Roy's will celebrate its 15th anniversary | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Roy's will celebrate its 15th anniversary | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Wednesday, February 4, 2004

QUICK BITES
Roy's will celebrate its 15th anniversary

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

YAMAGUCHI

Call yourself a foodie? There's only one place to be Feb. 22: Chef Roy Yamaguchi's 15th anniversary celebration of his restaurant empire at the flagship Roy's Restaurant in Hawai'i Kai, a benefit dinner that will bring famed chefs and winemakers from around the world to Honolulu. Here's who's coming: Nobu Matsuhisa of Matsuhisa/Nobu's (Beverly Hills and New York), Alessandro Stratta of Renoir (Las Vegas), Lee Hefter of Spago (Beverly Hills), Ron Siegel of Masa's (San Francisco), Rafih Benjellou of Imperial Fez (Atlanta), Floyd Cardoz of Tabla (New York), Richard Sandoval of Maya/Tamayo (New York and Colorado), Yuji Wakuda of Turandot (Tokyo), Rick Tramanto of Tru (Chicago) and TV show host Stephen Pyles.

Honolulu buddies Alan Wong and Hiroshi Fukui will be on hand along with Roy's Mainland chef partners (there are 32 Roy's Restaurants now). Winemakers include Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat, Patrick Campbell of Laurel Glen, Van Williamson of Edmeades, Dan Philips of The Grateful Palate, Hano Zilliken of Zilliken, Frtiz Hasselbach of Gunderloch and Jan Eymael of Pfeffingen.

Reservations are being taken now for 40 corporate tables of 10 ($5,000) and 400 individual "grazing" tickets ($100 each). The event benefits the Tom and Warren Matsuda Culinary Scholarship Fund. Information: www.roysrestaurant.com. Reservations: 396-7697.

Ready-to-eat rice dishes in a pouch

The length of time people are willing to spend cooking has shrunk again. Now it's 90 seconds. That's the microwave cooking time suggested for two new lines of ready-to-eat rice dishes. Uncle Ben's "Ready Rice" is available in both plain (long grain and whole grain) and flavored (roasted chicken, long grain and wild and Spanish-style) varieties. Patak's, the best-known brand of Indian ingredients in America, has released Pouched Rice that includes plain, yellow, coconut-flavored, garlic and cilantro flavors, all with long-grain basmati rice.

Both are cleverly packaged in stand-up pouches which need only be snipped before they're slipped into the microwave. Ninety seconds later, you just turn the contents out onto the plate. You get one or two servings. We tried several flavors and found them acceptable although criminally high in sodium (400 to 1,200 milligrams per 8.8-ounce pouch). Also expensive, at about $1.75 a package. And a little scary: It would be pretty easy to puncture a bag and not know it, allowing spoilage or contamination.

My rice cooker has nothing to fear.

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