Gastronomy Blog by Cathy Chaplin

Dessert

14 Jul 2009

Da Shave Ice Place – Kailua Kona

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After we filled up on local grindz at Manna Korean BBQ, my Kona Krew and I hopped in our rented Chrysler and cruised over to White Sands Beach. While Lush and I sunned and gossiped the afternoon away, cousins Andrew and Brian scored some pakalolo. Boys will be boys, hey? After a couple of hours of idleness, we abandoned the perfectly turquoise waters and dangerously inviting sun to head home, but not before stopping for some shaved ice first.

Hawaiian shaved ice, a close relative of the snow cone, most likely arrived on the islands’ pristine shores from Japan. The influence of kakigōri, a Japanese dessert made from shaved ice flavored with syrup, can be seen in the various ingredients and flavor combinations like condensed milk and azuki beans available on the islands.

Da Shave Ice Place is a little hut in the middle of a strip mall that included an L&L Drive-in and a CVS. I spied a sushi hut across the way, but sadly had to pass because the plate lunch I downed earlier was stubbornly hanging around my gullet.

Cousin Brian ordered a classic rainbow shaved ice. According to Wiki, “Rainbow consists of three different colors of syrup chosen usually for their color rather than their taste compatibility.” Regardless, my cousin dug his selection.

Cousin Andrew chose a strawberry flavored shaved ice with vanilla ice cream that was topped with gummy bears and a “cream cap” of condensed milk. Andrew enjoyed this innovative concoction very much, but would have appreciated a couple more handfuls of gummy bears.

I took Lush’s advice and ordered a Li Hing Mui (salty dried plum) shaved ice served with vanilla ice cream and topped with li hing seeds. The ladies preparing the shaved ice were stingy with the li hing powder, so the taste ended up being artificially fruity rather than a triple punch of salty, sweet, and sour. The li hing seeds atop the ice packed a lot of flavor, which more or less compensated for ice’s shortcomings.

The Mainland’s strip malls are sorely lacking in little food huts.

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Da Shave Ice Place
75-5595 Palani Road
Kailua Kona, HI 96740

Restaurant Review

13 Jul 2009

Manna Korean BBQ – Kailua Kona

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There is nothing sexier on this planet than a woman wearing a bikini after she has downed a Hawaiian plate lunch. Well, that’s sort of a lie, but I kept repeating it to myself like a mantra during my week-long trip to The Big Island. It takes a real woman to eat local-style grindz and then hit the beach two shakes of a lamb’s tail later.

After picking up my Honolulu-dwelling friend Luscious Liana from Kona International, we drove to Kailua Kona in search of lunchtime grindz. [Warning: ‘Grindz’ is my current favorite word and will be used and abused excessively for the next couple of posts.] Plan A was to hit up Kona Mixed Plate, but unfortunately it was closed due to the Fourth of July holiday. Plan B entailed driving from strip mall to strip mall until proper grindz were located. Manna Korean BBQ fit the bill.

From my haole point of view, local-style grindz are a fusion of Asian cuisines with processed American fare—an Asian-American amalgam, if you will. Manna’s menu is heavy on Korean offerings and includes Hawaiian standbys like macaroni salad, loco moco, and Spam.

Luscious Liana navigated Manna’s menu like a true local. Unlike her clueless tourist companions, who were hemming and hawing over the available options, she knew exactly what she wanted—Meat Jun ($8.49). Meat jun, also known as Chen-Ya in Korean, consists of thinly sliced pieces of “teri” beef dredged in a flour and egg mixture and fried. It was served with a sweet shoyu sauce on the side. Lush’s Manna Plate also included four vegetables and two scoops of rice. For her veggies, she chose kimchi, shoyu potatoes, steamed greens, and japchae.

Being the generous friend that she is, Lush allowed me try everything in her box. I went for the meat jun first, which had a very homey, sweet, and satisfying quality to it. I was surprised by how thinly sliced the meat was and how the batter didn’t adhere to the meat at all. The tastiest side item were the potatoes, followed by the japchae.

My cousin Brian ordered the Kal Bi Manna Plate with canned corn, mac salad, japchae, and kimchi on the side ($9.60).

My cousin Andrew ordered a mini-plate with spicy pork, japchae, and canned corn ($6.99). Both the spicy pork and the kalbi were very well-seasoned, not too fatty, and arrived fresh off the grill.

Although I was tempted by the loco moco, I decided to ease my way into Hawaiian food with a Spam Plate ($4.99). In addition to the four slices of grilled spam, the plate included a scoop of mac salad, a scoop of rice, a fried egg, and two fried mandu (Korean dumplings).

From afar, this plate may look like a big ‘ol confusing mess, but I can assure you that every element tasted great and made perfect sense at the time. The salty Spam and creamy mac salad paired extraordinarily well together, while the oily mandu ruled when dipped in gochujang (Korean fermented hot pepper paste). I have a special place in my heart for plate lunches.

Who loves grindz? We love GRINDZ—Luscious (left), Brian and Andrew (top, right), and yours truly (bottom, right).

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Manna Korean BBQ
75-1027 Henry Street, Ste. 104
Kailua Kona, HI 96740
Phone: 808-334-0880

Restaurant Review

10 Jul 2009

Lee’s Sandwiches – Alhambra

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Lee’s Sandwiches wants to bring banh mi to the masses and in the process, redefine the concept of fast-food. All franchised locations are outfitted with Krispy Kreme-esque fluorescent signs, automated ordering systems, and full-color bilingual menus. With 37 operations in California, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and a handful of international locations, for better or worse, Lee’s Sandwiches is the face of fast-food Vietnamese cuisine. This ain’t no Mom and Pop shop op.

Prior to my recent trip to The Aloha State, I swung by Lee’s Sandwiches in Alhambra to pick up some banh mi for my in-flight dinner. The store’s interior reminded me a bit of the air-con street food shops in Vietnam, but slightly less polished.

Ordering took longer than usual due to the bilingual menu—it was boggling to see photos of banh mi accompanied by English descriptors. The menu featured Vietnamese text as well, but the font was so small that squinting was required. Even though “banh mi dac biet” and “combination” are one in the same, the Vietnamese name is more familiar, and thus makes more sense.

While automated ordering systems and fluorescent signs add nice touches of modernity to Lee’s Sandwiches, the innovation that impressed me the most were the wrappers the sandwiches arrived in. Usually, banh mi comes wrapped in plain white butcher paper. If a vendor is especially mindful, she’ll scribble the sandwich’s name sloppily on the paper.

The sheets of butcher paper at Lee’s Sandwiches have the name of each sandwich neatly printed on them, which makes the process of figuring out which sandwich is which a breeze.

I picked up three sandwiches to sample; each one was priced at $2.45. From left to right—banh mi dac biet (cold cuts, forcemeats, pate), banh mi thit nuong (grilled pork), and banh mi xa xiu (sweet Chinese barbecued pork).

Firstly, an assessment of the bread. The baguettes at Lee’s Sandwiches aren’t a thick mess like some, but were so chewy that my jaws ached after a few bites. I’m not sure if I was served particularly old loaves, but dang, chew, chew, chew!

As far as fillings go, the “combination” banh mi was smeared with a great pate that moistened and seasoned the entire sandwich. The thit nuong was a major disappointment due to its saccharine-like sweetness, odd texture, and lack of charcoal essence. The xa xiu was solid.

The banh mi at Lee’s Sandwiches aren’t especially awesome, but compared to other fast-food options on the market, their product is easily tops. If there was a Lee’s Sandwiches for every McDonald’s, the world would be a better place.

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Lee’s Sandwiches
1289 East Valley Boulevard
Alhambra, CA 91801
Phone: 626-282-5589