QUICK BITES
Taste of Honolulu set for June 20-22
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor
Mark your calendars for the annual days of decadence known as Taste of Honolulu, the restaurant tasting event that is a benefit for Easter Seals. The dates are June 20 to 22, again on the grounds of the Honolulu Civic Center. New this year will be Dave & Buster's, joining Bali-by-the-Sea, Brew Moon, Ciao Mein, the Colony, Canoes at the Ilikai, Down to Earth, Eastern Garden, Golden Dragon, Greek Corner, Kit 'n Kitchen, Marian's Catering, Musashi, Pipeline Café, Prince Court, the Pyramid, the Willows, Tony Roma's and Uncle Lanis' Poi Mochi and Catering. A wine tasting booth is again planned, along with activities for children at the Weinberg Family Center. Information: www.Taste808.com.
Of Fish Feasts and Bubble Buns
OK, let's be up front: St. Anthony Grade School in Wailuku, Maui, is my K-8 alma mater — "the guide of all our youthful quests," as the old song said. The school has produced a benefit cookbook, "St. Anthony Grade School Family Delites," an inexpensive little compendium of family-friendly recipes, many familiar but some new and intriguing — including loco moco quiche, a recipe for whole stuffed fish called a Fish Feast, a sweet tea made from raisins, a couple of techniques for making fried poi mochi, and a recipe for Fun Bubble Buns that's so bizarre it's got to be good (you spread refrigerated biscuits with mayo, roll them in a sugar-cinnamon-nut mix and bake). The book is $10 and will be on sale at St. Anthony's Fun Daze bazaar 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. March 15 on the school grounds in Wailuku. Or call (808) 244-4976 or e-mail office@SAGSMAUI.com.
Royal Hawaiian chefs offer classes
Frequently, the Taste section gets calls from folks looking for cooking classes to attend. Here's news of a few. The chefs at the Royal Hawaiian and Sheraton Waikiki hotels are hosting occasional On the Front Burner classes now through next fall. Each class features a different chef, a multi-course menu, cooking demonstrations, tastings and wine-matching and is limited to 40 people.
Executive sous chef Curtis Ogata hosts a Mother's Day menu class May 10. Executive sous chef Brooke Tadena hosts a light, healthy Summer Flavors of Hawai'i class July 12. And executive sous chef Alfred Cabacungan offers a course in Holiday Secret Recipes Sept. 27. All classes are 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the hotel. Price is $50 per class or $75 for two people. Registration and information: 931-8408.
Icewine, plate lunch and beer in snifters
A new Canadian Icewine Emporium has opened in Aloha Tower Marketplace. Icewine — which is made in Germany (where it's called eiswein), Canada and other northern climes — is a sweet dessert wine made from grapes that have frozen on the vine; freezing and defrosting dehydrates the fruit, concentrating the sugars. The shop is owned by icewine enthusiast Paul Kang and carries a variety of Canadian wines.
The Pagoda Hotel has a new plate-lunch menu offering five different choices of local-style favorites each weekday for $5-$6.25, with Hawaiian plates on Fridays at $6.25. Also, the hotel has designed a new Catering-To-Go menu with three pre-selected combinations, ranging from $12.95 to $17.95 per person for office gatherings, club meetings, family parties. (A variety of catering dishes also may be ordered á la carte.) Information: 948-8370.
Kona Brewing Co. on the Big Island released its Old Blowhole Barley Wine yesterday, brewed in August 2002 and maturing ever since. Barley wine is not a wine but a very strong, aged beer. It's a tawny brew with intense malt sweetness and a double-hop dry finish with 13 percent alcohol by volume, say the brewers.
That being the case, the brew will be served in snifters, meant for slow savoring.
Quick Bites is published Wednesdays. Food editor Wanda A. Adams welcomes food news. Write to her at The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Call 525-8036. Or e-mail: taste@honoluluadvertiser.com.
