As if to capitalize on the phenomenon that was Beard Papa, there are again limited-time-only cream puffs from Japan at Shirokiya.

These cream puffs are similarly exclusive, similarly textured and have a name almost as odd as Beard Papa:

Alice.

Last Wednesday, Alice Cream Puffs were made available for the first time in Hawai'i at Shirokiya Ala Moana, upstairs in that dizzying maze of squid crackers, seaweed tea and oddball beauty treatments. Alice will only be around through March 2, and there is a limit of two boxes per customer. One box contains three cream puffs. That box of three puffs will cost you $7.50. In comparison, Beard Papa was $7.25 for a box of five cream puffs, limit one box per customer.

Alice cream puffs are from Sapporo, an area known for rich and innovative food. Sapporo gave the world miso ramen, curry soup and of course the famous beer to wash it all down.

The Shirokiya ad reads:

"Enjoy this tasty combination of crispy puff shells filled with a special cream. Delicious plain, or be daring and try Alice Kinako Cream Puff or Alice Cream Puff with azuki (red beans)."

For a second there you thought you remembered Alice Kinako from high school time, yeah?

Be daring, indeed. Alice Kinako cream puffs are green. They have a taste like green tea ice cream. The azuki bean cream puff is like a cross between puff pastry and manju.

The regular Alice is your standard cream puff but with a very light shell and a whipped filling.

There is a bit of an artificial scarcity going on here, perhaps an attempt to entice customers with exclusivity. There are mounds of puff pastry available and no line to speak of, though one of the men behind the counter eagerly declared a line when a group of three people stopped to have a look.

But you can't blame them for trying. Part of the magic of Beard Papa was that you couldn't get very many of them and you couldn't get them for very long.

As for taste, Alice is a worthy rival to the bearded guy on the yellow box. Of course, Foodland bought the Beard Papa franchise and now you can scratch that itch in locations islandwide. But if you like the idea of "it won't be here long" and "this one comes in green" (so does Beard Papa), then go ask about Alice. If your idea of a cream puff is a heavy, sloppy mound of grease with a splat of pudding inside and a dome of gooey topping to hold it all down, Japanese-style cream puffs are too genteel for your taste.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.