a sybarite in paradise
reviewing the food & entertainment pleasures of Honolulu
 
 
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 Thursday, January 24, 2008 New Site NEW SITE>>>> click here I will no longer be updating this site. I will work to move these reviews to the new site. readmore...| No Comments  Friday, January 4, 2008 Maui Mike’s Again!  On the way to our second annual Kaena Point New Year’s Day hike we stopped at Maui Mike’s in Wahiawa for lunch. Everyone at our table of five was oohing and aahing about how delicious the chicken was. This time Howard and I split the pulled chicken sandwich. It was very good. Don’t miss this place if your in Wahiawa or just on your way to the north shore. 96 S. Kamehameha Highway Historic Downtown Wahiawa, Oahu Phone: (808) 622-5900 Albatross nesting at Kaena Point. readmore...| No Comments  Friday, January 4, 2008 Hula Grill  We headed out on a recent Sunday night to Duke’s at The Outrigger Waikiki Hotel. Unfortunately, they had a very long wait. So, we sauntered up the stairs to the Hula Grill. After some confusion and few minutes wait, we were seated right up against the railing outside. I think I would have preferred our first location in a booth inside as it was sprinkling on and off during the meal. Luckily, it didn’t rain too much. We kept ourselves busy talking for a while and the waiter showed up to take readmore...| No Comments  Monday, December 24, 2007 Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street  I can’t remember anticipating a movie more than Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It premiered as a musical on Broadway during my college years as a theatre student. One of our professors got a pirated copy of the cast album and played it for us. It quickly became my most favorite musical. I’ve listened to the album hundreds of times to enjoy Stephen Sondheim’s incredible music and lyrics. So, I had to go to the movie on opening day last Friday. This is a delicious readmore...| No Comments  Thursday, December 13, 2007 Y’Kele Korean B-B-Q  I don’t get out to Waikele much except on trips to Lowes and to Christmas shop at the factory outlets. When I do get out there I invariably go to Y’Kele Korean B-B-Q. The other choices don’t appeal to me and I figure it’s better for me than McDonalds since I get veggies on the side. Today I ordered my usual Mini Chicken Katsu($5.79), no rice. When you get no rice you get three choices of vegetable sides. I had the broccoli and a double shot of kim chee. The katsu was made to order, hot and readmore...| No Comments  Saturday, December 8, 2007 Pho’ South King  Pho’ South King is just a block away from home and cool stormy week had me thinking about hot soup. So, we walked down the street for Pho’. Pho’ (pronounced ‘fuh’), is the Vietnamese version of noodle soup. You can get it with a variety of meats, beef being the traditional one. We both ordered the sliced beef and beef ball pho’. Which arrived a mere minute or two later. As with any soup, for me it’s all about the broth. If that base flavor isn’t there I’m not going to like it. Pho’ South readmore...| 1 Comment  Tuesday, October 30, 2007 Emeril’s Orlando, Universal CityWalk  Up to today I’ve been able to avoid the overly commercial Emeril Lagasse’s restaurants. Two trips to New Orleans, and we managed to eat quite nicely without any BAM! My brother-in-law really wanted to eat at Emeril’s, so today we had lunch there. It’s in the free admission area of the Universal Studios Theme parks, called CityWalk. The area is between the two theme parks and filled with restaurant names you’d recognize. When we walked in at 12:30 we were surprised to find the place readmore...| No Comments  Thursday, October 25, 2007 The Chef’s Table  The Chef’s Table is in Hawaii Kai and a well worth a drive from town for. If you’ve got a hankering for hearty Austrian food, this place is heaven. Ron & Tim took us there last night and it has to be, hands down, the best middle European inspired food I’ve ever had. It’s also a pretty good deal, considering the volume of food you get. We had reservations and were seated right away. The decor is a little dated, but the everything else makes up for it. Warm homemade rolls were brought right readmore...| No Comments  Wednesday, October 17, 2007 Eastern Promises  Eastern Promises is a excellent gangster genre film. It’s moody and stylistic and extremely violent in smallish spurts, with one exception. The script is as predictable as Michael Clayton was, but ultimately more successful at rising above the material. The film’s look and mood sets the tone very well. It’s a broody contemplation on the Russian mob in London. Viggo Mortensen is excellent as mob boss’ son’s driver Nikolai. Namoi Watts is also excellent as Anna a midwife who is trying, through readmore...| No Comments  Tuesday, October 16, 2007 Michael Clayton  Michael Clayton is a good movie with strong performances from everyone involved. George Clooney plays the title character, a lawyer that is a “fixer” of problems that the rich and famous get themselves into. When one of his colleagues, played excellently by Tom Wilkinson, goes off his meds and causes problems, Michael Clayton is sent in to fix things up. A chain of events and revelations make for interesting plot twists all throughout the movie. The plot isn’t particularly original, but it readmore...| No Comments  Friday, October 12, 2007 The Kingdom  I saw this last week and I’ve been a bit lazy writing about it. Not that it wasn’t a good movie. It just wasn’t the one I was expecting to see based on the previews. The previews made me think that I would be seeing a heady political thriller. I thought it would thoroughly examine the United State’s tenuous relationship with Saudi Arabia. I was expecting another movie like Babel or Syriana. What I got was an entertaining action flick. The Kingdom works well as “just sit back and have fun readmore...| No Comments  Monday, September 17, 2007 Sekiya’s  Sekiya’s is popular. Sekiya’s is for the most part inexpensive. It’s rustic, family friendly and a Honolulu landmark since 1957. For the life of me I can’t understand why. I wanted to like it. It’s like a Japanese version of the Big Boy restaurant of my childhood. I have an affection for the genre this place fits into. However, the food just didn’t live up the reputation. I ordered chicken sukiyaki. It was OK, but way too sweet for my taste. Andrew called it teriyaki soup. True enough. The readmore...| 1 Comment  Monday, September 3, 2007 Mac 24-7  MAC 24-7 is a beautiful newish restaurant on Kuhio in Waikiki. It’s hip and stylish: a very nice space. Too bad the food doesn’t live up to the decor. And the service couldn’t have been worse. I’d heard that there was spotty service when it first opened, so we waited a few months to try this place. They’re open 24 hours a day 7 days a week and I probably would have appreciated the food more after my favorite watering hole kicked me out at closing time after a night of heavy cocktails. Having readmore...| No Comments  Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Little Village Noodle House  Little Village Noodle House is my favorite Chinese restaurant in Honolulu. I’ve been here more than a dozen times and always enjoy the food. It’s most fun with a group so that you can taste more of their excellent food, but I sometimes go by myself for lunch. At lunch I almost always order the Pecan Spinach Salad. It’s just enough for one for lunch and very delicious. I’m not sure how it made it onto the menu, but it used to be just a special listed on the board when I started coming to this readmore...| No Comments  Friday, August 24, 2007 Ba-Le Sandwich Shop, Kahala Mall  I first encountered Vietnamese sandwiches on Kearny Street in San Francisco when I worked for Charles Schwab. I tried one soon after a shop opened that served them. Hooked I was from the start. I went back week after week. I love the combination of meat and veggies. Here in Hawaii the chain Ba-Le has 25 locations. I’ve found that each one is a bit different, but they all carry the made to order Báhn Mì Vietnamese Sandwiches. They are served on a French roll or croissant. I always get the readmore...| No Comments  Friday, August 24, 2007 The Bourne Ultimatum  I’m a little late getting around to seeing this movie. Mostly because I knew it would be around a while and who likes all those crowds at the movies anyway? If you’re a fan of the previous two movies you’ll love this one. You certainly could go to this film without having seen the others, but it wouldn’t be the same experience. The filmmakers do a good job of reminding those of us with no memory for plots how Jason Bourne got to this place in his life. This is a 111 minute thrill ride of readmore...| No Comments  Tuesday, August 21, 2007 Becoming Jane  Becoming Jane is a costume drama about the Jane Austen’s life. If you’ve seen the recent (and better) Pride & Prejudice, you know the story. There’s nothing extraordinary about this film, it’s pretty, predictable, somewhat dull and a bit romantic. The acting is fine, the filming beautiful. There’s just nothing to set this film apart from the masses of costume dramas we’ve seen before. If you like costume dramas there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours. If you detest them, this one readmore...| No Comments  Monday, August 20, 2007 New Site, Old Site After a week of trying to iWeb 2.0.1 to work with my sites, I’m back to iWeb 1.1.2. I like some of the new features of iWeb 2, but I’ll have to wait for the bugs to get fixed. They fixed the bug that obliterated all my photo pages, but my Favorite Recipe site got wiped out in the new version. So, I hope to stop playing with the technology and write a little again.... readmore...| No Comments  Thursday, August 9, 2007 P.F. Chang’s China Bistro  P.F. Chang’s China Bistro is a mainland chain with locations all across the country. I’ve dined in one in California before and have fond memories of the good food. Susan took me to the on in Hokua Towers, near Borders, for lunch yesterday.  We were seated immediately as the restaurant wasn’t very busy. It is a little out of the way and there are plenty of places to eat good Chinese food in Honolulu. Our waiter appeared quickly and mixed up his special version of a dipping sauce. Each server readmore...| No Comments  Tuesday, August 7, 2007 No Reservations  If you’ve seen the trailer to this movie, you’ve pretty much seen the movie. Not that it isn’t entertaining, it’s just they showed you the whole thing in the trailer. It’s a good date movie; a romantic comedy with a tragic sub-plot. The performances are mostly good, but can’t quite raise the formulaic script out of the depths of mediocrity. Catherine Zeta-Jones, miscast or out of her depth, plays Kate who is thrust into raising her sister’s kid, Zoe, played deftly by Abigail Breslin. 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