Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Cholos Homestyle Mexican Restaurant

Ok I finally got my web server up so I can host my own pictures. This was the reason for the slight delay in posting.

Last, last Tuesday after a decent surf session at Puaena Point. My buddy and I went to eat at Cholos Homestyle Mexican Restaurant. This was the first time for both of us there. We have eaten at Diego's Taco Shop @ Pearl City many times and both of us like the carne asada burrito there. So we both ordered the same thing, a carne asada burrito plate. It came with a basic rice pilaf, refried beans and a side of salsa. The burrito was stuffed with a decent amount of beef and had ample amounts of guacamole. I would have preferred more cilantro though. The pilaf, beans and salsa were your standard fare. I would say for the money Diego's wins. Diego's has more beef in their burrito, the meat is tastier and it's nearly half the cost. It was around $12.50 for the plate at Cholos and if I remember correctly the same plate at Diego's is around $7.00. Of course if you compare the settings of the two restaurants they are way different. Cholos is way nicer. Diego's is cheaper and tastier. But it was nice to relax with a nice tall glass of Dos Equis Amber draft and eat after a day in the water.


Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Good Hawaiian Food

I am a bit behind on posting here. Been busy with work and tis the season.

I have eaten at many places that serve Hawaiian food but nothing beats home made Hawaiian food. My hanai family makes some pretty good Hawaiian food. Last, last weekend was my Uncle’s birthday party and we had some ono Hawaiian food. Everything was homemade except for the lomi lomi salmon. My favorite is ummm.....everything. I didn't take any pictures of the poi or rice but we had a lot of that also.

We had lomi lomi salmon, kalua pig,


lau lau, luau stew,


chicken long rice and squid luau.


It was a great night spent together with friends and family. Great food, great company. Happy Birthday Uncle Kimo.

If you know of a good place for Hawaiian food please leave a comment and I'll check it out. Thanks.

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Oven-fried Potato Chips Recipe

elise over @ Simply Recipes has posted a recipe for Oven-fried potato chips. It's a very simple recipe and the picture she has up of it just makes me drool. I think I will try making it for some friend that are coming over this weekend.

Read more @ Simply Recipes

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Sandwich Islands Deli

Reid over @ 'Ono Kine Grindz reviewed Sandwich Islands Deli. I like the fact that you can choose between brown or white rice and mac or tossed salad when you order plates. The hamburger steak looks like a winner. I will have to visit this place.

Read more @ 'Ono Kine Grindz.

Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas (Visited on 11/30)

A few friends and I went to Hiroshi's new restaurant located @ Restaurant Row where Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar used to occupy. The food was excellent and the wine was very good. Master sommelier Chuck Furuya was on hand to recommend what wines would complement our meal.

We started off with the sizzling moi carpaccio and the white truffle panna cotta. What made the carpaccio "sizzling" was that it was topped with hot peanut oil. It was garnished with micro greens drizzled with truffle oil, shredded daikon, tomato chunks and cubes of tofu. This was all sitting in a ponzu sauce. If you have never had moi sashimi or moi "carpaccio", you need to try it. Moi is a very tasty fish cooked, but even tastier raw. The panna cotta had a lobster medallion and prawn topping it.



Next up was a double order of seared sea scallops and foie gras nigiri. The scallops were cooked perfectly and were very sweet. Topped with tobiko and sitting in a cream based sauce they were very good. According to Nadine Kam the sauce is a bacon takana ragout. The foie gras was very good also. The foie gras was drizzled with a unagi style tare.



Following the scallops and foie gras was a double order of the bacon wrapped jumbo prawns and kanpachi sashimi. The prawns were pretty standard fare. The kanpachi was fresh and tasty. It had a "Fukui" salsa of sorts on top, much of the flavors coming from the chopped Kalamanta olives and the chopped wasabi infused takuan.



Finally we had maguro nigiri and sake nigiri. The maguro was topped with a "cold ginger chicken" type of sauce. The sake was miso baked and topped with pickled ginger. Both nigiris were good but they have nothing on the better sushi restaurants in Hawaii. For dessert we had a flourless chocolate cake and a maccha creme brule. I didn't take any pictures of the creme brule because I am not a fan of creme brule, but after having this one I have to reconsider that stance. The creme brules that I have had previously were not too rich, sugary and custardy. This one was rich, creamy with the maccha giving it a very exotic flavor. Very good. I am a big dark/bitter chocolate lover and the cake was a winner. I didn't even touch the ice cream. I just indulged in the chocolate cake.



Somewhere in between all that we also had the shrimp chawanmushi, "bagged" moi and the Kona cold lobster tail. In my excitement to eat I forgot to take pictures of these. Also, I am writing this all from memory, so if there are any errors please point them out. In the future I will take notes so I can write a more accurate review.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Jiraiya Tenmusu

After our delicious lunch @ Tae's my sister and I went to Ala Moana to do some shopping. While at Shirokiya we saw a stand making Jiraiya Tenmusu. It was where Beard Papa was. Never heard of it but my sister and I are big fans of musubi's with different fillings. So we bought one pack (6 musubi's and some kyarabuki @ $5.99). It was good. The musubi is each stuffed with a shrimp tempura. The musubi is a bit small and a bit pricy, but a good snack nonetheless.


Tae's Teppanyaki Review

My sister and I arrived at Tae's approximately at noon. She ordered the garlic ribeye steak roll and I ordered the wasabi ribeye steak roll. I forgot to order the garlic rice. Shucks...I guess I will have to go back again :o) For $5.50 including tax you get a ribeye steak roll in your choice of flavors (wasabi, garlic, spicy, teriyaki, salt/pepper) and it comes on a bed of romaine lettuce with two scoops rice and ponzu dipping sauce. This place is definitely a winner.

I have to clarify a few things. First, their hours/days of operation have changed. They no longer have dinner hours, but they are now open on Saturday. So the hours are Mon-Sat 10AM-2PM. Secondly, I remember seeing some posts/articles about Tae's mentioning it has shredded daikon inside the roll, but it is raw shredded potato.

All in all it was good and I can't wait to go again. Next time I won't forget the garlic rice although I wonder if they have it still since it isn't on the menu.




Tae's Teppanyaki Preview

I first read about Tae's Teppanyaki here. Recently a co-worker and I have been talking a lot about food and during one of our conversations I remembered about this place. I have never eaten there and I am planning on going to Tae's tomorrow with my sis. I will probably order the garlic ribeye steak roll or maybe the garlic/wasabi combo ribeye steak roll that I read about here. Garlic rice sounds good too ($1 extra).

Here is another post/review about the place.