STEPHANIE LUM - KGMB NEWS

STEPHANIE LUM
KGMB NEWS HAWAII


Me and Chris got to meet the Queen of Hawaii News.  Ms. Stephanie Lum.  Stephanie is simply beautiful on air and in person.  Chris took the podium to host the 5:00 News and cheerfully told his audience that 7-11 was giving away free beer for the Holidays.  In my world this is Stephanie Yum!

PABLO'S CANTINA

PABLO'S CANTINA

HONOLULU,  HAWAII  

Made a second trip back to Pablo's Cantina in Ward Center.  I went for the Enchiladas this time.  One chicken and one beef with red sauce.  Could not believe the beef was ground and in big clumps. The flavor was good on the chicken side, but serving ground beef instead of shredded beef in an enchilada is a sin.  My friends enjoyed their Carnitas Tacos.  UPDATE: 6/11 - Pablos Closed.

GOOD MEXICAN FOOD IS HARD TO FIND IN HAWAII

HOLIDAY DINNER

HOLIDAY DINNER

AT HOME 

We love hosting friends for dinner during the Holidays.  Shirley always goes the extra mile and knocks out great food and presentations.  I am so lucky she puts up with me during these events.  We hosted good friends and served four types of fresh Island Poke.  For dinner, we enjoyed a Prime Rib of Beef crusted in garlic and horseradish and huge Alaskan King Crab legs that were sweet and delicious.  Sides included twice baked potatoes with cheese, bacon and chives, asparagus with hollandaise sauce and a terrific caesar salad with anchovies, avocado and tomato.  Our friends brought a Ice Cream Cake and chocolate stuffed creme puffs for dessert.  Both were awesome.  This meal made me realize; 1.  how blessed we are and 2. how fat I am getting.  Starting back on the diet effective January 1.

HOLIDAY DINNER

LE BISTRO

LE BISTRO

HONOLULU, HAWAII 

We were lucky to have dinner with a good friend an rep that has a big expense account.  Treated us to a dinner fit for kings at Le Bistro.  While the service started slow, it did kick in and the waiter delivered a great dining experience.  Our host had eaten here a few weeks earlier so he took the lead on appetizers.  Fresh Oysters, Foie Gras and Escargot arrived to our pleasure.  I love Foie Gras.  The fatty duck liver is usually served well seared and with some type of fruit.  This dish to me was a mess.  I took one bite and wanted no more.  Could not understand the sides of tomato, bread sticks and something else.  Just give me a toasted piece of bread and the duck liver.  This dish had a odd taste like liquor that I did not like.  The Escargot was delicious. Loaded with butter and garlic.  The Oysters were fresh and delicious.  I started with a local Tomato Salad with Balsamic Dressing.  This was a light and tasty treat that I really enjoyed.  For my entree I went with the house special for the day.  It was a four course meat dish featuring a Mini Kobe Beef Burger stuffed with cheese, two types of grilled steak and a braised beef dish.  The mini burger was awesome.  I also loved the braised beef.  Served with creamy potatoes that I could not stop eating.  Everything on the plate was good.  I mean real good.  This is just too much meat for one person.  Two people can easily share the quartet of beef here.  My friend enjoyed a chicken dish that he said was great.  My other friend also dined on the quartet and could not believe how tender the meats were.  Everyone was happy after this meal.  No complaints.  Can't wait to return.

UPDATE:  I did return to Le Bistro and had another great  meal.  We again had the Escargot and Local Tomato Salad.  Both were excellent.  We tried a Garlic Prawn appetizer that was out of this world.  Two large Prawns butterflied on the plate and soaked in a garlic type sauce.  This in one great shrimp dish and a must try.  It comes with bread to soak up all the juices off the plate.  We enjoyed Australian Rack of Lamb.  This was a huge serving and was enough for two.  I went for the BBQ Lamb Chops.  Could not believe the amount of food on the plate.  There were 4-5 large pieces of Lamb Chops.   All crisp on the outside and perfectly medium rare inside.  Served with some great scalloped potatoes.  This is a great dish.  Our friends enjoyed the local fish and loved every single bite.  We finished the evening with the Spamoni Ice Cream Pie.  It was the bomb.  Service was good on this trip.  The place was packed yet our food came within a reasonable time.  One thing I would like to say is that the wine list is a bit over priced.  Most bottles start in the $60 range and go up from there.  A decent bottle of vino will run $100+.  We had the Duckhorn Merlot at $95.

LE BISTRO

LE BISTRO IN AINA HAINA

ESCARGOT

OYSTERS 

RESTAURANT SAIGON - 12th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

12TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
RESTAURANT SAIGON
HONOLULU, HAWAII

I Love my Wife.  She is the rock of our family and my best friend.  How did I get so lucky?  We celebrated our Wedding Anniversary by having a rare lunch together in downtown Honolulu.  We picked one of our favorite spots and enjoyed Vietnamese Spring Rolls and a hot bowl of Pho.  We love Pho, a Vietnamese soup filled with noodles, rare steak and bean sprouts.  It is the broth at Saigon that makes the soup.  Also love the Spring Rolls that are topped with a wedge of cucumber, daikon and carrot and wrapped in lettuce.  Simply delicious.  The entire lunch was $24 and we both were full and satisfied.  Spending 45 minutes with my wife during a work week is special and something we should do more often.

BRAVO RESTAURANT

BRAVO RESTAURANT SPAGHETTI AND SALAD

BRAVO RESTAURANT
AIEA, HAWAII


Enjoyed an absolutely delicious lunch at Bravo by Pearl Ridge Mall in Aiea.  This place is hands down a winner for lunch.  The service and food are excellent.  You start your meal at Bravo with unlimited hot and fresh bread covered in butter and garlic.  They are so good.  You really need to hold back and not eat the entire bowl.  We started with a bowl of Minestrone Soup.  This was unlike any Minestrone I have ever had.  A clear light broth with a little pasta and fresh vegetables.  Not bad and very light.  I had the pasta and salad combo for around $8.  You choose the type of pasta you want, choose a sauce and choose a salad.  I had spaghetti with meat sauce and a Caesar salad.   The pasta came so fast it was like magic.  It was piping hot and just close to being perfectly cooked. Just a little too overcooked but really good.  The sauce was meaty and covered the pasta perfectly.  The salad was excellent.  Served with a good bit of Parmesan Cheese and a very good and not too overpowering dressing.  Our server was courteous and efficient.  I like everything about Bravo.  It is a great place for lunch and I cannot wait to return.

KING CRAB SANDWICH ROLL

ALASKAN KING CRAB ROLL
AT HOME


Had some really nice Alaskan King Crab legs left over from our tailgate party.  What to do?  Well I whipped up a delicious Crab Roll using some hot dog buns.  Mixed the crab with a little mayo, lemon juice, lemon zest, diced celery, flat leaf parsley and a little Old Bay Seasoning.  Placed on some local Bib Lettuce.  Really good.  I steamed the bun first.  Would have buttered and toasted the bun, but I did not want it to break into two pieces.

HAWAII VS UNLV - THE CHAMPAGNE BOWL

HAWAII VS UNLV
THE CHAMPAGNE BOWL
59-21 HAWAII WINS

I think there was a football game at the Stadium last night.  We were there but the game is a bit of a blur.  While Hawaii finished the season with a 10-3 record, share of WAC Title and a trip to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, I can't remember much of the game as beginning the day with three bottles of champagne pretty much knocked us all out.  Corey was the culprit who corked the bubbly shortly after our tailgate began.  A few bottles of Piper Sonoma and then a great bottle of Pierre Jolet.  The later was drank too quickly as we wrapped up our tailgate and entered the stadium.  I made the mistake of going to the beer stand in the second quarter with Mad Dog..  It was pretty much lights out after that.  Never seen so many happy people at the beer stand.  Well, the tailgate was very small but special.  We dined on a Bone In Prime Rib, King Crab Legs, Grilled Shrimp with Chimichurri Sauce, Hot Wings, Three kinds of Poke and some really good Apple and Pineapple Sausage plus a Habanero Sausage.  Finished off with a chocolate covered brownie and more glasses of champagne.  What a day in Paradise.

PAPPARDELLE WITH MUSHROOMS - INSPIRED BY MALTO MARIO

DINNER AT HOME

INSPIRED BY MALTO MARIO

After enjoying an incredible meal at Babbo in New York, I decided to try to replicate one of our favorite dishes.  Pappardelle with Mushrooms in Butter Sauce, Sage and Thyme.  I used Oyster Mushrooms that were grown locally.  This is such a simple and delicious dish.  My version came out fantastic.  Tasted incredible.  For our salad, I used locally grown lettuce, fresh green beans, yellow sunburst squash and marinated beets with a red wine vinegar dressing.  This was also pretty good.          I blanched the beans and squash and then pan roasted them.

PAPPARDELLE PASTA WITH MUSHROOMS IN BUTTER SAUCE

BIB LETTUCE SALAD WITH BEETS AND GREEN BEANS

TOP OF THE ROCK - NEW YORK CITY

TOP OF THE ROCK

NEW YORK, NY

No trip to New York is complete without a bird's eye view of the city.  Whether from the Empire State Building or the Top of Rockefeller Plaza, you must go up and see the view.  Top of the Rock costs $20 per person to take the 45 second elevator ride to the top observation decks.  The views even on a cloudy day are amazing.  You really get the feeling of the city and its size and dense population from above.  Just think, all those buildings and apartments and there is very little parking.  How do they take out the trash?  How do you keep this city safe?  So many questions.  This is what makes New York City so special.  It is a microcosm of the United States.  Every race, religion and ethnic heritage is here. Living, working, eating and enjoying life in the Big Apple.