Add this one to the you-just-never-know file. J.J. Niebuhr, co-owner with Danny Dolan of J.J. Dolan’s pizza restaurant in Chinatown, had volunteered to assist other chefs for the 2013 Hawaii Food and Wine Festival. One festival event had him in Kahaluu, where he met Adam Richman of the popular "Man V. Food" series that airs on the Travel Channel.
Niebuhr told Richman he was a "pizza maker from New Jersey making pizza in Chinatown." A few months later he got a call that Richman was trying out a concept for a new show. Did Niebuhr have anything off the menu he could feature?
As a matter of fact, he did. That creative pie, the Drunken Duck Pizza, will be featured on Richman’s new show, "Man Finds Food," wherein he travels to various cities to unveil secret dishes. The episode also features Aiea Bowl’s braised short ribs, The Pig & the Lady’s Mushroom Godzilla sandwich, and Town’s pa’i’ai. It airs 6 p.m. Wednesday on the Travel Channel and repeats at 9 p.m.
This pizza also has its roots in time Niebuhr spent hanging out with a bunch of chefs. But in this case, "there was drinking involved," leading to a Chinatown-inspired pizza. Niebuhr’s product of choice: Chinese roast duck.
"I’ve got a deep affection for char siu houses. I enjoy char siu, roasted pork belly, roasted duck — all that stuff. Nobody does it better than the char siu houses," he said.
Upon his signature crust, Niebuhr layered caramelized Maui onions glazed in Irish whiskey ("It’s my mom’s recipe"), local goat cheese, local red and white cabbages and thinly sliced Chinese roast duck, all topped with a duck egg, then garnished with green onions, duck-skin cracklings and a drizzle of hoisin sauce.
Niebuhr enjoyed his creation and then put it behind him as a one-time deal. But when the Travel Channel came calling, the New Jersey pizza maker in Chinatown thought the dish told the whole story.
The episode was filmed in February 2014, and the series began its run in Australia before hitting the U.S. So imagine Niebuhr’s surprise when tourists came in asking for the dish.
Now, in anticipation of the Wednesday airing and beyond, he’s considering making Drunken Duck Pizza an occasional special at the restaurant, which has been going strong for seven years.
"It’s definitely unique to Chinatown Honolulu," he said. "We certainly don’t roast duck at J.J. Dolan’s. We just take it and do something great with it."
J.J. Dolan’s is at 1147 Bethel St. Hours are 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Mondays to Saturdays. Call 537-4992.
