Coupon fine print

I really gotta learn to read things better.

With the impending arrival of Category 42 hurricane Felicia just days away I needed a couple more cans of CRE (chili, ready to eat) for the survival kit so I headed to Safeway during lunch. I also happened to have a $1 coupon off a Safeway “Signature” Sandwich of the Day so I figured I’d be all sustainable and do two errands at once. (Yes! Karma points!)

When I got to the register the clerk defiantly pointed out that my turkey panini plus cans of emergency chili didn’t make the minimum $20 purchase required by the fine print on the coupon. Actually, she was pretty nice about it but I felt guilty for not fully studying and reviewing the terms and conditions of the coupon. I didn’t think I could eat 8 more cans of chili, even during a hurricane, so I pocketed the coupon.

When I got back to the office to eat my un-couponed sandwich, I noticed that the deli artisan had also mismarked the deli sticker, charging me the full $5.99 instead of the Sandwich of the Day price of $5.49. Curses! Foiled again!

Good thing I took all the add-ons for the panini, including the pepperoncinis, so that it tastes like a $6 sandwich instead of a $4.50 sandwich. At least that’s what I’m going to keep telling myself.

Hogging out

Hungry after a long workout this past weekend, I remembered reading an article in the Honolulu Advertiser about a couple of barbeque places that opened up recently. One of them, Hog Island BBQ, was nearby in Kaimuki so we decided to give it a go.

Hog Island BBQ

First off, Hog Island BBQ is pretty hard to find. If you remember A Taste of New York deli, HIBBQ is on the parking lot side of the building it used to be in. The pay parking lot is pretty retarded for that complex so we parked on the street and almost missed it. Fortunately we had just seen a BBQ marathon on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives so we were motivated. iPhone, Google and Google Maps to the rescue! (“The blue dot and the pin are overlapping! It’s gotta be around here somewhere!”)

Service was friendly and quick. The menu is straight forward featuring 4 sandwiches, 4 entrée plates, and 4 sides (nice symmetry!). There’s no menu board – offerings are printed take-out flyers (see here for the online version)

We ordered the Beef Brisket and the Pulled Pork plates, both with Chef’s Scalloped Potatoes and Pitmaster’s Baked Beans. The brisket is pictured below… I think… they looked pretty similar.

Beef Brisket plate

Keeping in mind I’m no barbeque expert, I’d say overall the food was fairly good but not exactly ZOMG! FTW! to-die-for good. The pulled pork was tender and had good flavor, but I’m such a sucker when it comes to pork that was almost a gimme.

The beef brisket was a little less satisfying. It more like well-done chunks of steak (which isn’t necessary a bad thing) without any particular seasoning that I could detect. I don’t think the brisket could’ve stood on it’s own without the barbeque sauce served on the side. That being said, the homemade sauce was good, bumping up the flavor and making the dish much better.

I suppose I was expecting more, especially after reading the Advertiser review. However, it’s very likely that my palate has become accustomed to the heavily seasoned local style plate lunch fare, and the meat may actually have been barbeque perfection. What do I know about authentic BBQ?

The portions were generous and both eGeekette and I have leftovers for lunch this week. We probably could have taken the option for two meats on a single combo plate for an extra $1 and been just fine.

All in all, while some things could be better I think Hog Island BBQ is a nice addition to the culinary scene. It’s good to have options. Give Hog Island BBQ a try for yourself and let me know what you think.

TGIF talks local food too

I’ve definitely got food on the brain lately, especially “local” food. Today’s TGIF section of the Honolulu Advertiser highlighted some restaurants that use locally raised ingredients. The intro paragraph captures the essence of “why local?”:

We do it to support our community of farmers, ranchers and fishermen — the people in Hawai’i who bring gorgeous food to our plates. It’s also a way to support environmental principles and live “green.” But we can’t forget that locally grown food also can be healthy, and maybe more importantly, delicious.

Here are the restaurants that made the list, with my comments:

• Nico’s Pier 38 – Crave-able furikake ahi. Gets pretty crowded (and hot!) at lunch so go early.
• Sansei Seafood Restaurant and Seafood Bar
• Downtown @ the HiSAM
• town – Tried their food at a fundraiser at HiSAM (but haven’t actually eaten at Downtown @ the HiSAM). Quite tasty! One of these days I’ll have to try their restaurant.
• `Umeke Market – Gotta try their tuna melt (skip the onions, ask for spinach instead).
• 12th Ave Grill – Words can’t describe the yumminess…

You folks that work downtown will have to check out Downtown (capital “D”) at the Hawaii State Art Museum and let me know how it is.

You can read the whole article (including much better descriptions of their menu offerings) here.

Now that I’ve had you folks thinking about local food in the context of the community for a week, a question: Would you be interested in more info like this if it were easily available?

I think that’s quite enough food for now. We’ll be returning to our regularly scheduled elemental geekiness shortly.

A good excuse to eat out

Following up on the last post about restaurants supporting the community with a dazzling display of synchronicity, it turns out that this week (November 16 – 22, 2008) is Restaurant Week in Hawaii. I didn’t plan the timing, promise!

From the website:

The first annual Restaurant Week Hawaii will be a seven day celebration of the cuisine scene in Hawaii. From fine dining to fast-food, French to fusion, participating restaurants will feature special menu items, promotions and discounts. Diners can sample Hawaii’s newest restaurants, dine at old favorites and taste a variety of exceptional dishes now being prepared by Hawaii’s chefs using locally grown produce. Restaurant Week is a reminder that Hawaii is a culinary destination with top chefs, farm to table dining, wonderful wine and a lot more to discover and explore.

A portion of the proceeds from Restaurant Week Hawaii will support the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Diamond Head.

Check out www.restaurantweekhawaii.com for a list of participating restaurants and offers.

Different take on “local” food

A recent comment by Not the LG mentioned that local businesses, and by extension, the community as a whole, suffer in competition with national chains. Although the comment was related to gas pricing, there were examples of mainland eateries pushing local restaurants out of business. This got me thinking since eGeekette and I probably eat out more often than we cook at home, so it’s a topic that’s near and dear to my heart/stomach. However, I’ll admit that up until now I’ve never really thought about whether an establishment was locally owned or not.

I made a list of places I can remember eating at least occasionally in recent history and separating by local or mainland/chain ownership, as best as I know. I limited my list to middle-of-the-road, sit-down restaurants to simplify things. There are just too many fast food/plate lunch places (although you could argue that fast food joints tend to be national chains and plate lunch places are generally locally owned).

Next, I tried to put them into broad categories with chain and local “equivalents”, based on the type of food that each restaurant served. This was purely subjective and probably won’t necessarily align with your assessments, but bear with me for this exercise.

Finally, I tried to identify the restaurants that contributed to the community through fundraising opportunities or direct donations (indicated by “$”) or used local produce in their dishes (“LP”) thus supporting local farmers. Some of the mainland chain restaurants have community policies (”CP”) that detail their philanthropic activities, but not necessarily for organizations here in Hawaii.

Based on this list, I pondered whether if I was going to “eat local” would I be willing to forego the chain place for the local place? I dunno… Unlike products, where you’re comparing various prices for the exact same thing, food is pretty relative. When you’re jonesing for an Oldtimer Burger from Chili’s, a Zippy’s Primeburger doesn’t cut it and sometimes you just GOTTA have Original Pancake House french crepes with strawberries for breakfast…

For a different perspective, here’s a list of places I can recall closing in years past:

I definitely miss the local places more, for sentimental reasons as well as their unique culinary offerings. It was only after Not the LG’s comment that I thought about their other contributions to the community.

Bottom line time: Good food is still good food so I still don’t think I’m necessarily going to make dining decisions based solely on local or mainland ownership. However, I’m definitely going to be more aware of my dining out choices and try to patronize the restaurants I want to see stick around.

Now it’s your turn:

• What are your favorite middle-of-the-road, sit-down restaurants and are they locally owned?
• Do you think about whether a restaurant is locally owned or not when you go out to eat?
• Would you be more willing to patronize an establishment that supported the local community/economy over a restaurant that only served yummy food?

I want honey in my honey!

It’s been a pretty hectic week and I’ve been craving comfort food, so in a moment of weakness I picked up lunch from KFC recently. While they don’t serve poutine like the Canadian PKF’s (“Poulet Frit du Kentucky”) do, I’m a sucker for the potato wedges.

The new original recipe strip combo meal (is “new” and “original” an oxymoron in this context?) includes a biscuit so I asked for honey to go with it. Here’s the ingredient list for the Colonel’s Honey Sauce:

• High fructose corn syrup
• Sugar
• Honey
• Corn syrup
• Natural flavor
• Caramel color

What the hell is wrong with this picture? Okay, okay… I know I’m not going to get health food at KFC, but c’mon! Is it too much to ask for some honey in my honey?

The packet says that there’s 11% “real” honey. Remember, ingredients are listed in order of percentage of volume so figure the packet is at minimum 66% HFCS and sugar, probably more. Is honey not sweet enough?

One of the reasons I’ve heard for using high fructose corn syrup is that it has a longer shelf life which is why it’s used in so many pre-packaged, highly-processed food items. Even that’s a load of crap – honey is one of the most non-perishable naturally occurring edible substances known to man. Archaeologists found honey in Egyptian tombs that was still edible.

How’d you like to be the team that discovered that by the way?

“Hey, that looks like honey!”
“You think it’s still good?”
“You try it.”
“No way, you try it!”
“I’ll give you a dollar if you eat the mummy honey”
“Shoooots!”

By now you’ve seen the propaganda by the Corn Refiners Association on television that HFCS is “made from corn, doesn’t have artificial ingredients, has the same calories as sugar and just like sugar, it’s fine in moderation.”

Now I’m no scientist, but if that’s true, then why not use oh, I dunno…sugar? Because it’s cheaper, and BFCs like cheaper. They make more money that way.

Oh, and the part about it being fine in moderation? What’s moderate? How can you tell how much you’re getting when HFCS is in everything? Next time you’re shopping, take a look at the ingredient list ofall the packaged goods in the supermarket (except maybe in Whole Foods – see Kendra’s Adventures here). You may be in for a surprise – juice, yogurt, bread, breakfast bars, salad dressing, BBQ sauce…

And now, apparently it’s in honey as well.

Breakfast places that don’t cure their own ham

So I don’t just rant about things, I thought it would provide some balance to the universe if I wrote about breakfast places that I DO like. Unless we’re training or doing an event on another part of the island we generally dine in town, so that’s where I’ll start.

Original Pancake House (Kapiolani at Pensacola, Dillingham at Waiakamilo)

Faves: French crepes, blueberry pancakes, canadian bacon

Notes:

• Get there early on weekends (before 9am) or be prepared to wait
• Just found out they’re part of a nationwide chain. With all the aunties that work there, I never would have guessed.

Jack’s (Aina Haina Shopping Center)

Faves: Corned beef hash and eggs

Notes:

• Fast service
• If you get the Jack’s special biscuit, get it grilled for an extra .25. Yummy!

Bogart’s Cafe (Diamond Head on Monserrat)

Faves: Michael’s Scramble (asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, cheese), belgian waffles with various toppings (nutella, strawberries, bananas, coconut syrup)

Notes:

• Do NOT miss the pan fried potatoes!
• Their breakfast bagels also seem to be popular
• Cozy (code word for “really small”)
• Cash only

Big City Diner (Kaimuki and Ward Entertainment Complex)

Faves: Uncle Danny’s Fried Rice, Ani’s Cinnamon Bread French Toast, Apple Pancakes

Notes:

• Wait times for a table can be long but food service is consistently prompt
• Don’t ask Not the LG to breakfast with you at BCD

Mocha Java (Ward Centre)

Faves: Greek frittata (artichoke, feta cheese, kalamata olives), whole wheat pancakes with blueberries

Notes:

• This is the go-to place during the 8am-10am jam times at other breakfast places. We’ve never not been able to find a table.
• Printable coupon for free coffee with purchase at ecouponshawaii

Honorable mention:

• Cheesecake Factory
• Kaka`ako Kitchen

How long does it take to cure ham?

This probably could be classified as a rant, but I’m just not feeling the true outrage that a Rant deserves. I suppose it could be a Rantlet or a Petite Rant, but I’ll just categorize it as a food review.

Let me start off by saying that I want to like Cafe Kaila, I really do. The food is fresh with nice presentation, it has a very comfortable atmosphere and it’s in a convenient location with ample parking. You can read more complete review of Cafe Kaila at Kendra’s Adventures here.

We’ve dined at Kaila’s several time for breakfast, but I’m afraid today was probably the last. We went for a late breakfast at around 11:30ish (Kaila’s serves breakfast through lunchtime – another thing it had in its favor) and after a short wait for an open table, ordered around noon. We drank coffee, talked about work, listened to the mom next to us teach the alphabet to her son, drank some more coffee, talked about the Olympics… everything but eat. Casual Sunday dining is one thing, but we didn’t get our food until after 1pm.

The menu has a note that thanks you for your patience since all the food is cooked fresh. Unless they were squeezing chickens and curing ham for my breakfast quesadilla (eggs, cheese, and ham) or picking fruit and fermenting milk for the granola parfait (granola, fruit, and yogurt), an hour wait is just unacceptable. To make matters worse, at least four tables that sat AFTER us received their food first.

With everything that Cafe Kaila has going for it, I’d love to see it succeed but I don’t think we’ll be going back. More cooks or perhaps an expediter would probably make a huge difference. Until then, we’ll have to get our breakfast fix somewhere else.