Hawaii Eats!

Posted on March 10, 2014May 17, 2016 by Josh

Everyone asks me all the time what to do in Hawaii.  I have over the years compiled many things but I thought I would post my list of must eat places.

Rainbow Drive-In – A Hawaii classic, plate lunch is one choice protein, two scoops rice and one scoop of macaroni salad.  Fries and green salad are also options.  They have great breakfast but they only make so much so go early.  Locals flock for the chili plate, mixed plate (boneless chicken cutlet, teri beef, and mahi filet), also don’t sleep on the slush floats and bbq burgers.

Mr. Ojisan – this hole in the wall in the Kapahulu neighborhood has really great japanese food.  It’s not fancy, but it’s very well prepared. I love the loco moco katsu (breaded hamburger patty deep fried on a scoop of rice floating in a bowl of japanese curry). http://www.mrojisan.com/

Gyukaku – this japanese grill your own “yakiniku” has an amazing happy hour with all plates around $2-5.  grilled meats and a huge pitcher of beer. http://www.gyu-kaku.com/

Ichiriki – this is DIVINE hot pot action.  order your soup preference, then your set of foods to cook in it (their homemade sausage is super good).  http://www.ichirikinabe.com/

Waiola Shave Ice – VERY IMPORTANT, make sure you go to the one on Waiola St. and not the one in Kapahulu.  The original one puts adequate syrup, the kapahulu one ALWAYS shorts you on the syrup.  I always get a snow cap (melted ice cream poured over your syrup).

Side Street Inn – this is the place all the chefs go to eat, because it’s food we all grew up with.  Smothered pork chops, kim chee fried rice and the chicken wings are all things you need to eat here.  Careful though, the drinks are strong!

Alan Wongs – This is the kind of pan-asian cuisine right now.  He’s won all kinds of awards, James Beard and all.  It’s a great meal, but it’s not cheap.

MW Restaurant – I had the pleasure of sitting at the counter recently of this James Beard nominated restaurant.  The chef is a high school classmate of mine and the meal is spectacular.  His fried chicken and kalbi (korean short-ribs) are spectacular.  he does a dry mochi (japanese rice cake) crusted fish that is beyond insane.  it’s high end food in a very casual setting. 

Highway In/Helenas – There are arguments over which one is better for traditional hawaiian food.  What cannot be argued is that these are the best spots for it.  Poi, Poke options galore, grilled short ribs (pulehu ribs). 

Choi’s Family Restaurant – This is fantastic Korean food run by a sometimes grumpy older korean woman.  Kalbi, Meat Juhn, and do not skip the spicy tofu salad.

I’m sure this list will grow, but this should be enough to keep you eating for a while.

Island Soul Caribbean Food

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Josh

Columbia City, it’s coming back in a big way.  We decided to try the local Caribbean joint with rave reviews to experience a taste of the islands.

Atmosphere:
Lots of action, noise, and a live musician on a Friday Night.  Frankly it felt like being at a shanty in Jamaica.  The live musician was great, even generated a sing-a-long for both a Neil Diamond and Bob Marley songs.  It’s a great vibe, but don’t try to go there for a quiet romantic night.  The energy is palpable in a great way and full of the island vibe, but it’s not quiet, and you will have to lean in to have a conversation and speak louder then a normal tone. Be forewarned there are not a lot of tables here, we sat on the bar (which I love to do), and there were two parties of 6 taking up almost half the restaurant.

Food:
The food was fantastic, it was an amalgamation of classic Caribbean cuisine with a lot of spices, habanero, curries, and tropical flavors. We started with the Tostones, which are twice fried plantains topped with pickled red onions, chopped garlic and tomatoes. It was a great plantain flavor with the brightness of the softened onions and pungent garlic.

We moved on to the Seafood fritters and Chicken wings. Fritters were delicious red snapper and came with a delicious sweet mango sauce and creamy sour cream dip. The wings came with a heavenly Habanero mango sauce with green onions and tomatoes. The Habanero sauce was super addicting for both it’s incredibly flavorful fruit as well as it’s potent spicy kick. When we finished the wings, we kept the Habanero sauce to dip everything else we ordered into it.

Our Entrees were the Curried Goat (a Caribbean tradition) and the Island BBQ ribs (slow cooked bbq spare ribs with a tangy pineapple bbq sauce). We ordered the Collared Greens and Mac and Cheese as our sides. The goat was fantastic, I love the flavor of it, super deep, rich and not quite as gamey as lamb, the curry was clearly home made, and many layers of flavor and spice. The ribs were equally as good, slow smoked and super tender, the BBQ sauce was sweet, and fruity and was great when I added a dab of the Habanero sauce. All of the sides at Island Soul are made vegetarian, so the greens were tender and had a touch of vinegar to them. The mac and cheese was definitely cheesy, I tend to like mine a little creamier, here it was clumps of cheese with the noodles in a manner that made them seem mixed after the fact, but it was still fairly good and the noodles were perfectly cooked.

Drink:
We had the home made ginger beer, a delicious sipping rum, dark rum ginger mojitos, and a home made fruit punch that was so thick I would call it a nectar. The drinks were delicious, the fruit punch was pretty thick and clearly home made and it was really a great compliment to anything spicy despite not being very sweet at all. The dark rum ginger mojitos were filled with a ton of mint and ginger and also delicious.

Summary:
In the end I would completely recommend this for anyone looking for Caribbean food in the greater Seattle area, the entire experience is a great time, and fun night out for a couple or a small group.

Until next time!

Copper Gate

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Josh

Let me start by saying, we are all about the small bar with artisan drinks.

If you’re a beer drinker they have good beer in bottles but you really shouldn’t be coming here if beer is your thing.

Our bartender was Kara and she was awesome. She let us taste every custom liquor they had which included some custom, we were new to Aquavit so we wanted to try the full spectrum and determine what kind of drinks we really liked.

The amount of herbal essences infused into the aquavit were astounding. The variety they have is equally amazing. They have created custom cocktails that taste like giant cucumbers and mountain dew and apple cider. They also employ creative cocktails with things like Turkish candy infused vodka, as well as Danish bitter Dram.

It’s really quite a great place. For food they have small plates of german food, I have personally tried:

The Pommes Frites – they’re delicious with the dill, and the curried ketchup was also good

The Steak Frites – the steak was good but the frites in this version are the matchstick variety and leave you wanting more.

The Chocolate Espresso Sorbet – frankly this was the best thing on the menu, just plain stellar, with the Hazelnuts and Sea Salt, it’s really something that you have to experience.

All in all, one of the better speakeasy type establishments in the city.

Deli Cut Subs

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Josh

It’s hard to find a good fast lunch spot in downtown Seattle.  Deli Cut Subs is an oasis in the desert of bad sandwiches in downtown.

First of all, the service is impeccable. We were offered a sample of banana bread, a sample of turkey bacon subs, and a free cup of soup just for trying them out.

Secondly, they server the 500ml size of Mexican coke, for $1!!!!! seriously? $1?  you can’t even buy the 12 pack at Costco of the 300ml bottles for a $1 each.

Thirdly, the turkey breast is roasted and covered in pesto, it tastes heavenly when combined with the salty, crispy bacon bits.

Fourthly, the bread is fantastic, the Focaccia loaf I had was both crispy on the outside and soft and incredibly chewy on the inside.

I have also had the privilege of trying his very excellent soups, the Curry Chicken, Chicken and Rice and Lamb and rice soup and they are all great!

And finally, when you combine server + price + tasty = a damn good lunch.  Now every one go there, but not ever between the hours of 11:00 am and Noon M-F so I don’t have to wait for my lunch!

Ma`ono Seattle (formerly Spring Hill)

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Josh

Saturday night, I took the Misses out to quite possibly the most controversial and hottest restaurants in the city, Ma`ono Seattle (a note to all non-Hawaiian language speakers, that is an okina, not an apostrophe.  On a USA keyboard the okina is the key directly to the left of the “1” key, above the “tab” key and below the “esc” key.  It is a glottal stop identifier and specific to the Hawaiian language).

Now, Ma`ono used to be Spring Hill, a VERY hot restaurant serving fried chicken once a week, burgers, and some high quality fine dining fare. One might think “Gee you have an incredibly successful restaurant, people know you all over town by name, why would you up and change so much about it for no apparent reason?”.  The answer near as I can tell is the same reason I eat Spam, and I find myself called to L&L drive-in on a monthly basis.  When you are born and raised in Hawaii, the islands call to you, our lives growing up are rooted in the food we eat, Aunty’s Nishime at New Years, plate lunch after the beach, beef and trip stew for breakfast, eating a giant bowl of saimin on an 88 degree day, uncles smoked pork, the ocean.  It all calls to us, our connection to our land, families and most importantly our food is something I can never explain to folks who aren’t from Hawaii.

Now onto the real reason you’re all here.  The food, and I want to start with one key point:

  1. I did not have the fried chicken, we did not make a reservation, we just showed up when they opened and there was a party of 10, two parties of 5, and two parties of 4 that I’m pretty sure took ALL the chickens in the joint.  That being said, the universe seems to all agree that it’s fantastic, it’s like trying to review water, everyone drinks it already so there’s no real point

The Atmosphere:

We sat at the bar, and truth be told, I LOVE sitting at the bar, it’s the best way to get an inside look at the restaurant, and given that I’m pretty much a a lifer in the food business, I like to see the action.  The bartender was training a bar back (on a way busy Saturday night, which in my opinion makes her nothing short of a STUD).  She was clearly busy, engaged us well when she had a chance. The restaurant was busy, but by all means not loud, there was a drone of conversation, and just enough “kitchen noise” to make me happy.  Conversations with my lady were easy and not taxed at all.

The Food:

Let me start by saying they make everything in house, juices for drinks, limoncello, sauces, kim chee.  That is admirable because it is on occasion more expensive to “make your own”.  What we ordered:

  • House Made Kim Chee
  • Spring Hill Burger
  • Bone Marrow
  • Kalbi (korean short ribs)
  • Manapua (chinese steamed bbq pork buns)
  • Beet Salad

Everything was really quite delicious, the Kalbi and Kim Chee really stood out, as in I really could’ve ordered two of both. The Manapua was also quite delicious, the bun was airy light, and as always I wished there was more bbq pork (this is the way I feel about all dim sum, and doesn’t take away from the tasty-ness level).  The Bone Marrow was a little bit much because of the dried shrimp XO sauce on the top.  I would’ve liked it more with some kind of sweet shoyu (soy sauce) glaze or a negi (green onion) reduction, that being said I’m pretty much nit-picking and given the rest of the menu, the Bone Marrow is an after thought for me (it doesn’t really go with Kim Chee and Kalbi for my palate).  The highly touted Spring Hill burger was delicious, came with bacon and great amount of cheese, I am going to dock for not cooking my fries enough, but in all honesty I was so full it didn’t matter, I literally took 2 bites of the burger and then packed it to go.  Again this is just me nit-picking.

This was a great dining experience, full of delicious food and cocktails, a connection back home for myself (which to me will ALWAYS make me feel better about a meal).

I will be returning this coming Saturday night, and I have already reserved my chickens.

 

I give Ma`Ono a rating of 4.5 X’s out of 5. I will be back.

Coterie Room

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Josh

“Gastropub”…

I hate that word. Hate is a strong word, but I’m using it. It’s an appropriate reflection of my feelings towards the current trend of the “Gastropub”.

That being said, these darn things seemed to be everywhere and I’m always game to try something new, so I’ll give it a go.

This is all about the Coterie Room.  It resides in the old Restaurant Zoe space, which is nicely decorated with a giant “Living Wall”.  Working at an Interior Design firm I’m all over this “detail” lingo.

The atmosphere is nice, staff was friendly (in fact my waitress used to be the admin girl at a salon I frequented quite a bit).  Jessica made some great menu recommendations, talking up the Poutine, and the Wagyu Beef and the Fried Chicken.  Once we got there I promptly ordered the “Six Pack for the Crew”.  As a former restaurant employee I know how hard it is to run a line, or wait tables, and I try to honor that every time I go out.  We also had a lovely Cardamom Bitters and 7 up cocktail along with the Seelbach, which were both VERY nice.

Based on a previous review by the Surly Gourmand (@surlygourmand), we tried a mix of things each one I will review now:

Ham Crackling: frankly the best part of the meal for me.  They were salty, crisp, and delicious.  However, they were served with a truffled fondue, which frankly was just ridiculous.  If you’re serving that fine of a cracklin, why would you want to overpower it with a rich, thick, funky cheese fondue, and then why would add truffles to it?  If you were going to do that you should’ve just served me a shoe, because with the exception of the list crisp texture, you couldn’t tell the cracklin from the sauce.

Marinated Beets: I have grown to love Beets over the years, a welcome to the Beet Cult as my uncle put it so many years ago.  The salad was nice, good cream and texture contrast from the cottage cheese (which was not what you’d expect cottage cheese to be, so kudos to Cowgirl Creamery in SF). However I don’t like Pistachios as an accompaniment to salad, Pistachios tend to straddle the line between soft and crunchy, and when you’re serving cottage cheese and beets, I think what you want is a nice crunch, not something with a soft exterior layer, and a rock hard center.

Endive Salad: tart, tart, tart, tart, tart, tart, tart… It lacked balance… that is all.

Poutine: this was their take on Poutine, the roasted pork was not as deep in flavor as I would’ve liked (I would think a good carnitas would do wonders on this dish).  However there was a great salty/creamy balance with the cheese curds.  The herbs were lost in the gravy, it was good but not enough oomph in flavor for the preperation.

Painted Hills Beef Burger: Once again our friend the truffle has made another appearance here.  If you asked my GF it was heavenly, if you ask me, WAY too much truffle.  However it was served with a Sweet Fennel Aioli that when combined with the richness of the beef, cheese and truffle was really a PERFECT match.  It went together very, very well.  I will say as we split the burger, I think eating a whole one would’ve killed me.  Ever hear of heart disease?

Cheese Platter: their current menu seems to have changed this slightly, we got 3 cheeses (1 raw cow, 1 sheep, and 1 blee) along with some Sumac spiced almonds, apricot gelee, and granny smith apples.  Once again the GF thought this was the belle of the ball.  I’m not a fan of bleu cheese, so I skipped it, however the apricot gelee and the sheep’s milk cheese went very nicely together, and the ash rind raw cow i was told was a match made in heaven with the apples. We both agreed the Sumac almonds were eh at best.

Overall it was an above average meal with good service and company.  I do agree with many people when the bill came there was some sticker shock ($122 including tax and tip).  Frankly for that much money I would’ve liked to have gotten a little  more out of my meal.

I give Coterie Room 3 X’s out of 5. I’ll go back anytime someone else is paying.

Quick and Dirty Eats, Bay Area Edition

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Josh

The Tea Room Cafe – Petaluma, CA:
A great little neighborhood cafe for breakfast. Get there early and a load of deliciousness awaits you!

The Stinking Rose – San Francisco, CA:
This is an all garlic restaurant, and they do mean all garlic. We had horrible service, the food was certainly better than average, but nothing to write home about. It was a tad pricey and combined with bad service and non stellar food it’s really only worth the novelty.

Ozumo – San Francisco, CA:
The fish is indeed of very high quality, the food here overall was pretty darn good. The only knock is “You want me to pay HOW MUCH for that?”.

Lark Creek Steak – San Francisco, CA:
A traditional steak house, aged, broiled meat cooked perfectly. It’s not cheap but it’s very high quality meat and the service is superb. Shocking for a restaurant in a shopping mall.

It’s Tops – San Francisco, CA:
Tiny hole in the wall 50’s style fountain. AWESOME greasy spoon burgers.

Fujiyama-ya – San Francisco, CA:
It’s cheap japanese food. Very homey feel, with reasonable fish (stick to the maguro). The Beef Amiyaki is pretty fantastic and comes on a sizzling platter.

Sushi Bistro – San Francisco, CA:
The home of exotic sushi rolls. It’s not really my cup of tea, but the Ahi Poke salad is FANTASTIC!

Bouchon – Yountville, CA:
It’s french, it’s Thomas Keller, and it’s the best green beans on planet earth.

Chez Soul – Fairfield, CA:
They call is Louisiana fare, and the fried chicken is pretty good, the hush puppies are off the hook delicious and the red beans and rice is pretty good too.

Evelyn’s Big Italian/Parry’s Market – Fairfield/American Canyon, CA:
Owned by the same family these guys offer some of the best pizza in the bay area. NY style and 100% delicious.

Toyose – San Francisco, CA:
This place is called “Chicken Garage” because it is quite literally the garage at someone’s old house that is now a restaurant. They serve korean favorites (kim chee fried rice and spam noodles). Also they have a wicked good selection of flavored Soju that is an awesomely good time.

Tani’s Kitchen – Daly City, CA:
A quite literal hole in the wall, three tables and 5 counter seats. Delicious home style japanese food, may I recommend the Curry or the Donburi.

Ongpin – San Bruno, CA:
Awesome Philippino food, the adobo is off the hook and on the weekends they do whole roasted pig “lechon”. They slice it by the pound and it is awesome.

Food Trucks in Seattle

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Josh

El Camion – two locations one on 1st ave in the SODO and one in the parking lot of the Bitterlake Home Depot. Mexican food, it’s authentic, good, I highly recommend the carnitas, particularly in the Mulitas form. They also have delicious Cabeza. There is now a Ballard and SODO location.

Palador de Cuba – 90th and Aurora. Cuban food, the traditional ham, cheese, pickle sandwich is straight from the streets of Havana. But the prize is the Pan Con Lechon sandwich, tender slow roasted shredded cuban pork with grilled onions. The also have fried plantains with an avocado sauce that is to DIE for (seriously, order an extra side for your sandwich). They also carry Cuban soft drinks, Ironbeer is a herbal cola that puts Coke to shame. Unfortunately, they closed… So Sad

Marination Mobile – they travel all over, I recommend going to their website to find the locations. I highly recommend the Aloha Sliders, Kalua pig with coleslaw on a perfectly toasted bun. The kimchee fried rice is a little too kim chee and not enough rice for me, frankly mine is superior. The tacos are awesome.

Where Ya At Matt – He travels all over and unlike Marination can often be found at more than one location per day.  He serves traditional southern/cajun/creole fare.  The Creole Pork, Gumbo, Smothered Chicken are excellent.  He regularly has specials and has many more offerings than appear on the website.  This is a great sandwich waiting to happen, and make sure you get extra napkins.

Maximus/Minimus – The unmistakable giant metal pig makes this truck a destination.  The pulled pork is slightly better than average, although is lacks a good amount of smoke and some of the bark tends to be on the harder side.  Their ginger lemonade is delicious.  Also for $6 you don’t get much sandwich.  A good try but definitely not a go to.

Skillet – this is a very popular food truck that also has a location on Capitol Hill. They are known for their burgers and sweet potato fries and mostly for the bacon jam they put on the burgers.

Gourmet Japon Dog – This is a great little hot dog stand.  They have a place on 3rd as well as the one in Pike market.  the Sukiyaki beef covered hot dog is good, as is the Wakame seaweed salad dog.  It’s a great place to try.

More later, Happy Eating!