QUICK BITES
Event celebrates all that's kim chee

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

If you're a kim chee lover on the Big Island this weekend, there's just one place to be: a Kim Chee Festival sponsored by the Big Island Korean Club, the Hawai'i Tourism Agency and the University of Hawai'i-Hilo, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Wailoa State Park, Pavilion No. 1. A step-by-step kim-chee-making demonstration is planned featuring five of the more than 185 different types of kim chee in existence. The members of the club really got into this one, holding a competition to see whose recipes would be used in the demo. It's free, and samples will be given out.

Poke recipes being accepted

Poke recipes from both professional and amateur chefs are being accepted for entry now in the 12th annual Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel Sam Choy Poke Festival Sept. 12 to 14 at the resort on the Big Island. The actual contest takes place on Sept. 14. Prizes are awarded in a variety of categories: traditional, cooked, with hot sauce, with ogo, with surimi, with hokkigai, with macadamia nuts, with soy sauce and with tofu. Entry fees are $25 per recipe for professionals, $15 for amateurs. Deadline is Aug. 20. To learn more: www.PokeContest.com, or call (808) 880-3424.

Sam Choy will give a Poke 101 demonstration at the festival ($10 admission) and an invitational golf tournament on Sept. 13 benefits Kawaihae Transitional Housing. (If you're reading this online in Las Vegas or San Francisco, there will be preliminary competitions in both those cities, sponsored by Aloha Shoyu; check the Web site for more info.)

Tiki's has new chef de cuisine

Troy Terorotua has been named chef de cuisine at Tiki's Bar & Grill at the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, working with executive chef Fred DeAngelo. Terorotua has been corporate chef for Sam Choy's Restaurants/Let's Eat Hawaii for the past five years and before that worked in Florida, as chef de cuisine at Darrel and Oliver's East City Grill and as assistant manager and executive chef at the Mai Kai Polynesian Restaurant, on which Tiki's is loosely modeled. Terorotua studied cooking, baking and pastry making at the Florida Culinary Institute.

Java Kai to open shop downtown

Java Kai Honolulu, a franchise featuring coffee from Java Kai Roasting, which deals in coffee blends using beans from O'ahu, the Big Island, Moloka'i and Kaua'i as well as growing areas elsewhere, will open Monday in Suite 119 of the Finance Factors Building at 1164 Bishop St. Java Kai Honolulu is the second franchise for Jeffrey Mills (whose first is in Hanalei, Kaua'i).

Food, wine events in July

Volunteers for the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific are gearing up for two culinary benefits: the sixth annual Joy of Food & Wine Gourmet Dinner at the Halekulani Hotel on July 18 and the Joy of Food and Wine tasting event at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel July 20.

The Gourmet Dinner will feature guest chefs Tim and Liza Goodell, owners of a quintet of respected Southern California restaurants and named "one of the country's most talented husband-and-wife teams" by Gourmet magazine. Tim Goodell is a former Food and Wine Top Ten New Chef and winner of a Rising Star Award from the James Beard Foundation. They have designed an eclectic menu that runs from caviar and champagne to hamachi and sake. Cost is $275 per person; the event is sold out but planners are accepting wait-list reservations in case of openings.

Tickets for the Joy of Food and Wine tasting, however, are still readily available at $60 in advance ($70 at the door); that admission price includes food by chef Daniel Delbrel, wine tasting and auction and admission to the cheese store. "Cheese lady" Karen Syrmos will be doing a wine and cheese pairing at the event. In addition, limited seating is available for a scotch tasting ($100, including admission) and a 1990s wine tasting ($250 half-pour; $500 full pour, including admission). Information on both events: 544-3385.

Quick Bites is published on Wednesdays. Send tidbits of food news to food editor Wanda A. Adams, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; 525-8069 or wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.