Hauoli Makahiki Hou

For many years, New Years dinner in my family was simply a repeat of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We tried to find ways to make it a little more distinguishable, but somehow didn't succeed too well.  That isn't to say that it wasn't good, but with a big feast just one week prior, it was a little less special.   I always wanted to have a goose instead of turkey for Christmas, as seen in all the old English stories, but while whole turkeys go on sale from Thanksgiving, finding a whole goose on island is nearly impossible and quite costly if you do.   I remember when my mom would make a turkey for Christmas and a big crown roast for New Year's.   Her crown roasts, were so succulent, and festive looking with the shiny foil atop each bone.   But unfortunately, when less lucritive times hit after the 80's were done, mom's superstition kicked in saying that the crown roasts didn't bring in enough good luck for us and stopped making them.  

So we continued to try to find a way to distinguish New Year's from Christmas, when my dad saw a special on an Italian American holiday tradition called, "The Feast of the Seven Fishes", where every dish at the meal is a seafood dish.   As soon as he mentioned it, it was classic "eureka" moment for my family.  For one thing, pretty much every member of my family is a big seafood fan, one of the few foods we all really agree upon.  For another, it coincided with the Japanese tradition of sashimi that is so prevalent in the islands.  It's also highly symbolic to the Chinese, as the word for "fish", yuu, is a homonym for the word for "abundance" (also yuu).  So having a feast where each of us contributed one fish dish, seemed highly appropriate, and a fantastic way of welcoming in the new year that we've adhered to ever since.

My Mom's Lobster, Scallop and Shrimp Platter

As the matriarch of my family, my mom's dish is usually the centerpiece of our meal, even if it isn't a turkey or a crown roast.  What she came up with this year was spectacularly mouth watering, in both appearance, aroma, and taste.   Her preparation was actually quite simple, with some basic broiled lobster and seared scallops and shrimp.   The cooking time, technique, and seasoning were all quite minimal, as she wanted the natural flavors of these highly prized seafood items to speak for themselves.   However, everything was in her gorgeous presentation, which just screamed festive and abundance.  Unfortunately, the lobster I had, had a horribly mushy texture almost like mashed potatoes.  As my mom's preparation is typically flawless, I can only assume that she got a bad lobster from Costco.  It was a little inauspicious for me, but as we had so much food, it really didn't matter.  Conversely, her scallops and shrimp were both totally sweet and crisp. 

My Mom's Oyster Sauce Asparagus & Mushrooms

My mom also felt that we needed to have some vegetation on the table.  While not strictly a seafood dish, she did stir fry it with Chinese oyster sauce (hau yau).  So it still retained some of that concentrated oyster flavor in the dish.

My Aunty's Chinese Style Braised Uhu

My aunty also went with a classical approach to seafood.  In her case, probably the quintessential classic Chinese preparation for a whole fish, steamed with shoyu, green onions, and ginger.   Just for fun she added some shiitake mushrooms to the mix as well, and instead of steaming, she kind of braised the fish, but it essentially tasted the same.  The fish she picked was, a local Hawaiian uhu, or parrot fish (so named because of its beak-like mouth).   This fish when done right, like my aunty did, has an especially smooth texture.  Chinese refer to this ideal texture as waat (or "slippery"), and it is considered by the Chinese to be the most desired texture a fish can have.  My aunty's was just perfect in this regard.  Of course on an uhu, the best bite, the most waat part, are the cheeks and forehead.

My Lup Cheong & Oyster Sauce Mayonnaise Stuffed Salmon

My own contribution to this fish extraganza was a more modern, local Chinese, classic, a baked salmon stuffed with lup cheong and oyster sauce mayonnaise.  This is the dish that when Anthony Bourdain tried it, he said he didn't even want to guess at its geneology, he only knew that it was good.   Of course, its mixed up cultural heritage is so representative of what we're all about in the islands.  My aunty had almost made a salmon as well, but luckily found out what I was doing and switched at the last minute.  But what I especially liked was the contrast between my aunty's classical approach and my modern one.   It was like you could taste the evolution of Chinese flavors in Hawaii, right on our table.  

My Wife's Shake-n-Bake Catfish

My wife decided to go with another classic flavor for her fish, but one from the heart of Dixie.   She made a Shake-n-Bake catfish.   While Shake-n-Bake is usually done with chicken or pork, catfish is perhaps the favorite fish of the South, and the Southern style seasonings in Shake-n-Bake went perfectly with the catfish.   The only problem was, after she baked it, it was nearly an hour before we got to eat (waiting for Mom and Aunty to finish their last minute preparations).  So her normally crunchy Shake-n-Bake got soggy on the bottom.   Unfortunately, since all fish dishes are very quick, and should be done right before serving, the timing on this meal was just terribly difficult.  But while it lost its crunch, it lost none of its flavor, which was like eating Southern comfort.

My Uncle's Fishcake Stuffed Shiitake Mushrooms

Instead of making a dessert, like he usually does, my uncle opted to contribute a fish dish of his own  In his case, he stuffed big black shiitake mushrooms with fish cake.   I remember my Po Po making this dish ages ago, and it was like a reminder of times gone past for me.   The texture difference between the fish cake and the mushroom was interesting, as they didn't totally blend nor did they totally contrast.  

My Dad's Barbie's Special Tuna Salad

As this whole Feast of the Seven Fishes was his idea, even my dad likes to contribute something to this meal.  Of course, his cooking ability is really limited to mixing and plating, kind of akin to what my 4-year old son can do.  So he usually just arranges something pretty with canned fish and crackers.  But this time he went all out, and looked up something from the Internet called Barbie's Tuna Salad, which he said had really excellent user reviews.   However, he left out the ingredient which made the tuna salad really unique, the curry powder, as he was afraid that my son wouldn't be able to eat it.   To me, this really took out the heart of what made Barbie's so unique and interesting to begin with.  Without it, I think I preferred the tuna macaroni salad my son made last week more.  Thankfully, he added some of that curry powder back in to spice up the leftovers, and the difference was like night and day.

My Son's Ikura & Konbu Basmati Rice

In keeping up with his training in the culinary arts, I again had my son wash and cook rice.   This time, however, it wasn't as a sous chef for my dish, but to help him mix one of his own.   My son adores ikura (salmon roe).   Whenever we have sushi, the one thing he always wants to have is the ikura.  At first, the connotation that all my little boy wanted to eat was caviar was a little disturbing.  But apparently this isn't so uncommon, as we attended one of my friend's weddings, as they introduced the young ring bearer we found out that his favorite food is ikura as well.  As much as he adores ikura, my wife loves konbu (the sweet salty sea kelp).  It's probably from all the little toothpick samples we used to enjoy as kids from Shirokiya.   So this New Year's, I decided that they should both have a treat, and pick up some trays of ikura and konbu from Daiei (Don Quixote).  Then I let my son complete his dish by mixing it all together.   The basmati rice we used was far less sticky than the white calrose you would normally use, but then this made it easier for him to mix well.  Additionally, the fragrance of the basmati rice seemed to give more complexity to the relatively simple dish.   Simple but a real treat for my family.

My Son's Sardines En Croute

While I was dreaming up things for my son to cook, I came up with something else that I thought it would be fun for him to make.  Thinking back on the Italian roots of this meal, it dawned on me that sardines (which my wife also loves), would be something easy and tasty.  But how to serve it?  He could place it on crackers, but that would be a little too simplistic, even for him.  Then I thought of "pigs-in-a-blanket", and it dawned on me that instead of vienna sausages, we could wrap the sardines in Pillbury cresent rolls.   Just to add a little more Italian kick, and a little color, we decided to roll in some sun dried tomatoes as well.  The result was like a miniature sardines en croute.   My son actually had more fun rolling up his sardines, than mixing his rice, and the resulting little morsels were just delightful.

The only thing that seemed to be omitted from our fantastic seafood meal was sashimi or at least some local style poke, but with all that variety it really wasn't missed.  What we really did miss was my sister, who had already gone back to the mainland.  As much as we love and miss her, she's gotta have her own adventures without us cramping her style.

New Year's Dinner 2009

It is always really interesting to see the range of interpretations my family comes up with, even when focusing on a single ingredient like fish.  It is a factor of both our great kapakahi heritage and the spectrum of our own personal styles.   The other great thing is that we came up with a total of 9 dishes, and 9 (gau) is another homonym in Chinese for abundance and longevity.  Although it's based on the feast of the 7 fishes, having 9 dishes was even more auspicious for us, and hopefully will be reflective of the upcoming year.

Laissez les bon temps rouler

When I was in grad school, as homesick as I was, I really wanted to take the opportunity to explore the mainland.  So my good friend Jim and I decided to spend our Spring break exploring the Big Easy, New Orleans.   Though not as typical a Spring break destination as say, Daytona Beach, everything we knew about New Orleans indicated a city rich in culture, history, music and food, that was just about foreign to anywhere else on the mainland.  I instantly fell in love with the place.   It was everything that we were expecting but 10 times greater.  Las Vegas may be known as Sin City, but it seems almost like a children's theme park, compared to a place where the girls are more than willing to expose themselves to you for a string of plastic souvenier beads, and every meal is a completely sinful guilty pleasure.   I loved food.  I loved the jazz.  Most of all I loved the stories.

Maybe it was because I was homesick, I immediately drew a number of very interesting parallels between New Orleans and Hawaii.   From the moment I stepped off the plane, I was greeted with a warm, humid air, that instantly made me feel like I was back home in the islands.   Their culture was also based upon the grand plantations that existed there in the past.   Although their plantations were run with slave labor, and our plantation workers came here of their own free will seeking a better life, my Po Po would probably tell you that they worked equally as hard.   Their climate, being so similar to our own, meant that they grew crops like sugar cane, and that, like us, rice was the staple of their diet, not potatoes like everywhere else in the country.  They have a very spiritually charged culture (although their spirits were Voodoo spirits and ours Hawaiian gods), and just walking down the street you could feel a spiritual presense even before hearing all of the ghost stories, worthy of Glen Grant.  The Cajun people themselves were hearty, outcast Frenchmen who, for political reasons, were estranged from even their fellow French colonists, very similar to our own Hakka Chinese who were shunned by our Punti Chinese.   There was even a small population of Cantonese Chinese workers who went to work on their plantations, exactly the same as our own.  The term "creole" refers to the French settlers born in the new world, similar to our own nissei.  They mixed with the other ethnic groups that populated the area, and they spoke a mixture of languages not unlike our own Pidgin.  Here in Hawaii, we call it to "talk story", whereas in New Orleans they call it "gumbo ya-ya".  The outrageous beignets at the famed Cafe du Monde seriously reminded me of the malasadas at Leonard's Bakery (substituting granulated sugar for powdered sugar).  These days tourism is a huge industry for them, just as it is to us, and their French Quarter is akin to Waikiki.  But they welcome guests with the famed Southern hospitality, which is equivalent in spirit to our own aloha spirit.   But probably the single thing that made me relate most to the people in New Oleans, was how although we're both part of the United States, we're so culturally distinct it feels like being in a foreign country. 

Although there were parallels, the culture and food in New Orleans is nothing like our own.  Whereas our local food is a melting pot of various Asian cuisines, theirs is a melange of French, African, and Native American.   I loved their cuisine so much, that I took several classes at the New Orleans School of Cooking, so that I could enjoy it at home.  After practicing the techniques, and with the help of some imported spices, I have really come to master my own style of classic Cajun/Creole dishes like gumbo, jambalaya, and etouffee.  Unfortunately, aside of cooking it on my own, authentic Cajun food is really difficult to find here in the islands.

As much as I enjoy Popeye's, its really a fast food chain that has been watered down to mainstream tastes.   There was a kiosk next to Daiei called Kelly's Cajun Grill, but for some really bizarre reason, that always tasted much more like Chinese fast food (similar to Panda Express) than it did like Cajun cuisine.   Their bourbon chicken was a glazed chicken piece that but for a light change in seasoning could've easily become kung pao chicken.  For a while, there was a small place in the Makai Market food court in Ala Moana Center (whose name I really can't remember), that did slightly better.  I did enjoy having a bowl of their gumbo, some of their creamy Cajun chicken penne, spicy Cajun fried chicken, and a side of dirty rice.  They even gave you  a little hush puppy with your mixed plate.   While it wasn't really Cajun, I did lament its closing a little more than the loss of Kelly's.  Probably the closest thing that we've ever had to authentic Cajun cuisine is the A Taste of the Bayou restaurant on Kapahulu Ave.

Just like Taste of New York Deli was created by New York transplantees that longed for a taste of their home in Honolulu, A Taste of the Bayou was created by a Chef from Louisiana that wanted to fill the Cajun void here in Honolulu.   As a big afficionado of Cajun/Creole food, I have to say that he does a very good job, although he does miss the mark on a few things.  To begin with, once you walk through the door you're greeted with music that is truly Cajun.  It isn't the brass filled jazz of New Orleans, that I actually prefer, but the accordian and washboard music from the Cajun bayou.  The decor is a mix of the glittery mardi gras colors (purple, green, and gold), and the beautiful French architecture you'd find in the Garden District.

Cornbread Muffins at A Taste of the Bayou

As your anticipation grows for real Cajun food, they serve you some deliciously warm Southern cornbread muffins.  The muffins are steaming and soft, and not mealy the way that bad cornbread can be.

Cafe au Lait at A Taste of the Bayou

It's not Cafe du Monde, but they do serve a wonderful cafe au lait, served in a beautiful French style class.  The coffee is a real French roast with the distinct chickory flavor that makes New Orleans' coffee so unique.  The dark roast blends really well with the milk so that it is not overpowering and leaves a much more subtle yet robust flavor.

Alligator Tenderloin in Alligator Sausage Piquant Sauce at A Taste of the Bayou

As an appetizer, they even feature an alligator tenderloin in piquant sauce.  Where else in Honolulu are you going to find real alligator tenderloins on the menu??   Alligator is such a delicious and really light meat.  People always say that it tastes like chicken, but to me it tastes much more like a very delicate lobster.  The problem with most places is that they either deep fry it (making it taste like everything else that is deep fried) or they turn it into sausage (which usually has more to do with the spices than the meat).   So it is rare to find a good place that serves alligator where the alligator flavor really comes through.   If you've never eaten alligator before, this is one dish that is not to be passed up.

Red Beans and Rice at A Taste of the Bayou

My dad opted for the monday night favorite of red beans and rice (tradionally a dish made with the leftover meat from a Sunday night family dinner).  Here there is a bit of interpretation difference.   The traditional Cajun version of this dish is distinctly spicier than the traditional Creole version.  And I prefer the more buttery less spicy Creole, to the very spicy Cajun version that Taste of the Bayou offers.  However, the one thing that both versions have in common are really soft beans that are practically creamy in texture when you put them in your mouth, but are not so overcooked that they turn to mush.  In my travels, I came across these perfect beans at the Desire Oyster Bar and Bistro, right on Bourbon Street, that were supremely rich, creamy, and subtlely seasoned.   The beans at Taste of the Bayou, sadly fall short, still maintaining a slightly hard, crumbliness and an almost overpoweringly spiciness.

Catfish Po' Boy at A Taste of the Bayou

My wife decided to order the catfish po' boy, something she really enjoyed during our travels to New Orleans.   I've been to many po' boy places in New Orleans; Magazine Po' Boy, Serio's Po' Boy, and even the famous Mother's Po' Boy.   My favorite though is a little place right on the edge of the French Quarter called Johnny's Po' Boy.  As I've said before, the most important thing in a sandwich is the bread.  The crust on Johnny's bread is not like the crunchy toasted french bread you get on a Vietnames banh mi, but it is a delicately crispy and flaky crust on a super soft loaf of bread.   On top of that they've got fantastically seasoned fried oysters, and all sorts of other goodies.   This is again where Taste of the Bayou falls short, with a hard, chewy, roll that is nothing like the pillowy heaven that was Johnny's.  They've even got tomatoes on their po' boy, something that you traditionally wouldn't get in New Orleans because tomatoes wouldn't really grow well.   Probably the worst thing though, is that their spicy mayonnaise simply overpowers everything else in the sandwich.  Here they fall into the trap and misconception everyone has that all Cajun food needs to be really spicy.  It doesn't.  My wife and I travelled throughout New Orleans, tasting really authentic Creole cuisine, and she was always able to enjoy herself.   Unfortunately, she couldn't say the same thing at Taste of the Bayou. 

A Taste of the Bayou Sampler a A Taste of the Bayou

For myself, I opted to get a sampling of the 3 most classic Cajun dishes, red beans and rice (like my dad's), gumbo, and jambalaya.   I really did enjoy all of them.  Gumbo is a favorite of mine.  Whenever I land in New Orleans, the first thing that I will want to do after checking in to my hotel is run off to the Gumbo Shop to have a bowl of their chicken & andouille gumbo.   The warm, savoriness of the thickened soup is just the thing to reset your body after a long flight. The gumbo at A Taste of the Bayou shares much of that same savoriness and spiciness that relaxes and re-energizes your whole body.  Although, I do have to say that my own gumbo, simmering for hours with tons of vegetables, chicken, sausage, and various seafoods, is way better, it takes a ton of time and effort, and just wouldn't be economically feasible for any restaurant to offer.  So if I want to relax and have someone else cook the gumbo, this may be the next best thing.

The best thing about Taste of the Bayou, is that the spice blend that they use, really is the authentic flavor that you would get in New Orleans.   I would say that aside of cooking it myself, the spicy, savory, buttery flavors at A Taste of the Bayou are the closest thing that I have found on island to the authentic tastes that I fell in love with in New Orleans.   Although they are a bit heavy handed with their spices, I am happy to have them here to fill the niche in our culinary landscape.

My wife and I travelled to New Orleans just before our son was born, one last hurrah before settling into parenthood.  Fatefully, this was just a few months before Hurricane Katrina devastated the entire city.  But like Kauai rebuilding after Hurricane Iniki, their culture and food is simply too powerful to be supressed.  Perhaps that is the strongest parallel of all between us and them.

Y'all Come Back Now

Many of the foods that we hold dear as "American" foods, are in fact Southern foods.   From fried chicken to barbecue to country fried steak, the South has made quite the culinary contribution to our country's heritage.   While they've had their share of social problems, primarily racial tensions, the famed Southern hospitality and culture is very much genuine, and somewhat akin to the aloha spirit.  Although they are still working on the racial harmony that we pride ourselves on, their cuisine is still a mixture of the various ethnic groups that populate the area, albeit a completely different racial mix than our own  (although it may surprise you to know that Georgia has one of the largest Korean populations outside of Korea).    It is very hard to imagine a major American holiday, like Thanksgiving, without having some influence on the table from the South.

Although we are all the way on the other end of the country from the South, we still have our share of Southern style food.   The main reason for its popularity is, of course, the major military influence that we've got here.   Very often, our military personnel are either from the South or have had some connection to the South.   My father-in-law, for example, spent a good deal of time in Buloxi, Mississippi, and consequently developed a taste for Southern food.  The few Southern restaurants that we do have, especially the fast food ones, are always flooded with military personnel in uniform. 

Fried Chicken at Popeye's

Fast food chains like Kentucky Fried Chicken or Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen, are perhaps the easiest places to get a fix of Southern cuisine.   We don't generally tend to think of KFC as Southern food, but the "K" does stand for a major Southern state, and the iconic Col. Harland Sanders is famous for his gentlemanly Southern attire.   However, the seasonings at Popeyes were always a little truer to the flavors that you would get in the deep South.  Their spicer, crunchier batter along with their more distinctly Southern sides (like thier tasty green beans) give them a little more uniqueness than the international fast food that KFC has become.  Popeye's was always a favorite of my wife's Goong Goong, again probably due to his military connections, and visiting there always reminds her of him.   Even while maintaining their Southern roots however, both restaurants have naturally adopted to local tastes as well.   Visiting Popeye's on Dillingham, you can get your fix of chicken livers & gizzards, as well as chicken curry, both done to Filipino tastes.   KFC offers May's teriyaki chicken besides their standard snackers.  More importantly, every KFC restaurant in Hawaii is adorned with old photos of Col. Sanders wearing a lei during his visit to the islands.  The image of him wearing a lei over his old Southern suit, is the perfect symbol of adopting Southern cuisine into our local melange.

Besides the fast food restaurants, you can visit sit down restaurants like Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company.   Despite the many years since the popularity of Forrest Gump, the themed restaurant that bears his name is still going strong.   Frankly, I was always suprised that they would even make a restaurant based upon a one time movie that isn't even a major tentpole property (like Star Wars or Harry Potter).   But I can't complain, seeing as how I really do enjoy eating there.   I'm particularly fond of their "Bucket o' Boat Trash", with little bits of lobster, fish, and shrimp.   It's like a little mixed plate, with all the good stuff. 

Although I do enjoy eating at Popeye's or Bubba Gump's, they really are Southern food catered to the mainstream palate.  Their authenticity extends only as far as general mainstream American tastes will allow.   For the real Southern goodness, you have to venture into a small restaurant like Dixie Grill.    I always used to patronize the location on Ward Ave., but sadly that location is gone and has subsequently changed restaurants several times ever since.   But thankfully, you can still find Dixie Grill out in Aiea, just as you get off the Pearlridge offramp.  

Gumbo at Dixie Grill

Dixie Grill actually has some really authentic Southern cuisine.   You know you're in a real Southern restaurant, when the waitresses have a true Southern drawl, and they call your iced tea, "sweet tea".  The decor is also fantastic, looking like something out of the Dukes of Hazzard.   I particularly love their handwash basin, that looks like an old galvanized metal washtub, where you turn on the water by depressing  a foot pedal, and thus your barbecue sauce covered hands never touch the faucet.  Ingenious!   But besides the atmosphere, their cuisine is actually pretty accurate to tastes I encountered in my travels down south.   Their gumbo in particular (while not nearly as good as my own) is a spicy, savory blend, that actually has the requisite okra to be called gumbo.  In addition, it's got some tasty sausage in it.  The one detractor is the presense of some tomato (which you would never actually find in real gumbo). 

Crunchy Potato Crusted Mahi Sandwich at Dixie Grill

Just ordering a crunchy potato crusted fish sandwich, you can see the quality that they put into their dishes.   The fillet of mahi mahi they put in it is just huge, about the size of a greeting card.   It's very crunchy, with a batter almost similar to Popeye's, and the fish inside is a perfect flaky, moist texture.

Southern Fried Catfish at Dixie Grill

The truly authentic Southern fish at Dixie Grill, however, is their awesome Southern fried catfish.   This really brought me back to my travels, as its hard to find places that do catfish really well.  The texture of catfish is much more meat-like than any other fish.  It's as flaky or delicate as mahi, but has its own tender unique flavor.   I really love catfish, and they season theirs just perfectly the way I remember it down South.   Next to that, you've got a super savory bowl of collard greens, that has just enough bacon flavor to accentuate the soft dark greens.   As in all real Southern collard greens, the best part is drinking the pot liquor at the bottom of the bowl.   The creole rice next to it is the only item that doesn't really capture the buttery flavor of true creole rice, but that's easily overlooked while enjoying the catfish itself.

Probably the best thing on Dixie Grill's regular menu is their "Trash Can Buffet".   Just like the Bucket o' Boat Trash at Bubba Gump's, this enormous platter of food (served on an actual trash can lid), is a feast for 2 people with a little bit of everything that they do so well, fried chicken, catfish, ribs, etc.   But even this massive platter seems ordinary during the month of June, when Dixie Grill holds its annual CrabFest.   They've got a ton of crab dishes: soft shell crab jamabalaya, crab po' boys, etc.   But the most awesome thing that Dixie Grill offers is their crab platter during Crab Fest.   It's got huge servings of Alaskan king crab, Japanese snow crab, dungenous crab, and blue crab.   It's so rare that you get to try all 4 major different types of crab on a single platter, in such generous portions, and seasoned so perfectly with their Southern spices.  It is a crab lover's dream!   Crab happens to be my uncle's favorite food in the whole world.   We can easily satisfy him on any special occasion with the inclusion of some crab.   So I really wanted to take him to Dixie Grill for their crab platter.   The only drawback was that his birthday is in December, whereas Crab Fest is held during the month of June.   But after a little bit of pleading, they accomodated us by making the platter specially for his birthday (although not at the regular June pricing).  I think it may have been one of the most satisfying birthday dinners we've taken my uncle to.

Despite not being from, nor having lived for any long period of time in, the South, somehow Southern cuisine is so comforting to me.   Maybe it's just that the concept of Southern hospitality is so pervasive, that it permeates their cuisine, even so far from the South itself.