless, appearance-wise. How cool is the heart-shaped cut-out of the pineapple. Awe da’ cute! lol
It was actually a little too pretty to eat, and we were all kinda’ reluctant to start picking at it. lol
The first thing I thought when looking at it was that I’d love to throw that all in a blender and make a smoothie! Another thought was to dust Li Hing powder over the whole thing, as you know me how I like to doctor stuff up. Another idea I thought of, is that they should deliver this included with a bowl of chocolate that you pop in the microwave oven to melt, then use to dip the strawberries in. Well you know, the ladies like that kinda’ stuff. For me, nah, the strawberries are fine by itself.
Here’s how they’re stuck in the glazed ceramic (yes, ceramic, not plastic!) planter…
Notice they use Kale as the “greens” at the base. I believe there’s an oasis under it to hold the plastic arrangement spikes in place. Also notice there’s heart on this side of the pot, which was actually the front of the arrangment. I took a photo of the backside. Duh. The arrangement was even all the way around, so no biggie.
Someone in our office reminded Diner AC to make sure she keeps it watered so the fruits don’t die. lol Who knows? It might grow more fruits! lol
Here’s how it arrived all wrapped up…
Click on this photo to see it unwrapped
Here’s the label, so you can see some other styles you can choose…
So ladies, if you’re reading this, here’s an idea: Bookmark this posting. Then, the next time a special occasion rolls around the corner, like say your birthday, an anniversary or Valentine’s Day next February, put this posting up (or at least just the photo of the Edible Arrangement), then put the monitor to sleep. Then stick a Post-It® note on the screen (or frame around it), and simply write on it, “HINT, P.S. I Love You”. Then when he comes home from work he’ll see it and voila, there ya’ go! And he better get it for you, or he’s sleeping in the dog house!
If you’re one of the fellaz, now you’ve got a great gift idea for your lady! I know I’m getting my lady one of these on the next special occasion.
A Chuckwagon prop atop the roof of Bob Barr’s Smokin’ Bob Barr-B-Q on Kahuhipa street in Kaneohe
YEEEE-HAAAAWWWWWWW! What ya’ doin’ there, varmint?! This ain’t one of them there carnival rides, ya’ dog’gon scallywag!
O.K., alright, I better stop right here, before I get myself into trouble actin’ like I can tawk’ in them, there cowboy lingo. Yet, you gotta’ admit, just lookin’ at that chuckwagon prop makes you wanna’ yell that out loud. I mean, common’, the scallywag’s got a cookin’ spoon in one hand, a whip in the other, plus a G-pimped ride all tricked out with a convertible top, oversized “rims”‘ and pots ‘n pans bling-bling. Tell me that wouldn’t make you wanna’ yell, “Yeeeeee-haaaawww!!”. Ah, that felt good.
Everyone who lives or frequents Kaneohe is familiar with Kahuhipa street, an industrial-zoned corridor that includes notable businesses such as a Cutter car dealership, a Harley Davidson/import motorcycle dealership (is it still Domenico’s?), Nanko Fishing Supply (still there!), Hardware Hawaii, City Mill, Koa Pancake House, Chun’s Korean Bar-B-Q House… wait, say what? Partner, did you say BARBECUE?
Well, YEEEEE-HAAAAWWWWW! Now we got some o’ them there good ‘ole American barbecue right across the street at Smokin’ Bob’s! Yes sir’ee, the Muffler Man, also formerly known as “Dirty Bob” is back at it again, putting his welding torch aside (again), yet staying in the heat with his newly resurrected restaurant aptly named Bob Barr’s Smokin Bob Barr-B-Q. This restaurant was in operation once before back in the late 90’s under the same name, but then it closed (for reasons I didn’t have a chance to ask about),which then taking its place were a few Mexican concepts that came and gone as well.
So Bob Barr’s Smokin Bob Barr-B-Q has returned, opening in August 2008, this time around with a spiffy new and modern smoking pit, and a revitalized, yet back-to-basics menu.
As you see in the first photo, you can’t miss Smokin’ Bob’s place as you drive or walk down Kahuhipa street, with its whimsical, out-of-the-ordinary, screaming for attention props that adorn the outside of this casual open-air eatery…
Bob Barr’s Smokin’ Bob Barr-B-Q – 46-132 Kahuhipa st. Kaneohe, Hawaii 96744
Waddaya’ say there Partner? Let’s go inside and take a look (hopefully there ain’t gonna’ be none of them dammmed Yankeez in there)…
This is pretty much the gist of the joint (say there partner, you sho’ you ain’t no dammned yankee, tawkin’ like that?). As you see, there’s two family style bench tables to the right…
I wonder if the metal frame those benches are made out of are recycled muffler pipes? Don’t they look like it? If they are, that is WAY cool. (<—dammmned yankee!) It looks like each bench could accommodate up to 12 people… or two big kanaks stretched out going moi moi after being full from eating too much barbecue. lol Notice there’s the requisite paper towel dispenser to wipe all that greasy, saucy barbecue goodness off yo’ pawz.
If you’re the shy type (real cowboys aint shy!), you can opt for one of these 4-place tables to the left in the corner…
Next to these yellow tables is the centerpiece of the joint, the SMOKER!…
Smokin’ Bob’s baby, the smoking pit
Notice it has caster wheels. I wonder if I asked Bob if he could bring this to my next big party, if he’d be willing? Common’ Bob, I’ll help you push! lol
Pitmaster and lead cook Rene was so kind to come out and open the doors so we could get a peek inside!….
Pitmaster Rene smokin’ some pork ribs
Pork Ribs a’ smokin’
Shoots, I think I accidentally moved my mode dial on my camera to the wrong setting here. Sorry ’bout that. At least you get a visual idea how the pit works and looks inside.
The shelves rotate on a motorized chain pulley system so they can pack plenty of meat and other smokey goodies in there while still being able to retrieve them easily.
You can see the chimney protruding up through the roof, which wafts out billows of delicious-smelling smoke, if smoke could ever smell delicious…
Hey, waddaya’ know, they’ve got REAL cactus up there to validate the faux cactus in front! I bet that’s the most frustrated cactus in the world, as it gets to smell all that meaty-smokey goodness, yet will never ever in its lifetime get to taste any of it. lol Believe me, once you get out of you your car, you can SMELL the smoke. The allure. The TEMPTATION!
For smoking wood, they use none other than Hawaiian Kiawe…
The condiment station at a restaurant provides a glimpse of the theme of their cuisine, including those offered at Smokin’ Bob’s…
We’ve got zesty, robust, spicy and HOT… all the essentials for good barbecue grub
To order, you head straight through the inside door here…
See the sign, it says “ORDER HERE”
There isn’t a menu board (yet), so to decide what you want, look over the enlarged printed and laminated menu posted on the open door to the right seen in the photo above.
The only picture of food around was the posted special of the day, which was the “Bob-A-Saurus”…
According to the sign next to it, this plate is described as such:
Try our new Fred Flintstone Special $19.95. A giant Bob-A-Saurus TENDER all-beef rib approximately a foot long and approximately 1 pound of beef hanging on it. Served with 3 sides. Bob-A-Saurus Ala Carte, $14.95. No bigger, no better, guaranteed.
~ Smokin’ Bob
The regular menu consists of large, mixed and small plates of smoked barr-b-q goodness, including beef brisket, pork, chicken, cajun sausage and tofu. Yes, tofu. There’s also the same selection of meats and tofu in sandwich and taco or quesadilla form, adding the “Mex” to “Tex”. Or, if you’re the T-Rex type, or perhaps you’ve got a party and want smoked meat on the menu, yet don’t have the time, equipment or knowhow to do it yourself, you can buy just the meat itself by the pound (or 1/4 pound increments up to that), which ranges from about $13 to $15 per pound.
Sides include their signature sauce, cole slaw, mac’ salad (<—dammmned Yankee!), Barr-B-Q Beans, Chili, seasoned fries, Bob’s rice and white rice.
While not currently listed on their menu, also available is that yankee favorite, cornbread…
A pan of cornbread just taken out of the oven
Here’s how the cornbread looks served into an individual serving, with plenny ‘o buttah dressed on top…
Sizzlin D’s fantastic Cornbread
Before we get to our order, let me first introduce you to Smokin’ Bob, who happened to be there at the time of my visit…
Smokin’ Bob Barr, 2/20/09
When Bob’s not angry (j/k!), he’s a really friendly and down-to-earth guy. Talks to you like he knew you for years. He likes to joke around too. I asked if he was Portuguese, as his smoker had a couple of big rooster (the symbol of Portugal) props on it, but he said no, he’s English, German and one other European ethnicity I can’t remember. Well, at least we share the same English and German heritage. As for the roosters, he said they were “Barbecue Roosters” lold
Behind every great man is a great woman, who would be his lovely Korean-American wife, Dahlia, a.k.a. “SIZZLIN’ D”!!!!…
Dahlia “Sizzlin’ D” Barr
I told Sizzlin’ D about my recent chopsticks write-up, and she said in Korea when she grew up, every newborn child was given a pair of solid silver (not stainless steel) chopsticks. She noted that the spoon is used mainly soups, but you can use it for rice, but she said the chopsticks can indeed be used to eat rice too. When I told her about placing the chopsticks to the right of the spoon, she did concur that to be accurate, saying that is very important; never on the left.
Well, now that you seen the place and met the folks, let’s get our Barr-B-Q on, beginning with Diner E’s Smoked Pork and Smoked Chicken mixed plate….
Smokin’ Bob’s Smoked Chicken and Pork Mixed Plate with Cole Slaw, Smokin’ Bob’s Rice and Beans, $14.99
Diner E enjoyed the entire plate, from top to bottom. Pretty much a happy camper, except he wished had more of the Bob’s rice to go with the abundance of meat piled on the plate. Now that I look at it, I can see how you could easily finish the rice before even getting through half of that mass of barbecue.
Gotta’ say though, I sure like all that BBQ sauce poured over it. Looks so ono! It was ono. Of course!
Next we have Diner A’s Tex Mex selection…
Smokin’ Bob’s Beef Brisket Taco plate with Smokin’ Bob’s Rice and Beans (‘n pickles), $10.99
Drizzled on that smoked beef brisket taco are Avocado sauce, Chipotle Aioli and Pico De Gallo. Speaking of which, Diner A noted he wished there was more of, as what was given wasn’t enough to flavor the abundance of meat beneath it; or at least in taco form like this. There was also too much meat piled on to be able to fold up and actually eat like a taco. Thankfully they gave 2 tortillas, so he was able to effectivelyturn a one taco plate into two by splitting the meat among the two tortillas. Also, he would have preferred if they used flour tortillas if they’re gonna’ serve it soft. I can see that. Corn tortilla’s taste much better when crispy. Still, he was overall satisfied with the entire plate, polishing it clean as he usually does when the food’s good. Diner A’s our “plate polisher”. Burp. lol
Finally, yours truly went with Smokin’ Bob’s Smoked Pork Sandwich…
Smokin’ Bob’s Smoked Pork Sandwich complete meal including Cole Slaw, Beans ‘n Pickle, $10.50
Smokin’ Bob and gang also “hooked us up” (we’ll leave it at that) with this “sampler plate”
Smokin’ Bob’s Smoked Pork and Smoked Pork Ribs
Let’s zoom into that smoked pork on the left…
Smokin’ Bob’s Smoked Pork
While I’m certainly no barbecue expert able to point out the perfect smoke ring, or a food scientist able explain how nitric acid is the reason behind it, I’m pretty sure even you can see just by that photo that this is some darned moist ‘n tender cuts of smoked pork! I just think they could use a little more salt (if they even do use salt), as by itself without any sauce it rather “plain”. I mean, smokey-porky delicious, but it just needs a little flavor from either salt on the crust or from the barbecue sauce. No problem though, as with just a light sprinkle of table salt on it and POW! There it is. Much better. Oh yeah, now we’re talking SMOKED PORK!
Here’s another angle so you can see how the ribs look…
Smokin’ Bob’s Smoked Pork & Smoked Pork Ribs
As you can see towards the top right, the meat is fallin’ off the bones tender. Again here though, the rub has little or no salt at all, so you really need to add either BBQ sauce or a little salt to punch out the flavor. Otherwise, excellent as Pork Ribs can get. Also, not over-smoked. Just right.
According to Rene, he was just about out of the Beef Brisket, so we didn’t get to try that, although Diner A did get some for his Taco.
Back to my sandwich, the bread used for the sandwich is a very good quality French Roll. Here’a look inside this monster sandwich…
Man, that’s a lotta’ meat! It was delicious too. You could taste the smoke, but it wasn’t overpowering, while the pork itself was as moist and tender as one could ask.
My only complaint is that by the time I was able to eat it (about a half-hour after it was made), the barbecue sauce had made the bread soggy in the parts where it had soaked in. So here’s a tip: if you order your food to go here and it involves sandwiches, tell them to put the meat and sauce on the side, not in the bun, which I’m sure they’ll be happy to do.
I would also ask for more pickles (or add more at home), as its acidity and distinctively-different flavor profile really improves the balance of the sandwich by countering the intense smokey-meaty flavor of the pork, which would otherwise dominate and be over the top.
Interestingly, my favorite of all the smoked meats I tried on this visit was the chicken, and I’m not one for chicken…
Smokin’ Bob’s Smoked Chicken
Just like the smoked pork, the chicken was super moist and tender, yet I think what made the chicken even more delicious was the fat from the skin slowly melting into the meat beneath it. I tell ya’, like chicken buttah’! The Smokin’ Bob’s Barbecue sauce coating it really livened it up as well. Just superb. I highly recommend Smokin’ Bob’s Smoked Chicken. Super winnah right there. Make sure you get it with BBQ sauce.
In fact, because their meat’s dry rub is rather saltless (as far as I could tell), I’d recommend getting extra BBQ sauce for all their smoked meat offerings.
Now for the sides, let’s look at the cole slaw…
Smokin’ Bob’s Cole Slaw
It’s a decent slaw, but nothing outstanding or unique. It did taste very fresh and certainly made that day, not no leftover stuff from the day before (or longer than that even!). Tasted like the standard recipe of cabbage, purple cabbage, carrots with a mayo-vingegar-small dash of sugar dressing. Still, even as plain-Jane as their slaw is, it’s still a welcome (and fairly healthy) contrast to the otherwise carniverous affair that is a barbecue joint.
Now the rice ‘n beans…
Smokin’ Bob’s Rice ‘n Beans (‘n pickles)
The rice had pronounced cumin/chili powder flavor to it, with big chunks of stewed tomatoes mixed in. So my guess is that recipe is your typical spanish rice, using canned stewed tomatoes and chili powder as its base flavoring components. I believe the type of rice was your typical calrose medium-grain white variety. It was pretty good, although a bit on the mushy side. They should cut down the cooking time or something so the rice has more bite and separation to it. I dunno. Unless perhaps the one served to Diner A and E was from the bottom of the pot.
Finally the beans, which I’m almost sure are doctored-up canned Van Kampp’s Pork ‘n Beans. I don’t think they’re Bush’s. Like what they do is is simply add barbecue sauce and/or smoked pork into it. Very good though. Was really ono when accompanied as a “chaser” with the smoked pork sandwich I was eating. As for the dill pickles, they ended up in my sandwich. I could have used maybe 4 more to fill the entire length of the sandwich, but I managed to take little bites around with what I had.
Then we had the excellent cornbread, which was unanimously well-received by our entire gang.
Sizzlin’ D’s Cornbread
They’re technically just called conrbread there, yet I named them “Sizzlin’ D’s”, as she’s the one who served me a complimentary slice to try so proudly. Mahalo Sizzlin’ D! So I took back a whole plate’s worth for the gang to try. Everyone noted how the toasty crust was the highly, while the inside had a very good balance of buttery-sweet-salty corn meal flavor to it. What was interesting was that there’s actually kernels of corn mixed into the bread!…
A corn kernel in the center of the cornbread
If I remember correctly (IIRC), the price for the cornbread was $2/slice.
So let’s do a Tasty Island SPAM Musubi ratings round-up.
Averaging that out, we have a solid 3 SPAM Musubi rating for our grindz from Smokin’ Bob’s on this particular visit.
Did I mention that Bob is also a muffler guy? Well he is, having a muffler repair shop right next door that’s a been a fixture on Kahuhipa street ever since the 70’s…
Here’s a better look at that van…
There’s just one thing missing from that set of logo graphics, and that would be “YEEEEEE-HAAAWWWWWW!!!!” emblazoned across the top. lol
What Angry Bob didn’t tell me was that he was contracted by Steven Speilberg to create the “easter egg” Transformer that will be hidden in the Blu-Ray DVD when Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen goes to disc. Seen only here at The Tasty Island, I present to you the newest Autobot, “HEADER-TRON”…
Bob Barr’s Header Man, a.k.a. “Header-Tron” (Transformers Autobot)
Is this not THE COOLEST metal sculpture ever created?!!! That is, eh-hem, Barr-none, the coolest metal sculpture on Oahu. Look out Vance & Hines and Yoshimura, “Header Man” will destroy you! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
All kidding aside, this thing is TALL. Those are real V-8 header pipes, so add that up and you can fathom just how tall it is. Perhaps not “Transformers” tall, but on his way there. If you’re ever in the Kaneohe area, stop by and check it out. This really could become the next big tourist attraction. “Be sure when you visit Oahu to go see Barr’s Header Man statue in Kaneohe”.
You can tell Bob has a love for welding and metal sculpture art as is evident by the various art pieces he has on display back in the restaurant…
Ole!
Bull saying to himself, “I’m glad I’m up on this wall and not in that smoker” lol
Rooster saying to self, “I’m glad I’m ON the smoker and not IN it”. lol
Rooster B saying to self, “I should ask Mad Bob if he can weld a muffler on my butt and give me a cool paint job with flames”. lol
Adding to the Texan theme…
This skull saying to self, “Looks like I’m tonight’s dinner.”. lol
As for parking, there’s about 5-10? stalls between Bob’s Muffler shop and the adjacent restaurant…
See, if the police eat here, then it’s gotta’ be good!
If the lot’s full, you might be able to find parallel parking along Kahuhipa. I seen a few spaces open during my peak lunch hour visit.
Summing it up, we all enjoyed our smokin’ barbecue lunch from Bob’s, finished off by sizzlin’ D’s most excellent cornbread. The meats were all moist and and tender and smoked to perfection. The only thing worth noting (once again) is that the house-rub for the meats is on the low-sodium side, which has its pros and cons for all the reasons you can figure out for yourself. The portions are huge, yet we feel the prices are a bit high, although that may be justified, as smoking meats is a time-consuming process, which also means burning a lot of fuel (wood). Bob did mention he was redoing his menu, saying shrimp was gonna’ be added, and surely that fantastic cornbread which as of yet isn’t on there. We’ll have to wait and see what he does as far as pricing.
The service and hospitality was superb, with Bob, his lovely wife Sizzlin’ D and Pitmaster/head kitchen cook Rene real friendly folks to talk with, not to mention accommodating with the menu.
So the next time you’re in Kaneohe (or if you live there) and looking for a place to eat that’s unique and different than the usual plate lunch stand, diner or Korean barbecue joint, then head on over to Kahuhipa street for some good ‘ole American style barbecue at Bob Barr’s Smokin’ Bob Barr-B-Q… and don’t forget to get the cornbread!…. and make sure to take a picture with “Header Man”!
YEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!!
Bob Barr’s Smokin’ Bob Barr-B-Q
46-132 Kahuhipa street
Kaneohe, Hawaii 96744
Tel. 235-4004
Fax. 235-4007
Last week our gang went on our usual end-of-week local grinds hole-in-the-wall lunch hunt, this time bound for School street in the upper Kalihi area, where many iconic, old-school Honolulu eateries reside, or have resided in the past. And who else to steer us (actually drive us) in that direction than Kalihi Eats Tour Conductor Extraordinaire, Diner E.
We originally were gonna’ hit-up Toshi’s Delicatessen (Okazuya) on King Street, though by the time we got there at 11am, everything was just about wiped out. Which is not a surprise, as with most popular Okazuya’s, you usually need to get there by – at the latest – 10:30am in order to get the good stuff; or earlier than that even better.
Since Helena’s Hawaiian Food is just a few doors Ewa (west-bound) of Mitsuba on School street, Diner AC had da’ “ono’s” (“hungry feeling”) for Hawaiian food, so she walked up and ordered lunch from there while the rest of us got our Okazuya on at Mitsuba. I came close to going for Helena’s as well, but I just had some ono laulau and Lomi Salmon from Young’s Fish Market and Kalua Pig from Bob’s Bar-B-Que the night before (we had a mini luau of sorts at mom’s house), so was kinda’ “Hawaiianed-out” for the time being.
School street is actually a more recent location for Helena’s, as the original Helena’s Kitchen was formerly located on N. King Street across Diner’s Drive Inn, just before Farrington High School. Yet this location still has that old school feel, as if they never missed a beat. Well except for the passing of matriarch and founder Mrs. Chock of course.
On this visit, the dining room had a full house of patrons when I walked in to check it out after getting my order at Mitsuba. It seems every time I go into a popular Hawaiian food eatery around the island, there’s always a local celebrity or two in there eating, to which this time at Helena’s enjoying da’ grinds was Kumu Hula (Hula teacher) and popular Hawaiian music artist Robert Cazimero (The Brothers Cazimero).
Instead of going for one of the set Hawaiian food menu choices (4 options), Diner AC went ala carte and created her own “back to basics” set. Gotta’ say, great choice! Specifically that would be an order each of (Hawaiian style) Beef Stew, Helena’s ever-popular Short Ribs Pipikaula Style, Haupia and a bowl of fresh Poi…
Helena’s Hawaiian Food – (clockwise from top left) fresh Poi, Haupia (with sliced fresh onions sharing same tray), (Hawaiian style) Beef Stew & Short Ribs Pipikaula Style (U.S. Choice beef)
Let’s have a closer look at (so we can drool over) each dish…
Helena’s (Hawaiian style) Beef Stew, $3.50
Just about every table in Helena’s had an order (or two or more) of their signature Short Ribs Pipikaula…
Helena’s Short Ribs Pipikaula Style, $4.45 (small order)
Notice at Helena’s they grill their Pipikaula to order, not served dry like jerky and uncooked as some other places serve it. Nothing wrong with that either, mind you. Yet still, as you can figure, adding that seared crust on the salty, dried-out beef kicks it up, again as Emeril says, beyond notches known to mankind!
Wit’ those two buggahz, gotta’ get da’ poi, cuz…
Helena’s bowl of Poi (small), $2.50
Then for dessert, throw in some scratch-made Haupia…
Helena’s Haupia (1/2 lb.), $2.00
Sharing that tray of Haupia are some sliced white onions to eat as “condiments” with the Pipikaula, Beef Stew & Poi. Das’ a winnah combo right ‘deah, cuz! Just ‘chrow in some Hawaiian salt fo’ kick in some extra flavah, oah even Chili peppah wattah. Ow’right!
Whoa brah, get all dis’ good ‘kine basic stuffs, might as well just ‘chrow in one laulau, some kalua pig, lomi salmon and squid luau and make one full-on Luau plate ar’ready!
I didn’t get to try the beef stew or poi, but did get a taste of the Short Ribs Pipikaula and the Haupia, and by that small sample alone, can attest to Diner AC’s rating for Helena’s on this visit as giving this particular spread of Hawaiian grinds a solid 5-SPAM Musubi rating. After all, if Robert Cazimero is seen eating here, that’s as good a celebrity endorsement as you can get for a Hawaiian food restaurant!
Helena’s Hawaiian Food
1240 N School St
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 845-8044 Helena’s Menu (<—click to download PDF; current as of 2/09)
The Tasty Island rating: (on 2/12/09 visit for Beef Stew, Pipikaula, Haupia & Poi) (5) Superb. Worthy of repeat visits or purchases. (Broke Da’ Mout’!)
Now let’s “hele” (go) on over a few business doors Daimond Head (east) bound to Mitsuba Delicatessen (Okazuya)….
As mentioned earlier, Toshi’s Okazuya was just about wiped out, so we tried our luck at Mitsuba, arriving there around 11:30am, and they were getting there too, but still had enough selections remaining to make a well-balanced Okazuya plate.
Thankfully Mitsuba still had plenty of Chow Fun Noodles to go around…
Mitsuba Delicatessen – Chow Fun Noodles
Ooh, just give me that whole platter to go and I’d be a happy Okazuya camper! lol
Next to that they still had plenty of Chow Mein Noodles as well…
Mitsuba Delicatessen – Chow Mein Noodles
I didn’t ask, but this looks like one of them “local style” Spaghetti noodles, where they use Ketchup instead of Marinara sauce…
Mitsuba Delicatessen – Spaghetti
They also still had Garlic Chicken…
Mitsuba Delicatessen – Garlic Chicken
All the remaining meats were consolidated onto one big pan under the display counter…
Mitsuba Delicatessen – Redondo’s Winners Hot Dogs (red), Lup Cheong, Hash Patties, Hamburger Patties, Luncheon Meat, Saba Fish and Fish Cake
Diner C loves her fish, so what else to get here but the Saba, along with an order of Chow Fun Noodles…
Mitsuba Delicatessen – Chow Fun Noodles & Saba Fish
Diner E went for the “mega-selection” and got all this…
Mitsuba Delicatessen – Chow Fun Noodles, Lup Cheong (that sausage on the left side), Cone Sushi (top left tan-colored item), Kinpira Gobo (brown and orange sliced items on the top right), Nishime (in cup) and Hamburger Patty (center)
Finally, yours truly went with these selections…
Mitsuba Delicatessen – Ume Musubi (top left rice item with red thing in the middle), Hash Patty, Long Rice (the brown-colored clear noodles on the top right), Fish Cake (bottom right), Chow Fun (a shared portion courtesy of Diner C), and Kinpira Gobo
I really liked their Chow Fun. The seasoning and sauce element was just right, with a nice sprinkle of black pepper on it, plus the noodles were al dente, not mushy, and the abundant amount of veggies in it actually helped it. I was worried it would be too much, but it worked. This is a solid Chow Fun.
My only mistake in choices on this plate was getting the heavily marinated and intensely-flavored Gobo Kinpira along with the shoyu-flavored long rice, which both together was too “shoyu’ee”. Ya’ know? Thankfully I had that musubi and chow fun starch to help counter that effect, yet my blood pressure must have went up a bit after finishing this plate.
The fish cake was OK, but can’t compare with Nuuanu Delicatessen, my favorite of the genre. The Ume Musubi’s rice was also a little on the hard and loose side. It should have been more sticky and moist. The hash patty was pretty good.
Rounding up our Okazuya plates from Mitsuba’s on this visit, Diner C gave her plate a 3, Diner E a 3 and I give mine a 2.
I’d probably give my plate a higher rating had I not chose the Gobo Kinpira and Long Rice together, so keep that in mind: unless you’re a “shoyu freak”, don’t order more than one shoyu-based entree per plate at an Okazuya. At least not with the Gobo Kinpira. That’s some intense stuff; at least Mitsuba’s take on it is.
Here’s a look at Mitsuba’s menu board so you can see what we might have missed, as well as what you might want if you decide to check them out…
Mitsuba Delicatessen menu board – left side, current as of 2/09 (click to view full size)
Mitsuba Delicatessen menu board – right side, current as of 2/09 (click to view full size)
One last note, just like Hawaiian Food eateries such as Helena’s, Young’s or Ono’s, Okazuya’s such as Mitsuba are also getting quite expensive nowadays as well as far as casual/take-out lunch hour dining is concerned. At least when you add it all up.
My plate came out to $8.10, while Diner E’s came out over $11.00, and Diner C’s simple 2-choice plate $4.50 (which actually is a pretty good price; the fish items are cheap here!). While Diner AC’s seemingly basic selection of Hawaiian food favorites from Helena’s came out over $12. But keep in mind, these are food items that use costly ingredients and/or time-intensive steps to prepare, so you have to take that into consideration. Just keep that in mind so you don’t get sticker-shocked when they ring up your tab.
Yet these kinds of hole-in-the-wall eateries are truly hidden gems and icons in the history of Honolulu’s culinary scene, with more hits than misses and worth every penny just to have the opportunity to eat there while we still can.
Mitsuba Delicatessen
1218 N School St
Honolulu, HI 96817
(808) 841-3864
The Tasty Island rating: (averaged rating on 2/12/09 visit for the 3 plates shown above) (3) Very Good. Considerable of another visit or purchase. (Supah’ Ono!)
Since mentioning that Helena’s Kitchen was formerly located across Diner’s Drive Inn on N. King Street, and since we’re also talking about Okazuyas, here’s a few plates Diner E and C ordered from the NEW Diner’s Drive Inn at the same location as the former Diner’s Drive Inn, starting with Diner E’s plate…
NEW Diner’s Drive Inn – Okazuya plate: (clockwise starting from top left) Nishime, Sweet & Sour Pork, Nori Musubi, Fried Saimin, Vegetable Tempura, Shoyu Tofu
Diner C’s plate…
New Diner’s Drive Inn – Chow Fun & Fried (fried?) Butterfish
After that exhaustive previous write-up on chopsticks, I decided to take a break from hashi for a night and dined at one of the most requisite fork and knife establishments one can find, a steak house. After our most excellent experience at sister restaurant Sansei Seafood and Sushi Bar in June of last year, we made it a point to return here and try the steaks next door at D.K Kodama’s Steak House. Which is exactly where we chose to dine this Valentine’s.
Since my girlfriend had to work Saturday night, we made our reservation for late Friday evening, which we were able to book that very same day for 9pm; a feat highly unlikely to pull off had we tried getting in on Saturday night, the night of Valentine’s Day.
As you can see here, at the time of our arrival, the room was at capacity with every table taken…
That’s always a good indicator you picked the right place to eat.
We started our dinner off with a cocktail…
Quickly arriving after that was a complimentary basket of sourdough bread and herb-infused butter….
Complimentary Sourdough Bread with Herb-infused butter
Excellent house bread. It arrived warm and soft on the inside, and crusty-crispy on the outside. I just hate when it’s so good, you almost get filled up eating the whole loaf before the actual meal arrives. I always do that!
The lady kept it simple and ordered the Ceasar Salad for a starter…
THE “ULTIMATE” CAESAR SALAD – $7.95/ 5.95 (Half)
Crisp Romaine lettuce, house made Caesar dressing, shaved parmesan-reggiano
Well, it was a mighty fresh-tasting Caesar, except I don’t know if you can call it “ultimate” if it’s not made table-side, which it’s not here. The dressing did have that made-from-scratch evoo, dijon, achovie and garlic flavor profile though, as well as generous shavings of Parmesan-Reggiano scattered on it, so the necessary parts of its sum were all respectably in place. She certainly enjoyed it, savoring every bite and finishing the entire plate.
I couldn’t resist ordering my favorite appetizer before eating a good steak or rack of lamb, the Escargot…
CLASSIC ESCARGOT – $9.95
White wine garlic herb butter & parmesan cheese
I much prefer the classic French Bourguignon style of serving Escargot in their shells. In this form here, it’s hard to tell what this is, mearly appearing like “black things” covered and sitting in cheese and butter. When they’re baked and served hot in the shells, you can’t beat how the escargot gets DROWNED in the garlic butter, plus the psychological aspect of eating SNAILS as it appears. Like this, the Escargot sit in a dish appearing rather nondescript and unidentifiable. Ya’ know?
It would have been nice if at least they used a partitioned Escargot rameken dish.
The addition of the melted Parmesan Cheese, while a welcome flavor boost, also somewhat overpowers the subtle earthy, meaty, tender-chewy profile of the Escargot.
Don’t get me wrong though. As served, flavor and texture-wise, with the sum of its parts scooped-up and devoured atop the accompanying bread, this take on Escargot was still absolutely delicious.
I’m just wondering if I compared them side-by-side on the same table which one I’d like better: D.K’s melted Parmesan and sourdough bread version or the Ocean House’ melted Brie and puff pastry version. Hmmm.
Obviously we were both in the mood for a good steak, of which she went for the New York Strip…
NEW YORK STRIP 14 oz – $35.95
This is a very popular steak due to its hearty and robust flavor
According to their menu, this is how D.K describes their cuts of steaks, “d.k Steak is the only restaurant in Hawaii that dry ages their steaks in-house. A labor and time intensive process, true dry aging takes between 14 to 30 days, but the results are well worth the time and effort. True dry aged steaks have more concentrated flavor and character. Nothing exemplifies the benefits of dry aging better then d.k Steak’s signature 22 ounce bone-in rib eye, their juiciest premier steak, which is dry aged for 30 days.”
Look at how perfectly seared and cooked medium-rare and juicy this NY Strip is from this angle…
14 oz. NY Strip
Common. I know your mouth is watering right now just looking at that. At least mines is!
I went for the T-Bone…
T BONE STEAK – $27.95
14 oz-The T-bone has the same rich flavor as the porterhouse, but with a smaller filet
Being this was thinner cut (which our server pointed out), I decided to play it “safe” and went with RARE, and that’s exactly what I got!…
14 oz. T-Bone
Notice both our plates have a a house-made Jus that the steaks are plated with. The menu here is ala carte, so along with our “nothin’ but a big honkin’ steak” plate, we both shared a massive fully-loaded baked potato…
Baked Potato – $6.95
One pound, fully loaded
Of course this also came with chives, which were served on the side by request.
Now that I look back at the menu, I wish I had also ordered the Asparagus Milagnese. If you look at our choices, we did keep our choices rather simple, being neither adventurous nor extravagant, which must have been the mood we were in.
Finally rounding out the meal, what other to go with love on Valentine’s day than chocolate, at least for you ladies, so that’s exactly what she ordered for dessert…
Chocolate-Chocolate Decadence Cake – $7.95
A Rich Flourless Chocolate-Chocolate Cake served warm with Chocolate Fudge and rich Chocolate Ice Cream
“Chocolate-Chocolate” is the word. Good Lord, I think all of Hershey-ville was packed inside this cake. Way to chocolatey-intense for me, yet she loved it, which is the main thing. I was stuffed anyway and barely had room for even one bite of this.
Chocolate-Chocolate Decadence Cake – $7.95
A Rich Flourless Chocolate-Chocolate Cake served warm with Chocolate Fudge and rich Chocolate Ice Cream
Getting back to those steaks, they tasted like they were seasoned simply with Kosher Salt and pepper. I didn’t detect any other herbs, or garlic or some kind of special marinade or rub. Very simply-prepared and flame grilled to perfection as we ordered them. Neither of our steaks needed to be sent back for being under or over cooked. The house-made Jus provided a nice moisture base to dip each slice of steak as you got through it, making it extra moist. The natural juices flowing out the steak as you cut through it, as it melded with the Jus added flavor beyond notches known to mankind, as Emeril would say it.
Whatever they’re doing with their dry aging process is obviously effective in providing an extremely flavorful, moist and tender cut of beef, and would certainly recommend them as top contender for best steak in Honolulu. Looking back at the menu, I really should have gotten one of the rib-eyes, yet my T-bone was fantastic in its own right. And that was one of the most flavorful NY strips I’ve had in long time when trying my girlfriend’s cut.
These last two paragraphs are the most important thing you need to know about this place in my opinion. D.K’s is all about the steak, and by our impression on this visit, they indeed know how it’s done the right way. If you’re in Waikiki and a top-notch steak is what you want first and foremost, and you’re willing to pay a premium for it, I wouldn’t hesitate booking your next dinner at D.K’s.
As I mentioned in my review of Sansei last June, the two sister restaurants are divided by an adjoining bar, located on the upper pool deck at the Waikiki Beach Marriot Resort & Spa. Here again is that beautiful painting that’s up on the wall in the adjoining hallway waiting area just inside the entrance…
Notice how the fish turn into 3-dimensional fiberglass pieces that jump from one painting to the next. You must visit Layne Luna’s website and see his work on this type of art. Truly a master!
This beautiful planter and arrangement was set upon a table right in front of where we were sitting, which also served as a sort of room divider…
Our server was fantastic as well, being friendly, attentive and knowledgeable about the menu.
Overall we had a wonderful steak dinner at D.K Steak House and, like our experience at Sansei next door, wouldn’t hesitate giving high recommendation to consider your next dinner date here.
D.K Steak House
Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa
overlooking world-famous Waikiki Beach
2552 Kalakaua Avenue
Honolulu, Hawaii 96815-3699
The Tasty Island rating:
(4) Excellent. Worth another visit or purchase. (Winnahz!)
Bonus content! Here’s a few photos of some gorgeous custom Ukuleles on display at an Ukulele shop on the ground floor of the Marriot where we had dinner, including this one made by Kamaka Ukuleles…
A Hibiscus flower-shaped sound hole…
Elaborate and intricate inlay workmanship is a popular trend nowadays with custom Ukulele makers.
More traditonal style Ukes’, including the classic “Pineapple” shape on the far right…
Speaking of music, after dinner, we headed on over a few blocks Ewa in Waikiki to the Waikiki Trade Center on Kuhio avenue and checked out the live music at the Shack Waikiki. On stage when we arrived was Irie Love…
Irie Love performs at The Shack Waikiki, Friday, February 13, 2009
Then after that, up on stage for just one song, Maui native and American Idol season 3 finalist, Camile Velasco took the stage to sing the cover song for her new album, Guava Jelly…
Maui native and American Idol season 3 finalist Camile Velasco performs “Guava Jelly” live at The Shack Waikiki, Friday, February 13, 2009
Maui native and American Idol season 3 finalist Camile Velasco performs “Guava Jelly” live at The Shack Waikiki, Friday, February 13, 2009
Maui native and American Idol season 3 finalist Camile Velasco performs “Guava Jelly” live at The Shack Waikiki, Friday, February 13, 2009
Her hair was a little blown in this photo, but she was nice enough to stop and take a picture for me when I asked her (mahalo Camile!)…
Miss Camile Velasco at The Shack Waikiki, Friday, February 13, 2009
Top to bottom: Chinese Restaurant Quality Melamine Resin Chopsticks, Chinese Bamboo Chopsticks, Korean 18-10 Stainless Steel Chopsticks & Spoon, Japanese Yew Wood Chopsticks, Japanese Red Lacquered Chopsticks (standard and shorter lengths; 2 sets), Children’s size Lacquered Bamboo Chopsticks, Japanese Bamboo Cooking Chopsticks (long), Japanese Double-Tiped Bamboo Cooking Chopsticks, High Quality Decorative Pine Waribashi (disposable) Chopsticks, Bamboo Waribashi (disposable) Chopsticks (wrapped with Zippy’s logo) and standard pine Waribashi (disposable) Chopsticks (wrapped with Yummy’s Korean B-B-Q logo). Also pictured is a square Japanese ceramic tan/brown chopsticks rest and a Chinese white/blue porcelain chopsticks rest.
Back in January of last year, I did a post on Tonkatsu sauces, where reader Michelle made a note about me sticking chopsticks in my rice bowl in one of the photos, pointing that out as being forbidden in Japanese culture. It actually turns out being forbidden by ALL chopstick-using asian cultures, as that symbolizes death in the form of an offering for the deceased, as it portrays incense placed into ashes.
Not only did I stick the chopsticks in the rice for that photo, I also crisscrossed them, which is another no-no. To top that off, I also poured shoyu on the rice, which, especially to Japanese elite, is considered “low class”.
Ack! Goes to show how long it’s been since I’ve been to Japan. I’ve been there so many times while growing up, but have now forgotten all the those important table manners our family used to respect and obey when visiting there.
I don’t have any asian ancestry myself, so whatever of those cultural influences I’ve been exposed to were through travel and friends, classmates and coworkers I grew up with here in Hawaii; not passed on from elders. Yet the asian people and traditions are those I’m so fond of and hold with high regard and respect.
Of course there’s a lot more rules than that when it comes to chopstick etiquette, not just in Japan, but all the asian countries that use them, including the motherland of chopsticks, China, as well as Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam.
The question is, how have these traditions of strict chopstick etiquette from your particular homeland carried itself as either you, your parents, great-grandparents or ancestors beyond that immigrated to the United States or other western country? Do you observe them all yourself, all the time? Or only when sitting down with immediate family, or in a formal restaurant?
Issei and nisei (first and second generation) Japanese-Americans surely must be much more strict in practice than, say sansei and yonsei (third and fourth generation Japanese-Americans). I asked a few of my local sansei and yonsei Japanese friends and coworkers if they practice strict chopsticks etiquette and most of them said they do for the most basic ones (like standing chopsticks in rice), but the more obscure or meticulous ones hardly if at all.
There’s quite a few websites out there now that cover this subject, with most of them pretty much in accord with each other on the same set of rules and guidelines.
There’s a whopping 40 forbidden acts listed regarding the use of chopsticks (and a few on general table manners) from a Japanese perspective on this web page.
This Wikipedia article on Chopsticks gives a good general overview on the history and etiquette practices from each country, and is an ideal place to start your own personal research. I’m not about to attempt to retype the whole list here. You can read them at those links yourself.
If you read the rules, many of them are common sense, while others — like the chopsticks stuck vertically in the rice — have more symbolism, superstition, and/or pure tradition behind them.
Such as for the Japanese, when chopsticks are placed on their rest on the table, they should always point to the LEFT; if they point to the right it is a symbol of bad luck. ZOINKS!
What’s just as interesting as the history and various cultural etiquette practices behind chopsticks, are the variations in materials, finishes, size and design profiles that they’re made from one region or country to another.
The most intriguing one I discovered rather recently are the Korean STAINLESS STEEL chopsticks, which come as a set including a matching SPOON…
Korean 18/10 stainless steel chopsticks and spoon set
This Korean Chopsticks measures 8″ length x 1/8″width x 1/16″ thick at the tip x 1/4″ width x 1/16″ thick at the handle end. The spoon measures 8-5/16″ length x 1-5/8″ width at the spoon end x 3/8″ width x 1/16″ thick at the handle end.
Notice the ornately-decorated, matching handles and satin-matte finish in that area for better hand grip. On the back of the spoon it says 18-10, which must be indicating it’s made of 18/10 (18% chromium/10% nickel) stainless steel.
Also notice I placed the chopsticks to the RIGHT of the spoon in accordance to Korean tradition; putting them to the left of the spoon is forbidden.
There’s a few reasons I found on why Korean chopsticks are made of stainless steel. The most practical one being that the South Korean government prohibits the sale and consumption of disposable products, including chopsticks. So stainless steel was chosen as the most durable reusable (easy to wash and care) material to make this utensil out of, just as western forks, spoons and knives are made of.
Another reason mentioned is that after World War II, Korea had a shortage of wood resources and a surplus of scrap metal.
The most radical reason I’ve read is that they were distributed to the masses during World War II to serve dual purpose as throw dart weapons in case enemy forces invaded their country. Which is credible, as if you feel it in your hand, the front point end is heavier than the back handle end, making it ideal for throwing with the point spearheading into its target. Filing the blunt tip into a sharp point would be easy to do as well.
Here’s another Korean Stainless Steel Chopsticks & Spoon set…
As for using them to eat, the spoon is intended to be used for soups and RICE only. Yes, rice. You don’t use the chopsticks, you use the spoon. And, according to Korean etiquette, NEVER pick the rice bowl off the table. Unlike the Japanese and Chinese who lift their rice bowl to eat, the Koreans leave the bowl planted on the table, strictly using the spoon to transport the rice to the mouth. Also, both spoon and chopsticks are not to be used simultaneously. Nope. You only use one or the other at a time. So you would leave the steel chopsticks on their rest whenever using the spoon to eat soup or rice. Then when it’s time to grab something like say a piece of Kal Bi or Kim Chee, you would first rest the spoon, then grab the chopsticks. Man, that sounds kinda a hassle.
Whatever the case, the Koreans truly have a unique chopstick design and etiquette.
I bought this set at Kapalama Market’s Makaloa street location (next to Don Quijote) for $4.99. Interestingly, they had them hidden underneath the counter at the cash register. What’s up with that? Maybe they don’t want outsiders “in” on their “good stuff”. lol Well, when I asked one of the stock clerks if they had them, he gladly pointed me to the cashier for them. Cool.
Notice the ends of the Korean chopsticks are blunt, and the profile is FLAT…
Here’s the handle side of these…
We’ll get to using these rather unusual chopsticks (and spoon!) later, but next let’s look at the all-time classic Chinese chopsticks…
Chinese restaurant quality melamine resin chopsticks (with spoon)
This Chinese melamine resin chopsticks measure 10-3/4″ length x 3/16″ diameter at the round profile tip x 1/4″ square at the handle end.
The Chinese bamboo chopsticks (shown in top photo with red Chinese characters on it) have are unfinished, yet sanded very smooth. They measure 10-3/8″ length x 1/8″ diameter at the round profile tip x 1/4″ square at the handle end.
I included a soup spoon with it, as that’s what usually accompanies them at most Chinese restaurants. I’m just wondering whether my placement of the spoon on the RIGHT of the chopsticks here symbolizes anything good or BAD in Chinese? I couldn’t find the answer online (didn’t search THAT deep). Maybe you know or can find the answer.
What many of you might fondly (or not so fondly) make note of is these Chinese restaurant style melamine chopsticks’ non-tapered blunt tips and slippery-smooth finish at the business end…
Chinese style restaurant quality melamine resin chopsticks and unfinished smooth-sanded bamboo chopsticks tips
Dang, to try and pick up loose Chinese style long-grain rice with this? Forget it! That’s why the Chinese method to eating rice is to bring the bowl right to the mouth and use the chopsticks to “shovel” the rice in your mouth. Not pick the rice up like Japanese do from the bowl held at chest level.
Here you see the profile at the handle end of the Chinese chopsticks are square…
I purchased these from a Chinese grocery store on Maunakea street in Chinatown. This is how the packages look…
These were incredibly cheap at just $1.75 for the package of 10 pairs (20 total) of restaurant quality melamine resin chopsticks on the left, and a recession-busting 75 cents for the package of 10 pairs (20 total) of unfinished, smooth-sanded bamboo chopsticks on the right… and I didn’t even need to bargain! lol
Next under the microscope we have several varieties of Japanese chopsticks…
Japanese chopsticks in various materials, finishes and sizes
The brown-stained oil-rubbed yew wood chopsticks on top measures 8-7/8″ length x less than 1/16″ diameter round profile at the tip x 5/16″ square at the handle end.
The longer red lacquered wood chopsticks beneath that measures 8-7/8″ length x 1/16″ diameter at the round profile tip x 5/16″ at the rounded-square handle end.
The shorter red lacquered wood chopsticks measures 7/5/8″ length x 1/16″ diameter at the round profile tip x 5/16″ at the rounded-square handle end.
The children’s lacquered bamboo chopsticks with the cute widdle bunny wabbit cartoon character on it measures 6-7/16″ length x 1/8″ diameter at the round profile tip x 1/4″ at the rounded-square handle end.
Notice how they’re all distinctively tapered gradually from the handle all the way to the tip, sort of like a really stretched out cone.
Japanese Chopsticks’ handle ends
I especially like when the tips have these ribbed grooves that really improve grip…
The only drawback to the ribbed tips is they take a bit more effort to wash thoroughly, unlike the smooth finish tips that just take a quick swipe of the soaped sponge and they’re clean. I’m sure most restaurants are aware of that and only offer the smooth type. Or not this type at all, and just give Waribashi (disposable chopsticks).
Which brings us to exactly that, the waribashi (disposable) variety…
Waribashi disposable chopsticks
The fancy unfinished smooth-sanded pine waribashi chopsticks on top measures 9-1/4″ length x 3/16″ width x 1/8″ thick at the oval-profile tip x 3/16″ width x 1/4″ thick at the beveled angle handle end.
The unfinished bamboo (Zippy’s logo) waribashi chopsticks measures 8-1/4″ length x 1/8″ diameter round profile at the tip x 1/4″ width x 3/16″ thickness at the rectangle profile handle end.
The bare-bones basic unfinished smooth-sanded pine waribashi (Yummy’s logo) chopsticks measures 8″ length x 1/8″ diameter at the rounded hexagon profile tip x 1/4″ width x 1/8″ thickness at the ractangular hexagon profile handle end.
Various waribashi tip profiles…
Various waribashi handle end profiles…
My favorite of the three is the bamboo in the middle. In fact, in some ways, I prefer the bamboo waribashi more than even the fancier lacquered Japanese styles. It’s tapered angle at the tip affords good grip on even the most slippery foods (as you’ll soon see), and the unfinished surface helps that out. While it’s also denser by nature and less prone to splinters. It also has good rigidity. They’re typically twice the price of the bare-bones basic chopsticks, but for home-use, I always spring the extra cost for the bamboo waribashi. And I appreciate the restaurants (such as Zippy’s) who go the extra mile to offer bamboo waribashi to their customers.
Finally we have those cooking chopsticks, that in the next photo will require a little exercise using your mouse’ scroll wheel lol…
Cooking chopsticks
And that’s a reduced size. These buggahz are LOOOOONNNNNGGGG! Most likely longer than the computer monitor you’re looking at is, tall.
The unfinished smooth bamboo with the red handle cooking chopsticks on the left measures a 12″ ruler-beating 14-1/8″ length x 1/8″ diameter at the round profile tip x 1/4″ diameter at the rounded-square profile handle end.
The brown-stained, unfinished, smooth-sanded bamboo DOUBLE-TIPPED! cooking chopsticks on the right also measures a 12″ ruler-beating 13″ length x 1/8″ diameter round profile at BOTH TIPS. How cool is that. A double-tipped chopstick!
Obviously the reason cooking chopsticks are long are to keep your hands as far away as possible from the searing wok, boiling water and/or hot oil. Notice they’re both made of unfinished bamboo which is durable and sturdy enough for the task, and also doesn’t conduct heat. Besides, under high heat, the plastic type resin would melt, a lacquered finish could discharge unwanted chemicals into the food and metal would conduct the heat right to your hand, which wouldn’t be good.
Then if you looked closely at the first photo showing all the different chopsticks, notice there’s a couple styles of chopstick rests in there. Here’s better look…
Ceramic chopstick rests
Porcelain chopsticks rest
Did you know you can fabricate your own chopstick rest, origami style, using the sleeve that wraps the waribashi disposable chopsticks? Check it out…
Waribashi disposable chopsticks rests folded origami style out of the paper wrapper they come in
Here’s a closer look…
• Learn how to fold the origami crane/bird chopstick rest here.
• Learn how to fold the standard origami chopstick rest (center) here.
• Learn how to fold the “inverted hat” origami chopstick rest here.
Or if that’s too cute ‘n fancy or hassles for you, just fold the wrapper into a simple knot.
You know what was interesting as far as buying the chopsticks for this presentation was, unless I didn’t look good enough (which I did I think), the Japanese stores (Marukai and Don Quijote) only carried Japanese chopsticks, Palama (Korean) Market only carried Korean chopsticks and the Chinese grocery store on Maunakea street in Chinatown only carried Chinese chopsticks.
I didn’t have the time to go treasure hunting in Chinatown for Taiwanese chopsticks (which are a little longer than Chinese chopsticks according to Wikipedia) or Vietnamese style Palmwood chopsticks. So my apologies for not including you folks in here.
I think the varieties I have here cover the most distinctive differences for most styles of chopsticks, unless you wanna’ talk maybe “training chopsticks” and other modern stick-like eating contraptions on the market.
Now let’s talk how you HOLD your chopsticks. Left-handed or right-handed?
Whether it’s a fork, spoon or chopsticks, I’m a lefty…
Using chopsticks: Stationary lower chopstick rested between base of thumb and index finger at the top and ring finger at the bottom, with the “actuator” chopstick above operated by the pointer and middle finger, using the tip of the thumb as a fulcrum point.
Notice I grip the stationary chopstick between the base of my thumb and the bottom part against my ring finger (which is where most instructions say to).
What I found interesting was that several people I asked said they don’t rest the stationary chopstick on their ring finger, but rest it on their middle finger, like this….
Lower stationary chopstick rested at the bottom by the middle finger. The upper “actuator” chopstick is operated by the pointer finger and thumb
While I’m still able to work them like this, I find there’s less grip, travel and leverage on the “actuator” chopstick holding it like this. I’m sure if I did this for years it wouldn’t be awkward, but as it is now, I’ll stick to my more traditional method.
Now let’s put the various chopstick styles here to the task they were designed for, which is to EAT!
When I thought of challenging foods to pick up using chopsticks, the very first dish that came to mind was none other than that good old Luau favorite, Chicken Long Rice!
A bowl of Chicken Long Rice (made by yours truly) and store-bought Won Bok Kim Chee, surrounded by a variety of Korean, Chinese and Japanese chopsticks.
You know you’ve been there before. Sitting on the table at da’ baby luau or wedding with da’ aunties and uncles next to you, as you struggle to get da’ slippery clear chicken long rice noodles to stay put on your flimsy, cheap disposable fork or chopsticks as you raise it to your mouth, only to have them evade your attempt and slip right back onto the partitioned luau plate. To make matters worse, sometimes back into the wrong section, like right into the pile of fresh Ahi Poke you were about to dig into next. Darned it! I hate when that happens! lol Da’ good kine luaus provide those rectangle brown tapa-printed “bowls” for serving liquid stuffs like ‘dis. Da’ cheap ‘kine luaus no moah… you jus’ gotta’ rough it wit’ da’ sectional luau plate fo’ every’ting. lol
The Kim Chee is thrown in for good measure to contrast the difficult with the easy as far as picking things up with chopsticks are concerned.
And how can you not have RICE in any chopsticks demonstration, and not just any rice, but chinese style (loose) long-grain white rice…
I also put a local style fried rice bento to the test…
Finally to add some real solid food to the table, I also threw in a vegetable tempura bento…
Broccoli, String Bean and Sweet Potato Vegetable Tempura Bento
Before seeing how each one handles the food, we’ll look at their tips profiles and how they meet each other and how that might affect its ability to grip and pick things up…
Chinese restaurant quality melamine resin chopsticks
Now let’s try and pick up some of that loose long-grain white rice with it…
Chinese restaurant quality melamine resin chopsticks picks up long-grain white rice
As you can kinda’ tell, I struggled to keep the loose grains from falling through the open “V” of the slippery-smooth resin, non-tapered, blunt-end tips of the Chinese chopsticks. But alas! The Chinese don’t eat their rice with the bowl planted on the table. No, they PICK UP the bowl and bring it to their mouth and use the chopsticks to help shovel the rice into the mouth. Right? If you’re Chinese, do you or your parents or grandparents still eat rice like that? The question is, how can you do that if the rice doesn’t have it’s own bowl? Then you’ll stuck struggling with these relatively cumbersome chopsticks trying to pick the loose long-grain rice. Been there, done that.
Now let’s try an even MORE difficult task and use the Chinese resin chopsticks to eat some Chicken Long Rice noodles….
Chinese restaurant quality melamine resin chopsticks grabbing some Chicken Long Rice noodles
Good Lord, the long rice keeps slipping through and falling back into the bowl! Thankfully my chopstick skills are pretty good (at least I think so) and I was eventually able to clasp the two together tight enough to hold the slippery-slimy-wet clear bean thread rice noodles long enough to get it from the bowl on the table to my mouth. Darned, I gotta’ say, that’s a great batch of Chicken Long Rice I made for this demo’!
Now let’s try picking up some Kim Chee…
Chinese restaurant quality melamine resin chopsticks picking up Won Bok Kim Chee
and also a piece of broccoli tempura…
No sweat. Actually here’s where the blunt ended (flat) tips have an advantage, offering a nice “pinch” if you will.
To sum this pair up, the Chinese restaurant quality melamine resin chopsticks are actually quite comfortable to hold as an adult. But when I was a kid and my hands were smaller and chopsticks skills not as refined, I hated them. In fact, often back then I’d actually ask for a fork vs. struggle with them. Now I kinda’ like them though. The smooth plastic resin finish feels good in the hands and the extra length offers more leverage for heavier food items like that big piece of brocolli tempura to pick up.
Now let’s check out the bamboo Chinese style chopsticks….
Chinese unfinished bamboo chopsticks
Notice its trademark square profile at the handle then tapers into a much more tapered round profile that goes into a point at the tip, versus the blunt thick ends on the melamine resin type. As you can immediately see, there a much longer gripping surface area where the two chopstick meet each other.
Now let’s try pick up some food with it, this time going for the local style fried rice…
Chinese unfinished, smooth-sanded bamboo chopsticks picking up local style fried rice
Works great. See how much rice it can scoop up thanks to that long tapered tip.
Let’s go back and try some of that loose Chinese style long-grain rice now…
Chinese unfinished smooth-sanded bamboo chopsticks picking up long-grain white rice
Still difficult due to the nature of the rice being loose, but much better than those non-tapered resin ones, that’s for sure. Now I’m just waiting for Popo to whack me on the head and scold me for not picking up the rice bowl and puting it to my mouth like that. Ouch! Ouch! OK, OK Popo, I going pick da’ bowl up. Ouch! Gunfunnit. Keedz. Ouch!
I really like the Chinese unfinished smooth-sanded bamboo chopsticks. They’re lightweight, yet rigid, and the extra length is an advantage, which also affords them a dual-purpose roll as a cooking chopstick AND eating chipstick. Adding to that advantage, the tips are perfectly tapered and afford great grip on food. The sanded-smooth finish feels great in the hands, which also allows you to use it for cooking. The red Chinese characters inscripted on it (whatever that says) gives it a cool look too. I’d say of all the ones showcased here, this one is by far the best all-purpose chopstick. Again, you can buy a package of 10 pairs for a Beijing-bustin’ 79 cents in supermarkets in Honolulu’s Chinatown district. I’m really glad I now have them in my cooking and eating arsenal.
Now let’s get to the most unique set of the bunch, the Korean stainless steel chopsticks and spoon…
Korean 18/10 stainless steel chopsticks
To further illustrate how difficult these can be, look at the tips from this angle…
Korean stainless steel chopsticks
Not only are they relatively short, but they have a flat, thin profile to them. Top that off, you have that polished-to-a-slippery-smooth, who needs grip? finish of the stainless steel. Thankfully the end is blunt which helps give it some pinch, not to mention being safer than if it were a point, potentially impaling its poor user’s tongue, lip, or worse yet, eye or skull! Ack! lol
Let’s start with the most difficult and try to pick up some of those evasive chicken long rice noodles…
Korean stainless steel chopsticks attempting to pick up Chicken Long Rice noodles
While attempting to do this, I began singing the song “Slip Sliding Away” by Paul Simon. For all the obvious reasons, it was even more challenging than the Chinese melamine chopsticks. With a bit of manipulating the angle of the tips together, I was eventually able to fetch some from the bowl on the table and raise it to my mouth, but if you gave me a choice, these Korean style stainless steel chopsticks would be my LAST pick to eat chicken long rice, that’s for sure!
Since my Chicken Long Rice had plenty of ginger-infused chicken broth in it, I could also consider this dish a soup, which by Korean tradition, you’re supposed to use the spoon…
Korean stainless steel spoon scooping up some Chicken Long Rice broth
Notice the chopsticks are placed on the rest while I use the spoon, which I read is how you’re supposed to use these. If you pick up the spoon, you put down the chopstick, and vice versa… but don’t ask me why.
I like how much leverage the spoon’s handle affords, yet I prefer the deeper rim design of the chinese style porcelain (or plastic) spoon, which allows you to scoop and retain more broth in it.
THIS is where the Koreans have a big advantage…
Korean stainless steel spoon scooping up some white long-grain rice
Aha! You loosey-goosey long-grain rice granules can’t fall out of the SPOON! I got you now, suckahz!
Let’s see how the Korean chopsticks do gettin’ some..
Korean stainless steel chopsticks picking white long-grain rice
Almost a losing proposition. No way, Jose. I’ll go back to the spoon, thank you very much. Besides, that’s how this set was designed, anyway. You’re not supposed to eat rice with the chopsticks according to Korean tradition. You use the spoon. Now if we can only convince the conservatives to allow us to use both the chopstick AND spoon simultaneously!
Now this is proper…
Korean stainless steel chopstick picking up a piece of Won Bok Kim Chee
Now THIS is where the Korean stainless steel chopstick is truly in its element, doing exactly the task it was designed for. This very act has probably been performed billions, if not trillions or even teragazillions (is that a word? lol) of times throughout history in Korea. I just added a few more to that ever-growing count.
Let’s try the Korean stainless steel spoon on the fried rice…
Korean stainless steel spoon scooping up some local style fried rice
It actually feels kinda’ weird eating rice with a spoon. Like I’m being fed like a baby. lol For realz though! *Crying like a baby—> “whahhhh, whaahhhh! gimmmeeee wice! gimmeee wice! whaaaahhhh!*
Let’s try grabbing the stickier short-grain fried rice with the Korean Chopsticks…
Korean stainless steel chopsticks picking up some local style fried rice
Now that feels much better and much more natural, for me at least. It’s still challenging to pick rice up using these due their thin and flat profile, but it works. The question is, is this OK to use according to Korean tradition? See, the fried rice has solid bits and pieces of meat and veggies in it as well, but it’s still rice, so am I supposed to use the spoon and cry like a baby afterward? Dunno.
After a little practice with the flat-profiled stainless steel chopsticks, I got better at it. Here I was easily able to fish out a piece of chicken from the long rice bowl…
Korean stainless steel chopsticks picking up a piece of chicken from a bowl of chicken long rice
Picking up a more substantial piece of food like this Broccoli Tempura was even easier…
Korean stainless steel chopsticks picking up a piece of Broccoli Tempura
This is where the rigidity of the stainless steel it’s made of shined (no pun intended).
Rounding my use of the Korean stainless steel chopsticks, I’ll just say they’re very “interesting”. The durability of the stainless steel will certainly make these outlast any other chopsticks here, provided I don’t end up losing them in my kitchen drawers somewhere. What I’d like to do is tote these along with me to a local Korean restaurant and ask the mama sans who work/own the place to show me all the ropes on using these and what’s the REAL proper way of using these according to their own Korean traditions. When I do that, I’ll get back to you on it.
Now let’s jump on a plane and head over to Japan and check out their style…
Japanese Yew Wood Chopsticks (one of my personal favorites)
This one has a really nice angle at the tip, almost resembling a caliper.
Then there’s this type…
Japanese lacquered wood chopsticks
The tapered tip area doesn’t meet each other as much as the angle given on the Chinese bamboo chopstick, but it’s still enough to provide enough platform to keep food in place.
Let’s try pick up some long rice…
Japanese lacquered wood chopsticks picking up Chicken Long Rice noodles
The polished lacquer finish lets the noodles slip through easily, but the angle of the taper on the tips allows you to squeeze the noodles in place. It just takes a little more effort on your part to put a forceful grip on it, especially for this dish.
Now the loose long-grain white rice…
Japanese lacquered wood chopsticks picking up white long-grain rice
The angle of the tips is good, but its skinny profile offers rather inadequate platform area underneath, causing the loose rice to fall over the side quite easily.
Let’s try the Kim Chee…
Japanese lacquered wood chopsticks picking up Won Bok Kim Chee
Works like a champ. Good pinching action.
Some fried rice with the yew wood type…
Japanese Yew wood chopsticks picking up local style fried rice
Again, works like champ. I really like the thicker rounded-square profile of the Yew wood chopsticks. In fact, this is the exact pair of chopsticks I use most often at home. This, and another set of lacquered ones that have the ribbing on the tip, like the kid’s one shown in the group photos, but longer.
Let’s try pick up some rice with the super-duper long cooking chopsticks…
Cooking chopsticks picking up long-grain white rice
Obviously not made for this task, yet I was at least able to grab a bite’s worth and actually could make due eating with it if I had to. I’d just choke-up and place my hand closer towards the tip than where it’s placed in the photo above.
Using that kid’s size chopsticks, I just want to showcase here the ribbed tips and how it augments it’s grip when picking up this piece of chicken…
Ribbed tips on chopsticks augment gripping ability
Even better, look how well it does with the Chicken Long Rice noodes…
Ribbed tips on chopsticks help pick up more Chicken Long Rice noodles
So lesson learned: if you want to eat Chicken Long Rice using chopsticks, get the ones with the angled ribbed tips. They work the best for this task.
Now let’s move on to the Waribashi (disposable) chopsticks and see how they perform, starting with my favorite of the genre, the bamboo…
Waribashi bamboo disposable chopsticks
Like the Chinese bamboo chopsticks and the Japanese Yew wood chopsticks, the disposable bamboo chopsticks have decent amount of contact area between the two at the tapered tips. They’re definitely worth the extra cost over the bargain-basement pine type.
Let’s pick up some long-grain white rice with it…
Waribashi bamboo disposable chopsticks picking up white long-grain rice
Excellent job. Maikai.
Now let’s try that with the upgraded pine waribashi….
Waribashi high quality disposable pine wood chopsticks
I don’t know if you can see it, but change profile from square at the handle end and taper to a rounded square profile at the business end. This one does a pretty good job too, but I find the sharp square edge on the handle end uncomfortable, while also making me nervous that it’s fibrous pine wood is going to jab a splinter in the skin of my hands if I slide them on it.
Now let’s try that with the bargain basement pine wood waribashi….
Waribashi pine wood disposable chopsticks (the cheapest you can get)
What can I say, they work. They’ll get the job done, and have been getting the job done for ages now.
Did you know you’re not supposed to rub waribashi chopsticks together in a restaurant (to attempt to remove splinters) or at a dinner party at someone’s home? Doing that tells the owner or host that you think he or she’s CHEAP. But they are cheap! lol J/K.
Perhaps how the joined waribashi breaks apart is a good indicator how cheaply-made they are. Let’s try separating a few pairs…
The first four pairs starting from the left are the bargain-basement waribashi pine disposable chopsticks, all from the same manufacturer (the green 4-leaf clover and white paper wrapper brand). Notice the one farthest to the left did the worst, making that dreaded crack towards the outside, instead of the intended split smack down the center like you’d hope it would behave and do having that groove to help guide it. So much for that groove. The next three of the same breed broke apart consistently the same, with a slightly-veering crack line to the left, but acceptibly-even.
The waribashi bamboo chopstick after (second pair from the far right) cracked as perfectly in half as I could ask. Jozu desu. Bamboo waribashi is ichiban in my book.
Then there’s the upscale pine waribashi on the far right which broke into a 1/3 – 2/3 split, but at least it did it straight – no so angled like the first pine one – making it less noticeable… and making the restaurant owner or host of the dinner look less cheap. lol
So that’s that. A look at chopsticks. A domestic tool we use on a daily basis (or at least I do), yet like many other good things in life, one we often take for granted.
Look up a few of the rules and regulations regarding chopsticks etiquette by the various cultures that use them, and tell us how many you observe or don’t, yet should or may consider observing in the future. Or not.
Kuàizi. Hashi. Jeokkarak… Whatever you call them, chopsticks certainly offer some food for thought.
Yesterday my girlfriend and I went over and checked out the fun and festivities at the 2009 Punahou Carnival. This popular annual event took place this weekend on Friday and Saturday, February 6th and 7th from 11am to 11pm. The theme this year was “Lights! Camera! Carnival! Keepin’ it “Reel”” and hosted by the class of 2010. Man, that makes me feel OLD!
Contrary to the reputation of it notoriously RAINING whenever the Punahou Carnival takes place, this year it was nothing but clear skies. And the HOUSE was PACKED…
Being this is a food blog, I try to stick with that theme first and foremost, and along with the rides, skills games, displays and entertainment, the Punahou Carnival certainly got da’ grinds!
By far the most popular food item everyone seeks out at the Punahou carnival are the Malasadas, and there was no shortage of a supply of them at that tent…
Notice the price on the sign says it’s 2 scrips (25 cents/scrip) for 1 Malasada, or 20 scrips for a dozen. So you get 2 free if you buy by bulk. There’s also two types of lines: one of which you can only buy up to 1 dozen at a time, and the other 2 dozen at a time, max’.
The supplies and manpower (or should we say student body power) required to keep up with Malasada demand is logistically intense…
Punahou Carnival’s Malasada Factory
We didn’t buy any to eat while there, but took a few dozen home to share with family. Here’s how it looks…
Punahou Carnival’s famous Malasada, 2 scrips (50 cents) each or 20 scrips ($5) per dozen
Notice it’s shaped like a doughnut with a puka in it, which is different than the oblong ball shape with no puka in it sold at Leonard’s and Champion Bakery, yet it tastes fantastic. It has a little bit firmer, denser texture and chewiness than those aforementioned eateries , yet an undeniably true Malasada at the core of the recipe. Punahou could probably open their own Malasada shop to operate year-found and do quite well with it. Perhaps run it by their own students studying accounting, business and/or economics (free labor!).
Another popular food item at this event is their Portuguese Bean Soup…
The Portuguese Bean Soup is available in three sizes…
I purchased the 32 oz. size to go, which comes out to $5.75. Here’s how it looked when I plated it at home (so you can see all the ingrediments in it)…
Punahou Carnival – Portuguese Bean Soup (served at home in a china bowl)
As you can tell by the photo, this soup is very hearty and full of all the right goodies, including generous cuts of Portuguese Sausage, Kidney Beans, diced carrots, celery, macaroni, kidney beans and cabbage. Plus, they’re all tender and and al dente, not under nor mushy and overcooked. My only complaint would be that it was slightly undersalted (which is good for those watching their sodium) and could have used a little more smokey ham-hock flavor in the broth. After adding just a dash of table salt at home, it was all good. Actually, really ono! I’m glad I have a big tub of it. That’ll be good to have for lunch in the upcoming work week.
Then there was a noodle stand…
These are chinese style noodles, served either with Charsiu or vegetarian…
Here’s the vegetarian bowl of noodles…
Punahou Carnival – Vegetarian Bowl of Noodles, 11 scrips ($2.75)
If dry noodles aren’t your thing, there’s always saimin…
Notice the Saimin brand is Okahara, which they were selling that large bowl for just $1.75 each. Those huge triangle musubi are just 75 cents each, the maki sushi (wrapped in white wax paper) just $1.50 each, and cone sushi also just $1.50 each. The prices here are really good!
My girlfriend bought a few rolls of the Maki Sushi, as well as the Barbecue Chicken Plate from another booth. Here’s that plate…
Punahou Carnival – BBQ Chicken Plate ($6) with Maki Sushi ($1.50) on the side
Got saimin? Good. Now all you need is a burger to go along with it!…
Again, very good prices…
PC exchange rate: 1 scrip = 25 cents
So before leaving, I also picked up a teri burger to go. Here it is…
Pretty much your average May’s Teri Burger. Could have used more teri sauce on it, that’s for sure. Also more seared edges on the patty. After doctoring it at home by adding some mayo, lettuce and tomato, it was all good. Especially for just $1.75, a price for burgers practically unheard of anywhere else nowadays.
Gotta’ love the fun design of these nostalgic portable carnival concession stands…
I didn’t ask this lady what was in these grape and Ninja Turtle-shaped bottles…
That wraps up all the food booths I took photos of, although there was more than that there, including Corn on the Cob, Gyros, Hawaiian Plates, Tacos and Nachos, Ice Cream and Smoothies.
Before we move along to the rides and skill games, let’s look where exactly everything is on this handy-dandy 3-D foam core map of the carnival grounds they provided…
Punahou Carnival 2009 grounds map
By far the most imposing structure erected here was the towering Century (Ferris) Wheel…
Punahou Carnival ’09 – Century Wheel c/o E.K. Fernandez
Getting dizzy yet from all these rides that spin ‘n turn you up, down, around and upside-down? Let’s take a breather in the middle of the midway and take in what’s going on around this action-packed place…
Now we’ll take a look at some of the rides geared more for the keiki…
Punahou Carnival ’09 – Traffic Jam c/o E.K. Fernandez
Then there were the skills games…
Ducks
Ring Toss
Freaky Froggy
Fish Swish
If US President and Buff ‘n Blue Alumnus Barack Obama ever attends a Punahou Carnival in the near future, chances are this is where the media photo ops will take place…
Basketball
Strong Man
Prize items for sale (no game-playing necessary)….
Haku Leis for sale…
Here’s this year’s theme carnival t-shirt design “Lights! Camera! Action!”…
Complete the look with a matching pair of shorts!…
and cap…
and if you’re a wahine, matching hand bag…
As mentioned earlier, as well as most know by now, Punahou is the alma mater of U.S. President Barack Obama, not to mention AOL founder Steve Case and golf phenom Michelle Wie. Which brings on an even more inspiritional feeling upon looking around the campus grounds here, which is absolutely beautiful. Here’s a few photos of the buildings on this side of the campus…
I need a wide angle lens…
As for parking, we lucked-out, scooping up a legal vacant parallel space on a neighborhood side street. It seemed most folks were able to find somewhere to park, based on the droves of folks walking towards the campus along with us.
Well that was a fun and action-packed, yet relaxing way to spend a sunny and cool Saturday afternoon.
We’ve all seen our fair share of cheesy post-2am infomercials, including those disguised reinvented and recycled fitness products and programs that must go down as the most absurdly-comical out there. Just last night I was rudely-awoken by an almost nightmarish push of Cheryl Burke’s DISCO ABS®. Between that, Shaun T’s Hip Hop Abs® and Richard Simmons’ Sweatin’ to the Oldies, I’m not sure which one is right for me to get rid of all the extra pounds I’m picking up doing this food blogging thing.
So I’m thinking of creating my own infomercial called “The Cheese-Cakewalk-off”. To complete my program, all you have to do is walk one lap around Kapiolani park, then walk from there to The Cheesecake Factory in the Royal Hawaiian Hawaiian Shopping Center to eat. Then after you’re done enjoying a fantastic breakfast, lunch or dinner from their extensive menu, concluded by several slices of their most-decadent cheesecakes, which are also extensive, walk back and around Kapiolani Park for one more lap. Then you’re free to go home and sleep it off, or at least until you, too, are rudely awoken by yet another cheesy exercise or diet program infomercial at 2am in the morning.
Well indeed, if for anything else, this place is for all you BAD GIRLS as you’ll FREAK OUT like there was a DISCO INFERNO burning at The Cheesecake Factory in Waikiki.
Diner C is actually a good girl (make that, young lady), and in celebration of that we took her there for her birthday yesterday. Yay!
The Cheesecake Factory’s one-and-only Hawaii location is situated on the ground floor at the far-Diamond Head end of the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center in Waikiki…
Spock Diner A making shaka sign sitting down inside. Clown. lol
The decor in here is classy and opulent, yet casual-feeling at the same time…
All in the details…
We were given a spacious and rather private corner booth…
Just a stairway down and behind from where we were sitting was a large bar section…
A few of neighboring diners from our table…
A complimentary basket of fresh-baked bread starts the meal…
Click on bread basket to view a slice of each one
We knew this place served massive portions, so we didn’t order any appetizers, and went straight for entrees, starting with Birthday Girl Diner C, who chose the Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic…
The Cheesecake Factory (Waikiki) – Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic: Bow-tie Pasta, Chicken, Mushrooms, Tomato, Pancetta, Peas and Caramelized Onions in a Roasted Garlic-Parmesan Cream Sauce, $15.95
Diner AC went with the Santa Fe Salad…
The Cheesecake Factory (Waikiki) – Santa Fe Salad: Lime-Marinated Chicken, Fresh Corn, Black Beans, Cheese, Tortilla Strips, Tomato and Mixed Lettuces with a Spicy Peanut-Cilantro Vinaigrette, $13.95
As advertised, this comes with Tortilla Strips, dished separately so they stay crisp…
Putting the “S” in Santa Fe dressing…
Diner A wanted some Latin Heat, so he couldn’t resist the Cuban…
The Cheesecake Factory (Waikiki) – Cuban Sandwich: Slow-roasted Pork, Ham, Swiss Cheese, Pickles, Mustard and Mayonnase on a Grilled and Pressed Cuban-style Roll. Served with French Fries, $11.95
Diner E parted with beef burgers for the day, and instead went with Portabella…
The Cheesecake Factory (Waikiki) – Grilled Portabella on a Bun: A Giant Portabella Mushroom Grilled with Herbs and Served on a Bun with Lettuce, Tomato, Grilled Red Onion, Melted Cheese and Spicy Mayonnaise, Served with Fries, $10.95
Diner E’s Raspberry Lemonade in a sugar-coated chilled glass…
Here’s a look inside this Grilled Portabella…
Grilled Portabella cut in half
Last but not least, yours truly did an encore tribute to last week’s Kiawe Grill Kobe Burger by ordering The Cheesecake Factory’s take on the dish…
The Cheesecake Factory (Waikiki) – Kobe Burger: American Kobe Beef with Sauteed Mushrooms and Onions on a Toasted Brioche Bun. Served with Fries, $13.50
Here it is assembled…
The Cheesecake Factory’s Kobe Burger
This burger was way too big and tall to cut in half using just a butter knife I had available, so I’ll show you inside by biting through it….
The Cheesecake Factory’s Kobe Burger, cooked medium-rare
Here adorned in Birthday garb for Diner C is a generous slice of Vanilla Bean Cheesecake…
The Cheesecake Factory (Waikiki) – Vanilla Bean Cheesecake: Layers of Creamy Vanilla Bean Cheesecake, Vanilla Mascarpone Mousse and Chocolate Ganache
Where there’s vanilla, there must be chocolate…
The Cheesecake Factory- 30th Anniversary Chocolate Cake Cheesecake
So what did we think of our meal? Overall, WHINNAHZ! Everyone gave a thumbs-up BIG SHAKA seal of approval.
Speaking just for my Kobe Burger, it was very good, but not quite up to snuff with the one from Kiawe Grill. My biggest disappointment about it was that they put some kind of Teriyaki glaze on it, which isn’t at all specified on the menu. While I like a great Teri’ burger when in the mood, that’s NOT what I was in the mood for on this occasion, yet that’s what I got. Not being one to complain (although I should have for $13.50), accepted what I got and went with it. With that,very tasty, but not as BEEFY and certainly not as smokey as the offering as the patty that so wonderfully graced the bun over at Kiawe Grill. Also, what’s up with the way they cut their Romaine Lettuce? What is this, McDonald’s? What a waste! Don’t chiffonade lettuce! Especially Romaine!That sweet Teri style sauce also kinda’ canceled out the earthy mushrooms and sauteed onions.
Aside of the cons, the sum of its parts still made my Kobe Burger a very satisfying and filling lunch. Oh, the fries were cooked perfectly too. That certainly helped.
Not surprisingly the star of the table were those two amazing Chocolate Cake and Vanilla Bean Cheesecakes. My fave’ of the two was the Vanilla Bean, but everyone else was going “Ga-Ga” over the 30th Anniversary Chocolate Cake Cheesecake. Either way, pure ecstasy on a plate, if that’s any way to explain it. I could go deeper, but we gotta’ keep it ‘G’ here.
I’d say one day, come here for a sitting of just Cheesecake. Don’t order an appetizer or entree or anything else. Just order cheesecakes, sampling as many as your party is interested in, shared family style. Even better, go massively Ala Mode with some ice cream on the side as a buffer, along with a Latte or Capucino. Oh yes, you know it.
The portions are huge, so certainly come here hungry, because you’ll need an appetite and then some in order to finish your dish. In fact three of us ended up taking a “doggie bag” home.
The ambiance is pleasantly elegant, yet casual, while also being relatively quiet, which is nice. Best of all, our server Steve was great. Very attentive, friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. Based on our visit while being served by him, if the bosses read this, give that man either a raise or promotion! Seriously, excellent customer service.
Also adding to the great food and service was the parking, which was abundant, as well as – with validation – FREE! In Waikiki? Well, that’s A-OK by me!
Keepin’ it ‘G’, here’s more of their cheesecakes for your viewing pleasure…
Whew, that was so ono. Now I need to work that all off by popping in DVD disc 3 titled “Boogie Oogie Buns ‘n Thighs”. lol
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