QUICK BITES
Annual Kahala Mandarin buffet blends traditions

Advertiser Staff

The buffet costs $33 for adults, $16.50 for children 5 to 12. It's every Tuesday this month from 5.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Reservations: 739-8760.

Merriman's applauded in Gourmet magazine

Caroline Bates reviews Merriman's and Merriman's Market Cafe on the Big Island in Gourmet magazine's August issue, praising both food and owner Peter Merriman's commitment to working with Hawai'i farmers. ... The Westin Maui's OnO Bar & Grill is now doing "Hawaiian-style Tapas" — small dishes such as Thai chicken wings, beef kebabs, asparagus with kim-chee cream — and they've added "smart dining" choices moderate in calories, carbs and fat. ... The Pacific Beach Hotels' Shogun restaurant is celebrating obon season 5:30 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday with a summer festival and booths selling everything from yaki soba to mochi. Call 921-6113. Scrips available in advance at restaurant, $24 for 20.

Vacuum-packaging gets place among bottles

Vintage Wine Cellars in Makiki is the last place you'd expect to find a boxed wine, but there it is, Black Box premium Napa chardonay and Sonoma merlot in attractive three-liter boxes. In Europe and New Zealand, decent but affordable wines have long been sold in vacuum pouches tucked into boxes, but this is the first try by a U.S. firm to get past our plonk-in-a-box prejudices. Says Jay Kam of Vintage: "Normally, we don't sell boxed wines — there aren't too many out there that are really worth it. But this is. If the wine is good, I don't care what the package looks like." Suggested retail is $24.95 for the equivalent of four 750 ml bottles.