Adega Portuguesa opened Friday in Chinatown for bar service and plans to roll out its menu of Portuguese and Brazilian cuisine in three weeks, according to owner Antonio Da Silva.
It opened in the former Mei Sum dim sum restaurant spot at 1138 Smith St., where it intersects Pauahi Street. (Mei Sum moved to 1170 Nuuanu Ave.)
A sign in the new restaurant and bar’s window has been tempting the curious for more than a week.
Da Silva’s culinary team arrives Saturday, and menu details will be firmed up at that time, Da Silva said.
A couple of things are certain, however.
Portuguese food will be served every day, and Brazilian dishes will be served Fridays and Saturdays.
"We’ll do codfish (known as salt cod, bacalao or bacalhau) … three or four dishes," as well as feijoada, a Brazilian dish that also is eaten in Portugal, Da Silva said.
The pigs’ feet, pig tails, ribs and ears and other feijoada ingredients, served with collard greens and other customary side dishes may seem exotic to some, but it is a traditional dish in Brazil. Referred to by some as "peasant food," it was thoroughly enjoyed by rock-star-chef-author and food-adventurer Tony Bourdain on an episode of his cable TV show "No Reservations."
On weekdays, lunch at Adega Portuguesa will be buffet style, but the restaurant will offer table service at dinner time.
Adega Portuguesa’s daily hours of operation are 10 a.m. until 2 a.m., with food service, once it begins, available until 1:30 a.m.
Da Silva also leads other businesses, including handyman service Trigo Enterprises Inc. and PartyRentalsHawaii.com.
YOUTH VIDEO CONTEST MATURES
The annual ‘Olelo Youth Xchange video contest is open for entries with a title sponsor for the first time.
Sony Hawaii has provided prizes, such as video cameras, to the winning teams since the inception of the contest, which now will be called Sony Presents the ‘Olelo Youth Xchange Student Video Competition.
"The students and children of Hawaii are our future, and Sony Hawaii is pleased to have supported this important program since 2003," said Naobumi "Ned" Nomura, president of Sony Hawaii, in a statement.
The company’s support, financial and otherwise, has translated into video cameras for "hundreds of winning school programs across the state," said ‘Olelo President and CEO Roy Amemiya.
The contest was designed to give students statewide, in public, private, charter and home-school environments, a voice to express their ideas on a range of topics of importance.
A record 583 videos were submitted by 80 schools (and home-schoolers) last year.
The growth in participation has been "phenomenal," Karl Okemura, senior vice president at Sony Hawaii, told TheBuzz. Providing the prizes has been a way to expose students around Hawaii to the latest in technology that their school or family budgets might not be able to afford or otherwise experience.
This year’s contest will have students compete by age class in seven broad categories: animation, minidocumentary, news, public service announcement, short, expert and junior expert — the latter two categories are for previous winners and for students with professional experience.
Sponsored topics this year include "Be a Jerk," "Healthy Homes & Community Environments," "Peacemaker," "Start Living Healthy," "Traffic Safety," "Pae ‘Aina" and "Rail Transit." Category sponsors include Chaminade University, the City and County of Honolulu, GEICO, HART (Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation), the state departments of Education and Health, the Rotary Club of Honolulu and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
First Hawaiian Bank and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser are among other sponsors of the contest.
No entry fee is charged for the contest, the entry deadline for which is March 1. Judges from the local news media, filmmaking industry and subject experts will pore over entries and winners will be announced Friday, April 27, at an awards banquet at Ko Olina Resort & Marina.
Contest details can be found online at www.olelo. org/yxc, by calling Olelo Community Media at 834-0007 or by following Youth Xchange on Facebook and Twitter.
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
