Umami on the Prowl: Doner Shack

Umami had seen the Doner (with an umlaut) Shack stand on Fort Street Mall before, but had never gotten around to trying it.  In fact, Dawn T tried it first and recommended it highly.   On this particular day (i.e., today), Umami was wandering about aimlessly at lunchtime when he suddenly found himself in the Doner (with an umlaut) Shack vicinity and decided, "why not?"  Let's be clear, though, it's not really a shack; it's more like a cart.

But what's a "doner?"  According to Wikipedia (which never lies), it's a middle eastern dish consisting of meat, usually lamb, roasted on a vertical spit, and sliced to order.  And, indeed, the Doner shack has two such spits, only with roast beef and chicken.  Umami opted for the BBQ Chicken Feta Doner ($6.75).  It's basically a large, Mediterranean style burrito, with roast chicken in a tortilla, with feta and BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and a yogurt garlic sauce (essentially a tzatziki sauce).   Pepperoncinis are optional (but Umami recommends them highly).  Think gyro sandwich with BBQ chicken instead of the lamb, and you have it!  

The menu has a number of other options, including a veggie wrap, a sandwich, a rice plate, and a salad.  No fish though, but that's okay.  A number of different sauces are available too (Dawn T. recommends the hot sauce too, but Umami missed that, so he'll have to go back and try it again).   Umami is curious about the other choices but like the BBQ chicken w pepperoncinis so much he might be locked in!  All told, it's a very flavorful and surprisingly filling lunch!  Umami would go (back)!

Doner Shack

Corner of Pauahi and Fort Street Mall (next to Dreamers)

Honolulu, Hawaii  96813

Umami Goes Shopping: Spam Lite Single Pack

Ms. D and Makizushi scoffed when Umami said that Spam was sold in single serving packets.  "Ridonkulous!" they said!  "Balderschnitzel!" they cried!  But, Umami does not lie, for here, in Safeway Hawaii Kai was a 3 oz. Spam Lite Single Pack!  That's right, 3 oz. of salty goodness for only $1.79 Safeway Club Member Price.  Obviously you'd be better off just buying a can, but sometimes you just want one slice!  (Umami thinks if that's the case you might as well buy a spam musubi and score some rice and nori while you're at it, but that's just him!)

Umami on the Prowl: Rosarina Pizza

(This is for Jesse, who passes by Rosarina all the time . . . )

Umami's friend, Trish, has started a new job that is conveniently located near Chinatown, which makes it a lot easier to wander around for food.  On this particular day, Umami was craving some pizza and, since Trish had never been to Rosarina, they went there instead of J.J. Dolan's.

Rosarina is a very small restaurant, near the corner of Hotel and Maunakea . . . narrow storefront, maybe five tables inside.

Small Antipasto Salad

But the food is inexpensive and good.  Umami and Trish got out of there for under $20 and shared a small salad, two mini pizzas and a couple of sodas (Trish liked that they had root beer).

The small antipasto salad  ($4.75) has ham, cheese, salami, pepperoni, pickled celery, cauliflower, carrots, black olives, tomatoes, and onions.  So there lots of good stuff, and it's topped with a very good Italian dressing, more of an herbal vinaigrette.  It's used as the dressing for their sub sandwiches too.  The sub sandwiches are good deal too:  an 8" super (ham, salami, canadian bacon, pepperoni, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, onions) is only $5.45!

L:  Vegetarian Mini 8"    R:  Combination Mini 8"

The mini pizzas are perfect for one person.  Trish had the vegetarian ($5.75), with tomatoes, green peppers, onions, olives, and mushrooms.  Umami had the combination ($6.50), with sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, black olives, cheese and extra cheese (that's what the menu says!  but it doesn't see excessively cheese-y at all).

Close up of Combination Mini 8

Umami likes these pizzas because they are very generous with the toppings.  The Combination is literally piled with the stuff.  The crust is also good, it's thicker than thin crust, but it's not overly bready.  Also, try pizza with Tabasco instead of red pepper flakes.  You get heat, but also a little zip of vinegar.

Working on this post has Umami getting hungry!  Maybe will have to make a run in to Rosarina again this week, maybe for a sandwich this time!

Rosarina Pizza
1111 Maunakea Street
Honolulu, Hawaii  96817
(808)533-6634
www.rosarinapizza.com

Thrown Together Dinner

Umami is keeping tabs on the Hawaii - Nevada game (at the half, UH 17 - Nevada 0) and needs something to eat.  But there's not much in the fridge . . . must make do with the stuff at hand.

Sauteing Tofurky Italian Sausage ("with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Basil!") and some onions.

Scramble with two large eggs (and some extra egg-white-in-a-box that was in the fridge), top with cheese, and with what's left of some chipotle salsa.  Had to supplement with some enchilada sauce and some Brother Bru-Bru's African Hot Pepper Sauce ("All Natural No Added Salt!").

So odd!

Rolled it up burrito style in an Ezekiel 4:4 Sprouted Grain Tortilla. Umami really likes those tortillas!

Now fed and watered, Umami hopes that UH can put Nevada away and win the game!

Umami's Bosses' Day Lunch

Umami works in an office with the best staff in the world (and he's not just saying that because they read this blog)! For Bosses' Day, they took the attorney staff out to lunch to Hale Ikena ("House with a View"), which is a casual restaurant at Fort Shafter. It's run by the U.S. Army's Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation.  For lunch, it does a pretty nice buffet . . . this is what we had:

Lunch Buffet includes Salad Bar, Soup of the day, Dinner Rolls, Baked Idaho Potato with Sour Cream, Crispy Bacon Bits, Chopped Chives or Green Onions and melted Cheddar Cheese.  Top off your buffet with Ice Cream Sundae Bar and the Chef’s selection of Fresh Fruits or Dessert

Friday 10/15/10
Taco Beef
Fajita Chicken
Spanish Rice/Refried Beans
Flour Tortilla and Taco Shell w/Condiments
Fajita Vegetables

The soup of the day was Tortilla Soup, very tasty bean and tortilla flavor.  Not too much heat, though.  For that, Umami had to go for the salads!

Clockwise from top, macaroni salad (under the bacon bits), potato salad (also under the bacon bits), a blob of sour cream (intended for the tacos . . .  it was easier to just spoon it out onto a plate than to spread it on a taco), spanish rice, jalapenos, and kim chee.  Umami was surprised that the kim chee actually had some heat!  And the jalapenos were also on the fiery side (sometimes they're almost sweet).  A happy accident also occurred when the sour cream got mixed into the potato salad and bacon; it was like a baked potato salad!

Underneath all of this lettuce are two chicken tacos, with refried beans, cheese, salsa, tomato, and onion.   It was an interesting buffet, since it everyone that goes through bottlenecks at the taco toppings.  Fortunately, our buffet captain, Lushus, let us go first, so the line was not bad at all!  It didn't look like a lot of food, but Umami was so full that he passed on dessert!

It was a fun lunch . . . good food and good company.  Only problem is:  how will we top this for Administrative Professionals' Day??

Hale Ikena

Bldg 711, Morton Drive

Fort Shafter, Hawaii 96858-5000

Telephone: (808) 438-6712

Umami Tweets!

Yes, it's true, Umami broke down and signed up for Twitter!   There's a little widget to the left that shows the most recent activity.

Signing up was easy, and setting up to send tweets via mobile was fairly straightforward.

But, then, the fatigue caused by a long day set in, and Umami became convinced he could tweet and display pics.

Alas, not to be!  The best he can do is feed pics to Twitpics, which then posts a link to Twitter.  Not an ideal solution, but okay.

Will keep working on it.  Maybe missed something the first time around.  Maybe should just go to sleep!

Umami Goes Vegas (2010): Day 4: Serendipity 3

Serendipity 3 at Caesar's Palace is the Las Vegas branch of the famous New York eatery.   In Vegas, they're on the promenade in front of the hotel (not in the hotel) in a blazing pink awning-ed building.  That's why all Umami's Serendipity pics are bathed in this warm light.  Including this pic of their "Mr.  Reuben" ($15) Sandwich.  It's a large classic flavor corned beef reuben that didn't look all that big, but turned out to be a nap-inducing late lunch!  (and Umami definitely wanted fries with it!)

Asian chicken salad.  Honestly, can it really be called a salad if there's almost as much chicken as vegetables?  Umami's thinking that if that's the case, maybe there's room in the world for a turducken salad.  Hmm, must think on that . . .

For a lot of people, the whole point of going to Serendipity is to get their signature dessert, the "Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate" ($8 or so).  It's a slush that tastes like, wait for it, . . . hot chocolate!  Topped with a ton of whipped cream, and chocolate shavings.  This is awesome on a hot day in Vegas (i.e., everyday) and there's a take out window on the side of the restaurant facing the hotel, if you don't want to actually go in.  Even better, the Paris hotel, where Umami stayed, is part of the Harrah's hotel group, which gave a coupon book for some specials for deals at the hotels in the chain.  As it happens, Caesar's is part of the group, and the coupon is for a free Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate with purchase of an entree . . . so dessert was free!

And, after that dessert, a nap was definitely in order!

Serendipity 3 (Caesar's Palace)
3570 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 731-7373

Signature Chef's Food Festival

Umami's friend Lis's friend had two tickets to the Signature Chef's Food Festival that he couldn't use, so he gave them to Lis and Lis persuaded Umami into going.  The event is a benefit for the Honolulu Firefighters Foundation and is held at Hale Kinai Ahi, the Honolulu Fire Department HQ.  It turned out to be an excellent event for foodies, great food, not too large, perhaps maybe even a bit under the radar!

Umami got there a little late, so didn't try everything, but had plenty too eat anyway.  First up, this "Curry Tempura Lollipop Chicken with Macadamia Nut Sweet and Sour Chili Sauce" from Roy's.  It's a neat little presentation, with the meat of the chicken slid to one end of the bone, flattened so it stands up, breaded and deep fried.  The curry flavoring was very strong, and sauce more to the sweet side, as those sauces tend to be, at least to Umami's palate.

Next, a quick pass through the silent auction items.  Umami bought four tickets to the UH Women's WAC Home Season Opener.  The team is scrappy, the games are entertaining, the seats are general admission so you can get really good seats because the team does not draw (yet!), the beer is served in big cups, cold and reasonable, and the food is . . . appropriate to an arena setting.  Not all the concessions are opened for the Na Wahine games (one downside of low attendance), but there's enough to graze.

Speaking of grazing, we wandered back out for more food, making a beeline to the Honolulu Firefighters for their "Braised Beef Vygytal Melange on a bed of Japonica Rice with chilled Kartoffelsalat."  Translated, this is "Chief Tomita's Beef Stew with local style white rice (i.e., sticky, but not like Thai sticky rice), and Potato Salad."  It was so good, and we grazed through it so fast, Umami neglected to get a picture.  Maybe next time!

From "Beef Stew Bowl," we moved on to "Sustainable Catch Sushi with Soy and Sansho on Shiso Rice topped with Scallion Pesto and Pickled Green Papaya Ribbons" by the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Kapiolani Community College.  This was an amazing mix of flavors between the Shiso and the fish (which was beyond Umami's ability to identify).  The pickled green papaya basically functioned and tasted like gari, decorative, crunchy, and would have cut the heat of wasabi, if there had been any.  A very impressive dish.

3660 on  the Rise prepared "Braised Shortribs with Truffle Jus" which was good solid piece of beef and a strongly truffle flavored jus.  They had run out of mashed potatoes (one downside of being late) which was too bad for us, because it would have gone really well with the dish.

From the Sheraton Waikiki, "Kiawe Smoked Big Island Red Veal with Meyer Lemon & Tarragon Spaetzle, Kona Lobster, and Maui Goat Cheese."   Umami is struck by how lobster seems to be popping up in the sides to several of the dishes he's run across recently.  First, at Bouchon, and now in this dish and one other we didn't get a chance to try, the beachhouse at the moana's "Grilled Mongolian Flat Iron Steak with Molokai Sweet Potato and Lobster Corn Hash."

Umami's starting to believe that the way to eat lobster is as little chunks, with similarly sized chunks of vegetables (corn is ideal), pasta (tarragon spaetzle!), or rice.  A little goes a long way!

The veal was excellent.  It was a lot of red meat for Umami over the course of the evening though!

Finally, dessert (!), which was a coconut custard (very rich) on a coconut cookie (nice and chewy) topped with coconut macadamia brittle and coconut sorbet (delicately flavored . . . Umami was grateful that it was cold, because it was a warm evening!).  Umami's not positive, but he thinks this was from the Royal Hawaiian.

All in all, a good time!


The Signature Chef's Food Festival
Friday, October 1, 2010
Hale Kinai Ahi
636 South Street
Honolulu, Hawaii  96813