CHEF SAMBRANO

MAUI- Cookies From Maui "Broke Da Mouth"

2012-02-24T13:17:00.000-08:00

If you want something true to Maui, and its food, or make that cookies, then look no further, you have to check out Chef Loyd Yokoyama's Broke Da Mouth Cookies 190 Alamaha St. #B, Kahului, HI Phone: 808-873-9255.

Open from 6am to 7pm on weekdays, Saturdays 7am to 5 pm, closed Sundays.

Bags of cookies about 3.00, includes Chocolate Mac Nut, Oatmeal Raisin, Almond, Shortbread, Peanut Butter and Coconut Crunch. Buy some for your friends back home on the mainland or anywhere around the world. Chef Loyd has been baking for a lot of years, he also makes other pastries and cakes too.

MAUI- Visitors With Hypertension and Eating Out

2012-02-23T19:45:00.000-08:00

You are coming to Maui, and you have a diet issue, you have hypertension, a.k.a. high blood pressure, you have your meds, but you do need to eat healthy, you aren't a vegan or vegetarian, but you just need some lean meats, and definitely low sodium foods.

Here is some tips, you do have a brain don't you? Uh huh... And a mouth too right? Uh huh, I thought so. Seek and you shall find, ask and you shall receive. When you go to eat at any restaurant and I'm not talking about fast food joints, but a place where the chef or cooks makes your food to order well simply ask the person waiting on you to have the cooks use less salt, or to not put salt on your meal period.

Some places here do offer healthy styles on their menus, or they will comply with certain requests especially if you the customer has a health issue, kitchen staff always want to help their customers, if not that's business lost.

Don't be embarrassed by asking "Excuse me can you not put salt or soy sauce on the chicken?" Now understand certain meals are pre-soaked with salty brine or a marinade, so that may be impossible to omit salt out of it, however, on grilled items, or sauteed, or stir fries, a cook can catch his hand from adding salt to the cooking vessel in time.

So have a nice pleasurable time on Maui while you are here, and don't be afraid to ask for less or no salt because you are dealing with hypertension. When my mother was alive, she suffered from hypertension, and depending on the restaurant we went to, they usually complied to our request of mom not having salt on her mahi mahi. And of course an extra tip will show them you appreciate what they did for you. Or if you want to get their attention, flash them the cash first, and you'll get what you want for sure. Sorry I been in the restaurant business, and working for tips well it just helps that customers treat the wait staff well too. Now on the other hand if they are down right uncooperative then it's a different story, if they treat you bad, don't tip them.

Good Luck

Ron

Oahu Chinese Restaurants the Yay or Nay

2012-02-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

According to Foodie Melissa Chang @melissa808 on Twitter, check her out she's always got some interesting foodie info and real estate info too.

So this is what she says, "Yay for Royal Garden." And "Nay for Tai Pan (waitresses are super duper sassy!)"

"YAY"
Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant
410 Atkinson Dr.
Honolulu, Hi 96814
808-942-7788

Waiter service, great for lunch, kid friendly.

So trust Melissa, "Yay for Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant."

Photo; Fried taro, fried eggs, fried seaweed and shrimp.

Maui- Hypertension Recipe; Low Sodium Kalbi Ribs

2012-02-22T11:10:00.000-08:00

Hypertension a.k.a. High Blood Pressure is a deadly killer, keeping yourself on a low sodium diet maybe difficult, but you can start slowly, here is a simple low sodium marinade for Kalbi Ribs.

For about 3 lbs.

2 1/2 cups of water
1 1/2 cup of soy sauce
3/4 cup of raw brown sugar
1 tbsp. minced ginger
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. minced green onions
1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
5 tbsp. sesame oil
* If you want it sweeter add more sugar, but the watered down soy sauce helps reduce the sodium content.

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl real well, then add in your ribs and let soak over night for a good penetrating.
2 Heat up your grill to medium high, and grill to your liking.

Note: To help keep your BP down, do not add any more salt to the meal, instead if you need some bite, I'd suggest some drizzle of some vinegar.
3. Eat brown rice instead of white rice.
4. Eat a green salad with a vinaigrette dressing; instead of a rich macaroni salad.

MAUI- Low Sodium Teriyaki Salmon

2012-02-21T11:19:00.000-08:00

High blood pressure is a killer, if your pressure reads over 140 over 90; that's pretty high. A low sodium diet make sense.

Here is a very simple Grilled Salmon Teriyaki Glaze recipe

2 Salmon steaks about 6 - 7 oz each, sprinkle white pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder on both sides.

4 tbsp. of olive oil divided into 2 tbsp. each, pour it over the steaks let sit.

Heat up your grill to medium high

Teriyaki Glaze
In a mixing bowl add:
1 cup of low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp. minced ginger
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. minced scallions (green onions)
4 tbsp. brown sugar

Thickening agent
1 tbsp. cornstarch
3 tbsp. water

In a small sauce pan over medium high heat, add in the glaze ingredients, bring to a good simmer, cook for about 4-5 minutes. Add in the cornstarch and water to thicken, cook it a few minutes until it gets thick, it should have a nice shine to it. Set aside, with a basting brush near by.

Grill the salmon, not too long, about 4 minutes per side. Remove and plate, serve with veggies and little starch. Brush teriyaki glaze over it. Squeeze a lemon or lime.

Happy Grines
Ron

MAUI- Noodles Of All Kinds

2012-02-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

More info for our visitors to Hawaii, on what locals love. Well believe it or not, we does love us some noodles, I mean you name it, we love it. From Italian pasta noodles in a creamy seafood pasta, or marinara. Maybe it's the Japanese Udon noodles, and Soba. Or it could be the Filipino pansit noodles, and of course Vietnamese and Thai rice noodles, and the Chinese chow mein or lo mein.

If it is cold, the locals will go for a nice hot Vietnamese beef pho with noodles, or a Filipino sawbaw with rice noodles, or Japanese ramen or saimin noodle soups, maybe with some dumplings (won tons) in there for some filling up.

So when you do come to Maui where can you get some good noodle dishes?

Okay I'm not getting paid by these digs but go check them out.

Sam Sato's in Wailuku- a mom and pop that serves up good dried noodles.

Star Noodle- in Lahaina, a creative noodle dig, ver innovative dishes and they make their own noodles.

Bale (Ba lay)- Vietnamese located in the Lahaina Cannery Mall, The Maui Market Place in Kahului, and in Kihei in the Piilani Shopping Village.

Aloha Mixed Plate- Lahaina for their chow fun.

Da Kitchen- for chow fun.

Paradise Market- in Kahului for some pansit.

Penne Pasta- Italian style in Lahaina

Marcos- Italian style a mile from Kahului Airport

These are just a few good places for noodles

So we locals do love noodles, so if you are wondering what we love to eat, noodles is it, we do crave it lots of times. It's very common for a local cook to have lots of noodles in the cupboard, from dried ramen, to fresh pastas in the fridge, we love noodles period.

MAUI It's All About Taste and a Good Size Portion

2012-02-18T14:40:00.000-08:00

The axiom here on Maui or the islands of Hawaii when it comes to a plate lunch is that no matter what entree you order, it better be of high quality, very tasty, and the cooks better not skimp on the hungry eater period!

"The worst thing is going to a restaurant an order a beef stew plate, and when you get it, there's two pieces of beef cubes, with tons of carrots, potatoes, and hardly any gravy, and the rice is small like they used a melon scoop to scoop the rice, and the macaroni salad is dry with hardly any mayonnaise."

So locals are very hard pressed for flavor and a good portion on their plates, I can remember on several occasions going to some small dig and ordering a BBQ Pork plate, only to find out the lady has the pork in the fridge, and all she does is nuke it in the microwave, and then pour some cheap ass BBQ sauce over it, hands me the plate and says, "Enjoy yeah?" It's like "Fuck this shit!"

So remember, if you get a lesser quality plate lunch, with little in it, you're good to complain, of course you can, you are a consumer, and a consumer has all the rights in the world to voice their complaint to the powers that be. After all you are doing business, there is a transaction taking place.

This is a nice picture of a Kalbi Ribs plate, nicely done. Kalbi ( Cal- Bee) is a Korean style flavored grilled beef short rib, it is sweet, with hints of salt, garlic, ginger scallions, and sesame oil and toasted sesames. This dish is so good when done right, I had met a chef from New York and he wanted to know how we made this, and when I told him the ingredients, and the simplicity of it, he was actually blown away, he told me that he'd like to add this to his menu back in New York.
Photo from Google. Com

MAUI Chinese Food

2012-02-16T21:00:00.000-08:00

Chinese food is part of the local plates we love, but don't expect Hong Kong or San Francisco caliber Chinese food on Maui, it is a watered down Chinese experience. The well traveled foodie will be disappointed of the choices we have here on Maui, but it is what it is. Most of the digs here are not bad.

I'm not getting paid to promote any diner, but if you aren't a well traveled foodie, and you don't mind local flavored Chinese, Dragon Dragon located in the Maui Mall in Kahului, Maui Hawaii is pretty good.

China Boat located in Kahana Maui, has been around a long time, they are located about 10 minutes north of Lahaina on Lower Honoapiilani Hwy.

China Bowl is another option, they are off of Highway 30 in Kaanapali, good quick food, again this ain't the Hong Kong foodie's place to get Chinese okay?

Fu Lin located on Front Street and Kapunakea St. in Lahaina, across from Safeway near the ocean.

Dishes you should try, if you do visit a Chinese dig, of course Roast Duck, Dim Sum, Sweet and Sour Shrimp, Kung Pao Chicken or Beef. Lo Mein noodles, or wet Chow Mein.

Stir fried Chow Fun noodles, some are made with rice flour, some wheat flour, or a combination of both. Chinese food is very popular here. Beef Broccoli and Orange Chicken isn't the only thing you should eat from a Chinese dig.

In fact the last time me and a friend ate at Fu Lin, we had the roast duck and it was really good, we didn't need the soy sauce or other condiment the waiter said he could get for us. It was somewhat sweet with the right amount of herbs, whatever the chef did, it was really good, the duck and some hot sticky white rice did the job for us.

Maui- Dim Sum Are a Part of Local Foods

2012-02-16T20:44:00.000-08:00

If you are wondering what kinds of foods Hawaii people eat, the Chinese cuisine is a hot item. The Cantonese Dim Sum is a hot item for sure. Maui lacks good Dim Sum, but in Honolulu on the island of Oahu one can find Dim Sum for the Chinese connection is stronger there.

If you are not familiar with the Chinese Dim Sum, it is dumplings made from all purpose flour, or from wheat starch and tapioca starch. The all purpose flour dough is a lot stronger which makes it ideal for steaming and deep frying. The latter is more translucent when it is steamed making it more of a fragile dough, but the texture is amazing, it also has a shine to it for a nice presentation.

Dim Sum comes in a myriad of shapes, and the fillings are a wide range of flavors, from sweet and sour, to salty, to bitter, and everything in between. Sauces are made from soy sauce, chiles, garlic, scallions, and just about anything you want.

In reality Dim Sum in Chinese restaurants are a family affair, where families will gather on days off to experience the delectable morsels. Carts are wheeled to tables where a variety of flavorful dumplings are at the ready for the diner to sample.

The simplest and most common type of dumpling most Americans have sampled is the won ton, the all purpose flour wrapper with a filling that comprises of mostly ground pork with shrimp and some Asian herbs and spices, and is generally deep fried to a crisp.

On Maui there is a lack of Dim Sum, but some local digs may have a few to sample, but this is just for your information, Hawaii people love Dim Sum and has adopted it as a part of our local plates.

2012-02-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

Maui- Plate Lunch Peeps

2012-02-10T14:59:00.000-08:00

What do I look for in a good Lau Lau? First of all, it has to be tasty, not too salty. The meat, I love beef brisket with some fat on it, and if chef puts in pork, the meat needs to have some fat on there as well... I know I know, not good those sat fats right? But if you like fine wine, well you get the picture, a fine Lau Lau has some juicy thing going on in that wrapped concoction, and no it doesn't need to be wrapped in Luau or Taro leaves, if the chef uses any other tough green leafy, that's fine with me, no worries.

Okay a piece of Cod or Butter Fish will add to it, there's nothing like the three flavors coming together as it is steaming down to a mouth watering in your mouth experience eh? Imagine, nearly 12 ounces of food, and all that is usually used for seasons is Hawaiian sea salt, yup daz all.

So a huge ass Lau Lau with rice and macaroni salad, it is the best, and the thing to remember about Lau Lau, is that you can buy it, and then freeze it for later consumption. All you do is reheat it in the pot of boiling water or steamer, or use the microwave oven.

Lau Lau is the ti leaf wrapped item top right side of the plate, below that a square of Haupia, next to Haupia is Kalua Pork, white rice. The small ramekins to the left of the platter is to left, Poi, Poke, and Lomi Salmon.

Maui- L&L Drive Inn Plate Lunches That Can't go Wrong!

2012-02-10T14:39:00.000-08:00

So you are coming to Maui, and you want a very decent plate lunch, you're new to the scene, and you want to sample something that's not expensive, well I do suggest that you go to any of the L&L Drive Inn locations on Maui. On the west side, there's an L&L in Honokowai north of Kaanapali, and one in Lahaina in the Lahaina Cannery Mall. In Kahului, there's one in the Sack N Save strip mall, one in the Maui Market Place food court, in Kihei in the Piilani Shopping Village.

Now what I like about L&L is that it is your typical no nonsense plate lunch dig, the food is definitely edible, I love that place for its simplicity. My favorite is the Hamburger Steak Plates, okay they probably use some ready made stuff but it's quick. Their BBQ chicken is good too, that I know they make theirs, and the Hawaiian Plates aren't bad too, with the Lau Lau. The Kalbi Ribs are good, the curries are okay. It is what Mc Donald's is to burgers, L&L is to the plate lunch. It's good, you get what you pay for, seriously there's some places that will make L&L look silly on the high end quality side, but you can't go wrong feeding your face here. Not all the stuff is ready made k? You got to be realistic in business, and now days you can't hire a guy and just have him make all your stuff from scratch.

Also L&L has some restaurants with a Chop Sticks Express next to it where you can get Chinese food that is ready to be served, Chow Mein, BBQ Pork, Beef Broccoli, and other Chinese faves.

L&Ls Hawaiian Plate

MAUI- Kung Pao Chicken

2012-02-10T14:19:00.000-08:00

Spicy Kung Pao Chicken is another part of our local plate lunch culture. Chinese food is totally part of the Hawaiian plate scene. Arrived from China, it is a dish famous for its hot chiles, and it is a classic Sichuan dish. According to sources, it is labeled "fast fried chicken cubes" (hong bao ji ding) or "chicken cubes with seared chile" (hu la ji ding).

If you've never had Sichuan style food, it is done on the spicy, chefs utilize lots of chiles, garlic, ginger, and vegetables, some chefs doing some minor variations but it is rooted in the same type of sauce. With white sticky rice, it is a perfect combination as the spicy Kung Pao is balanced by the blandness of the rice. In some plate lunch restaurants that aren't labeled "Chinese Restaurant" but they'll serve other ethnic meals, you'll find a side of either macaroni salad which is rich, or possibly a tossed green salad with a house dressing, which more than likely will be a ready made salad dressing. Chinese food is really popular in the islands, quite frankly Maui has a limited range of good spicy Chinese, but if you travel to Oahu, there's more to choose from there. So if you are wondering constantly what consists of local foods, Kung Pao Chicken or Beef is something we do like to delve in. The best way to find this dish is to ask the local people where you are staying if there is any good Sichuan style around the area.

Happy Grines
Ron

MAUI- Local Faves Chicken Curry Katsu

2012-02-05T01:06:00.000-08:00

When visiting the islands, and wanting to eat what we locals love to eat, one local plate we love is called a Chicken Curry Katsu with 2 scoops of white rice, and a scoop of macaroni salad. It is also called Katsu Curry. The spices for the curry is the usual spices found in Malay and Thai curries, or Indian curries, so it is kind of on the spicy, but most local chefs keep it mild. What this is is really a chicken katsu with a curry sauce or gravy over it.

Some curries have veggies in it, some places will serve it without veggies. When in the islands, look for Chicken Curry Katsu, or Katsu Curry. Locals love to eat savory dishes with gravy or sauces, and plate lunches are really comfort foods, the influences of this dish is Japanese because of the katsu and white rice, Italian for the macaroni salad, with French for the mayonnaise in the macaroni salad, and Southeast Asian with the curry sauce that tops it. So local foods are really world influenced foods.

Photo from: www.gourmettraveller.files.wordpress.com

MAUI Chinese Food is Local Foods Too

2012-02-05T00:37:00.000-08:00

Find a local dig that sells Chinese food, or a Chinese restaurant in the islands, and one favorite dish is Kau Yuk. It is really a Chinese style pork pot roast, generally belly pork or the pork butts are used, it is steamed or boiled in salted water to soften, then cut into chunks, and marinated in thick soy sauce with garlic and ginger. And then it is sauteed in oil, and then a red bean curd sauce is made, with brown sugar, white sugar, sherry, soy sauce again, and star anise or Chinese five spice. The aroma is very inviting, it is very simple, and it is a rich dish because of the fat content involved. If one is eating Kau Yuk, and diet is important, stay away from white rice which comes with it and the macaroni salad.

Kau Yuk in other restaurants may have cooked vegetables along with the pork pieces, it depends, and some chefs may make their Kau Yuk more on the dark brown side instead of the reddish side that is most common. So if you are looking for what locals here in the islands love to eat, look for Kau Yuk, it is a Chinese dish that locals adopted.

Apologies, at this time I haven't cooked a plate of Kau Yuk for a picture taking, and I can't get the rights to rip one off the the websites. Look it up though and you'll find it. Go to www.sinnersfoodgallery.blogspot.com and type in Kau Yuk, you'll see an awesome picture.

MAUI- Filipino Food A Part of Local Plates Hog Blood :)

2012-02-02T01:53:00.000-08:00

Photo: wikipedia

The Filipino people brought with them their style of cooking, and over many years, their cuisine is gaining popularity with people from around the world. One of the most popular of dishes at parties, and at local Filipino digs is a dish made with hog's blood, hog's liver, belly pork, garlic, oil, bay leaf, chives, vinegar, salt, it is called Dinuguan (dee noo goo ahn) and if you closed your eyes, you wouldn't think that you were eating cooked hog's blood. But the blood adds this unique flavor to the dish, of course vegans will puke if you put this in front of them. I've known people who would never eat this dish, only to sample it a few times and thought it was delicious once they got past the blood thing... I don't eat this, I used to, but not anymore it is too rich and fattening, high in cholesterol, but if you like rich food try this out. Ask for Brown Meat, or Halloween Blood Stew, or Chocolate Meat.

Aloha
Ron

MAUI Local Kine Chinese Food Won Ton Soup

2012-02-02T01:43:00.000-08:00

Come to Maui and have Chinese influenced local kine grines. You see the Chinese has a huge influence here on the local food scene. When they came to Hawaii to work in the plantations, and to set up their own businesses, they brought with them their ways of cooking.

Steamed won tons (dumplings) filled with shrimp or pork, in a seafood broth, with Chinese cabbage, and at times depending on the dig you're in, will offer egg noodles with the soup. Or Won Ton Min. So actually the Japanese had a hand in this dish too.

How do you eat this? Locals will get a small ramekin and put some hot mustard in it and add soy sauce, mix it up and use it to dip the steamed Won Tons in, or like myself I just dump the mixture into the soup itself and make the whole bowl nice and hot. If there's Tabasco around I'll douse a few drops in there as well.

Remember Hawaii is a melting pot of a diverse ethnic bunch, and Asian foods is a big part of what we love to eat or grine.

Aloha
Ron

Maui Local Plates Beef Tomato

2012-02-02T01:24:00.000-08:00

So you are a malahini eh? That's (ma la hee nee) or new comer. Okay and you want to eat what we eat right? So here is what you gotta look for at a local dig, ask them if they make Beef Tomato, it is beef cut thin and stir fried with soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar, onions, and of course tomatoes.

Sorry no pictures for this one, but imagine tender beef slices, marinated umami style, Asian influenced, every chef concocts it to their own specs, but if the chef is any good, he or she can't really mess it up. I've tasted spicy and hot Beef Tomato, I've tasted sweet and sour Beef Tomato, and I've tasted salty Beef Tomato... all good when a local brother is hungry, stomach growling like crazy... it's all good you know.

I guess it's the same anywhere, take pizzas for instance, the Chicago folks claim they got the shits in their town, while New Yorkers claim their pizzas is the shits, so it's a matter of preference. So like Beef Tomato, every diner has their own unique recipe, but the base is all the same, and that is it has to have tender slices of beef and fresh tomatoes.

So look on the menu for Beef Tomato, and wash it down with a nice cold beverage, if a sports bar has it, buy it with a nice cold beer, I'm telling you, Beef Tomato with cold beer is the shits.

Aloha from Maui

Lahaina, Maui's Veteran Lunch Wagon Chef Nobu

2012-02-02T01:09:00.000-08:00

If you're coming to Lahaina, Maui anytime soon and want to sample a true local plate lunch, just good...make that excellent delicious, you gotta go and get a plate lunch from Nobu, he's the plate lunch veteran, he has a small pink lunch wagon, and has been in business for over 2 decades, parked at the NAPA parking lot behind the Pizza Hut off of Highway 30, he's there on the weekdays, and his prices are just perfect. 7.00 for a plate lunch, rice, mac or green salad, plus one of his awesome entrees, or 7.50 for a combination plate, and the drinks of water or soda is dirt cheap.

When I think of lunch wagons, I think of Nobu, what a concept, he gets his food prepped in the morning, sits around the NAPA parking lot, and sells out his food and calls it a day. What a job, what a life. At least he's his own boss, no need to answer to some Dickhead boss. So if you're in the islands, and on Maui's west side, Lahaina to Kapalua, stop by Nobu's lunch wagon, you'll be pleased with the quality of the food. It's local to the maximum.

Nobu is inside his lunch wagon, his office, his little hole in the wall that's on wheels. A culinary mainstay on the Lahaina asphalt. Look at that in the shade, what a life!

MAUI The Filipino Version of Chow Mein "Pancit"

2012-01-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

Plate lunches from a Filipino dig are gaining popularity in the islands, as far as Asian cuisine is concerned, Filipino foods to me are one of the more exotic, the aromas range from basil, thyme, ginger, garlic, scallions, fish sauce (patis), vinegar, olive oil, anchovies, shrimp paste, wine, brandy, and a myriad of veggies and fruits. With influences from other Southeast Asian countries and mainland China, and Japan, as well as the occupation of Spain, Filipino foods are awesome.

If you are a culinary student, the Filipino kitchen will utilize every method and technique you are in school for. Braises (adobos), Deep Fry (Chichorones), Stew (Dinuguan), Roasts (Lechon), Steam (Pork Butts/Fish/Squid).

But if in Hawaii, and you want to learn to eat what locals here eat, go to the nearest Filipino dig, and get yourself some Pancit (Pan sit) it is an egg noodle dish, likened to the Chinese's Chow Mein. Generally speaking, it is bits of pork, garlic, ginger, scallions, mushrooms, stir fried in oil, with some patis in there and some annatto water.

What gives Pancit its kick is the garlic, ginger, and the fish sauce. Try it and see if you like it.
You can add any ingredient to Pancit noodles

THAI STYLE AU PART 2

2012-01-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

THAI STYLE Marlin (Au) on our Lick em UP cooking show from Maui.

THAI STYLE AU PART 1

2012-01-29T22:54:00.000-08:00

PART 1 OF our Lick em UP! Cooking Show, Thai Style Au (Marlin)

Maui- Local Foods Cont. Katsu Don (Japanese Influenced)

2012-01-29T22:49:00.000-08:00

Japanese influenced foods are a big part of the plate lunch culture, here I'll explain one Japanese influenced dish that is very popular, and if you can get it, try it. It is called Katsu Don, it is made up of deep fried breaded pork (tonkatsu), onion, and egg on rice. Don short for Donburi means "bowl" hence a bowl of rice with different ingredients make up the Donburi.

Seasonings range from dashi (fish base) soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, sake, or broths of various kinds, but the base of the bowl is the steamed white rice. Japanese is famous for the umami, and the chefs utilize a lot of those ingredients which make up Japanese food.

MAUI Local Faves "Chow Fun"

2012-01-29T21:36:00.000-08:00

Chow Fun noodles tossed around in a hot freekin wok, that's excellent, and easy to make. If you are in Hawaii, look for a plate lunch dig that serves up Chow Fun noodles. What are Chow Fun noodles? It is usually made with rice flour, or wheat flour, and looks kind of rectangular and flat in comparison to an Udon noodle.

Some chefs will use these ingredients, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, thin cuts of beef, chicken, or pork. With thin slices of round onions, green onions, carrots, and is cooked quickly. The noodles are usually bought from a supplier, dried or already cooked but soft, and all the chefs need to do is either boil the dried ones to soften, or just blanch the cooked ones and strain them. Basically what Chow Fun is is just a stir fry with the noodles added into the wok or pan to heat through, that's it.

Sichuan Style Chow Fun (Wheat Noodles)

MAUI Foods Locals Crave Chopped Steak with Onions

2012-01-29T00:34:00.000-08:00

When vising 808 the state, and you love beef, find a local dig that has Chopped Steak with Onions, it is a simple dish, served at most diners, it is basically around 8 oz. of sliced flank, or other beef cut, and sauteed in oil, garlic, sometimes with ginger, and is cooked in a concoction of soy sauce, sugar, with onions. Diners vary on how they cook it, some digs will put in oyster sauce, or sesame seed oil, it varies. But the basic ingredients are the steak and onions.

Dousing it with ketchup and more soy sauce is common with the local crowd, and like all plate lunches it is served with the equivalent of 2 scoops of white sticky rice, and a scoop of rich macaroni salad.

So if you want to eat what locals eat, Chopped Steak and Onions is one option that can't go wrong unless the cook really messes it up by over cooking the meat and onions. Remember, that Hawaii is made up of different ethnic groups, hence there is different influences of Chopped Steak, a Korean chef may make it Korean with the kalbi seasonings, the Japanese chef may turn it into an almost teriyaki style, an Italian chef may add in oregano, basil, garlic and tomato sauce. You get the drift.

You wanna be a true local in Hawaii, ask for chili pepper water, kim chi, and put some mayonnaise on your rice, locals love mayonnaise, ketchup, soy sauce, fish sauce, and just about anything that's rich.

Maui- Thai Kine Food

2012-01-27T12:28:00.000-08:00

Hawaii is the melting pot of Asia, so yes Thai food is just as big here as it is anywhere else in this little world of ours. Do I love Thai? Yeah for me, Thai and Indian foods is right up there, me loves them spicy foods.

If you come to Maui, there's a few Thai digs around in Lahaina, Kihei and Kahului.

Khao mun kai Steamed rice with slices of chicken with chicken broth, served with fermented yellow bean paste, ginger, garlic, Thai chilies.

Just one of the faves of the islands, the list is endless man, because we are so diverse.

MAUI- Local Food Continues

2012-01-27T12:16:00.000-08:00

Sam Choy made Poke an international dish, Poke (Po keh).

What is it? It's cubed raw fish, generally it's Ahi or Yellow Fin tuna, and mixed up with soy sauce, onions, kukui nut, oils, ginger, garlic, and the list goes on and on as more chefs from different backgrounds start to make Poke their own.

So if you love raw fish, sashimi, sushi and the like go and find some Poke, and that'll make you sort of like one of us.

When we were growing up, we made Poke, and now you can find a lot of it at supermarkets, and even restaurants.

Poke, go and find it, I'm sure you'll love it, but if the cubed fish looks cloudy, then it's probably old.

Poke Limu (raw fish with seaweed)

MAUI- The Loco Moco

2012-01-27T12:05:00.000-08:00

Okay here's more info for our mainland birds flying in to these wonderful Hawaiian Islands, more plate lunch info from yours truly.

Visit a local food dig, and ask if they have a Loco Moco, pronounced (Low, ko, mo ko Not like cow, but lo low, lower than higher) Loco Moco. What ever.

What the heck is a Loco Moco?

Answer: It usually two hamburger steaks, hopefully it's a homemade mixture of some chef's grannies' concoction and not some frozen piece of shit patty. It is topped with 2 eggs any style, and topped with some killer hot thick brown beef gravy, served with 2 scoops of white rice, and a scoop of macaroni salad.

These dishes are very rich, and if done right, we locals say, "Broke da Mouth!"

Prices range from around 7.99 to around 9.99 depending on location of the dig you're visiting.

I love to make my own, and sometimes I'll use pulled pork, and call it a Pork Moco, we get creative here in the islands.

Pictured here is a Fish Moco, get the idea?

Maui- Local Pastry

2012-01-27T11:53:00.000-08:00

Sweets? What do we have here that we can call sort of our own? How about this my visitor friend. Look for a local dig that sells a Malasada. It's pronounced (Mah- la- sa dah) it is a deep fried doughnut sort of, kind of, and tossed in some white sugar. It is a Portuguese influenced sweet, and if the New Orlean folks can claim Benya their own, then we Hawaiians can at least say we adopted as our own, the fabulous Malasada.

These are sold at fairs, benefits, concerts, and bakeries.

Me, I love to drive to Homemaid Bakery in Kahului and scarf a couple with some hot Kona coffee, yeah that's the ticket man. Nothing like a Malasada to halt the stomach's growling.

I won't get into the history of the Malasada, that's boring for now, so just a heads up, you wanna get cultured? Find yourself some Malasadas, and take it home, stash them in your suitcase.

MAUI- Eating Island Style

2012-01-27T11:39:00.000-08:00

It's the end of the week, after more focused thinking, I'll get back to talking about food people eat here in Hawaii, and if you want to talk melting pot of ideas, these islands is the place for food. Especially when it comes to seafood island style.

When you visit here, there's a lot of restaurants to get fish, but some places do advertise fresh catch when in reality it's frozen fish from somewhere like New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines or where ever. But if the chefs are any good, they can take a frozen Mahi and make it into an excellent 30.00 plate in a fancy eatery.

Speaking of Mahi Mahi, that's a dish a lot of people like. How do we like it? Anyway that's the way.

Here's what to expect when you come here, Mahi Mahi can be seasoned with simple herbs and spices, and either grilled or sauteed in some wine with lemon, butter, and capers. But the true plate lunch experience will have a local dig do it this way.

Mahi Mahi Plate Lunches: Prices run from around 7.95 to around 14.95 depending on the location. It is breaded and deep fried, with condiments ranging from homemade tartar sauce, soy sauce and mayonnaise, vinegar and chili pepper water, served with white rice (2 scoops) and a macaroni salad. Mac salads are cooked macaroni noodles, tossed in mayonnaise, with minced celery, onions, carrots in general. But some digs will add in canned tuna, potatoes, or crab meat.

Mahi Plates if done right will please the fish lover, because of our diverse ethnic makeup, Mahi plates can have different twists. For instance, visit a Korean influenced dig, expect their Mahi plates to have a Korean sauce on it, with sesames and sweet chili sauce. Visit a Filipino influenced dig, expect garlic and fish sauce as the condiment, but the starches are all common, with white rice, and mac salad on your plate.

So when you are at a local plate lunch dig, make sure the Mahi is moist on the inside, if its dried, send it back immediately. Don't get ripped off.

Aloha and Mahalo Ron

Ron

Maui's Only Rocking Cooking Show Lick em UP

2012-01-26T13:14:00.000-08:00

RD Lick em UP! We gotta say, today is Thursday, January 26, 2012. Yesterday both D Play Danny Agdeppa and I shot our latest Lick em UP! episode for Akaku TV Maui, and to be posted on You Tube channel: chefboymaui, it was a fun shoot, some mishaps like we did a Thai Style Au (Marlin), the recipe called for a sauce with cilantro in it, well yours truly the t.v. chef spaced out and forgot to put it into the pan when all the other ingredients was cooking down. Oh well, we used it for the garnish.

So that was our latest episode, in fact You Tube should have it on soon. But when I was in the studio editing for the credits I posted a Get Well to Kumu Cliff Ahue, he was dying of cancer. Well I fell asleep at the desk, woke up at 6am, I got a text from my niece, and she said that Kumu died around 3 a.m. The morning I put him on the credits to get well, it's the same one that God took him home. Real, so real. Over the last several months backing into last year, I did lose some inspiring people in my life. Well, this time here on earth is really short.

Say "I love you," to those who care about you. Go the extra steps or miles for those that truly matter. Once the ones you love are gone? That's it baby, you will never see them again. Don't wait until it's too late. I know life is hard, we get busy, and at times we can't help it, but we do need to slow down some, and check in with the people in our lives that truly matter.

If you're on Maui, the shows can be seen on cable access channels 52 and 54 Akaku TV. Warning: It is not prime time shows, expect the unexpected.

Mahalo
Ron.

Maui Cooking Show

2012-01-24T12:48:00.000-08:00

We are building a simple, (not for prime time) cooking show. Over the past few years it's been on local cable access Akaku TV Maui.

Title of show: RD Lick em UP

Executive Producer/Writer/Talent/Post Production Ron Sambrano

Camera Danny D Play Agdeppa

You Tube Channel: chefboymaui

HOSTESS files for bankruptcy

2012-01-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

I got back from Vegas last month, and my girlfriend & our boy wanted deep fried Twinkies. Not me though, screw that right? Yup, no way, I was never a Twinkie dude. I was more of a freekin Ho Ho's dude, I liked the chocolate more than anything.

But as I read the latest issue of The Economist, on page 7, under the red heading Not So Sweet, the Hostess company is filing for bankruptcy protection. The cause? The high cost associated with the pension and medical benefits it provides to its workers, which 83% of them are with the union.

Wow! I'm not a Hostess fan really, but to see those gas station marts without it would be different, those well preserved sweets, that goes great after a meal consisting of fried canned Vienna sausages, and canned sardines.

Jerk Chicken Part 1

2012-01-20T04:07:00.000-08:00

LICK em UP episode, Jerk Chicken with Yams Homestyle on the stove

MAUI CRATER DOGS Kahului Maui

2012-01-20T01:30:00.000-08:00

Okay I was turning in our latest video to the Akaku TV station in Kahului on Dairy Road. If you drive to or from the airport they're next to Minit Stop.

After a few chit chats with the Akaku crew, with the likes of veteran programmers, Pete Sullivan, Shawn Michael, CEO Jay April, and long time producer Katt Tracy, I headed to that hot dog stand in the parking lot.
When I got there I noticed a girl in a bikini laying down on the ground...well it was a cut out of a pretty blonde holding up a Crater Dog sign.
I called out to the guy behind the counter, "Hey brah, sup?"
He looked at me and smiled, "Hey man how you doin?"
"Not bad, so how's biz?"
"Oh not bad man, just that the county wanted me to take down that sign of the bikini girl and another sign that was leaning against the palm trees, but it's okay... Hey you wanna try our hot dogs? No worries man, it's on me."
"Okay, my name is Ron."
"I'm Ray... hey do you have a cooking show?"
"Yeah that's what I'm here for, I just turned in our latest show at the station."
"Cool man."
Ray was telling me that the buns are made at Four Sister's in Wailuku, and that the buns have holes drilled in them and toasted on the inside, nice I thought. I watched him as he put the bun on to this steel looking sharp thing, it looked pretty interesting, like a nun chuck with a pointed edge, the bun is slid down and it is toasted so the outside of the bun is soft, while the inside is toasted, so you still get that toasted taste.

Then Ray asked me what kind of flavor I wanted with the Polish dog that was gonna go inside, I chose the Jalapeño Mustard. He filled it up with the concoction, and slid the dog inside, wrapped it in some foil, handed it to me, and asked me if I wanted a drink, I told him a Coke.

My first thought as I bit into the dog was that it was very good, very simple, but the shit was ono, very delicious. I ate the whole dog, and washed it down with the ice cold can of Coke.

"We get all of the dogs from Chicago," said Ray. "And Four Sister's bakes all of our buns."

Another vendor does the condiments he said so that the products are consistent, hey it's a good gig, they just purchase, put it together and sell. Nothin wrong with that number. When I was done, some County Health inspector came down to ask Ray if he had all the pertinent permits to conduct business, well he did. Though Ray did not own the shack, he ran the place and knew how to handle one of Maui's finest. Ray gave him a dog, he ate the same dog I ate and was on his way. No problem, Ray's shack was legal, polished and shiny.
Go to Maui Crater Dogs on Dairy Rd. They do have Kamaaina rates, the average dog runs around 6.50

Cooking Show RD Lick em UP! Jerk Chicken Homestyle

2012-01-18T16:24:00.000-08:00

Today we just finished taping our second RD Lick em UP! show. We did a simple Jerk Chicken with boiled yams.

We had some fun, the picture on the left is half of a chicken breast, boneless and skinless. I marinated it in soy sauce, vinegar, pineapple juice and pineapple chunks. In it I blended in some ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, bay leaf, garlic and ginger. Let is soak for several minutes,

Then I got a hot pan out, put some vegetable oil over medium high heat, and seared the side where the skin would have been, turned it over, and stuck the pan in a 350 deg F. oven for about 20 minutes. Then I took the breasts out and let it rest on the cutting board. Took some of the juices out of the original stainless steel pan, returned the pan to medium high heat, and put about half a cup of Bacardi Premium rum, and set it on fire to burn off the alcohol. Next I returned some of the marinade to the pan over boiling heat, and reduced the sauce to half and added some pineapple chunks to it, it turned out syrup like. I dressed both chicken halves after slicing it. Tossed the yams with butter, fresh ground sea salt, and fresh ground black pepper. with some butter.

You can see the show on Akaku TV Channel 52 in the next few weeks, it will be in the post production stage right now. And it will be on Youtube as well, type in chefboymaui.

Co-Producer/Sony Bloggy Tech/Writer/Director Danny Agdeppa samples some of the yams and Jerk Chicken.

Me Posing (No Close up)

An Aspiring Business Owner Talks

2012-01-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

I'll call him Billy, he doesn't want to be known right now. Billy is a local guy from Maui, in his mid forties, out of work, has some money, and wants to start a food business. The business is a food truck selling local plates. Billy has worked in the construction biz, but that came to a major halt, he and his wife is struggling, and their thoughts are, "we need to be creative in these times can't depend on the government." So what's his plan? Well, he has the big picture thinking, now he's doing some strategic planning, what he needs to do, and how he's going about getting it. Well, he has some money for the truck, but now what?

"It's a hard business to get into when you don't have much cash on hand to start, I have enough for an old school bus, I can fix it up myself and get it running so we can sell food near the beaches and parks, but it won't be a lunch truck that will travel from one end of Maui to the other. It won't travel far, and I'm good with hooking up all the warmers."

Billy needs to get some money for other things, like money to survive for a few months too, "I got money right now to get the truck running but after that what do I do? The money I'm using is from savings, if I start the business, I'll be flat broke. I have to plan this out and really focus."

Like most business owners, finding the cash is hard these days, Billy has a relative, an uncle who worked for a power company on the mainland, he's retired, and Billy is contemplating asking his uncle for some financial help. "He's the only one in my ohana that can possibly loan me the money for this venture." But he is hesitant because his uncle is a hard nosed person when it comes to money. "He'll drive a beat up truck until it dies, I know he's got money, but it is his to do what he pleases, I just know I can make it, I just need some help, someone to believe in me and my wife, just one person can get me going, someone that can loan me money, because I have bad credit like millions of people in this country, but I'm not playing the victim, I want to work, for myself, for my ohana."

Billy understands too, that he'll need a professional kitchen to cook his local foods, and he'll need insurance, and licenses and all of that, he really knows his stuff. "I know what needs to be done as far as setting up the business, but man, money to start it off, if I had that, I'd be selling my product, not complaining about not having the cash.

I asked him what he'd cook to break the frustration he was sharing with me and he said he'd make fried fish, stir fried tako, salmon, shrimp plates, his mom's meatloaf, and adobo. "I'll stick to what I do best, I'm really not a trained chef, but the stuff I can do well, people eat all of it, so that's what I'll be known for hopefully, hopefully."

Let's keep people hopeful shall we? If someone is sharing their dreams with you, help them keep their dreams alive, never kill it, keep it alive!

Young Chefs Think Quality All of The Time

2012-01-17T08:33:00.000-08:00

If you are a young chef, and you are responsible for the special of the day at your gig, that's one of the most exciting things you can be responsible for. Especially if you went to a culinary school, and the owner of the dig tells you to come up with a lunch special that will kick major ass. You take this opportunity to shine like you've never shined in your life. Hmmm, what to create?

Let's say you are in charge of the kitchen, and you want to make something that will be new to the crowd, the old chef was lame the customers say, "He just didn't have any creative blood in him, and when he had a special, well, it wasn't special at all." Okay now you, my young chef, what are you gonna make?

So you decide the lunch crowd needs something of quality, you decide to run a French Onion soup, a Salad Nicoise, and a Shrimp Scampi. The wait staff is nuts, "Wow chef, about time we got some quality in here." And the owner says it's alright to get the fine stuff to test out, yay that!

So it's time to post that special on the board in bright letters, SOUP French Onion; SALAD: Salad Nicoise; ENTREE: Shrimp Scampi.

So you tell the prep cook and the saute cook what to do, they understand how to make it, they've never done it before, not this simple culinary moves, the previous chef was.... lame. You got all the items prepped, the soup is hot and at the ready, the shrimp is cleaned, the wine is there, everything is ready to go. The lunch crowd comes in and they see the soup, salad, and entree special. But... they're hesitant, they know the dig is good, the standards the owner has is always to standard, but the specials never rocked, hence the dismissal of the other chef.

As a chef you tell your wait staff, to sell the specials, and they do. Why? You took the time to use quality, display quality in appearance and flavors. What really rocked was your Salad Nicoise, because of the lunch crowd foodies that are into light fare, your Nicoise rocked. Instead of canned tuna to top off the veggies, you seared fresh Ahi tuna. Wow, you are a major hit, something so simple as a classic Nicoise makes the day for the lunch crowd.

The scampi was a hit, but the lunch crowd got their fill by just the salad, and guess what chef? Once your name is in the town's culinary circle, your hall of fame tickets are in print for that day you retire from cooking, as long as you keep in the know of what's happening in food and customers. Keeping it simple always works.
Seared Ahi over veggies a higher quality Salad Nicoise

Star Anise

2012-01-17T08:05:00.000-08:00

Star Anise (star anniss), also known as Chinese Star Anise in Chinese pinyin baijao "eight horn" or "eight corners" is a spice that closely resembles anise in flavor. It is a small evergreen tree commonly found in northeast Vietnam and southwest China. This spice is grounded into powder, and is a major component in India's garam masala, and in China's Five Spice. It is very flavorful, adds flavors to meats, and into liqueurs.

To purchase Star Anise, look for a good brand in an Asian mart, those are the best. But chain supermarket brands will do as well. Gourmet chefs will not use anything but the highest quality Star Anise. Ideally if a chef can get the pods fresh and dry them and then grind it the aroma says it all. Upon opening a bottle of Star Anise, if there's no aroma, you just wasted your money.

The Burdock Root (Gobo)

2012-01-12T16:41:00.000-08:00

I was introduced to the burdock root at a very young age, mom used to make a very sweet dish with pork, and tofu with this plant called gobo a Japanese term for burdock root. All I remember is that gobo, or burdock root was an earthy tasting plant, I guess because it is a root vegetable like carrots, and radish.

Burdock root is utilize in many Japanese dishes, it is sliced thin and pickled and colored orange and placed in sushi, it is cooked with fish and other seafood, it adds texture where needed, and it does have some good nutritional value as well.

The Europeans believe the burdock oils helps in the health maintenance of the scalp, it has essential fatty acids and of course fiber. Also in Korea burdock root is used about the same way as the Japanese, pickled and braised, they call it tong u eong.

How to utilize burdock root (gobo) in a Japanese dish.

1 lb. of thinly sliced across the grain flank steak, marinated in 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 1/4 cup of sake, 1/8 cup of mirin, 1 tsp. of ground ginger, 1 tbsp. of minced scallions. (1 hour soak)

1 cup of gobo (burdock root) washed, peeled and sliced very thin.
1 cup of sliced scallions
1 cup of soaked shitake mushrooms (if dried)
1/2 cup of carrots sliced thin
1 cup of chopped celery

1 cup of soy sauce
1 cup of sake or wine
2 tbsp. brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a wok or skillet, heat up about 2 tbs. of cooking oil, over high heat, sear the marinated flank. Once browned, turn down heat to medium high. Add in the gobo, and cook for about 5 minutes to ensure its softness, then add in the rest of the veggies.
2. Add in the soy sauce, sake or wine, and cook it for about 5 minutes, add sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rice.

Note: Some people like their greens crisp, if so, add in the celery after it is cooked, for me I don't mind sometimes celery getting hot and softened.

Chowder in Maine

2012-01-12T12:54:00.000-08:00

The beautiful thing about life here on Maui is that I get to meet people from all over the world, I mean I met people from all over this globe. Recently I ran into some peeps from Maine, here away from the cold of the east coast, a friendly couple in their mid-fifties I presumed. They were asking me where to get some great plate lunches, local Maui style. Well that was easy since I was just cruising around my home town of Lahaina, I pointed right across the street to No Ka Oi Deli.

Well, long story short we get to talking, and I find out they are from lobster country Maine USA! Man I can't eat lobsters anymore because I swell up, so I asked them a question they just asked me, I wanted to know where to eat if I ever got to Maine, the husband told me they frequent a place called Cappy's Chowder House in Camden Maine.

"That's the place to get some great seafood chowder," he says. "But you if you want lobster, you may not get it in the spring." But his wife smiled and said the same thing, "They're really family oriented, I think you'll enjoy dining there." Hmmm, family oriented, I like this east coast thang going on. So I looked them up, and I think I'd go there if I get to the east coast some day. Cappy's Chowder House.

I pasted their menu from their website, looks good. I think I'll save up for my plane ticket.

Cappy's Chowder House Menus

Below is a brief list of the kind of food we always serve.

Click here for an up-to-date seasonal menu in PDF form.

The following is some of our most popular items. But we have loads of sandwiches, burgers, salads and other goodies. Our menu changes monthly, so the following list is approximate.

Cappy's Famous Clam Chowder

Maine Chowder Law says white! . . . never red! We've been making our traditional MAINE chowder for almost 32 years. It's rich and creamy and chock full of clams and potato. Small mug $7.99 Large mug $8.99 Take-home pint $9.99

Daily Zoups and Chili

See what the Chef came up with today! Add a Grown-Up Grilled Cheese to your bowl of Zoup, Chowder or Chili!

Arancini Sicilian Risotto Balls

Jo’s Nanny brought this recipe from Sicily 8.99

Lobster Lobster

our MAINE lobsters are brought to us fresh, straight from the Bay!
when available . . . SEASONAL . . . market price

Old Fashioned Fish and Chips

Maine Haddock breaded and fried Downeast style served with coleslaw and fries 15.99

Cappy’s Cakes of Crab

This is Faith’s favorite! Our own recipe and it’s wicked good. Served over field greens with roasted corn salad and a lemony chive dressing 14.99

Maine Shrimp Basket

Served with curly fries and coleslaw 12.99

Cappy’s Panini- Our version of a Maine favorite, served grilled on Rosemary bread from our bakery

Lobster Salad with Cheddar and Tomato Market Price
Crab Salad with Cheddar and Tomato 13.99
Roasted Turkey with Cheddar and Cranberry Chutney 10.99
Traditional Rolls available Market Price

Cappy’s Chopped Salad

Chopped romaine topped with bacon, tomatoes, caramelized onions and gorgonzola cheese 8.99

Short Ribs

Boneless short ribs are braised, then slow cooked to perfection and served with local root vegetables under a puff pastry. Served with small salad 16.99

Lobster Mac and Cheese

MAINE lobster, shell pasta, and our four-cheese sauce make this a mouthwatering dish. Served with a small salad 15.99

Polenta Lasagna

Roasted Vegetables are stuffed between layers of cheese and polenta with our house marinara sauce. Served with small salad 13.99

Market Steak

Changes at the Chef’s whim. Served with small salad. Market Price

Catch of the Day

Ask your server what the local fisherman has brought us today market price

Don’t forget … Cappy’s Camden Curly Fries 3.99 or Crock of Coleslaw 3.99

History of Chow Mein

2012-01-12T12:28:00.000-08:00

Chow Mein is a Chinese institution, go to any Chinese restaurant outside of Hong Kong, I mean quite frankly us guys here in the states, and when we talk Chinese food, we automatically think "Chow Mein." Why? It is a simple dish like Italian pasta, made almost by the same methods, it's talking cooked noodles, and tossing it around in some flavorful concoction of herbs, spices, and liquids from stocks, broths, etc.

So how did this dish actually come into play in the culinary world as we know? When I was a kid, in Lahaina, there was a local Chinese dig called Golden Palace, and the place was styled after the Cantonese style of Chinese, sweet and sour sauces, lots of ginger and garlic. They had noodle dishes made from the Chow Mein family and they made it dry, or the made it with a Chinese style gravy or sauce, usually made of seafood. But Chow Mein noodles are really good, made out of egg noodles, dishes come out smelling rich because when the egg noodles hits the hot oil, it releases an aroma that makes you come alive, and Chinese chefs do utilize everything, shrimp sauces, oyster sauces, sesame oils, lots of garlic and ginger, scallions too.

So enough of that, where did this come from? The word Chow Mein came from the people of Taishan, which is a city located in the Pearl River Delta, southwest of Jiangmen. It is 140 km west of Hong Kong and consist of many islets. Taishan is well known for Chinese volleyball. Hmm, Chow Mein and volleyball, cool.

Different regions cooked Chow Mein differently, the chefs in Hong Kong fried the noodles crispy, while the other regions opposite of Hong Kong steamed the noodles, all the while all Chinese chefs used a hot wok to cook the finished product. Here in the U.S. there's differences in how Chow Mein is cooked, most people on the east coast tend to cook Chow Mein Hong Kong style which is crispy, while the west coast counterparts steam the noodles, or lo mein.

This noodle is so popular, that Chinese travelers introduced this type of noodles to many countries, India uses a noodle similar to Chow Mein, the Filipino's adapted Chow Mein and made their own called pancit, it is a very interesting noodle like the pasta noodle.

The noodle is made very simply, but it tastes really good, and can be purchased dried, and then boiled to loosen it up before hitting the wok, or fresh, and it still needs to be cooked in hot water, strained and then stir fried. A chef or home cook can use these noodles for a soup, by simply stir frying favorite ingredients and adding a soup stock to a boil, and adding in the noodles at the last minute, these noodles become a great noodle for Asian soups.
Subgum Chow Mein

Subgum Chow Mein is the standard dish in American Chinese digs, usually with the noodles, meat, seafood, and vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, shitake mushrooms, and a nice thickened broth. It is a Cantonese style Chow Mein.

French Food of The Day

2012-01-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

French food of the day is Pain de Seigle, it is a French Rye Bread. How is it pronounced? Well, I met some French people from Montreal, and it sounded like this, "Pen dee saygle" Maybe I need to clean my ears, but they were French, and that's how it sounded, and when I repeated it, they kind of nodded "ok."

So now when you go to some French restaurant, and you want rye bread, ask for it and speak in French, at least try what the hell? Your date maybe impressed, or you'll both share a good freeking laugh. "Can I have the Coq au Vin, and a side of Pain de Seigle?"

There's your French food of the day, Pain de Seigle, or just ask for "French Rye bread"

WINE TERM OF THE DAY

2012-01-11T18:16:00.000-08:00

The wine term of the day is tannin, it is defined as a strong taste, kind of woody ha ha, no not that kind of woody, let's not go there. But bitter would be more like it, such as a strong cup of tea, or when you accidentally bite into a seed of a fruit, yeah you get the picture.

So when some wine bozo is talking like this, "This 2008 Merlot is fruity, yet the tannins are somewhat strong, this bottle is less sweeter than the 2007 Merlot from Dickhead's winery just outside of Monterey." Well I don't know if that's how they'll be speaking, but something like that.

Tannin= that bitter taste, that strong tea kind of taste, why can't they just say it in simpler terms I have no idea, so there you have it. Tannins.

My Take On Food Critics

2012-01-11T17:44:00.000-08:00

Food critics get paid to critique restaurants and the chefs that create the menu, recently a well known food critic in Hawaii passed on, and I'm sorry he did, I did not know this guy, but from what I understand he was a harsh critic, and restaurant owners prayed for a great or at least a decent review. I understand journalists have that constitutional right to write, and share their opinions at times. However, the power that some critics have on the masses is enormous, and I was just thinking if I was a restaurant owner, and had some critic come in and destroy my establishment through his or her columns, I'd be worried and pissed at the same time.

Say I am here on Maui, which I am, I have a good local following, but some hot shot pen pusher comes in and just hates me, and my restaurant, and he pens it, I can't help but think, there goes some business, maybe, maybe not so bad, but I do think there would be more bad than good.

I do think restaurant owners who have a following, don't need to have some hot shot critic come in and critique their establishment, if you're selling your product, you're okay and good to keep on going. No one needs in these economic times to have a bad review, your local customers will let you know right off the bat if our filet mignon sucks. Yeah, you don't need the critic in there. And with social media, there's a good bet, people are Facebooking or Tweeting your dig now anyhow, that's better, you get real feedback from real customers.

Critics are part of that industrial age, who needs them, outsource your own critics, your customers are the best ones. Again, I'm all for honest feedback, but if my meals need a makeover, I don't need a critic telling the whole world about it, my local foodies will do, and we'll get to making it more valuable again. All I'm saying is critics suck, from music mags, to movie reviews, who needs them. I go by friends, "Hey Ron check out this movie it's great man." "Hey Ron try out this restaurant, it's good." I'll go by word of mouth, and then again, maybe critics do serve a purpose for people far away... What the hell, critics are there, restaurants are there, hopefully a bad review won't bankrupt some mom and pop on Main Street USA right? It can happen, I mean a bad review can crumble someone without a heavy stash of cash. Bad news travels at the speed of sound.

Imagine, a full load of passengers on a 767, a hundred of them read a bad review of your restaurant, and all of them said, "Yeah Jim the foodie said 'Ron's suck' let's not go there." That's a hundred possible customers that will not show up. I'm a student of business, and numbers, so yeah a food critic giving a bad name to a dig can kill it. Sorry, I think I'm right.

BACK TO EATING RIGHT

2012-01-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

Let's face it we're all sinners, and if you my friend are saying, "Nah not me!" bullshit, you are a sinner too. If a hot young lady is walking by in a tight bikini, you may not stare, but I bet you a mill, you took a glance, hence you too are a sinner.

This past holiday season, the sweets tempted me and won! The roast meats, and steamed veggies were great, Asian foods were found at every gathering, and I loves me some Asian food. Especially some greasy pork stuffs that only home cooks can manufacture, man I was in hell, or... was it heaven?

Okay I know for sure, I had one too many cookies, and one too many sodas, and one too many sweetened coffees, and one too many high quality things to eat. Now I have a hard time tying my shoes, get the picture?

Okay so what's on the menu for this year? Well, I got to eat less sweets period, I got to eat less salty foods. And I need to go and run around and sweat a little bit, or maybe a lot. One, I got to get away from the job I have which is driving a shuttle bus. My friends tell me that I'm a good cook and should do more of that, maybe private parties, that way at least I'll be busy and running around instead of driving and sitting on my fat ass and gaining more pounds. I'll focus on that.

But here's eating right for anyone.

1. Eat more fibers in the morning, more whole foods and all natural if you can get it, like apples, oranges, bananas, papayas, instead of that greasy sausage and eggs. If you want to eat some of that greasy shit, maybe just eat one egg, and less than 4 oz. of meats.

2. Drink more water, less sugar laced drinks.

3. For lunches, eat fruit, and a small amount of protein, and lots of water, if you can't get any good food but you're stuck at Mickey D's, eat a sandwich there, cut it in half, give the other half to a homeless guy, and save money by asking the girl at the counter for a cup and drink water, if you want the fries, buy a small one, and eat only half.

4. For dinners, eat a salad with protein, hold off on the heavy starches like rice and breads, if you'll eat a salad, grill some chicken without skin, cut it up and place it over the greens, use a low fat dressing, or make your own if you aren't tired from working all day.

5. Cut out your late night eats, instead of polishing a sub sandwich, eat some whole grains, or some unsalted nuts, and again drink water.

And let's get running around and lose some weight, it's all good, there's nothing wrong with eating like a maniac.. sometimes.... but if you like myself are getting huge, it's time to watch what goes into our mouths and stomachs.

Aloha

THE AHI

2012-01-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

The Ahi is a very good eat, the meat is a nice reddish color, and firm and sweet. Local fishermen catch Ahi via pole and line, and in Japan, long line fishing gathers most of the sashimi, the higher grade of tuna which is sold to sushi bars and restaurants across the globe. A pound of Ahi during the holiday season can fetch a lot for a pound. Over 20.00 a pound in some cases maybe more.

The Ahi is built for speed, studies show that Ahi will hang around depths of up to 230 feet deep, and will dive to deeper depths. Ahi fishing can be anytime during the year in Hawaii with factors such as wind, tide, moon rising etc. to keep in mind, but fishermen have stated that prime time for Ahi can be from June through August, or the Summer months.

Size of Ahi caught in Hawaii by sports fishermen can range from small 10 pounds up to 200 pounds. This fish is a prime fish, sold at auction to the markets, bidders battle for the most prime of cuts. The meat is firm, and sweet unlike the Skipjack tuna or Aku which is a little more fishy in taste, and the meat is at times, not as clear as the Ahi, hence a heavier taste.

Local cooks love to take Ahi meat, from any part of the fish and make it into poke, or steaks. The fatty belly parts are prized by many a diner in sushi bars and restaurants. Chefs are known to sear the meat just until in turns color, leaving the whole center of the cut raw. Though this has been popular because of local celebrity chefs and their marketing of their restaurants, many locals cook the Ahi, almost well done, and if done right, this is very tasty, and not everyone loves raw food.

A simple recipe for Ahi is this.

Take an Ahi steak, about 6 oz, and sprinkle some salt and pepper over it, heat up a nonstick pan with some vegetable oil, over high heat, sear the steaks until it turns color then flip it and cook it until it turns color, and serve with a soy sauce mixed with wasabe, miso, ginger, and a squeeze of lemon. Or cook it through for those who don't want raw fish. Serve with hot white sticky rice.

Our Cooking Show will go full force on YOUTUBE in 2012

2011-12-31T13:55:00.000-08:00

2012 our cooking show will be elevated with more creative editing, more up to date dishes and information, more outside of the studio shoots, and more people.

For those of you who are interested in sponsoring the show, leave us a message, we'll put your business logo somewhere to be seen.

We'll also Tweet your business and blog it too.

We did some low end shoots, to to Youtube channel CHEFBOYMAUI. right now we just have a couple of cooking videos on there, COOKING FOR TAMA parts one and two, and MAKING KIM CHEE with In sun Fukuyama.

How To Correctly Use a Wok

2011-12-29T23:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a tip on using a wok, let's take you the home cook into consideration, you will do well with at least a 10-12 inch flat bottom wok, if you have a carbon steel, or cast iron one, it may form rust, the trick is to store it oiled. If you have a nonstick wok, those are alright.

Now Asian cooking isn't the only kind of cooking that utilizes a wok, it's common to see Italian, Mexican, or American chefs woking it. But the way to use a wok is to use the right amount of fats to stir fry, I like to use vegetable oil because it sizzles the proteins well enough.

What ever you are cooking, you want that oil to be hot hot, and your cooking items to be sliced thin for quick cooking, you see the art of stir frying is all about getting your meal out quickly. So slice your veggies thin, slice your meats thin and across the grain, make sure your sauces are at room temperature so you don't cool the wok when the sauces hits the bottom, a common mistake novice make is tossing in cold items that reduces that heat of the oil.

You want the meats to sit and brown before you start tossing it or stirring it around, add in the veggies, and let it cook together with the meats, then add in the sauce. Don't over cook the veggies, crisp nearly cook ones offers more nutrients.

Happy Woking :)

German Sweet Chocolate Cake Recipe

2011-12-28T13:08:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

4 (1 ounce) squares German sweet chocolate
1/2 or a little more cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsatled butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup raw brown sugar
4 large egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk (to make buttermilk, add 2 tbs. of vinegar to a cup of whole milk, and let it curdle)
4 large egg whites
Frosting
12 fluid ounces evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup butter
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) package flaked coconut
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line bottom of 9x13 pan with baking paper.
Heat up chocolate and water on high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Stir halfway through. Stir until all of it is melted softened and smooth.
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt, and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream 1 cup butter and the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the 4 egg yolks one at a time, beating well after adding each one. Stir in chocolate and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk. Beat well after each addition until it becomes smooth.
In another bowl, beat egg whites on high until soft peaks form, and then carefully fold it into the batter. Pour into 9x13 inch pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Let it cool completely, then frost with coconut-pecan frosting.
Combine evaporated milk, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 3/4 cup butter, 4 egg yolks and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla in large saucepan. Cook and stir on medium heat for about 10-12 minutes, or until thick and golden brown. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut and pecans. Cool to room temperature, and spreading consistency over the cake.

*Note if you are using a convection oven, check the cake as it rises, sometimes a convection oven will bake a little faster than a regular oven, there have been stories of people's cakes baking about 5 minutes faster developing a over baked cake. Just a tip. I'm sure it'll be fine, maybe it's some malfunction on their ovens, but with stories like that, just keep an eye on your baking.

HAWAIIAN PLATE LUNCHES CONT. 2011

2011-12-27T13:54:00.000-08:00

Orite I'm back in the saddle, just got into the office, so we left off talking about what locals love to eat here in Hawaii. Here is what plate lunches consist of most of the time, the standard is 2 scoops of white rice, but as the healthy eating movement moves forward, digs are more than likely to offer their customers brown rice instead, and of course macaroni salad, and the entree which is usually a beef, pork, chicken or seafood item. Now if you see on the menu "Combination Plate", or "Mixed Plate", it simply means that you can add one or two more entrees to that plate.

Example: You're at some plate lunch dig, and you see the menu like this.

Plates 6.95 Combination Plates 8.59 (2 entrees) 10.99 (3 entrees)

Shoyu Chicken
Roast Pork
Kau Yuk
Chow Fun
Kalbi Ribs
Chopped Steak
Loco Moco
Hamburger Steak
Breaded Mahi Mahi
Miso Ahi.

Let's say you want to mix up some of these entrees, you decide you want a combination plate of Kalbi Ribs and Miso Ahi. You would ask for it like this, "Can I have the combination plate with Kabli and Miso Ahi?"

If you just ordered Miso Ahi, you'd probably get 2 4 oz. of ahi filets with a miso dressing, plus the rice and mac salad. If you just ordered the Kabli ribs, you'd probably get 3 strips of short ribs.

Now with the combination, you'd get one miso ahi, and two strips of ribs, depending on the dig you're at, some places are really generous, they'll nail 2 fish and 3 ribs on your plate, if you look at the way they mark up their food, sometimes you wonder about the logic. But that's the animal you'll deal with when visiting a plate lunch dig. Some places will kinda of seem like their ripping you off, while some places seem like their losing money giving you a lot of food.

Oh well, that's the nature of business, the pricing sometimes don't make sense, but when we are hungry who cares?

HAWAIIAN PLATE LUNCHES

2011-12-27T11:32:00.000-08:00

If you come to Maui, or any of the Hawaiian islands, and if you are a foodie, seek out where the locals get their munchies fixed. Any island, the best way to find these places is to ask a local person, "Hey where do you guys eat? Where's the best local plate lunches?"

You are bound to get the right or best answer, locals in the islands know how food is to be prepared, their taste buds are like sonar, or radar, they'll seek out the best food and value for the buck.

Look for these dishes, LOCO MOCO. This is usually two hamburger steaks, grilled, over two scoops of rice, and 2 eggs cooked to your liking, with lots of brown gravy smothered all over it, with a very rich macaroni salad, the base of it is mayonnaise. Locals and mayo go hand in hand.

Chopped Steak, this is a piece of steak that is prepared differently by different digs. One way is when a chef takes about 6 oz. of flank steak, slice it somewhat thin across the grain, and then tosses it in a hot wok or pan with oil and some garlic, sears it fast, then adds in some onions, cook it until it's somewhat soft, and then add in their sauce. Again, this sauce can be a simple concoction of soy sauce, some hot sauce, some sugar and that's it. Some chefs will get Chinese with it and add a little black beans in there with oyster sauce.

Now this method I like better. It is when the chef sears the flank steak in one piece cooked medium well, and then slice it after it is cooked, and then just put some salt and pepper on it, and then saute the onions after in the same pan, and then smother the onions of the steak, and then I'd douse it with some Kikoman soy sauce, and some Tabasco. Mmmmmmm!:)

Okay that's only 2 dishes, I gotta go catch my bus now, I'll write more later.

Hawaiian Fish

2011-12-26T13:20:00.000-08:00

Ono or Wahoo, is a menacing looking fish, it weighs around 15 to 60 plus pounds, not found much during the Hawaiian winters, December through March. Ono is a rather long fish, averaging in lengths up to 6 feet, and they have some razor sharp teeth, you don't want these guys chomping at you. And they are fast, they can swim up to 50 miles per hour.

The Ono hits lures very quickly, and is a favorite among deep sea fishermen, and according to the experts, Ono are loners, mostly on their own, but at times in groups of 3 or so fish.

What do they feed on? Ono feed on other fish and squid for sustenance, and if you ever get a chance to eat Ono, the meat is on the firm side, white, it has a rather sweet taste.

Here is my Ono recipe for the day:

2 Ono steaks about 6 oz. each

marinate it in one cup of olive oil, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 basil leaf chopped, 1/2 can of tomato sauce, 3 tbsp. of balsamic vinegar, some cracked pepper corns. Let it sit for about 2 hours. Save marinade.

Heat up a grill, and over medium heat grill each steak for about 3 minutes each side, I don't like over cooked Ono. Ono by the way means delicious in Hawaiian.

When done, plate it with some rice or potatoes, return marinade to a saucepan, heat it up to make warm, pour some over the steaks and sprinkle some salt to taste.

Maui's Local Eating

2011-12-22T17:43:00.000-08:00

This is a notice to all of you foodies that are looking for a place to eat that is local, not confined to your hotel or condo. I don't have any pictures today, but I'll list some excellent local places to go and eat. And here we go folks, Holidays or not, these places do rock.

HOMEMAID BAKERY- This business bakes some of the best pastries, and they do offer plate lunches too, a real grown up mom and pop. Shops are located in Kahului, Kihei, Wailuku.

DA KITCHEN- Plate lunches at its finest, try their chicken katsu and their Hawaiian plate. Lahaiana in the Wharf Cinema Center, in the Triangle Square in Kahului near the airport, and in Kihei in the Rainbow Mall.

SAM SATO's- A mom and pop from long ago, try the noodle dishes, the hamburger steak plate, located in the Mill Yard in Wailuku.

WEI WEI NOODLES- Chinese style, with a local twist, great noodles and then some. In the Mill Yard in Wailuku.

TASTY CRUST- Chopped Steak plate, pancakes, saimin. Popular, you have to try it. Located on Lower Main St. in Wailuku town.

KOMODA BAKERY- Located in the cowboy town of Makawao (Mah kah wow), home of the best cream puffs, and donuts. On Baldwin Avenue.

PAIA FISH MARKET- On the corner of Hana and Baldwin in Paia town, great fresh Ahi, Ono, Mahi Mahi, fresh huge salads and sandwiches, really really good.

FLATBREADS PIZZA- Located in Paia town, at the beginning of the town left hand side, best fresh pizzas out of a stone oven. Great vegetarian pizzas too.

TAKAMIYA MARKET- Wailuku's Happy Valley, famous for their local style grab and go meals, find anything from lay lay, teri chicken, roast pork, it's the place to go.

PARADISE- Located on Wakea Ave. Kahului, awesome Filipino food, and fresh items to take home, if you love Thai or Vietnamese, you'll love Filipino food. The pork adobo, stir fries are all good stuff, and they don't skimp on their portions.

MINIT STOP- Famous for their Maui Fried Chicken and other great plate lunches to go. Located in Wailuku, Kahului, Kihei, and Pukalani. Their friend chicken is so good, Magic Johnson was said to have purchased a ton of it before heading to the airport on his way back home to the mainland.

PUKALANI SUPERETTE- Delicious local hot foods to go, if you can get some pork, and chow fun, get it before it sells out, it's a local market too, so if you need a beer or soda, that's the place to shop, a totally mom and pop outfit that's very popular worldwide, on the slopes of Haleakala.

MIKE'S HONG KONG BISTRO- Wailuku town, Chinese/Hawaiian local foods, he has a hot section where you take your pick of stir fries, or order foods cooked to order, the soups are great.

KOHOs- A sports bar with great local food, burgers, sandwiches, plate lunches. Located in the Queen Kaahumanu Shopping Center.

BALE- Vietnamese food at a great price, located in Kahului, Kihei, and Lahaina, very good sandwiches, noodles, seafood, spring rolls.

L&L- Just plain simple plate lunches, nothing fancy, just good to go and fill you up. Kihei, Kahului, Lahaina, Wailuku.

PIZZA MADNESS- Kihei, awesome pizzas local style.

SHAKAs PIZZA- Kihei, great pizzas and sandwiches, been around a long time.

SPORTS PAGE- Kihei, local food, beers, and the game of the day on the many screens that surround this dig, a favorite for many years, shoot pool at nights, listen to local bands.

MULLIGAN's- Wailea at the Blue Course, Irish style food and drink, live music.

LULUs- Local food, bar, sports on the tube, pool, live local music, Kihei and Lahaina.

MALA OCEAN TAVERN & HONU- Awesome fresh seafood, steaks and more. Wailea, Lahaina.

FU LINs- Chinese food that's very good, in Lahaina.

NO KA OI DELI- Open for lunch only, say hello to Alton, the best local comfort food around.

NAGASAKO OKAZU YA- This is very simple foods put together with love, nothing fancy, but the food is tasty, a mom and pop institution.

LINs KITCHEN- Located in Honokowai, north of Kaanapali, Filipino food at its finest.

LEODA's- off of Highway 30 7 miles out of Lahaina, great baked items, from the owners of the Old Lahaina Luau.

FOUR SISTERS- Wailuku town, more local food for you, home made stuff that'll warm you up and fill you up.

FRED's MEXICAN- Kihei, great Mexican style breakfast. Across the street of Kamaole Beach 2, can't get any better than this place, take a dip, watch the whales, hit Fred's for some food and drink!

There's many other places to go, but I don't have all day guys:)

CHRISTMAS COOKIES PART 2 (Maui)

2011-12-20T12:46:00.000-08:00

Almond Strawberry Xmas Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups of real non salted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups raw brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 teaspoons almond extract
4 cups of flour used for baking, plus some for dusting
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until nice and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla and almond extracts and blend it well. In separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and ground almonds. Add the flour mixture to sugar mixture and blend well. Fold in the almonds. Roll out the dough onto a flour dusted work surface and cut into desired shapes. Place cookies onto baking sheet lined cookie pan and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

The Topping

1 cup of strawberries, pulsed in a food processor, then add in 3 tbsp. of brown sugar, 1 tbsp. of lime juice, 1/4 cup of apple juice, and then pulse again. Place this mixture in a sauce pan and heat over medium high heat. As it simmers, in a small bowl, mix 3 tbsp. of cornstarch with 6 tbsp. of water, then add this to the sauce pan to thicken up the mixture. When cooled slightly, spoon a little over each cookie, then put the cookies in the chiller until the topping sets nice and firm.

Making Kim Chee Part 2 Fukuyama

2011-12-19T12:40:00.000-08:00

Part 2 In sun and Alan Fukuyama's Making Kim Chee
Producer Ron Sambrano

PLATE LUNCHES in Lahaina MAUI

2011-12-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

Here are some tips on where to eat when on Maui, what locals love.

No Ka Oi Deli- Lahaina, across Mc Donald's on Wainee and Papalaua Streets, local food, they make their own bread, comfort food, sandwiches, open for lunch only.

Star Noodles- Owed by the Old Lahaina Luau, tasty noodle dishes and them some. Located near the Barnes and Noble head straight up the hill.

Nobu's lunch wagon- look for that pink old mail truck, Nobu is near the Pizza Hut in Lahaina, the best lunches.

No. 1 BBQ, Korean/Asian/Local plates, located at the Lahaina Square.

Zushi- Japanese take out, great tempuras, and chicken teri, at the Lahaina Square.

Mala Ocean Tavern/Honu Seafood and Pizza- great food, touch of Hawaii, Mediterranean, great fresh food, located backside of the Safeway at Lahaina Cannery Mall.

Fu Lin- Chinese, located across Mala Ocean Tavern

Aloha Mixed Plate- Close to Mala Ocean Tavern, local plates, owned by Old Lahaina Luau.

L&L Drive Inn- Local plate lunches, Chopstix Express- Located in the Lahaina Cannery Mall.

Teddy's Bigger Burgers- very good fresh hamburgers, grilled and juicy! Located at the Lahaina Gateway.

Cool Cat's- another great local burger joint, fresh burgers, located in the Wharf Cinema Center near the Lahaina Harbor.

Making Kim Chee Part 1 Fukuyama

2011-12-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

In sun Fukuyama demonstrates with her husband Alan Fukuyama how to make Kim Chee from scratch in your own home. This is just Part 1, Part 2 will be uploaded soon.

A Reasonable Prime Rib Dinner- Las Vegas

2011-12-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

Market Street Cafe, California Hotel and Casino is a favorite spot for local Las Veganites, and local Hawaiians. For less than ten bucks, you can get a good slice of prime rib, with green beans, horse radish and your choice of white rice, baked potato, mashed potato, or fries. And comes with a vanilla ice cream with cherries on the bottom, with a wafer and topped with whipped cream, can't go wrong.

With less than 12 hours left on my trip, that was my dinner, it was really juicy, I washed it down with a Pepsi and was on my way. Just remember if you're in the Downtown area of Vegas, checkout the Market Street Cafe in the California Hotel and Casino and nail yourself a prime rib.
www.thecal.com

COOKING FOR TAMA (YouTube)

2011-12-12T17:34:00.000-08:00

COOKING FOR A STAFFY NAMED TAMA, HE ATE THE STEAK IN SECONDS!

COOKING FOR TAMA (YouTube) Part 2

2011-12-12T17:33:00.001-08:00

COOKING FOR A STAFFY NAMED TAMA, HE ATE ALL THE STEAK IN SECONDS!

Makino Las Vegas- Seafood Buffet Restaurant

2011-12-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

Makino Seafood Buffet in Las Vegas is pretty good. Located in the Premium Outlet Mall is a perfect fit for hungry Holiday shoppers, located in the Downtown area, and suitable for all the traveling Hawaiians that frequent Vegas, Makino boasts a pretty good selection of popular sushi rolls, Asian soups, and hot dishes, salads, even some cool desserts.

I'm not much of a sushi man, but I do love raw fish at times, I went for a variety of fresh sushi, and some clean crisp salad, including kim chee. For about 14.99 per person, all you can eat, this place is very busy when my girlfriend and our 10 year old eating machine went inside, hungry shoppers toting their shopping bags, couples, families, all converging in all you can eat Asian cuisine. Our boy Scotty loved the noodles, and a few sushi, but what he really nailed was the marshmallows and chocolate that was running down a machine, he coated lots of marshmallows with the chocolate. My girl Wayla whacked soup, tempuras, and some sushi as well. The chicken and teri beef was killer!

Anyone wanting to go all out on sushi and miso soup, tempuras, and noodles, Makino is not bad. I mean it is a buffet, so if you're a sushi aficionado you may notice some of the tuna may not be the tuna (ahi) you're accustomed too, but heck, a buffet that has at least decent sushi is good by many, so Makino may not be a Sansei in Hawaii, it is alright to me, for the price and all you can eat, it's okay, it really is.

www.makinolasvegas.com

Seattle's Kick Ass Asian Market; Uwajimaya Market

2011-12-08T23:16:00.000-08:00

I always watch sports, I love football and baseball, love it, with a fucking passion! Okay, I'm a Dodger, a Los Angeles Dodger. And for football, I like the Chargers. I am not a fan of the Seattle Mariners, or a fan of the Sea Pigeons. Oops, I meant the Seahawks. So on my first official visit to the port city, I was amazed that right behind where the Mariners and Seahawks calls home, is a kick fucking ass Asian market, complete with every item an Asian like myself needs to satisfy my taste buds.

My sister and husband took me cruising, it was foggy, cold around 30 degrees in the daytime, cloudy, just fucking ass cold. I wore two jackets, and I still froze. My friend Amy Geisler Facebooked me and laughed, "Try Wisconsin." she typed. Sorry she's from cheese country, Badger country apparently 30 fucking degrees is too warm for Amy.

Anyhow, we walk inside this huge ass Asian supermarket, it is called Uwajimaya, in biz since 1928, and I wasn't even born, my mom was like 8 years old. So this business is old, and it's been around, it is always packed, well I thought it was, but from what my sister said, it wasn't even packed, could have fooled me, she said on the weekends or when there's a game in town, forget finding parking. Okay, sorry what do I know I'm from good ol Lahaina.
Safeco Field-Seattle from Uwajimaya Market

Back to the story, inside it is busy, if you need noodles for your Pad Thai, chow fun, chow mein, pansit, cake noodles, Uwajimaya is the place to go. Do you need lots of rice, bags of it? Uwajimaya is the place. Fresh fish? Are you a sushi chef? Yep this is the place. You need sauces? Yeah, this place has it. Hoisin, black beans fermented, veggies, all those Asian ones, this is the place, forget the Albertson's, or Smith's, or whatever, if you're an Asian foodie, man this is the place to be.

They have cooked foods ready for you to purchase and take home, shrimp tempura, katsu, Asian stews, noodles, all smellin goooood! Oh man, I had my Droid out taking pictures, and this cute little Japanese woman looks at me and gives me the "don't take picture" look. I felt a cold chill run down my spine, I am not messin with her, who knows, she might know Kung Fu and hurt my ass.
Uwajimaya Food Display, cooked food:)

And they have this marinated chicken they sell that's a clear winner, XOXO Chicken, it's really good. You buy it, take it home and then fry it up, grill it up, bake it, any cooking method you want, you go ahead and do, it is great! Chef John, my brother in-law says it may have miso in there, chili sauce, garlic and ginger. I figure he's right, it's good, they can put spit in there, it tastes great, who cares what's in there. John cooked it up, and he had my sister steam veggies, and we had kim chee with it. Man it was a winner. Local style food in Seattle, fucking orite! And they have these 5x3 cards with recipes on there for free, I took a whole bunch for my chick in Vegas coz she's a good cook, she can cook, so if I give her these recipe cards she can figure this shit out EZ. The recipes include the basics, Kabli (Korean), Adobo (Philippines), BBQ Pork (Chinese), Sukiyaki (Japanese) and others, shit loads of others.

And the people going in there are totally a mixed breed of peeps, you can see Indian peeps, Euros, African Americans, Hispanics, the whole world is represented there, so I know for sure that the Asian thang is thriving in Seattle! Remember this name, Uwajimaya. Find them on the web at www.uwajimaya.com
Uwajimaya Asian Food & Gift Market Seattle, WA

MAXIMILIEN FRENCH RESTAURANT PIKES PLACE

2011-12-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

Whenever people would go to Seattle, they'd come back and go, "Hey Ron, man you're a cook, and you love food, if you ever go to Seattle, go to Pike's Place and check out all the good shit there, it's awesome!" Okay I always thought one of these days before I croaked on pork rinds, I'd be in Seatlte, in fact I drove into Seattle a few years back but just drove in and drove back to Portland, it was a cool drive close to summer, but that Seattle visit... well that didn't really count.

Fast forward, to 2011, December 6. I had to visit my sister and her husband who live about 3 hours east of Seattle, and where was the first place we went? Pikes! It was so huge, that whole area, I need like a whole day to check that place out, and the fish market, I had to see those guys fly a salmon across the counter just to see it. I mean people travel thousands of miles to Maui where I currently live to see a luau, I had to go just as far to watch the mongers throw fish, cool! And the mongers gave us samples of salmon, smoked, peppered, with herbs, and the guy even spoke Pidgin English, "Broke da mouth brah!" Wow, nuts!

But I was traveling with my sister, Esther, and her husband John McKivor, and if there's any two foodies that knows their shit, it's Ess and John. John's a trained chef, and my sister worked in restaurants handling the books, in fact my sister, John and my late brother Harold were partners in a restaurant on Maui, a 9 year success in a dig called the Honokowai Okazu Ya, their star dishes were Mahi with Capers, Chow Fun w Black Beans, and all kinds of other dishes that well, Broke da Mouth!

As we were getting a tad hungry, John and my sister ran upon a little French food place called Maximilien, overlooking the pier, despite it being foggy I was thinking, "Nah this is cool, fog, nice, not bad, at least I'm not on Maui driving a shuttle full of tourists around being bummed out the whole day."

We were greeted by some dude with a French accent, "Elloo, how meny?" We sat down on a nice shiny wooden table, it was very small, in fact I started to stretch, I almost gave the lady next to me a freekin black eye. Nice though.

As I glanced on their small menu for lunch, I noticed Coq Au Vin, chicken in wine, but I went on to get the Northwest Pacific Salad, minus the crab meat, crab gives me gout, so I asked for extra salmon, salmon was the other meat so I doubled up on salmon. And it was killer! Every bite was flavored, with a nice vinaigrette, it had avocado, crisp greens, it was fantasic, and the small pieces of garlic bread made it filling.

John had the grilled salmon with a nice gourmet type of sauce, being a chef he reacted like it was the best thing, so I figured if you're ever at Maximilien, go eat the grilled salmon. My sister ate the Chicken Croissant with Brie. She raved over that too.

Then we went walking around, it was cool, and it was F...... KING COLD!!!!!
Pacific Northwest Salad extra Salmon, no crab
Maximilien French Restaurant Pikes Place, Seattle, WA

CHRISTMAS COOKIES PART 1

2011-11-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas cookies Part 1; in this bloggie, I'll give you a simple recipe for some Tiny Tarts, a simple cookie for Xmas concoction. Ready? Here we go folks, my foodies.

1/2 cup softened unsalted real butter
1 pack of cream cheese
1 cup flour
1 whole large egg
3/4 cup of brown sugar to 1 cup
2 tbsp. of safflower oil
2/3 cup of chopped pecans or macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to about 325-350 degrees F

1. In a medium mixing bowl, add in the butter and cream cheese, and mix it together keeping it from melting totally. Slowly add in the flour and mix it well.

2. Grease a 24 cup mini-muffin pan (see bottom), about 1 3/4 inch size, use the oil to grease it so the dough will not stick when it's baked. Spoon a tablespoon of the dough into it making sure that the dough is pressed gently on the bottom and side of each cup.

3. Make the filling by mixing the egg, sugar, and oil. and the chopped nuts.

4. Fill each cup with 1 teaspoon of the filling, and then bake it for about 30 minutes, remove and let it cool and a wire rack.

This is what a 24 mini-muffin pan looks like this is from www.lionsdeal.com and sells for around 10.79 it's nonstick.

Note: when making the dough fit inside the cup compartments, make a lip towards the sides so the filling stays inside if not your filling will ooze out towards the sides.

CHRISTMAS CAKES

2011-11-28T23:12:00.000-08:00

Alright foodies, it's a few days before December 2011, so it's time for lots of baking, pies, cookies, and my favorite, Christmas cakes. Man there's nothing like eating a Christmas cake that a friend baked. In fact, I know several of my foodie friends that can really kick fucking ass in the baking department, I'm not included in that department, I suck at baking really, though at times I can pull off a baking task which is rarely.

My friend Jaime Navarro is an excellent home baker, my niece Tamara same thing, it's the love they put into baking. So then what am I going to write about today as Christmas lurks a few weeks ahead? I'll be looking at some Christmas cakes, from today on until Christmas day, I'll be talking about Christmas cakes, and pies, and cookies, sharing what was shared to me. Here goes.

EGGNOG BUNDT CAKE WITH RUM FROSTING

1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup eggnog
1 pack instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 filtered water
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Frosting:
5 tbsp. rum
1 1/8 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 deg.

Mix all of the cake mixture ingredients in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.

Prepare the bundt pan with nonstick spray.

Pour into pan, and bake for about 50 minutes. (Cool at least 20 minutes before removing from pan).

Make the frosting, add more rum if you want it thinner, then drizzle over the cake, then serve with a nice cup of hot coffee.

The pan you'll need looks like this, it's a deep pan, when you're done baking, you flip it and the cake comes out with the rounded part as the top.

Okay, now you know what a bundt cake pan looks like, it's time you get off of your freeking ass and bake some serious ass Eggnog Bundt Cake w/ Rum Frosting. I may have some Hana Bay Rum around here somewhere, shit, what if I used beer?

Anyhow, Happy baking this Holiday season, and if you fuck up your cake who really gives a fuck? Happy Christmas and if you are Jewish, Happy Hanukkah. Ho Ho Ho, where's the Ho? Is she still on the street? Tell her to go wash up!

2011-11-23T15:27:00.000-08:00

In sun Fukuyama, wife of Alan Fukuyama was kind enough to be on the show, teaching us the finer points of making kim chee. Both In sun and Alan were on the set in Wahikui, and I had a great time, as Alan provided the play by play from behind the scenes, In sun demonstrated the real way to make this Korean staple.

Growing up in Lahaina, kim chee was a staple in the fridge, next to the Best Foods Mayonnaise, and next to the tub of miso paste, most locals can relate.

What In sun talked about was that the cabbage (close to 2 lbs Napa), had to be sliced down the center only a tad by the whitish part of the bottom of the cabbage, not all the way down. As Alan commented as his wife was plucking the cabbage apart, "You never slice it all the way, because for one thing, the leaves in the center gets messed up, when you pull it apart, you have more leaves to work with." Then she sliced the cabbage in quarters, and then into bite-sized pieces. Then she sprinkled some salt over the cabbage that was resting in the bowl, this had to sit overnight or longer, but she had one prepped for the taping.

After that she boiled some water with cornstarch to make something of a roux, or slurry, she got it over the heat and it got thicker, then she cooled it down considerably. After the thickened water cooled down, she added some garlic and ginger, and some chili powder (not the fine one), it had texture, and then some shrimp paste, and green onions, and some Hawaiian chili peppers. This technique she claims makes the sauce hotter. "When you heat up the peppers, it loses heat, you heat the water and thicken it first, then you add in the ingredients when it is cooled down." Alan explained, "When we make chili pepper water, we never heat the chilis first, we add it in the water raw, it retains the heat longer. I learned that from a Japanese man."

Then she tossed the cabbage leaves together with the kim chee sauce, it was better than eating the bottled ones I buy at the supermarket, there's nothing like fresh kim chee, it was a great short segment that needs to be edited for Akaku TV and to be on YouTube, so I got some work to do.
In sun and Alan Fukuyama on the set

COOKING FOR TAMA (YouTube)

2011-11-20T00:40:00.000-08:00

RD Lick em Up! Our cooking show, not made for prime time, but we don't care really. This is part 1 of "Cooking for Tama" Tama is our families' Staffy, we cooked him a 12 oz. New York steak, and he mauled it in less than 30 seconds.

Our show is based on Ron (me) cooking, and Danny Agdeppa behind the camera and while he films, he commentates on what's happening. We also pick up on current events, and we try not to be so serious in the whole show. Mistakes are common, but that's the beauty of life, its imperfections.

Also will be doing more shows, will be on You Tube see (Chefboy Maui). And AKAKU Television Maui.

COOKING FOR TAMA (YouTube) Part 2

2011-11-20T00:33:00.000-08:00

RD Lick em Up! Our cooking show is not made for prime time t.v., but we don't give a shit, part 2 of "Cooking For Tama" Our families' Staffy. We cooked a 12 oz. New York steak for him, and he mauled it in less than 30 seconds.

Our show is based on Danny Agdeppa behind the camera as camera man/ commentator, while Ron (me) is the front man playing the chef. Every episode is an experiment.

www.rdlickemup.wordpress.com

THE MAHALO GIVING BIRD

2011-11-17T13:42:00.001-08:00

Thank You in Hawaiian, we say "Mahalo" (ma hah low)... Get it? In a week, it'll be Mahalogiving time, and well, most peeps will be roasting that bird also know as the turkey, the Tom, the bird. Some folks have some creative recipes for this bird. I've seen it done Chinese style, almost like Peking duck, I've seen it done somewhat Filipino/Spanish with the adobo flavors. Yes, I've seen it done with a teriyaki sauce too. Underground roasted, kalua. Deep Fried, oh this is really good deep fried, crispy on the outside, and juicy tender on the inside, man even the breast is juicy. But that good old traditional roasted turkey in the oven with the gravy made from the juices off the roasting pan, can't get better than that. There's nothing like it, some peeps will soak the turkey in a salted, herbed and spiced brine (not me though). Some peeps thaw it out early, fill a chest with ice, season it all over with seasonings, and let it just seep right into the body. My friend Uncle Al D, used to get lots of lemon grass, ginger, and garlic, with some soy sauce and soak the cavity of the bird with it. Then he'd go under the skin and put some Hawaiian salt, with pepper, and herbs, and tuck in nice and tight, lots of garlic too. He'd crank up the oven to super hot, place the bird in there, and let the bird get that crispy crust, then he'd foil it, turn the heat down to like right above 280 deg. and let it slow cook, always checking the birds internal temperature with his old culinary instant read thermometer, he'd pull it out at about 150 deg. f and let it rest on the counter, by the time people were ready to eat, it was fork tender. Also his stove was messed up, but he knew how to stroke that baby, I think now that stove is in the landfill.

Happy Thanksgiving!

HOW TO USE TOFU FOR BREAKFAST

2011-11-15T08:57:00.001-08:00

For those of you who think tofu is bland, think again, this is a simple recipe that is great for those of you trying to omit the meat out of your diets. Check out this list of ingredients, it's easy to purchase for I bet, you can buy these in your local supermarket.

And all you'll need is a non-stick pan, about a 10 inch pan will do, or a 12.

5 tbsp. of safflower oil
2 minced garlic
1 tsp. minced ginger
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika,1 block firm tofu 14 oz. Broken up into pieces. (organic)

1. Heat up the oil in pan over medium high heat, then add in the garlic, and ginger for a few seconds until the aroma is present, then add in the cumin and paprika, stir it into the oil for a few seconds. Then add in the tofu, and stir around cooking for about 5 minutes until steaming.

2 tsp. turmeric
1 orange (squeezed of its juice)3
1 bay leaf broken
3 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp. ume vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

2. Add in the turmeric, stir until some color changes to yellowish, then add in the juice of one orange, stir for a minute, crack the bay leaf in half, add that in as well as the soy sauce, ume vinegar, stir for about a couple minutes, you'll smell the aroma which is cool and fresh.
Add in salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with toast or any starch you like.

SWEET SOUR SHRIMP On The Healthy Side

2011-11-14T10:50:00.001-08:00

Sweet Sour Shrimp is a very popular Chinese dish, usually the shrimp is battered and then deep fried in hot sizzling oil, to a nice golden crisp, and a sauce that is sweet and sour, and colored on the reddish, yellowish side. There's different styles because of the different chefs that make it, but the basic recipes do have lots of sugar and sodium, so then how can you keep the sugars and sodium down?

Try this recipe.

1 lb. of cleaned shrimp, tails on.

1 cup of garbanzo flour + 2 cups of garbanzo flour
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
Ice Cold water enough to make a batter with the last 2 cups of garbanzo flour

First, take the one cup of garbanzo flour and put it in a bowl. Now place the shrimp in the flour and dredge it.

Next, add the bread crumbs 1/4 cup to the 2 cups of garbanzo flour, mix it well with a whisk or a fork, then slowly add in the ice cold water, mixing it in so that the mixture will be just right, not too thick and not too runny. Then add in the dredged shrimp and coat it well with the batter.

For the Sweet Sour Sauce:

1/2 cup of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup of raw brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 cup of water
1 tsp. ground turmeric

1 tbsp. of cornstarch
3 tbsp. of water.
Mix these two together in small bowl to thicken sauce.

1. Heat up a wok with vegetable oil over high heat, until it sizzles, then turn heat down to medium high, fry the battered shrimp, 2-3 at a time until golden, place on paper towel to drain oil. Continue until all of the shrimp are cooked.

2. In the same wok, with oil drained out, put the ingredients of all the sweet and sour mixture into the wok over high heat, stir it around, then add in the cornstarch and water mixture to thicken the sauce, the turmeric should make it kind of yellowish orange.

3. Pour the hot sauce over the cooked shrimp and serve immediately with brown rice, not white rice.

Sausage Salad

2011-11-11T10:51:00.001-08:00

Salads are getting to be quite crazy these days, I mean you go to a restaurant, and you'll see nice Kula greens, topped with 5 oz. of thinly sliced grilled flank, and the chef calls it a fajita salad. Wow, meat lovers unite!

Well, everyone that loves to eat meat, and I really try to watch my intake of it, in fact, seriously if there were more vegan joints around Lahaina or where I travel I'd really eat that kind of food. Well, that's another story for another time eh?

How about creating a sausage salad? Well, you can use any kind of sausage you like, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Ham, Pork links, whatever.

Here's my Sausage Salad, and you sick puppies are making fun of that dish right now eh sickos? But here is my Sausage Salad.

Serves 2.

Hand full of chopped romaine lettuce on each plate
A few Kalamata olives on each plate

A few thinly sliced onion slices on each plate
A few thinly sliced daikon radish on each plate

DRESSING:
2/3 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. ground mustard
1 tsp. sugar
In a blender blend all of these ingredients, and pour on each plate over veggies.

10 oz. of Portuguese sausage spicy
Pan sear sausage until it is blacken in the pan, use no oil or fats, let the fats come out from the sausage as it sears. Then slice it diagonally, dividing 5 oz. each over each plate, feather it over the veggies, serve with a nice red wine.

The picture is of Linguica made in a factory, these are very tasty sausage, over veggies it's wonderful.

TOFU, GINGER, PATIS, SWEET CHILI SAUCE

2011-11-10T10:43:00.001-08:00

Here are 4 ingredients, tofu (firm), ginger, patis (fermented fish sauce), and sweet chili sauce. What can you do with it?

Here's what I would do, I'd take the tofu and drain it well, take out as much water as possible, and then cut them up into cubes about 1/2 inches in size. Then peel the fresh ginger, and grate them, about 1 tbsp., and then mix about 4 tbsp. of patis, and 2 tbsp. of sweet chili sauce.

Then to be fancy, place the tofu, divided on four saucers, because most blocks of tofu are 14 oz., so each person will get a little over 3 oz. of tofu, then I'd top each saucer with some grated ginger, and then spoon some of the patis and sweet chili sauce mixture over it.

BALE Spring Rolls with Veggies, Rice Noodles and Fish Sauce

2011-11-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

If you've never eaten at Bale restaurant, a Vietnamese dig, you're missing out. The food is clean, and really low on the sat fats. Bale is located in Kahului at the Maui Market Place off of Dairy Road, it is also in Wailuku town under the bridge, there's one in the Piilani Shopping Village in Kihei, and one in the Lahaina Cannery Mall.

Pictured here is the Spring Rolls side dish, with crispy spring rolls, long rice noodles, sliced cucumber, and crisp romaine lettuce and sweet fish sauce. People can eat this anyway they want, but most will put a Spring roll into the lettuce, with a topping of rice noodles, cucumber, and dip it in the fish sauce and chomp it down.

Very filling, and clean, they also have vegetarian, and the breads are awesome too, they make great sandwiches, Vietnamese with a French touch.

COOK/FOOD BOOK RELEASE DATE EARLY 2012

2011-11-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

The upcoming cook/food book will feature 7 dishes from the beef, pork, chicken, fish, and turkey categories. Tips on food safety, equipment, just the basics one should know when learning to cook. This book is not a book full of bells and whistles, it's a book that will give a home cook an idea of what to make, dishes that most locals like to eat. There's seven days in a week, hence the seven dishes of each group. One for Sunday, Monday etc.

Guest chefs include Mark Ellman, Ann Marie Burtell, Scottee Nakamura, Chris Lelik, Mixologist Barbara Cobey, and the late Shirley Fong Torres, the book is dedicated to my brother Harold who also passed on this year, he and Shirley were Chinese chefs and restaurant owners, Shirley in the Bay area, Harold on Maui.

Currently untitled, there's one idea, and that is to have the cover solid black like Metallica's Black album, or solid white such as the Beetle's White album.

Looking at the calendar, the book should be out by early 2012 with another follow up right after that.

Book is currently eyeballed at a retail price of 17.99, and there will be a blog site set up for it when it gets all legalized.

TEST KITCHEN: Shoyu Chicken

2011-11-08T13:46:00.000-08:00

This morning, we borrowed a kitchen we used to test out a shoyu chicken recipe. First of all, we decided to keep the flavors true to the shoyu side, or the soy sauce side, and not make the sauce sweet like a teriyaki. This is easy, but difficult at the same time, because in a good shoyu chicken, you want some sweet, but you don't want the sweet to be over powering, also you don't want the chicken to be tasting too salty from the soy sauce.

First off, we used frozen thighs, which to me is the best because it is fattier, more juicy than the breast, or to be frank, the leg section or dark meat works very well for shoyu chicken.

I minced up some fresh ginger really fine, and the same amount of garlic, I love that culinary blend. I utilized about a 1/2 cup raw sugar, 1/3 cup water, 1 1/2 cups soy sauce for the liquids. Minced some green onions and tossed it into the bowl and mixed it up well.

Then I soaked the thighs for about 2 hours, longer works better but because we needed to get out of the kitchen we kinda rushed the job, but that's okay, a 2 hour soak works well too.

I cranked the oven (a gas convection) to 350 deg. f, and then got a roasting pan, and laid out the marinated thighs skin side up. Then I baked the chicken for 1 hour, and this was a 5 pound box. Since the pieces are broken apart, I could have gone for 45 to 50 minutes, but went for a solid hour. What was produced was a nice dark piece of thigh, crisp on the edges, and somewhat juicy on the inside, okay some of the pieces were dry, I think because of the convection system it really heated up the oven well enough to cook through quickly. Maybe if I took it out earlier and let it rest, it would work out better, but would the skin be that crisp on the edges? Well, I am limited on funds to test more of this, so I figure baking it is good, but if you're using a convection, keep an eye on it as it bakes.

Now what did the HTRs say about the flavor? Now keep in mind, my recent testings were all good for some reason, why? Because my Human test rats were always hungry, they'ed eat a live mongoose and say it was great. But today, I struck out a few times.

HRT 1: Ron, it tastes too salty, I think more sweet would be better, and I like my shoyu chicken boiled not baked.

HRT 2: I think it needed to be more juicy, some of the pieces were too dried out, but the flavors was okay, but I hate green onions, WTF did you put that in there?

HRT 3: No, not good Ron, I would not buy this product, for one thing, there's too much garlic in there, the ginger I can handle, but garlic? Is this an Italian dish? And I must agree with the other two, too salty for some reason, needs more sugar.

Okay, that's me striking out, but I'll remember to sweeten it up more the next time, and maybe not bake it. Oh well, that's all part of testing and tasting.

Sorry no pics, the HRTs and the person who owns the kitchen didn't want it all over the internet, hey I'm just happy I got to test this out.

For my upcoming cook/foodbook. Yet to be titled.

Ron.

Japanese Influence on Da Plate Lunch

2011-11-05T23:57:00.000-07:00

Growing up in Lahaina, Maui right out of the plantations of the sugar industry, I had friends who's parents or grandparents migrated from Japan to work in the sugar fields. Whenever I'd play with them as kids, their moms would make food for us, and because here in Hawaii we were exposed to many different styles of cooking, nothing really fazed us that much. After all, each ethnic dish had an aroma, no questions asked, it had an aroma.

Japanese foods. Many of the dishes I ate in the homes of my local Japanese friends were flavored by rice vinegar, soy sauce, dried tuna flakes, miso paste, scallions, ginger, salt, MSG, and they used lots of lean meats, lots of seafood, some poultry, but lots of veggies thinly sliced and raw.

Pickled radish was popular as a side to the entree, daikon was the Japanese radish, and when pickled, it gave a pretty whopping aroma, that the uninitiated would find offensive. But we were exposed to the aromas of the Japanese home, the food smells would be embedded in the sofas, the curtains, the air around us, but that was alright, it was part of their home. Like I said, the aroma of foods, was always present back in the day before everyone was into spraying Lysol or Glade in the air.

Fried mackerel was another such dish we would consume, fried crisp with soy sauce and vinegar with white rice. Or a stew or braise called nishime, consisting of tofu, mixed vegetables, and a sweet soy sauce gravy, some cooks would add seaweed, some would add bamboo shoots, some mushrooms. Also tempuras was popular, shrimp, veggies, fish, all battered and deep fried. Udon noodles, stirred around in a pan with some ham, and fish cake, topped with soy sauce, and sometimes a scrambled egg. And the maki and cone sushi was always part of a meal.

When there were picnics, my Japanese friends would bring rice balls, hand crafted sticky white rice, with a ume salted plum stuck in the center, it was like licking a lollipop and trying to get the prized tootsie roll chocolate in the center. Some would bring a fried chicken that was soaked in teri sauce, it was battered and fried to a crisp, that was great. I remember one of my friends would bring a teri beef sandwich for the rest of our little league team, his mom would make it, stuck in between white bread with a piece of lettuce and mayonnaise, it was sort of France meets Japan, way before sushi joints concocted California rolls, or Dynamite.

Now if you got to a plate lunch dig here in the islands, this is where we got the shrimp tempura, the miso soup, the sushi, the udon bowls. And we can't rule out guri guri, a Japanese concocted sorbet. My friend Karl Yamada's parents ran a local Okazu Ya on Front Street in Lahaina, and I remember them having some of that there.

And shaved ice, we were introduced to shaved ice from a little Japanese man Mr. Yamamoto, Yamamoto's was a small store that sold hamburgers, good ones too, I bet he'd kick In N Out's ass today if he were alive. But he sold fishing gear on a small scale, bamboo poles, small sinkers, led, and any pound of test line you needed. Whenever we needed to go get hooks and fishing supplies we went to Yamamoto's and we got a shaved ice too while there. I liked the strawberry syrup, and if I had enough cash, I'd get the vanilla ice cream stuck in the center of the cup, you know those Coke cups? Yeah that's the ones man.

Well that's it for my short history on Japanese influencing the plate lunch. :))

LOCAL MENU FOR THE VISITOR What it Looks Like

2011-11-05T23:21:00.000-07:00

Local foods on Maui is all about plate lunches, this is really a repetitive thing, because anyone who knows food and culture in Hawaii, with the Asian culture, the Polynesian culture, and even cultures of Spanish influence.

On a plate you'll find anything from a Japanese inspired teriyaki beef, to a Korean Kalbi style BBQ short rib, to a Chinese influenced stir fry, to an Indian curry, to a Hawaiian roasted pork, the list is endless.

Plate lunches usually consist of 2 scoops of rice, 1 scoop of macaroni salad (made up of macaroni noodles, interspersed with minced veggies, salt and pepper, with the ever so popular local favorite mayonnaise).

A typical menu would look like this as you face the girl behind the counter

CHICKEN KATSU ..........7.95
TERI BEEF.......................7.95
KALBI RIBS.....................7.95
ROAST PORK..................7.95
CHOW FUN.......................6.95
SAIMIN................................6.95
SHRIMP TEMPURA........8.95

MIXED PLATES COMBOS $9.95 (TWO CHOICES OF ENTREES)

This is just an example but this is what it would look like.

www.jooble.org

KUNG FU PLAZA RESTAURANT: VEGAS

2011-11-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

Looking for awesome Thai and Chinese food under one roof? Head to Kung Fu Plaza in Las Vegas, close to the Rio and the Gold Coast 702-765-4836 3505 S. Valley View Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89103.

Famous for their dishes such as Pad Thai, Chicken Curry, Garlic Chicken, Won Ton Soup.

They have catering and banquets too.

Kung Fu Las Vegas Restaurants Beginnings

KungFu Restaurant was founded in 1973 on 3rd and Fremont street in downtown Las Vegas we had enough seats for 25 guest, and a takeout counter. Back then Las Vegas was very different, everyone who came to Vegas, visited Downtown, Nixon was in office, Bruce Lee became the first Asian starring in a lead Motion Picture production film, “Enter the Dragon”, and people thought Thai was something you tied around your neck. But Chinese, almost everyone knew China, and that to enjoy Chinese cuisine meant you had to eat rice with chopsticks. Thanks to Bruce everyone started to practice “Kung Fu” thinking it was some kind of an ancient warrior dance. Little does the average person realize that “Kung Fu” or “Gong Fu” as it is pronounced in Cantonese literally means to work harder or hard at something. Nevertheless, Mr. and Mrs. Wong decided that since everyone knew KungFu from Bruce’s films, we might as well name the restaurant after it, the work hard at something part and not the martial arts part, is what they named it after. Back then Thailand was mostly known for their Bar girls that American service men frequented during the Vietnam war, not the rich tasting cuisine that was actually good for you. Opening a Thai restaurant in 1973 in Las Vegas was to put it simply, murder. Feeling undeterred Mr. and Mrs. Wong who immigrated to the United States from Thailand in 1967 decided to open the first Thai and Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas back in 1973. Since no one knew what Thai food was, much less where Thailand was on a map, and forget spelling it, they decided to gradually introduce Thai food to Las Vegans one dish at a time. Back then KungFu restaurant’s entire menu consisted of Chinese food dishes, but over time, one dish at a time we added more and more Thai food dishes into our menu.

The Plaza in Kung Fu Plaza

In the 1980’s this Las Vegas restaurants reinvented itself, by becoming one of the first independent restaurant operator inside a major Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, when Mr. John D. “Jackie” Gaughan, Sr. invited Mr. and Mrs. Wong’s Kung Fu Restaurant into what was then The Union Plaza Hotel & Casino, thus taking over their buffet room on the 3rd floor. That’s how we got the Plaza in KungFu Plaza Restaurant. With a seating capacity of well over 500, that’s five hundred seats, Mr. and Mrs. Wong felt obligated to Mr. Gaughan to try and fill up the seats as often as possible, so they marketed KungFu Plaza to Southeast Asian tourist. And they came, by the bus loads, tourist visiting Vegas with tour operators took their passengers for sightseeing in downtown Las Vegas, and had authentic Thai and Chinese food at the same time, it was like “being home away from home with the curries, and the Teo Chew Roast Duck” mentions one patron. The demand for our food was so widespread amongst Asian Tourist to Las Vegas, that KungFu Plaza became the first restaurant in Las Vegas to operate a fleet of shuttle buses, ferrying patrons, hungry for Authentic Thai food and Chinese food dishes, from Hotels on the Strip to our Restaurant in The Union Plaza Hotel. Our inventiveness, and the notion to work harder at something, set off a furry of complementary shuttle operations among the Hotels and Casinos in Las Vegas, and now you see them as common place.

Chinatown and Las Vegas Restaurants

With Vegas greatly expanding outward, especially Las Vegas Restaurants expanding throughout the Strip, KungFu Plaza decided that the most logical place for it to be was in a Chinatown. Numerous attempts was made to nail down a Las Vegas Chinatown, anywhere from East Charleston Blvd and Eastern, West Sahara and Lindell, to East Flamingo Road, but in 1994, a major investment company from Taiwan placed their bets on West Spring Mountain Road, and opened the biggest Asian Themed Shopping Mall in Las Vegas. Getting wind of that project, Mr. and Mrs. Wong found a vacant restaurant and quickly secured the space for what is now the current location of KungFu Plaza Restaurant at 3505 South Valley View Blvd.
As you come in and relax in our cozy Dining Room which is just ½ mile west of the Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas Strip. Your Vegas dining experience begins as you are greeted by an ancient elephant, hand carved from a single teak wood, in an atmosphere filled with our contemporary Thai Artwork, Thai speaking waiters and waitresses.

This Las Vegas restaurants Bar is stocked full of Bourbon, Cognac, Cordials, Gins, Rums, Scotch, Tequilas, Vodkas, Wines and Whiskey, or if you prefer, ask one of our staff to make one of our great tasting Polynesian specialty drinks, Mai Tai, or Pina Coladas, Blue Hawaii, Khing Khong or a Sabai Sabai. We could also brew up that traditional Hot Chinese Jasmine tea, or Oolong tea imported from China, to satisfy any taste and to enhance that perfect Vegas dining experience.

As you Relax in our Las Vegas restaurants dining room, You can rest assure that Your food is prepared and Cooked in a modern Kitchen that is thoroughly cleaned nightly. We use Cooking oils containing Zero grams of Trans Fat, Premium Beef that is Certified Angus and or USDA Choice, and Premium Sauces and dressing in our recipes. And all cooking is executed by a Thai Master Chef.

Today KungFu Plaza Restaurant which is the oldest and most authentic Thai food and Chinese food restaurant in Las Vegas is the foremost authority on authentic Thai and Chinese cuisine in the world, introducing as many people as
possible to new and ancient flavors from its location within an international travel destination.

Kung Fu Plaza is dedicated to providing our patrons and guests with a culturally rich experience by sharing the most authentic Thai and Chinese recipes with an emphasis on taste, quality, and service for a reasonable price.

The Management and Associates at Kung Fu Plaza Restaurant would like to Thank You for your patronage. We look forward to servicing your culinary needs in the future.

HOT SPICY STIR FRY

2011-11-04T02:50:00.000-07:00

This is a simple stir fry, all you need is a wok, some of the ingredients listed here, and you're good to go.

2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. minced ginger
10 oz. thinly sliced chicken, into strips, use breast or thighs, I like thighs, it's juicier.
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
1/4 cup thinly sliced bell pepper
2 tbsp. hot chili paste
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. five spice
1/4 cup crushed cashews

1. Heat up vegetable oil over medium high heat, saute the ginger and garlic for a few seconds. Add in the chicken strips, cook for a couple of minutes untouched. Add in the onion, and bell pepper, stir around the wok, cook until slightly wilted.
2. Add in chili paste, five spice, and soy sauce, cook for about 2 minutes, then add in the cashews, toss around, off heat and serve.

Another One Crashes On Lava Rocks! Melting Pot Melts

2011-11-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

I was never into fondue that much, never had the hots for it. I mean sitting around and dipping food into some melted crap isn't something that turns me on. I remember growing up in the 70's as a little kid I remember shows in the 70's, people ate fondue with Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson playing in the background. Fondue never interested me at all.

So then, last week I found out that Wok Star closed, and just a minute ago walking to Barnes and Noble here in Lahaina, the maintenance guy tells me, "Hey man the Melting Pot closed." I was like, no shit?

So for those of you bozos that love fondue, oh well, you gots ta make your ownz I reckon. Just kidding but, The Melting Pot just melted, ha ha ha. It melted on volcanic rock! The sad thing is there were employees there that now don't have a gig, and in these times trying to land any gig is fucking hard. Fucking hard.

Okay then sorry for the cussing, I'm pissed because my project test kitchen is on hold, our test kitchen's stove decided to die. Hey this is irony or what? Is it? Everything is dying, or does irony mean something else, I'm toasted excuse me for living.

Anyhow, if there were any naysayers out there a few years ago that said The Melting Pot wouldn't last, you gotta call them yaysayers then. Whatever, The Melting Pot is closed despite the temporary sign, it is closed for good, has to be, according to the maintenance dude, "They moved out their trash dumpsters." Okay that's a good indicator a restaurant is outta biz, their trash bins are gone, why would the owners keep on paying the fucking trash collectors when they won't have any trash to haul.
Photo: Ron Sambrano

Photo: Ron Sambrano

TEST KITCHEN Shoyu Chicken Part 2

2011-11-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of the Test Kitchen "Shoyu Chicken" was anything but smooth, first of all the stove we were using broke down, shit! My human test rats are still buzzing from Halloween, so actually in this case, there was zero Test Kitchen.

Now we need to find a place to test, which shouldn't be hard, we'll just go to someone else's house and make lots of noise and in the process, the owners can also be my HTRs.

Stay tuned because we should commence maybe tonight somewhere, and instead of using Kikkoman Soy Sauce we may try.... drum roll please.. drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. "ALOHA SHOYU AND LIQUID BRAGG's LIQUID AMINO...."

So to tell you all the truth about starting any projects for business, expect Murphy's Law, that yes indeed shit fucking happens, and when it does? Go get a nice pumpkin spiced latte, or go to the ocean and chill out, because there's nothing you can do, in our case the stove fucking broke down, so well, stay tuned eh?

United States Cattlemen's Association and Congress

2011-10-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

The American Cattle industry is facing some hurdles, trade agreements are still in the works with countries that will buy our beef, one major player is South Korea, this is worth tons of money, and jobs for cattle ranchers here on our soil.

Also deals with Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico, as well as Canada is all important. Promoting beef, as a good source of food can be a difficult task with past illnesses caused from Mad Cow disease, and other sicknesses. The beef industry faces many bumps in the road like many industries in these economic times.

Learning where our beef is sold, and what we import is important if you cook beef, beef is a major product for U.S. consumers, both for home for families, and the restaurant business. We do import less quality beef for processing, such as for frozen burgers etc. and the cattle is mostly grass fed beef, while our exports are grain fed beef.

To keep up on what's happening in the beef industry, go to www.uscattlemen.org

CHILI Recipe Customized

2011-10-31T22:08:00.000-07:00

CHILI CUSTOMIZED

Here's a chili I just came up with off the top of my head for brother James.

4 tbsp. olive oil
1 large round sweet Maui onion or the like
6 cloves of garlic smashed
4 Hawaiin red chili peppers, with seeds chopped
4 Roma tomatoes diced

1 lb. of low sodium bacon, fried to a crisp, and chopped up good (save on the side)
2 lbs. of belly pork, sliced thin
1 lb. of cubed chuck steak
2 lbs. of ground chuck
10 oz. of Hot Portuguese sausage minced

1 can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained.
2 cans of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 green bell pepper seeded and cut into strips
1 red bell pepper seeded and cut into strips
20 fl. oz. of tomato sauce
1/2 can of warm beer

6 tbsp. of chili powder
3 tbsp. cayenne pepper
2 tbsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. of ground cumin
2 tbsp. of ground coriander

Add these to taste
Hot sauce
Brown sugar
Salt
Pepper

1. Heat up oil in pot, saute the onions, garlic, chili peppers and the Roma tomatoes.
2. Add in the pork belly, cubed Chuck.. cook these for a few minutes, then add in the ground chuck, continue to cook for several minutes, then add in the Portuguese sausage and continue to cook until everything melts down, and the juices come out, leave it all in do not drain it. Cook this over medium high heat.
3. Then add in the beans, the garbanzo, and kidneys, cook for about 15 minutes at this point over low heat and covered with a lid.
4. Add in the sliced bell peppers, this adds some flavor to it, then add in the tomato sauce, and beer, and cook this for about 30 minutes over low heat again with lid on.
5. Then add in the spices, the chili powder, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, ground cumin, and ground coriander, continue to stir, and cook, let this settle in, cook for about 1 hour, over low heat, let the flavors all sink in.
6. Right about the time to end this thing, add in the hot sauce, brown sugar, and salt, and pepper to your liking.

copyright 2011
chefsambrano

TEST KITCHEN Shoyu Chicken Part 1

2011-10-31T21:41:00.000-07:00

Test kitchen moves forward, for SHOYU CHICKEN. Simple, lots of peeps make it here in Hawaii, so the test kitchen carries forth.

Okay, why? Well, I got a recipe for it for my up and coming book on food, yet to be titled. So we tested here on part one, and here is what I did with my human test rats A.K.A. HTRs

I used a five pound box of frozen chicken parts, mostly legs, so I got a few different sizes of thighs, and drums. Ha ha, it was on sale at a local market, was it filled with GMOs? I'm not certain, but it didn't say Organic on the box.

Shoyu Chicken is just that, chicken with shoyu or soy sauce. But what's in it that makes it rock?
First off, my HTRs are Shoyu Chicken aficionados, it can't be teriyaki chicken which is similar, it can't be Korean style, it has to be shoyu chicken at its best.

Okay, I'll do test number one, and this is going to be put in a large stock pot and simmered, which I did.

I made sure the chicken parts were thawed, and patted dry, and left at room temperature for about an hour. Then I used a stainless steel stock pot about a 12 qt size with lid. I used Kikkoman Shoyu, white C&H sugar, some green onions minced up, a few garlic cloves smashed, about 2 inches of ginger smashed, some filtered water. I used less sugar, again I did not want a teriyaki chicken, but a shoyu chicken.

I made sure that the chicken was marinating for about 3 hours in the fridge in the stock pot, this makes it easy to cook, just use it for marinating. Then I turned on the stove, in this case it was an induction stove top, cranked it on high! Brought this to a boil, then turned it down to simmering for about 50 minutes. When it was done, my HTRs gave it a tasting. Oh yeah, I had only two willing people, this time.

I served it with hot sticky white rice, and a simple mac salad.

Well, for a simple recipe that anyone can concoct, both HTRs, gave it a thumbs up, so this was the moist heat method of SHOYU CHICKEN, next, I'll try the baked kind.

Again this is for my up and coming food book out soon, yet to be titled.
I used Kikkoman Soy Sauce. (I'll experiment with Aloha laterz)

Chicken parts marinating (wikipedia)

WOK STAR Another Dig That Got Burried

2011-10-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

Through social networking I found out that WOK STAR in Kihei was closing its doors for good, so before they did close its doors, I had to go check them out before it was R.I.P. What led me to get down the south end of Maui on Thursday night, the twenty-seventh of October 2011? Well, I tell you what, it's all about lives, you see, a restaurant is all about lives, all about feeding people for a profit of course. But when the economy, or bad management or whatever takes it down, it is sad for the community that it serves, and the employees that it employs. Wok Star was a small business, and was in service for three years.

Anyone driving towards Wailea or heading north on lower Kihei road, would have noticed that WOK STAR sign right off the road, in the Kalama Village, next to Foodland. It was a real local kind of place with a beach town feel. You walked inside and ordered your food, and waited outside until it was cooked, on wooden tables and benches. Well, WOK STAR is now gone.

So far in this past year, we've witnessed several restaurants go down into the pits of hell, Tiajuana in Kaanapali, dead! The Village Cafe and Sweet Shoppe, dead! And many other small restaurants went down, pretty good ones that had good employees.

It is the sign of the times, if you want to open up a restaurant, you better be damned good, in fact excellent in managing quality of your food, managing your people, and keeping all the numbers in check. But sometimes even if you do all these things to perfection, the Devil lurks and kills it.

Photo:Ron Sambrano

TEST KITCHEN Tangy Beef w/ Onions is Done.

2011-10-30T00:10:00.000-07:00

For those who were interested in the recipe for TANGY BEEF w/ ONIONS, we did several different variations for this dish. It falls under an umami and quite possibly savory. The influence is from the Philippines, the brands of soy sauce and vinegar, can be up to the cook themselves.

The beef cuts should be sliced thin, in fact I delved in flank, which works best, cut thin across the grain, that worked well, and the flavors were good. Round steak was a bit dry and tougher, Chuck was not bad, slightly chewy no matter how thin I sliced it.

So then what really happened with my human test rats? Most of them ate it all, and it did not matter what recipe I used in the test kitchen which leads me to this conclusion, one can make this dish very tangy, or more on the salty side using more soy sauce.

As far as the soy sauce or shoyu was concerned, Kikkoman's regular brew was the tops. So when my book comes out, if you want a more pronounced soy sauce, use Kikkoman. For those with gluten allergies, there's gluten free tamari soy sauce on the market as well.

Next up we'll test out SHOYU CHICKEN for the Test Kitchen.

Thanks
Ron

TEST KITCHEN Tangy Beef with Onions Part 4 Version #2

2011-10-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

Results for version #2 of TANGY BEEF with ONIONS that will be in my cook/food book.

I used some round steak again, but marinated it in straight up white wine vinegar for a few minutes, heat up a wok with ginger and garlic over high heat, then put the slices of round in it and seared it well, and then sauteed onions afterwards, and then added in the meat again and tossed it around in the hot wok, and put some soy sauce in it, I used Aloha brand shoyu for the soy sauce.

My human rats said it was too sour, too much tart, but the white wine vinegar tasted a little fruity, seemed good to me, and the human rats ate it all. So I guess this one works.
Used the bottle right. Can't figure this shit out, but it works.
Still not what I envision, can't get the hook I want on this freeking dish!

So WTF am I looking for in this dish? I'm looking for an aroma that will make you melt when you're not even hungry. I'm looking for the flavors to just kick ass in your mouth, I want the meat to be soft but not so, so you have to chew a little, but soft nuff if you all got dentures you know? And I envision the onions to be with garlic, and give you that feel, that warm home cooking feel. Mom used lots of garlic and onions, that shit runs in our blood.

Passion for Life, Passion for People, Aaron Placourakis Has Just That

2011-10-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

So a week ago, my friend Barbara Cobey mixologist at Sarento's on the beach in Wailea emailed me to come down to have breakfast at the south Maui restaurant right on the beach at Keawakapu at 830 am, be there or don't be there. I chose to be there because Sarento's was just embarking on their breakfast menu, Executive Chef Geno Sarmiento was supposed to be there but was tied up with another function, oh well no problem eh?

So me and my sidekick Sascha Bauml left the Lahaina side at 745 in the morning, and whipped it to the south side really quickly, as a matter of fact when we pulled into the gravel parking area next to Sarento's we noticed that Barbara was pulling in also.

After a few small chit chatting we walked into the outside dining area, the ocean was calm, beach goers were all over it, paddle boards, sunbathers, dog walkers, runners, swimmers, and some bikinis, man, what a place for breakfast.

We sat down, the waiter got us a table, all three of us sat down, had some coffee, and when we found out that Chef Geno couldn't make it, in comes the owner of Sarento's Aaron Placourakis, we are introduced as Barbara tells Aaron that me and Sascha were there to sample the food and hang out a bit, Aaron was cool, dressed in a t shirt and shorts, you would not think this man was owner of one of the world's picturesque restaurants, he actually could be some actor dude on vacation, you know those soap guys, but also, he could be an NBA coach, or... reality is, he paddles his boat in the ocean quite often, a water man, an athlete in his earlier days, and still is actually.

As we got to know Aaron, he's a lover of life, his family seems to be of the utmost importance to him, his family is definitely number one on the list, and then it is his restaurants, the one we were at Sarento's, and he has Nick's Fish Market in the Fairmont Kealani, and SONZ Swan Court at the Hyatt in Kaanapali, and the original Sarento's in Honolulu, all these fine dining establishments are under the Tri Star Restaurants.

Placourakis is a well spoken individual, he comes across as intelligent in his business, he knows what works, and that is offering his patrons a great experience from the time they are greeted at the front door, in is own words, "This restaurant is our home, we treat everyone like a special guest here." See him in action, he's pulling out chairs for his guests and getting them water, coffee, and conversing with them, personally I thought it was cool, how often do you see owners, well established owners of restaurants doing that? Some owners of restaurants I know are never around, playing golf, and not paying attention to the operations at all. And those my friends are the ones that don't have a business any longer. Take it from me, I know how a restaurant makes it, it's all about the people, customers and employees, you take care of them, you got a winner, Placourakis made his own mold, and tossed it somewhere.

But he does find time to travel back to Greece where he has family. "I go back and visit, the place is beautiful, the landscape, the people and the food," he says like a kid. "But, I tell you what, there's no place else to do business than right here," referring to Maui and Hawaii in general, and being an avid water man, Wailea is perfect, telling stories of paddling around Molokini on a good day. He seems to be a well balanced individual, always talking about his love for family and food, and when he talks about the restaurant biz, it's not work but more like fun. His cell phone rings, "Hey I'll be up there and we'll harvest the cabbage." He hangs up and starts talking about the good life. And the good life is just being happy, and the feeling I get from him is this, even if he didn't own this business, he'd still be happy, even if he didn't have much money, he'd be happy, as long as he had his health.

"I try to take my six year old son everywhere I can, he loves hanging out," he says. "That kid is my shadow." Placourakis has older kids, but he lights up when he talks about the little dude, and Barbara injects also that the little dude is cute. Hey, Placourakis is alright in my book, it's not easy running a business, it's hard work, got to make people happy, keep up on trends, but when it comes to numbers and the bottom line, being a business person can be overwhelming, but Placourakis balances his life out just right, after a lot of years, Tri Star is still kicking ass.

So after a few minutes of just shootin the breeze, I find out Placourakis has a great sense of humor, I told him, "Hey Aaron I'll race you on the water one day, you with your boat that you paddle, and I'll have a boat but with an Evinrude outboard motor, he slaps my gut and tells me, "Make that two Evinrudes." Hey I got a sense of humor, I can laugh at myself, sometimes. And then he pokes fun of me because I'm wearing my Dodgers cap.

"I hate the Dodgers, never did like them," he says. "Hey I went to UCLA, and when I was there, Pauley Pavilion was brand new, that's where the Bruins play hoops." So I asked him when he was there did the Bruins win anything? "No, they didn't, the Wooden era was done with." I also asked him if he went to any alumnae functions, maybe kicking back with Kareem Abdul Jabbar or something, maybe having a beer with Bill Walton. "Nah, why? I'd rather stay here." Okay, good answer, why would he want to go there? He's got it made in Wailea, who needs to go to L.A.?

All in all, Placourakis was just a fun conversationalist and happy guy at the breakfast table, then he had to go and mingle with the other guests, he said his alohaz and he went on his way. So we ate our food, Barbara had her Club Benedict, Sascha had his Huevos Rancheros and pancakes, buttermilk pancakes that is, and I had my Pacific Benedict, it had asparagus spears, and chunky crab meat, it was nuts man, nuts!
Placourakis uses humor in his conversations
as he looks out into the ocean, his second home.

Sarento's Huevos Rancheros

Sarento's Pacific Benedict

Sarento's Buttermilk Pancakes

TEST KITCHEN Tangy Beef with Onions Part 3 Version #1

2011-10-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

Test kitchens are for testing, I am testing because my soon to be out cook/food book for the intermediate foodie has to be a simple one eh? EZ to understand, to comprehend. The writ needs to be in your face without any foggy instructions.

Somethings can be inexplicable only if the info presenter lacks the energy to produce. So my yet to be titled book is in the works. The copyright needs to be paid for, the ISBN number all that nonsense. But for each author that is on the market, the protocol of legally having one's book published and sold is of the utmost importance.

But back to the future book, and of course the contents. There will be 7 dishes from Beef, Pork, Chicken, Fish, Turkey, so that's what? 35 dishes? Yeah that's it, and it gives the foodie a chance to set up a dish for everyday of the week. So this test dish falls under the BEEF category, and it is Tuesday's dinner, or lunch or whatever.

So the test kitchen commences, the dish is TANGY BEEF w/ ONIONS, a homey local grinez we had at home. Mom Peggy would make this, but I'm trying to find my own identity with this.

Welcome to Part 3

I tried this with red wine vinegar, it had a different flavor and contrasting from using Heinz apple cider vinegar, and I used Kikkoman Shoyu or soy sauce for this. I tried 2 different versions.

Version #1, Round steak sliced thin, with red wine vinegar, and the Kikkoman. I used, about 1 cup of shoyu, and 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, the standard pinch of each, garlic and ginger, and the onions were sliced thicker, sauteed separately but not overcooked. The round steak seemed to me a tad on the dry side, as opposed to the flank for some reason, I loved the flank sliced thin, so did my human test rats. Though this latest test recipe was eaten pretty quickly by the two legged rats,, I guess they were hungry, I personally thought there needed more vinegar in there, and quite frankly, version #1 of this testing I did not like.
STAR Red Wine Vingar (L)

Top Round Steak (not my fave for this dish)

Stay tuned for Version#2 of the latest test on TANGY BEEF w/ ONIONS

TEST KITCHEN Tangy Beef with Onions Part 2

2011-10-25T07:33:00.000-07:00

The test kitchen continues, as I tweak a creation I call TANGY BEEF with ONIONS. I did several tests and had a few human test rats to taste it. The most recent test is in, and the star ingredients are beef, vinegar, soy sauce, and onions. But the beef is key, I wanted to use thin cuts to cook cook quickly on the stove top. I used a stainless steel pan, vegetable oil, garlic, ginger minced up. And I used thin sliced onions.

For some reason, I'm going heavy on the vinegar, at this test and the past test, I used Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar, and though I went hard on it in the pan, my test rats loved it, I guess sour tangy flaves are alright, but still, I need to balance this out more, I'm getting frustrated because I can imagine the taste in my head... um, my mouth I meant, and I can imagine the aroma, everything what it will be like, that experience. But back to the drawing boards.

(This dish is in my upcoming cook/food book) Tentatively untitled.

What am I looking for in this dish? I want this dish to be mouth watering, an aroma that will have all of the aromatics in one's face or nose, you know? Right now it primarily onions and garlic and ginger, and onions, and the beef that I'm smelling, but, I want that right scent to just attack the foodie right off the bat eh?

So right now I go back to the testing. For the next few days I'll be using Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar, Aloha Shoyu, and some thin cuts of beef, let's see what works, shouldn't be too hard because no matter how I'm doing this as a test, the human rats I have love it so far, no matter how much or less a certain ingredient I'm using.

No matter how I cook this, the vinegar really has people trying any food that has a vinegar in a starring role.

Once I get this figured out, I'll type out the recipe for the book.