Cinnamon’s launches new pupu menu

Cinnamon’s at the Ilikai has introduced a new pupu menu for those who prefer grazing on multiple dishes over the single-entree format of traditional dining.

The menu, offered from 2 p.m. to closing daily, includes chef Carsie Green’s popular crab cakes ($13), served over spinach and topped with sun-dried tomato pesto, basil pesto and spicy dill remoulade.

And talk about decadence: All the most popular dip ingredients are blended into one over-the-top, artichoke-spinach-cream cheese-blue crab dip ($10), served with garlic-pita points.

For variety, a pork bao trio ($13) features three local favorites — kalua pork, char siu and pork belly — wrapped in Chinese bao.

In addition to poke on won ton chips with wasabi cream cheese and furikake ($15, or $9 manini size), there is also rib-eye poke tossed with sauteed mushrooms, garlic and onions, and topped with crisp fried onions, destined to become a new favorite.

The name of this menu — Splintered Paddle — offers food for thought regarding the politics behind Hawaii’s first law, declared by Kamehameha the Great, which had much in common with the ideology of the U.S. Founding Fathers. With aloha at its core, it states that men great and humble, the aged, women and children should have the freedom “to lie down to sleep by the roadside” or otherwise go about their daily pursuits “without fear of harm.”

All pupu and cocktails are $1 off during happy hour, 3 to 6 p.m. daily. The restaurant is at 1777 Ala Moana Blvd.