Mele Kalikimaka: 12th Street Bistro

As you can tell by our many posts on Hawaii, we did not starve while in the islands. Thank goodness it was pouring buckets while we were there so unfortunately there were no opportunities to show off my growing pot belly towards the end of the trip.

On our last night, we went to dinner with Karli and Aaron at one of their favorite local restaurants, 12th Ave Grill in Kaimuki. While we normally gorge ourselves on "local" food like you've seen in previous posts, this was a unique experience for us because we got to indulge in delicious bistro food with a local Hawaiian twist.

Like many restaurants in the mainland, 12th Ave Grill boasts local produce and meat. Some random fun facts about local produce: I found out that my mom's cousins are the managers of the Hawaii Farmer's Markets and offered to give Kyle and I "VIP" parking at a local farmer's market next time we are in Hawaii along with a tour! Also, my Uncle Dave is featured in a TV ad in Hawaii that endorses eating locally grown produce like our Sumida Watercress.

 

MMM...Kyle and my weakness...mac and cheese...This mac and cheese was truly unique with a smokey flavor that made the dish extra rich and complex. We shared it as an appetizer, but I think I could have ate two orders all by myself.



Karli and Kyle got the BBQ Maui Cattle Co. Short Ribs that were fall-off-the-bone tender. The beef sat on a lovely pillow of corn and smashed potatoes with honey butter. The true highlight of the dish was the mustard greens sauteed with bacon and onions which were addictive with their savory buttery flavor.

 

Aaron got the skirt steak with rosemary roasted new potatoes and topped with garlic and local marrow butter. He loved it, but said that the previous season's menu that included a kim chee steak was his all time favorite dish. He was so disappointed that they had switched out this dish that he emailed the owner! However, they did not add it back to the menu yet. Here is  our public plee: BRING IT BACK!

I decided to go light and only get the special salad of the day with local greens and fresh tomatoes.

Just kidding! That would be crazy. I of course paired that salad with a big old lobster pot pie! One of my favorite comfort foods (second to mac and cheese) is chicken pot pie. I couldn't resist this perfect combination of two favorites: pot pie + LOBSTER!

I swear they had a whole lobster chopped up in this butter pastry! Look at that huge chunk of lobster claw. Ahhh, and this, ladies and gentlemen, is my heaven. 

We shared this black bottom creme brulee that was absolute love and perfection in the form of a silky rich pot of cream and sugar. The chocolate bottom added the perfect bitter-sweet addition needed to balance out the sweet custard.

We also shared the seasonal fruit crisp which was a pear crisp. It must not be Hawaii seasonal, because I know there are no pears in Oahu! The ice cream was an add on, but Kyle said it should be an automatic. It really balanced out the crisp by adding sweetness since the crisp itself was not too sweet. The pears were al dente, not too mushy or overly saturated with syrup.

Kyle and I had so much fun in Hawaii and look forward to returning soon...just not too soon since I need to work off the meals we ate for several more months. Ironically, I am watching Biggest Loser right now and the guilt is settling in!

Happy Eating,

Emi

Mele Kalikimaka Part 3 – Rainbow Drive In and Dave’s Ice Cream

Having never been to Rainbow Drive In before, Emi’s cousin, Karli took us there for lunch on one of our last days in Hawaii.

Look at the descriptions of all of those amazing Hawaiian favorites.

We definitely ordered enough food for probably six, even though there were only three of us. Emi ordered the side loco moco with the egg sunny side up. The gravy was the highlight of the dish. The patty was solid with onions mixed into it. Not the best loco moco I've had, but satisfying.

Probably my favorite dish was the pork long rice. I only wish they had served it with more sauce so that it could have soaked into the rice.

My half a fried chicken and French fries. Well cooked, juicy, but unfortunately surprisingly under salted and under seasoned. A little disappointed, but I’m happy I tried it. Next time I’m ordering the hot dogs with chili. I saw a local looking guy order it and it sounded like he ordered it every day and it looked delicious.

My Barq’s (only Barq’s and A&W are acceptable) root beer float with good “cheap” ice cream that turned icy for me.

After shopping at Ala Moana we worked up a hunger for some ice cream and found one in the basement of Sears. Emi and I love Dave’s. We wish Dave’s and Baldwin’s would open up a franchise in Seattle so that we could enjoy their delicious frozen treats more than once a year.

I ordered my two favorites; guava and lychee sorbet. I swear the guava has pulp in it and tastes like a frozen guava juice and the lychee sorbet has real lychee chunks in it.

Emi ordered the lychee sorbet and the coconut macadamia nut ice cream.

As you can see we packed in a lot of food during our short trip. Don't worry our trip through Hawaii isn't over yet. Next up are two posts related to family dinners with Emi's family.

- Kyle

Our Sumida Family Reunion and Xmas Feast

If there is ever a time in the future when I doubt if I am related to my family, I will think back to this magical day when my family was reunited and ate 'til we were stuffed like a Christmas goose. Maybe it was the fact that my father and his siblings grew up on our family watercress farm and were surrounded by boundless bunches of fresh island greens; maybe it was my Grandma Sumida who I hear was one of the best cooks; maybe it's just in our blood. Whatever the reason, all I know is that our family can eat, and love to do it, too. Our Christmas celebration was full of fun and reminiscing, along with endless platters of mouth-watering food.

This is a fresh Opakapaka that my Uncle Matt caught. My dad sliced it up so we could eat it sashimi (raw) style on a bed of our family watercress.

In recent years, my dad has become the Christmas Goose King. We used to eat roast beef or turkey; but when my dad decided to make goose one year, we were surprised to find how simple, delicious and...Christmas-like it tasted. It has been a staple ever since.

I wanted to make my new favorite recipe of pork belly and Brussels sprouts, but go figure, the whole island was sold out of Brussels sprouts. The local butcher also said that they do not typically sell pork belly so he had to make a special order for us. The pork belly made a yummy side dish by itself.

My Uncle Sunny spent the whole afternoon roasting this delectable prime rib in a Weber BBQ. The meat was juicy, tender and smokey; a really unique and tasty surprise to my taste buds and a great twist on a traditional Christmas classic.

My mom and I tag teamed on this watercress salad that was topped with candied pecans, pears, and Gorgonzola and tossed with a homemade lemon vinaigrette. For those of you who have never tasted watercress, it resembles arugula in flavor, but is so much better, especially if you are talking about Sumida Watercress.

My Uncle Dave made this tender shoyu (soy sauce) pork that was the perfect amount of salty and slightly sweet.

Uncle Dave also made those lovely ornament looking watercress pesto stuffed mushrooms (another fabulous way to use watercress!) and a Portuguese sausage tart.

My Auntie Barb made this savory cauliflower casserole that had a great crunch--I just recently got into cooking cauliflower, and will have to add this to my armamentarium.

Slicing up that Christmas goose...gobble gobble! Oops, that is a turkey sound.

This was one of our appetizers, but we also ended up having a second round as a night cap after we had rested for a bit and drank more wine. My dad brought fois gras, balsamic jelly and truffle oil from Seattle. He sauteed the fois gras and topped it on a toasted baguette with a bit of balsamic jelly and truffle oil. It was absolute heaven.

Uncle Dave photoshopped this image. The top photo was taken at Christmas in 1994 and is a family classic; we tried to recreate it, but my baby cousin Anna said she wouldn't sit on cousin Nicky's lap, and my cousin Marika wasn't feeling the "Elvira" like hug this time around. We all now live around the country: Marika in San Francisco for art school, Nicky working in Brooklyn, Matty working in LA, me in Seattle. Kelsey, a new-graduate nurse at Queen's Hospital, and Anna, who is finishing up her senior year of high school, are the only ones left in the islands.

It is rare to get the whole gang back together and I was so happy to spend this food filled evening with my Sumida family. My Auntie Charlotte, who lives in Paris, was missing from our reunion. However, we will reunite with her when we visit Paris next year!

Meanwhile, Kyle and my dad went into a food coma.

Hope you all had a wonderful holidays and a Happy New Year!

Happy Eating,

Emi

Mele Kalikimaka Part 2 – Eating through Waikiki

Emi’s parent’s Christmas present to us besides the airfare out to Hawaii included a two night stay at the Royal Hawaiian, which was great because we were located in the heart of Waikiki right off the beach. Since we were in the area we made sure to take advantage of the great food the area had to offer.

After a fun night out with Emi’s cousin’s we needed a hearty brunch to soak up some of the lingering alcohol. We met Emi’s family down at the restaurant. I ordered the kahlua pig hash with poached eggs.

Emi went with the French toast with a cognac poached banana.

After a big brunch, we decided on a late night dinner at Gyu-Kaku a yakiniku spot. Word of warning, you will get smoky, so come prepared.

We ordered everything from garlic kalbi, butterfish, wild mushrooms, chicken, and beef. It's always fun and a different experience to cook your food at your table. We went with Emi's cousin and her boyfriend so it was a fun communal experience.

For breakfast we picked up some pastries from a Japanese bakery, Panya.

I went with the peach custard pastry and a mini croissant. Emi tried the spam and egg pastry, along with an interesting garlic potato and chicken salad bun. Fun and different, Japanese yet Hawaiian influenced breakfast pastries.

After checking out from the hotel, Emi’s parents took all of us out to lunch at Ichiben in Aiea. Emi ordered the paitan (tonkotsu) charsiu ramen. Decent broth and solid ramen, but I’m happy I made the decision to try something new because nothing compares to Ippudo.

Emi’s aunt and uncle highly recommended the chicken katsu curry and it was amazing. I never really order curry, but happy I tried something new. The katsu was cooked perfectly and didn’t get too soggy underneath the curry. I really enjoyed dipping the crunchy katsu in the curry sauce with each bite and the rice soaked up everything perfectly in the end.

What trip to Hawaii isn’t complete without a stop at our favorite shave ice place, Baldwin’s. Aaron recommended the amazing mixture below, which Emi ordered and I’m definitely getting next time. I love root beer floats, used to drink at least one a night when I was in high school (probably why I was a lot chubbier). I don’t love just any root beer float, but an icy root beer float. I don’t want my ice cream to melt away, but I want it to turn into crunchy, sweet, root beery, icees. The key I’ve found from my extensive experience trying to create the perfect root beer float (yea, I know it’s not that difficult) is to use cheap ice cream or preferably soft serve, nothing premium. So back to this amazing concoction pictured above. The flavors were root beer, vanilla, with vanilla ice cream on the bottom, and topped with a “snowcap” (sweetened condensed milk). This tastes just like a root beer float with the creamy sweet condensed milk and vanilla ice cream, but what makes this the perfect combination is that of course it’s icy because it’s shaved ice. One of the highlights of the trip.

Mmmm mmmm good, love me some Baldwin’s. We ate it twice. If you haven’t been before, make sure to get out there. If you do, order two, eat one right away, and get the other to go. You can order them with caps and then stick them in the freezer. Then when you want it, thaw it out a little and enjoy, it’s about 90% as good as when you eat it right away.

- Kyle

Mele Kalikimaka - Family, Friends, and Good Food

Emi and I just flew back from spending our Christmas vacation with her family in Hawaii. We weren’t too keen to leave the warm, sunny, t-shirt and shorts weather of Hawaii for the reality of 40 degrees, grey skies, and the rain of Seattle, but at least we have our memories and especially our photos of everything we ate.

Some people come back with souvenirs from Hawaii, we brought back some Island cheer in the form of a few extra pounds. Basically it was an ideal trip; beach time, spending time with family and friends, relaxing, shopping, and most importantly all of the amazing food Hawaii has to offer. Just like previous visits to Hawaii we’ll need to split this trip up into multiple posts. Hope you enjoy some of what we have to share with all of you.

Our first night in Hawaii, we got in pretty late so Emi’s parents picked up food from Shiro’s for us. Shiro’s is famous for their saimin and I tried their yakisoba for the first time. We were exhausted after a day full of travel so the fully loaded yakisoba (Spam, charsiu, green onions, and eggs) really hit the spot.

Shiro's is famous for their saimin and what makes this soup special is the amazing broth. Highly recommended and a Sumida/Nomura family favorite.

We stayed the 2^nd and 3^rd nights of our trip at the historic Royal Hawaiian which has been hosting celebrities and the upper crust of Hawaiian tourists since the 1920s. We snuck in with a discounted rate since we were there for Emi’s cousin’s Christmas Eve wedding. Definitely a fancy spot and something the hotel is well known for is their pink theme. Everything is pink from the walls, to the towels, bathrobes, and they serve you pink lemonade when you arrive.

The Royal Hawaiian’s famous Mai Tai from the Mai Tai Bar at the Royal Hawaiian. This was really good, sweet, but not as sweet as your standard cheap Mai Tai mix.

The reason we made the trip out to Hawaii was for Emi’s cousin’s Christmas Eve wedding. The venue was amazing and we’ll probably never have another Christmas Eve dinner like the one we enjoyed.

Suckling pig carved up and served as pupus before dinner. The chef carved off pieces of meat for people to enjoy with steamed buns, hoisin and plum sauce.

Octopus/tako pupus

What Hawaiian buffet isn’t complete without some delicious poke?

This was my personal favorite of the desserts, it was made up of coconut tapioca pudding and topped with lychee and fresh mango strips.

The bride and groom’s Mario Brothers themed wedding cake.

Beautiful wedding with a beautiful couple, congratulations to Renan and Trisha, we wish you two the best of luck and many more years of good eating!

- Kyle and Emi

Eating my way through Chicago - Dinner at Gage

As I've mentioned many times in the past, one of the perks of my job is travel. What I really enjoy about travelling around the country is the opportunity to enjoy the amazing regional food that each area has to offer. Every city has a Cheesecake Factory or PF Changs, so why go to a chain restaurant, when I can try something new and unique that only that city has to offer?

A few weeks ago when I was in Chicago I was able to do just what I was looking for, which was to eat an amazing, regional meal.

I met Emi's friend Anna for dinner at a very cool spot she picked out called Gage. Gage had been recommended to Anna in the past and she thought this might be a great occasion to try it out for the first time. I love Chicago, but had never been in the winter before, so this was my first MidWest winter experience! The restaurant was only a few blocks from my hotel so I decided to walk instead of cabbing it....longest, coldest, windiest walk off of my life. At each intersection I was hit by a gust of bone chilling wind. I definitely thought, "this meal better be worth it", and it was.

I apologize in advance for the crappy photos. Ever since the "Gatorade incident" in Hawaii, we've had to use Emi's mom's old digital camera. It gets the job done, but doesn't really take the best photos. Also since this was a nicer establishment, I didn't really want my flash to startle all of the patrons. However this meal was too good not to document, so went with a more subtle approach, hence the dark, blurry photos... Good news though! This past Black Friday we bought our old, yet nicer camera again as a replacement, so the photos should improve in quality again.

The waiter let us know that Gage specializes in sustainable, local food. Sustainable is great and all, but honestly I just hear "more expensive" so it better taste good. I was happy to learn that the food was good, even great, and I knew I was getting a great regional Chicago food experience.

We started out with the duck fat nuts. Now the name itself intrigued me enough to want to try them and Anna heard they were good too. Basically they take a hotel size pan dump in a large assortment of nuts and cook them in duck fat with other seasonings, I tasted salt, rosemary, and cayenne. They served the nuts in a small Mason/Kerr jar, which was a cool presentation. They were salty, savory (from the fat), and a little spicy. They went great with our cocktails.

The second dish was definitely one of the highlights of the meal. The mussels in Vindaloo sauce with toast was amazing. The waiter recommended this dish because he said it was the best bang for your buck and he was right. Anna and I could have probably been satisfied and happily full after sharing these delicious mussels. They were cooked in white wine, garlic, and whatever else goes in a Vindaloo (curry like) sauce. It took us forever to get through them and the sauce was the star of the dish. We were probably full because we ended up dipping the whole loaf of bread on the side into the sauce.



Since this was a special occasion (Holidays, trip out to Chicago, hanging out with Anna, and I'll use any reason to celebrate with a good meal) we also splurged and each got the Gunthorp Farm's Pork Chop. Hands down the best pork chop I have ever eaten. The outside was nicely charred and seasoned so each bite was juicy, salty, and peppery. That first bite was into the crunchy seared crust and then into the juicy brined meat. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less knowing that the midwest is known for their meat. It was also about an inch thick and on the bone and I loved picking it clean. The pork chop was also served with a sweet potato mash, pomegranate salad, and this strange white like powder. The powder was a little too over the top for me. It melted in your mouth and tasted like smoke. The waiter said it was tapioca powder that had been flavored with smoke.

On the side we ordered the seasonal brussel sprouts, brie, and applewood bacon. As you may know Emi loves brussel sprouts so I knew I had to try this new variation to report back to her. The brie was a great creamy, sweet addition, but in the end I still like Tom Douglas's and now Emi's better.

Great dinner Anna! She was a trooper too and ate everything in front of her, very impressive! We were too stuffed for dessert, but what a memorable meal.

Happy New Year and to another great year of eating!

- Kyle