CANOE PLANTS + JAPANESE TECHNIQUE = NOODLES?
That unexpected equation adds up for the new Adela’s Country Eatery in Kaneohe, where owners Adela Visitacion and Millie Chan whip up pastas using such items as kalo (taro), ulu (breadfruit) and uala (sweet potato) as well as marungay (moringa).
The women learned the art of Japanese noodlemaking while on a visit to Hokkaido, then brought their skill back home to make contemporary foodstuff from traditional Hawaii produce.
Adela’s opened in March with a menu that includes lechon (roasted pork belly) served over vibrant green marungay pasta or purple Okinawan sweet potato pasta; taro pasta with shrimp, luau leaves and mushrooms in a coconut cream sauce; or any of the noodles served with Alfredo sauce. The noodles are also served stir-fried or with a number of other sauces and toppings, including eggplant and short ribs.
Other menu items are local classics: loco moco with fried rice, hamburger steak with mushroom demiglace, kalua pig and cabbage, garlic butter shrimp, macadamia-crusted fish, and various kinds of fried rice.
Adela’s is at 45-1151 Kamehameha Highway. Call 236-2366 or visit adelascountryeatery.com.
NOBU’S NEWEST
“World of Nobu”
By Nobu Matsuhisa (PIE International, $70)
Nobuyuki Matsuhisa is one of the best-known Japanese chefs in the world. He has 50 restaurants — from Beverly Hills to Beijing, including one in Honolulu — all of which are surveyed in his latest cookbook, a lavish affair, elegantly photographed and suitable for a food lover with an interest in Matsuhisa’s particular style of Japanese-fusion cuisine.
It begins with dozens of his signature dishes, like new-style sashimi and black cod with miso, and then features collaborations with his chefs (who are profiled in the book).
Ingredient measurements are omitted. A good cook can tackle a number of the dishes, but probably not all, without being told just how much soy sauce or sea urchin is needed.
Matsuhisa is donating some of the proceeds to disaster relief charities.
— New York Times
HEROES AMONG US
Chefs and successful restaurateurs may get the glory, but it is often the unsung veterans cooking or serving the food who truly make a restaurant great.
The Honolulu Star- Advertiser’s annual ‘Ilima restaurant guide will recognize one of these behind-the-scenes stalwarts in an Unsung Hero Award.
We’re looking for servers, line cooks, dishwashers … anyone whose work is essential but tends to go unnoticed.
To make a nomination, email a brief statement about your hero to crave@staradvertiser.com or write Unsung Hero, Honolulu Star-Advertiser Crave section, 7 Waterfront Plaza Suite 210, Honolulu, HI 96813.
