CONTEST SEEKS BEST MOCKTAILS
A good nonalcoholic drink can keep designated drivers on the straight and sober, so that they can fulfill their designated duty of getting their friends home safely.
To that end, DTRIC Insurance and the Hawaii Restaurant Association are sponsoring the second Hawaii’s Best Mocktails competition, open to restaurants and bars.
Deadline to enter is March 1. Enter at DTRIC.com/mocktails.
Fourteen finalists will be included in an online recipe booklet and compete in a mix-off May 14 at Waikiki Yokocho.
Last year’s winners were the judge’s choice Cereal Milk Pina Colada from Tropics Grill & Bar and the people’s choice Strawberry Basil Mule from Mauna Kea Resort. For recipes of all the 2018 finalists’ drinks go to dtric.com/mocktails2018.
INVASIVE SPECIES ON THE MENU
If only we could train ourselves to eat the flora and fauna that do more harm than good in our islands, we’d being benefiting the environtment with every bite.
Well, here’s a start.
A team of chefs will use ingredients like gorilla ogo, tilapia, taape, Samoan crab and strawberry guava — all invasive species — in a dinner March 2 at the Loko Ea Fishpond in Haleiwa.
The chefs: Eric Oto of Hoku’s at the Kahala Hotel & Resort, Mark Noguchi of the Pili Group, Tammy and Danny Smith of Hale Kealoha ‘Ai Pono, and Ed Kenney, owner of Town, Mud Hen Water, Kaimuki Superette and Mahina & Sun’s.
The Malama the Invasives dinner is a benefit for the Malama Loko Ea Foundation, which maintains the fishpond.
The event includes entertainment by the trio Kawaihone and singer Keilana Mokulehua, tours of the pond and an open bar.
Master sommelier Roberto Viernes will pair wines for VIP guests.
Cost is $120; $200 for VIP seating. The dinner runs from 4 to 8 p.m. Purchase tickets through eventbrite.com (search for “Loko Ea”).
WANTED: A GREAT NAME
Passion fruit, orange and guava — that spells POG to many of us, but think of something better and you could win a pack of prizes.
Cool Tropics, a 100 percent fruit juice slush served frozen in schools nationwide (including in Hawaii), is seeking a name for its new product with those POG flavors.
Frank Massabni, Cool Tropics president, feels a connection to Hawaii, where he vacationed as a child, thus the naming contest is open only to Hawaii students in kindergarten through grade 12.
The prizes: a $1,000 scholarship, a laptop computer and a mountain bike. To enter, email promo@cool-tropics.com. Deadline is Friday.
Quickbites is a weekly listing of dining events. Email items to crave@staradvertiser.com.
