Quick Bites
Savory 'lollipops' fit for grownups

By Joan Namkoong
Advertiser Food Editor

Ask for a "lollipop" at dinner and you might get smoked salmon on a stick at Waialae Country Club, prepared by chef Tom Wong. Chef de cuisine Lance Kosaka at Alan Wong's restaurant will serve you a crisp won ton wrapper filled with seafood mousse, tied with a chive on a lollipop stick. Slide the morsel across the plate to pick up the savory sauce and plop it in your mouth. "Your hands never get dirty," said Kosaka. Lollipops have taken a flavor turn from sweet to savory, an idea that started in New York according to a couple of Island chefs. Foie gras and smoked salmon were the original fillings; who knows what else our creative chefs may come up with.

People in the business

• John M. Langan has been named general manager of Compadres Bar and Grill in Ward Centre. He has been the beverage manager and previously served as general manager of Compadres in the Lahaina Cannery on Maui.

• Maui chef Beverly Gannon appears on the Food Network's "Ready, Set, Cook" show on June 22 and July 3 as a member of the tasting panel. Chef Frederic van Coppemole of New York and chef Randy Lewis of Indigo Grill in New Orleans will compete in these cooking game show episodes. The show airs at noon weekdays on the Food Network, Oceanic Channel 28.

Quick Bites runs every Wednesday in the Advertiser Taste section. Food Editor Joan Namkoong welcomes tidbits of food news . Write to her c/o The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Call: 525-8069. Fax: 525-8055. E-mail: jnamkoong@honoluluadvertiser.com