Cravings: Dining for dollars — and the benefit of culinary students

RESTAURANT WEEK HAWAII RETURNS

Help our local restaurant industry thrive — by trying new venues, visiting old favorites, supporting culinary education — and you’ll save money, to boot. That’s the intent of Restaurant Week Hawaii, now in its 12th year.

The campaign actually runs 10 days, from Friday through Nov. 24, and features some 75 eateries on Oahu, from takeout spots to fine dining restaurants. Each is offering offers prix fixe menus and discounts.

Tanioka’s Seafood & Catering at Ala Moana Center, for instance, offers a bowl of spicy ahi on sushi rice accompanied by a dessert plus a Pepsi or bottled water — all for $15.95.

At the higher end, Senia, one of the most lauded restaurants in Hawaii, created a multicourse menu that includes a choice of butternut squash agnolotti or chilled foie gras with chestnut and pumpkin spice; followed by Maine sea scallop with ginger relish, rice porridge and dried scallop broth; and duck breast with braised red cabbage, cabbage chip, Brussels sprouts and sweet-sour pickled beet. At $85 (add $15 for the foie gras dish and $45 for wine pairings), it is a bargain for such an elevated meal.

New participating restaurants this year: Goen Dining + Bar, Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ, Menya le Nood and O’Kim’s Contemporary Korean Kitchen.

A portion of proceeds from Restaurant Week will support the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Diamond Head, which offers a four-year culinary program. The institute’s first phase of construction was completed in 2017; the next phase includes a restaurant, competition auditorium, teaching laboratories and more classrooms and offices.

To see the complete lineup of participating restaurants and their menues, or to find out more about the event, visit restaurantweekhawaii.com.

HAWAII TEAM NOW TEAM USA

Senia chef de cuisine Jeffery Hayashi and his commis, or assistant, William Barrera of Roy’s Beach House, will represent the U.S. as Team USA at the Bocuse d’Or 2021 international culinary competition in Lyon, France.

The pair competed against two other finalist teams Monday at the Culinary Institute of America’s Copia campus in Napa, Calif., each attempting to complete a plate of ratatouille and a platter of whole chicken following the rigorous format of the actual Bocuse d’Or competition. The contest ran five hours and 35 minutes.

A panel of 16 chefs, including pastry chef Michelle Karr-Ueoka of MW Restaurant, judged the contest. Honorary judges include Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud.

Hayashi and Barrera will train at a facility at Copia for 14 months to prepare for the competition, to be held in Lyon, France.

The biennial Bocuse d’Or, honoring renowned French chef Paul Bocuse, was founded in 1987. It has been won by an American team just once, in 2017, led by Mathew Peters, then executive sous-chef at Keller’s Per Se in New York.