After errands in downtown, I went in search of lunch since I already had parking. As I was walking down Punchbowl Street, I stumbled across Da Ala Cart (HTTP://twitter.com/DaAlaCart/) just outside the Hawaii State Capitol. Since I've heard so many positive comments about the food served out of this truck, but have not been able to make my way to it to try it, I took advantage of the opportunity.
I had the $7 "grab n go" combo. It included a tsukune (ground chicken skewer, asparagus skewer and a musubi (Japanese rice ball). It was a perfect combination. The tsukune was soft, moist and seasoned with a sweet shoyu (soy) sauce. The asparagus had a thin bacon wrapping with a citrus and white pepper seasoning that I really enjoyed. (I love pepper.) The musubi balanced out the lunch with it's light crisp from the grill and it had a shoyu okaka like filling.
I will be searching for Da Ala Cart again! In fact, if I had more than $3 cash left on me, I would've went back and bought more to bring to my friends at Beach Bum Cafe! Too bad they don't accept credit card payments.
Sent by mobile.
Rick Nakama (R)
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Hawaiian Micro Brew Coffee Spot - Beach Bum Cafe
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| Andrew and Dennis Beach Bum Cafe |
If you are a true coffee lover, you must have Hawaiian coffee at Beach Bum Cafe if you are in Oahu. I will admit that their location, in the middle of Hawaii's business district, is inconvenient even for most of us that live here, but that doesn't keep me away. If you need parking, I suggest parking at the Iolani Palace lot and paying the meter for a couple of hours of parking. I believe that parking there is the most affordable and it is only a couple of blocks (5-10 minutes walk) away. In fact, if you are a tourist, I suggest planning to go on the Iolani Palace tour and walking over for coffee after purchasing your ticket for the tour that begins later in the day. Don't forget to feed the meter if it's running out of time. The maximum you can pay at once is 4 hours.
| Rusty's Red Caturra Natural Process Pour-over Sock Pot |
Anyway, on to the true topic of today's experience...
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| Affogato treat! |
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| The 3 different processes brewing. |
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| The 3 processes ready to sample. |
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| All samples gone! |
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| Our Rusty's Kau Yellow Caturra French Press I think my preferred method of brewing for this coffee is the vacuum pot. |
Friday, October 7, 2011
The Good Table at Ola Restaurant at Turtle Bay. A Fundraiser for Lanakila Pacific Meals on Wheels.
October 6th at 6pm, 2011, the annual Lanakila Pacific fundraiser dinner for Meals on Wheels took place. The event is called The Good Table and it takes place at about 50 different restaurants around Oahu at the same time. The Chefs at each restaurant prepares a special menu for the guests of The Good Table making this a very special dinner for everyone. The goal of this annual event is to raise funds that will be used to supply thousands of meals to seniors (Kupuna) throughout Oahu and spread awareness by way of the social dinner and the use of social media by the diners. Read more details about Lanakila Pacific Meals on Wheels and The Good Table at their website: http://lanakilapacific.org/.
I am a Lanakila Pacific volunteer and I deliver a Meals on Wheels route on Monday mornings in the Nuuanu/Downtown area. I was lucky to receive The Good Table at Ola Restaurant in the Turtle Bay Resort and I invited a few friends of mine that would be able to help Lanakila Pacific spread the word about Meals on Wheels over social media.
Chef Fred DeAngelo, the chef at Ola, prepared a special four course sampler menu and dessert with wine pairings for this The Good Table dinner. Here is a group shot of us [flickr]. Chef Fred was definitely cool, as documented by @RickyLi99's Tweet.
1st Course [Photo]- Butter Poached Lobster & Caviar, Spicy Scallop & Ahi Poke, Alaskan Snow Crab Claw w/ Lilikoi Butter. Paired w/ Lunetta Prosecco.
2nd Course [Photo]- Big Island Hearts of Palm Salad w/ Pupukea Field Greens, Grapefruit, Watercress & Calamansi Vinaigrette, Grilled Hamakua Mushroom Salad in Parmesan Crisp w/ Blue Cheese & Toasted Walnuts, Oven-Dried Hau'ula Tomato & Fresh Mozzarella in Basil Oil. Paired w/ Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc.
3rd Course [Photo]- Misoyaki Butterfish w/ Wilted Baby Bok Choy & Kabayaki Butter, Chef's Signature Togarashi Glazed Salmon w/ Okinawan Sweet Potato Puree, Ginger Crusted Lehi w/ Lomo Tomato Relish. Paired w/ Pacific Rim Dry Riesling by Bonny Doon.
4th Course [Photo]- Grilled Australian Lamb Chop Gremolata, Manoa Honey Glazed New York Strip, Five Spiced Braised Beef Short Rib w/ Kahuku Corn Relish and Natural Jus. Paired w/ Simi Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dessert Course [Photo]- Tahitian Vanilla Scented Creme Brulee, Lilikoi Cheesecake, Rasberry Sorbet. Paired w/ Dow's 20 year old Tawny Port.
We (included other The Good Table diners) took a whole bunch of photos and most of them can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/thegoodtable/page3/.
@StarletShay has a YouTube video up. Check it out, it has each of us introducing ourselves during the dinner and lots of great scenes of our The Good Table. http://youtu.be/fyHVKMkWqQY
@RickyLi99 managed to capture a lot of great photos of our dinner despite him finishing up the bottle(s) of wine our courses were paired with. Many of those linked photos are taken by him.
I think we all enjoyed our The Good Table dinner. It was fun night at Ola with @KelliNakama, @WorldWideEd, @RickyLi99, @StarletShay & @MegsDriveIn's Jess.
Some of our other friends were enjoying their The Good Table on the other side of the island at Kai. You can read about their dinner at the Nonstop Honolulu blog: "Peek at The Good Table".
If you are curious about volunteering for Lanakila Pacific Meals on Wheels, drop me a comment, email, tweet or whatever. :)
By the way, all these photos about The Good Table had another purpose too. Aside from spreading the word about The Good Table during the dinner, there is also a photo contest. The winning photo will be the photo with the most Facebook "Likes" at the end of the contest, October 14, 2011. Check out the photos and like some.... Hopefully you "like" the ones with Ola and us in it! :) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150865459645077.749454.138499950076&type=1
I am a Lanakila Pacific volunteer and I deliver a Meals on Wheels route on Monday mornings in the Nuuanu/Downtown area. I was lucky to receive The Good Table at Ola Restaurant in the Turtle Bay Resort and I invited a few friends of mine that would be able to help Lanakila Pacific spread the word about Meals on Wheels over social media.
Chef Fred DeAngelo, the chef at Ola, prepared a special four course sampler menu and dessert with wine pairings for this The Good Table dinner. Here is a group shot of us [flickr]. Chef Fred was definitely cool, as documented by @RickyLi99's Tweet.
1st Course [Photo]- Butter Poached Lobster & Caviar, Spicy Scallop & Ahi Poke, Alaskan Snow Crab Claw w/ Lilikoi Butter. Paired w/ Lunetta Prosecco.
2nd Course [Photo]- Big Island Hearts of Palm Salad w/ Pupukea Field Greens, Grapefruit, Watercress & Calamansi Vinaigrette, Grilled Hamakua Mushroom Salad in Parmesan Crisp w/ Blue Cheese & Toasted Walnuts, Oven-Dried Hau'ula Tomato & Fresh Mozzarella in Basil Oil. Paired w/ Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc.
3rd Course [Photo]- Misoyaki Butterfish w/ Wilted Baby Bok Choy & Kabayaki Butter, Chef's Signature Togarashi Glazed Salmon w/ Okinawan Sweet Potato Puree, Ginger Crusted Lehi w/ Lomo Tomato Relish. Paired w/ Pacific Rim Dry Riesling by Bonny Doon.
4th Course [Photo]- Grilled Australian Lamb Chop Gremolata, Manoa Honey Glazed New York Strip, Five Spiced Braised Beef Short Rib w/ Kahuku Corn Relish and Natural Jus. Paired w/ Simi Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dessert Course [Photo]- Tahitian Vanilla Scented Creme Brulee, Lilikoi Cheesecake, Rasberry Sorbet. Paired w/ Dow's 20 year old Tawny Port.
We (included other The Good Table diners) took a whole bunch of photos and most of them can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/thegoodtable/page3/.
@StarletShay has a YouTube video up. Check it out, it has each of us introducing ourselves during the dinner and lots of great scenes of our The Good Table. http://youtu.be/fyHVKMkWqQY
@RickyLi99 managed to capture a lot of great photos of our dinner despite him finishing up the bottle(s) of wine our courses were paired with. Many of those linked photos are taken by him.
I think we all enjoyed our The Good Table dinner. It was fun night at Ola with @KelliNakama, @WorldWideEd, @RickyLi99, @StarletShay & @MegsDriveIn's Jess.
Some of our other friends were enjoying their The Good Table on the other side of the island at Kai. You can read about their dinner at the Nonstop Honolulu blog: "Peek at The Good Table".
If you are curious about volunteering for Lanakila Pacific Meals on Wheels, drop me a comment, email, tweet or whatever. :)
By the way, all these photos about The Good Table had another purpose too. Aside from spreading the word about The Good Table during the dinner, there is also a photo contest. The winning photo will be the photo with the most Facebook "Likes" at the end of the contest, October 14, 2011. Check out the photos and like some.... Hopefully you "like" the ones with Ola and us in it! :) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150865459645077.749454.138499950076&type=1
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