Umami on the Prowl: Kentucky Fried Chicken

[Warning:  Do not try this at home.  Umami is an experienced professional who has undergone specialized, rigorous training and has disciplined in his mind, body, and spirit in order to survive stunts like this.]

Umami took a deep breath, steadied his nerves, and went all in.  The Kentucky Fried Chicken (hereinafter "KFC") Double Down Sandwich had haunted his dreams ever since it was announced back in April.  Who could resist . . . two fried chicken fillets, sandwiching Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese, two slices of bacon and a special sauce.  If you want to be healthy, you can get grilled chicken (seriously? grilled?) instead of original.  Umami got original, cuz that's how he rolls.

Seriously, it's an absolutely ridiculous sandwich.  The only thing more ridiculous would, of course, be the DD sandwich meal deal.  $6.99 includes fries and a medium flavored high fructose corn syrup solution.

The stats for the original DD:  540 calories, 32 g fat, 1380 mg Sodium.

The sandwich is plenty tasty (meaning = plenty salty) and actually goes better with a bland starch (I had some quinoa in the fridge) than with the fries (which are only so-so).

But Umami thought:  "It's an impressive effort, but doesn't quite go far enough."

*pause*

"Maybe I should deep fry it."

A quick batter and a plunge into a hot oil bath later, and Umami had made the world's first deep-fried Double Down Sandwich!  Had to hold it together with a toothpick, but it did actually fry pretty well and the cheese didn't go all over the place!  However, deep frying it overwhelmed the original recipe flavor, with the net result that the sandwich goes from salty original recipe flavored to just plain greasy.  So that was a bit of a miscalculation.

In summary, this is one sandwich where you know what it tastes like without actually having to eat it.  So don't eat it!

Honolulu Academy of Arts: Member Appreciation Night

I don't remember the HAA ever doing a Member Appreciation Night before . . . not saying they haven't, just saying I don't remember it!  Trish was game for an event featured a $35 prix fixe menu at the Pavilion Cafe and "art projects in the courtyard."  She also thought I might be intrigued by the "Men in Lace" exhibit, but, alas, we didn't have time.  Some other day perhaps, since I do want to see  "William Blake's Illustrations of the Book of Job."

Walking in to the Academy, there was, sure enough, art projects in the courtyard.  The Hot Club of Hulaville was onstage, playing jazz and Hawaiian jump swing.  Very cool.  We'd have to come back though, because we had dinner reservations for 6:45.

The dinner was a three course prix fixe and so the plan was to coordinate our choices to get six different courses and then split them.  So we end up with basically a six course tasting menu!  :)   We got everything except for one of the entree choices:   Grilled Mahi Mahi with Tomato-Basil Concasse, Herbed Couscous and Seasonal Vegetables.  I think it sounds great, but it lost out to the other entree choices.  (Sidebar:  Didn't know what a concasse was, so looked it up.  It's a mixture that is coarsely ground or chopped.  So every time I prep vegetables, I end up making a concasse . . . who knew?)

First appetizer course was the Kabocha Pumpkin Soup with Creme Fraiche.  It was a really beautifully done soup, rich, with trace of asian spice.  And served hot!  I don't understand why restaurants don't serve soups hot . . . if it's because they're afraid of lawsuits from clumsy people who might spill it on themselves, well, c'mon, it's not like we're in a McDonald's drive thru!

Next, we had the Warm Goat Cheese and Pear salad.  Trish and I were talking about food blogging at the time, and I was saying, "There's other blogs written by people who can just dissect their food and describe it as if they've swallowed a thesaurus.  But me, I can't even tell you what these salad greens are!"

I can say, though, that I like goat cheese, but pears, not so much.  Nice little salad, and it was good to have some greens before we started in on the richer fare for entrees.

First entree was Herbes de Provence Marinated Leg of Lamb with Polenta and Seasonal Vegetables.  Basically, three pieces of lamb, mildly seasoned, seared with some char (love it!).  Over couscous and with some julienned vegetables (not a concasse, hehe!).

Linguini (sic) with Housemade Sausage, Pancetta, Egg and  Reggiano Cheese.  It's quibbling, but the pasta is penne, not linguine.  Don't know the reason for the change, but it may have worked out for the best.  The penne is easy to handle and the ridges hold the sauce.  Linguine noodles would be a little more difficult to maneuver.  In terms of flavor, this is basically a carbonara with sausage and easy on the black pepper and cream.  It's comfort food, with the salty meat and egg and cheese.  So comforting that it almost wiped us out before dessert!

But it didn't!  This is the Apple-Blueberry Crisp with Vanilla Bean Gelato.  I'm pretty sure this is a regular menu item for the Cafe, but I didn't mind since it's my favorite dessert combination:  apple pastry/pie, with vanilla ice cream/gelato.    Conveniently, Trish preferred the other dessert, which was . . .

Chocolate Pot de Creme!  Funny, a pot de creme is more of a custard, but this was like a rich, dark chocolate, mousse, so thick it bordered on fudge.  In fact, it looked a lot like chocolate frosting!

Here's a (not very good) pic of the chocolate, but you get the idea . . . :

After dinner, we made clay animals . . . that was the art project in the courtyard!  Crazy . . . all these nicely dressed people playing with clay . . . it was hilarious!

After an interesting process of discovery, Trish came out with a Schnauzer!  The pieces will be fired and we can pick them later this week.

By the time we finished playing with the clay, it was after nine.  The event was supposed to close at 8:30, but someone must have miscalculated how engrossing clay play would be.

On the way out, we were asked to sign up for e-mail newsletters and, just for signing up, we got a neat coffee table art book ("Literati Modern: Bunjinga from Late Edo to Twentienth-Century Japan") and a postcard collection ("The Dragon's Gift").  The postcards were from a show of Buddhist art from Bhutan that ran at the Academy in early 2008 that we were lucky enough to see.  So it kind of brought home the whole point of membership.  It was a great night . . . hope they do it again!  But if not, there's always "Joy of Sake 2011" in August!

Teaser Alert!

Went to the Honolulu Academy of Arts Member Appreciation Night tonight and a super fun time!  But it's a little too late to do a full post, so, for tonight, here's a teaser:

This is Kabocha Pumpkin Soup with Creme Fraiche.  Really beautifully done, rich, with trace of asian spice.  One of six dishes we tried . . .

Will try to do full post tomorrow . . . promise!

Umami on the Prowl: Pho Twin Bento

Umami was on a random walk through downtown, trying to decide what to get for lunch, when he wandered by Pho Twin Bento on Union Mall.  It's in the old KFC spot downtown, roughly across Hotel Street from Longs Drugs.  He'd been in there before . . . it does decent Thai take out featuring various curries on rice or noodles and also Vietnamese bentos and pho.  But, recently, it added crepes and soups of the non-pho variety.  Umami gave it a try.

The crepes are made to order on a big griddle.  The chef pours out the batter and spreads and shapes it with a wooden paddle.  Word of warning . . . because this is a one-crepe-at-a-time operation, it can take a while to get your order.  Kind of time consuming, so maybe best for solo lunch runs, rather than group raids.

The toppings get piled on.  This is the Chef's special:  ham, mozzarella cheese, grilled onions, spinach . . . I forget what else.  Will have to update tomorrow.  :-)  There are about a dozen different types of crepes, from the sweet (Nutella!) to the savory (brisket!) to vegetarian.

The crepe gets folded into quarters, and basically fills a regular sized clamshell.  It makes a surprisingly hefty lunch.  Crepe by itself was $6, add a soup, $8.50 total.  I got the Kahuku corn chowder.  I thought the chowder could use a little salt, but was otherwise tasty and had a sweet corn taste to it.  And it was actually hot (!), which I consider to be huge plus!

The crepe itself was quite good, of the slightly sweet variety.  Filling nicely cooked, with the cheese melted, but the spinach still having a little crunch.  Here's a cutaway view.  In summary, it was a fun lunch . . . as Aunty Marialani might say:  "non-pretentiously elegant!"




Pho Twin Bento
900 Fort St. Mall, #105 (actually, on Union Mall, where the downtown KFC used to be)
531-5981

Mango Season?

Mango season is normally mid- to late- summer, but supposedly can vary depending variety.  Umami's tree has never really had much fruit.  But this year, starting in about March, there were lots of flowers and, now, lots of fruit!  Perhaps a combination of less wind (?) and distracted birds (who normally eat a lot of the fruit) caused the outburst.  Right now, though, there's a lot of fruit weighing down the branches!  Irony is . . . I don't really like mangos!  (That's "irony" in the dictionary sense of the word, not the "Alanis Morrissette" sense of the word.  C'mon, you knew I was going to bring that up!  I wonder, though, has harassing Alanis about irony jumped the shark?  Has the phrase "jumped the shark" jumped the shark?  Would that be ironic?  I digress . . . !)

Reviewers have said the fruit is very good; sweet, no fibers.  But no one has been able to identify the variety yet . . .

My Aunty Bea made some into pickled mango.  No li hing mui, but she did add li hing mui powder.  I tried it, and the fruit is very good (to my uneducated palate).  Alas, still not a fan . . . but my office will be pretty pleased when I bring it in to work tomorrow!

  One last pic!  :-)

Odds and Ends: Govindaji's, Hiroshi's Eurasian Tapas, JJ Dolan's, Nicky Lunchwagon

Just some odds and ends photos from the last week.

This is a regular order lunch plate from Govandaji's, which is a vegetarian restaurant on Fort Street Mall.  It's mostly vegan, except for the occasional dish that has cheese . . . such as this lasagna.  This is a full-size order, which means your choice of two entrees (in this case, lasagna 2x), rice, soup, salad and a little dessert, which is like a sweet cream of wheat cake.  For perspective, note that each piece of lasagna is basically size of the soup bowl.  I ate one for lunch and one for dinner.     

On the way back to the office, thought I'd take a pic of Nicky Lunchwagon at its lunchtime Punchbowl Street location.  That's the tower of Honolulu Hale in the background, the State Library's main branch is off screen to the right.

Friday night was at JJ Dolan's before the Iona Contemporary Dance Theater presentation of "Akasha" at the Hawaii Theater.  JJ Dolan's is across the street, and I was in pizza mood, so . . . 

But doesn't this pepperoni pizza seem just a tad shy of pepperoni?  At least . . .

. . . compared to this pic from a couple of months ago. Not that this one has a lot of pepperoni either.  Also a little on the bland side (which is odd, since it's a pepperoni pizza for cryin' out loud!), needed salt and some crushed red peppers.  Actually, Tabasco would have been excellent on it, should have asked for some!  Maybe next time.

  

Wednesday night I was at Hiroshi's Eurasian Tapas.  From 5:30-6:30, they do a happy hour special at the bar only:  the martinis are $3.50 and the pupus are half price.  Which is a good thing, since otherwise it would be a fairly pricey proposition.

This is the Pepper Seared Ahi Sushi - grilled scallion, yuzukosho, shiso & yuzu vinaigrette.  The shiso leaf under the fish is awesome!

The Bacon Wrapped Jumbo Shrimp - ginger-scallion, sweet miso & green papaya salad.   I love bacon (duh!) and shrimp, but it's often really overcooked.  These were not, shrimp was cooked perfectly and the bacon, well, what can you say?

 

Duo of Contemporary Sushi - torched cold smoked Island mekajiki & sweet miso glazed salmon. 

Sous Vide of Kona Cold Lobster Tail - squid ink pasta, tobiko, shiso with Ho Farmslong beans & red jalapeno.  The lobster was beautifully prepared, and I like that the pasta was a little chewy.   Really good fun.

And they make a nice martini, too!

Govindaji's

1118 Fort Street Mall

Honolulu, Hawaii  96813

585-0960

JJ Dolan's

1147 Bethel Street

Honolulu, Hawaii  96813

537-4992

Hiroshi Eurasian Tapas

500 Ala Moana Boulevard

Restaurant Row (Diamond Head Side)

Honolulu, Hawaii  96813

533-4476 

Umami on the Prowl: Hole in the Wall

A couple of months ago, Umami heard that a place called Hole in the Wall did a really nice local style fried rice.  (One day we'll have to go in to the differences of the various types . . . for now, suffice to say that HitW does "local" style).  Anyway, Ms. Cathy is a huge fried rice fan, so we had to try it.  It was very good!  A mini ($4) is actually a full half of a typical styrofoam clamshell, which is way too much fried rice for a petite deity like Umami.  Or Cathy.  An extra egg is fifty cents.  So the better plan might be to get a mini fried rice with two eggs (total = $5) and split it!  If it had bacon, it would be a perfectly balanced meal that includes the four food groups:  starch group, salt group, bird group, bacon group!  Umami is swooning just thinking about it!

Anyway . . . we signed up to get the weekly specials e-mailed to us.  And this week, on Wednesday, the special was "Spanish Rice with Chorizo."  Now, maybe in Southern California or the American Southwest (or at least those parts where you have to carry ID with you everywhere), this is a common special.  But it's not that common here and Ms. D has been pointing to this special all week.  So off we went to Hole in the Wall.

For some reason Hole in the Wall has a Fort Street Mall address.  Be advised: it's not on Fort Street Mall.  Rather it's on Chaplain Lane, which runs perpendicular to Fort Street.  For the club kids:  Shop Bop and Grind goes off there every First Friday . . . you know what I'm talkin' about.  In case you go looking for it, here's some pics:

On Fort Street, there's a sign that directs you Ewa down Chaplain Lane.  You go past the parade of mopeds . . .

You go past this Korean grocery . . . (They sell homemade kim chee) . . .  

And go in to this doorway.  This is the entry to Hole in the Wall.

 

And this is the view inside.  If I understand correctly, this is or was the kitchen for Hawaii Pacific University's student union.  Suffice to say, you're in a working kitchen!

 

And (finally!) this is the Spanish Rice with Chorizo!  The lady at the counter asked if we went to public or private school, because this is almost identical to the public school lunch Spanish Rice.  Do they still serve it?  (I don't know, I finished school a couple of years ago . . . )  It's got the whole Campbell's tomato soup vibe, with onion, red (not green, like the real PS style dish), and trace amounts of ground beef.  There's also a layer of cheese on the top that's a refinement of the old recipe.  It's instantly nostalgic and we finished the plate.  Except for the mac salad, which was oddly bland.  Had to dump some shoyu on it for salt.  The chorizo was the softer style, but very tasty.  Will definitely go back when they run the special again.  Might even get it with mac salad again, because, really, you can't go toss with this stuff.

Oh, and one last item, we stopped and got some kim chee from the little grocery next door.  $3 gets you a nice little tub of authentic kim chee.  (According to Ms. D anyway, and I'm not going to argue with her!)

Hole in the Wall
1154 Fort Street Mall (Chaplain Lane)
Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 532-9911

"Sidewalk" Korean Grocery (Next to Mercury Bar, which is next to Hole in the Wall)

That's what I'm talkin' about!!!

Trish reports:

"BTW, Jamba Juice also does something called a Starburst, which is good, but super fruity (as the name implies)."

Will add it to the secret menu list immediately!

Umami on the Prowl: Blue Truck Teppanyaki

How's this for timely:  local TV station KITV has run a story on the proliferation of lunch wagons!  I'm not sure I buy the concept that bad economic times prompt people to go into the lunchwagon business, since I'm not sure where they would be getting the startup capital.  But I suppose it speaks to the popularity of the plate lunch here that there are so many.  And I'm certainly glad they seem to be proliferating around the office.  In fact, most of the lunchwagons in the Food Gallery! are in the vicinity . . . Yuki's is even shown in the story!  (Haven't tried their roast pork yet, though, might have to make a run for it tomorrow!)

Speaking of lunchwagons, Umami has seen Blue Truck Teppanyaki a couple of times, but had never tried it until today.  Always meant to, because you can smell the garlic and meats cooking, since they cook to order.  (Of course, that means you have to wait a bit longer than usual with a lunchwagon, so plan accordingly.)   Interestingly, they also have spicy ahi, and I love spicy ahi, so ordered a mix of garlic teriyaki chicken and spicy ahi.  The spicy ahi was actually spicy and very tasty.  Ms. D approved.  The garlic teri chicken I initially thought needed salt but I poured some of the extra sauce (provided on the side) and it was fine and, even better, there was definitely a garlic feel (not just taste) to the chicken!  Cool!  But maybe not so great for anyone I talked to this afternoon, hehe.  Plate came with grilled vegetables and a little bit of corn, so I can even say I had vegetables today!


Blue Truck Teppanyaki
Mililani Street between Queen and King, Tu-Th lunch.  They move around on M, F and dinnertime.

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

Mother's Day dinner was at Buzz's Original Steak House, which is right across the street from Kailua Beach Park.  My parents hadn't been there in years, so when my sister suggested it, they thought "why not?"

And it was a very pleasant late afternoon, early evening, not too hot yet, no wind blowing sand all over the place. I paint at Kailua Beach (used to be, regularly, now, not so much) and a lot of the allure of the site is being able to go to Buzz's for lunch afterwards.  I normally have a spicy Bloody Mary, which is spicy here, lots of Tabasco, black pepper, and even horseradish!  That's a solid drink!  Their Mai Tais are even more lethal, since they're basically all rum!  A fresh fish sandwich, with a side of fries (the fries are actually lightly battered!) to go along with the bloody, that's a nice lunch!  Suffice to say, I like the place.

That's why it pains me somewhat to report that dinner was not quite as good.  Still decent, mind you, but not quite there.  Basically, here's the problem.  I ordered the monchong prepared Chinese style.  It was nice large piece of fish, no doubt, but the problem was in the preparation.  I expect Chinese style fish to be basically steamed, with shoyu, oil, ginger, scallions, and cilantro.  This, however, was basically fish with some very mild ginger over a bed of cabbage and teriyaki sauce.  The cilantro was rather unceremoniously plopped on top in 6"-8" long stalks.  It was a little too sweet; tasty, but still disappointing.

But I will be back!  Just for lunch, not for dinner!

Buzz's Original Steak House

413 Kawailoa Road, Kailua, HI  96734 (across Kailua Beach Park)

(808) 261-4661

Umami on the Prowl: The Shack (Hawaii Kai)

As promised, Umami hath ventured forth for chili-cheese fries! My friend, Kelly, was visiting from L.A.  Actually, she's from here, but has been living in LA. for a couple of years now.  I think it's been a mostly positive experience for her, except that she's now a Laker fan . . . so annoying!

[May 10 Update:   The Lakers just swept the Jazz in four to take the series.  So super annoying!  But we'll give them props by making this font purple (please, none of that "Laker Blue" nonsense!)!!]

Anyway, whenever Kelly's here, we tend to go to The Shack to talk story and catch up.  The food's solid and the drinks acceptable, it has a nice location on Kuapa Pond; and it's just very pleasant to sit out in the late afternoon with a beer as the sun sets.  We've been there plenty of times before, so it's just a very comfortable, not fancy place to go hang out for a bit.

So here's Umami with a chili-cheese fry.  The fries are curly, the chili institutional, the cheese cheddar/American.  Perfect bar food.  We almost finished them; if not for the fact that we had sandwiches as well, we would have!

I had the fish sandwich, which is a decent-sized piece of grilled fish w Mayo, Lettuce, Tomato, Onions and choice of Lemon Pepper, Teri or Dijon Ranch Dressing.  Kelly always has the Island Burger, which is a 1/4 lb burger with teriyaki glaze, grilled pineapple rings and American cheese.  I think it's nasty, but she likes it, which is the important thing.

All told, a pleasant evening, good food, good company, and Umami got a chili-cheese fry.  Not a bad night!

 

The Shack (Hawaii Kai)
377 Keahole Street (Near Safeway and Kale's Natural Foods)
(808) 396-1919

Umami Knows Best on Facebook

Umami has ventured into the world of social networking . . .  yes, it's true, here's Umami Knows Best on
Facebook:

Umami Knows Best! 

The hope is that it will be another, possibly easier, way to leave messages and have discussions than on this blog (some friends have had trouble leaving comments here).  Will it work?  Who knows?  Umami is omnivorous, not omnipotent!

Umami ventures forth for chili cheese fries later tonight . . . Until then:  Feed your head!

The Virtue of Teriyaki BBQ Sauce and Mayonnaise

Umami revisited Aloha Island Grill on a whim today.  Basically, he was too lazy to walk much further.  You'd be the same if you had stumpy legs and wore a weird purple helmet.

Plus, the Spicy BBQ Chicken Plate was really good and a good value and so plan became to try the BBQ Chicken Sandwich.  Good plan!

Chicken was perfectly done (wonder if they brine it?) and came dressed with  lettuce, onion, and . . . mayo!  (no tomato = no loss).  There's something about the combination of BBQ sauce and mayonnaise that's perfect on a sandwich.  People talk about savory/sweet all the time, but, c'mon, what's more a more fundamental flavor winner than salt and fat???  You know it's true.  Oh, sandwich came with fries (more salt!).  No cheese fries though.  Maybe have to get some chili-cheese fries this weekend to make up for it!  At $6, a nice lunch for a nice price. 

Change of Mind

Umami has reconsidered his post from yesterday and decided that he will not yield the field to the chow.com's of the world by just sticking to goofing around and taking haphazard picture and trying random food.  No, he is going to take this seriously.  No eating KFC Double Down Sandwiches, or reviewing Sapporo Ichiban Ramen.  No, this is serious stuff!

And so he cannot go gently into that good night,

But must rage, rage against the dying of the light;

For the path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.  

So come my tan-faced children,

Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes?
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness.  For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.  And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you!

Like Umami says:  Serious Stuff!

And now . . . here's a picture of Umami, his neighbor, Totoro, and a mini-cupcake (from Cakeworks!).

Umami Announces Candicacy for James Beard Award 2011

Seriously, the James Beard Foundation actually has awards for Books, Media and Journalism (click here for the list).  And, about halfway down the list, there's a category for "Website Focusing on Food, Beverage, Restaurants, or Nutrition."  This year's winner was chow.com., which is rather . . . . intimidatingly comprehensive.  It has an article on "The Future of Cookbook Publishing" and one on "Bunnies for Breakfast;" though the thing that seals the deal is the series (not a story, a series) on starting your very own dive bar.  Let's be honest, chow.com is a very high powered blog.  It sets a very high bar for Umami.  He'd be better off starting a dive bar (after more research, of course).

It's sobering (seriously, it is) for Umami to realize his plan of global domination through food blogging is more unrealistic than anything dreamed up by, say, Lex Luthor, Pinky and the Brain, or Galactus.  What is there to do but eat?

So let's eat:  dinner was leftover falafels and some pasta.  The falafels are nothing spectacular, mix out of a box, add water, fry.  The original plan, though, was to make a yogurt dill sauce.  Full fat Greek Yogurt?  Check.  Dill?  Check.  Oops, mistake, the yogurt is honey flavored and not delicately honey-flavored.  No, this batch is aggressively honey-flavored.  It overpowered the dill, basically reducing the herb to a colorful accent.  But, in the end, it was a very pleasant combination, the somewhat savory and hot falafel with the cool and sweet yogurt.

The pasta was not leftover, rather, it was a do-over.  It's basically, sauteed turkey bacon, onion, tomato and some dry basil on spaghetti, dressed with some white truffle oil that's been sitting on my counter for almost too long.  It was okay, but fresh basil would made it much better (duh).

The reason it's a do-over is that there was an error in the preparation last night.  Remember that the white truffle oil had been sitting on my counter for a while?  Well, it was apparently long enough for me to forget what the bottle looked like.  Because, when I went to dress the pasta, I didn't bother to read the label and grabbed the adjacent bottle of champagne citrus vinegar instead.

So, I'm eating this pasta and thinking, "Hmm, this oddly dry, what happened to the oil?"  I decide it needs another shot of oil, grab the wrong bottle again, toss a little more vinegar in, taste it, and think, "Hmmmm.  This is oddly dry and citrus-y, what the hell??"   But, funny thing, I actually liked the citrus taste and how the acid cut the fat of the bacon.

Perhaps, then, Umami should leave the high-falutin' food bloggin' to Chow, and ePicurious, and all the others where recipes work, food pics are beautiful and the restaurants reviewed are fabulous.  Umami will stick to generally goofing around, taking random pictures, and checking out food at random.

Next Time:  "Umami Tries to Double Down - the KFC Double Down Sandwich"  Yikes!