5 comments about The Hali'Imaile General Store Cookbook: Homecooking from Maui.

1. The Portuguese Bean Soup recipe is really the best I've ever had.

   The book is broken down by seasons which I found to be more authenic as well as easy to use. Most people don't realize that Hawai'i does indeed have seasons-other than the tourist season.

   My step-father, a native of Hawai'i, and I have had much fun shopping for some of the ingredients here on the "mainland". We have been able to find just about everything to make several of the recipes (and neither of us live in a large town).

   For some great Portuguese Bean Soup, you have to get this book!




2. After many trips to Maui over the years we finally tried Hali'Imaile General Store. It was my Birthday and wanted to try a new place. What a treat!The service was the best Joan was our fantastic Server and made us feel like Royalty. Her suggestions made our dinner the very best it could be. Since that first trip we have had many, many dinners and taken our Clients and family there for dinner, we get such rave reviews we seldom take new Clients anywhere else except when in a hurry on time or for a little more casual bite we go to "that other place" they have ribs too! We enjoy the fantastic variety of foods. I fell in love with the fishcakes at first bite had to go back the next day and ordered them just for me NO!sharing. My family and friends know if you want to please me with a "gift" a dinner gift certicaate works.Where else would I want to go. One of my favorite deserts Pina Colada Cheesecake this was the most Heavenly taste. I tell people when we take them to the Restraunt its WONDERFUL and still they cant believe how good the food and service is. Mahalo for all the great times we have had at your Place and they other place too! Bev & Joe you have really done a great job keep up your part and we'll keep up ours "eatting at your places with family,friends and clients" My best Friend gave me a gift certificate after 2 trips to the restraunt in a week we had to go back to Portland, Joan sujested since I love the food why not take a cookbook back so I did.My daughter who loves cooking stole my book. So had to buy a new. Need to be able to get a fishcake fix. Now after several more trips we now live here and eat at both of your places alot. Have to go to Joes for Crab Dip. They to have a great staff but there is no place like Hali'Imaile General Store.I flew to PDX on business 15 times this year always tell people on the flight they have to go eat at both your places it never suprises me when we run into those people at dinner. Now I'm hungry I think I'll go make reservation for dinner tonite!!!!! See you at Hali'Imaile General Store we are the couple at the table by the window! Agian Much Mahalo Bev & Joe You have done a great job! Maui has alot of fine Dinnng and truly this is our Favorite!



3. If you've ever been to the Hali'Imaile General store, you know this is going to be good. It's a great souvenir of your trip, even if you can't cook. The photos of the restaurant are wonderful as are the little opening stories Bev writes before each chapter begins. You do need to know a bit about cooking for some of the recipes.



4. I love love love this cookbook! I have purchased it for myself and as gifts for my "foodie" friends. Been fortunate enough to eat at the restaurant when visiting Maui. Beautiful pictures and lots of wonderful recipes.



5. I collect cookbooks, and play in the kitchen daily. This is the only one that stays on the counter! LOL A must have! Loaded with the most mouth watering~unique dishes of any cookbook I own~PLUS loaded with full color photos of food~Hawaii~etc with personal stories from author that make it a Great read whether using recipes or not! But , you would be crazy NOT to use the recipes....too very hard to pick a favorite! Go Bev! You rock, girl!

1 comments about A DASH of Aloha - Healthy Hawaiian Cuisine and Lifestyle.

1. A showcase compendium of recipes from the islands of Hawaii, "A Dash Of Aloha: Healthy Hawai'i Cuisine And Lifestyle" is a collaborative project of the University of Hawai'i's Kapi'olani Community College and based on the DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) program. Beautifully illustrated with full-color photography, "A Dash Of Aloha" has a spiral binding enabling it to be laid open on a kitchen counter, and features healthy eating tips from the American Heart Association, food nutrition and seasonality charts, as well as exercise and lifestyle advice. The seventy 'kitchen cook' recipes are 'kitchen cook friendly' as they are delicious and nutritious. Ranging from Ginger-Bran Cake; Spanish Rice with Napa Cabbage Rolls; and Loco Moco Fried Rice; to Tofu Burgers with Mango Chutney; Curried Sweet Potato Chowder; and Forbidden Black Rice Salad, every recipe comprising this outstanding collection comes with serving size information, a brief commentary and a Nutrition Facts chart about the dish. Especially recommended for personal and community ethnic cookbook collections, "A Dash Of Aloha" is particularly appropriate as a culinary reference for anyone having to deal with weight loss, cardiopulmonary, or general health and fitness improvement issues.

4 comments about D.K.'s Sushi Chronicles from Hawaii: Recipes from Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar.

1. Loved the ease of instruction in making sushi. Not hard to follow, well done. Also like the homespun family history. It is a great guide to not only sushi but everthing else in his style. A lot of fun.



2. For beginners, there's a nice introduction to different basic japanese foods and rolling techniques with pictures. There are recipes for sushi, and small and large entrees. I've been to one of the two Sansei restaurants on Maui and the recipes from this book definately cover some of the best things on their menu. The only minor change I could see to make it better is more information about using pre-made grocery store sauces instead of making everything from scratch.



3. I've been to his restaurant in Maui and the food was fabulous. So good in fact that I bought this book. While I could use more examples of fish to swap for things only a Hawaiian can get I find the recipes so easy a beginner can use them to make some fantastic food. I highly recommend this book.



4. We purchased this book after eating at Sansei in Maui and Oahu our first time to Hawaii and love the book. If you have never eaten at Sansei you are really missing out. Chef DK has created an amazing menu. Everything is delicious. If you are heading to Maui or Oahu, make sure you put Sansei down as a "to-do" while you are there. On Sunday and Monday night they open at 5PM and everything on the menu is 50% off for one hour. You have to get their by 4PM or so in order to get in, but it is well worth the wait.
   
   Chef Kodama and Bonnie Friedman share all of Chef Kodama's secrets and do a great job illustrating how to create traditional and contemporary Japanese cuisine. They explain how and why each ingredient is used and translate ingredients throughout the book so you don't have to keep looking up terms when trying a new recipe. The book is simple enough for beginners to follow, yet offers some contemporary (and slightly more complex) dishes for the advanced chef.
   
   If you love sushi and want to start making it at home, by this book.

3 comments about Hawaiian Cookbook.

1. This book was really easy to use and didn't have a lot ofterminology or technique's that we're too "foreign" for usregular people. I have made at least a half a dozen different recipies out of this book so far. They have all turned out pretty well and had a lot of flavor. I am not a master chef by any means so I recommend this book to the simple cook!



2. This cookbook written by the mainland-american manager of the now-defunct Hawaii Kai restaurant in New York City represents the epitome of fine Tiki Restaurant Dining in the 1970s.
   
   This style of cooking is perhaps best characterized as take-out Chinese food served with a slice of pineapple in a hollowed-out pineapple-shell used as a container, eaten in a restaurant decorated with carved wooden tikis, bamboo struts and thatched huts.
   
   Half of this book is dedicated to this genre, where the actual recipes are very similar or even identical (soy sauce, sherry, ginger, garlic) but the presentations are elaborately different with an emphasis on outlandish (flambee recipes etc). Since the average reader scarcely have time to cook dinner, the advice on food presentation hardly seems relevant.
   
   In the time since this book was written, the chinese tiki restaurant cuisine has evolved to Modern French or American cuisine with Asian ingredients, and these are the books that you can buy from the likes of Sam Choy et al, and these are the dishes that you will encounter in the fine dining hawaiian restaurants today.
   
   Yet, what has always appealed to me about Hawaiian Cooking, is the more humble homecooking (today known as "plate lunches") that evolved from the simple traditional dishes that the plantation laborers from Asia and their Hawaiian polynesian spouses would make. This included grilled meats with asian marinade, japanese style fried cutlets, some chinese style noodle soups, and sadly only a small number of "real" polynesian dishes like laulau, kahlua pig, lomi salmon, haupia, and poi (perhaps less than a dozen of such traditional unadulterated polynesian recipes have survived).
   
   Half of this book does try to address this wealth of simple but authentic home cooked dishes. But that is clearly not the strength or emphasis of this book, and in fact I'm not aware of ANY hawaiian cookbooks that seem to do these dishes any justice, and your best bet at the moment is to search for recipes on the internet.
   
   I think that in emphasizing the "new" and "high class" restaurant style cooking be it from the 70s or today's contemporary cuisine, the cookbook authors have missed out on the true wealth of home cooked hawaiian cuisine that people in Hawaii eat everyday and perhaps take for granted, but for the rest of us living outside of Hawaii, it would be a priviledge to learn those recipes.



3. I was pleasantly surprised with how good this cookbook is. I am having a big luau in a few weeks and this book has been a huge help! Not only are the recipes easy to follow but most of them can be prepared ahead and frozen, with all the details included at the bottom of the recipe. I prepared many of them ahead, and of course had to sample each! The Bali Bali meatballs with sauce, excellent. The stuffed mushrooms Lelani, awesome and my kitchen smelled wonderful! I can't wait to make the Hawaiian Banana Pie and the Tahitian Chicken, not to mention the Baked Clams!! Too many to mention. If your planning a Luau and need some great easy to follow recipes, this is the book for you. I highly recommend it! Oh, and don't forget to try the Beef with Peanut Sauce and the BBQ'd Pork!!!

1 comments about 101 Great Tropical Drinks: Cocktails, Coolers, Coffees and Virgin Drinks.

1. This book deals almost exclusively with tropical drinks offered by various Hawaiian resorts and restaurants. I had purchased the book for a Caribbean client and was disappointed that it did not address drinks or fruits of the Caribbean region at all. While the book is very nice, well-illustrated, etc. for Hawaii, I wish I had more carefully researched the contents of this book and not purchased it.

5 comments about Hawaii Tropical Rum Drinks & Cuisine by Don the Beachcomber.

1. I've always been a fan of the Zombie. It's just a great tropical drink. When I decided that I had had enough of paying $7 for them at restaurants, and that I wanted my own at home, I looked up Trader Vic's recipe. It was okay, but it really was geared more for a sort of "Zombie Punch" -- where ratios were expressed in fifths (entire bottles) rather than ounces.
   
   Later, I happend upon Suzanne Matczuk's Cocktail-o-Matic, which had a much more approachable recipe for Zombies. I began to make those, and was happy.
   
   However, this year I spent two weeks on O'ahu. I became totally hooked on the atmosphere (one could say the entire island made a left turn at 1968, and has just sort of "lived tiki" since), the people, and the drinks and cuisine. So while I was in Hilo Hatties, I picked this book up on a whim.
   
   I was totally impressed. Where I thought I would be getting a book full of touristy BS, I got a book with authentic (one of the authors is Donn's widow, these recipes were taken from his belongings) recipes for both drinks and food.
   
   The drinks are quite palatable. Many of them (such as Beachcomber's Gold and Rum Barrel) are just classic. A couple are "out there" (such as Test Pilot), but you can really taste and feel what the author was going for. I feel I must mention the Zombie recipe from this book. Not only is it authentic -- the man invented the drink -- but we learn that it contained Absinthe! Also, that it was prepared at least a couple times with added glycerine. Wow. This explains the drink's somewhat evil reputation.
   
   If all you got in this book was the drinks, it would be worth the price. However, you gain priceless insight into the culture, and into Donn himself. Of particular interest was the conversation between Donn and Vic about the Mai Tai. Additionally, the story of his shipping gardenias from hawaii (daily!) and his experience in the Army during WWII.
   
   Highly recommended. I'd also recommend the Suzanne Matczuk book, as it is told in the same way (plenty of culture with the drinks), and it is instructional to see the difference in the drinks as she writes them, and the way they were originally... "prescribed."



2. Don the Beachcomber deserves, at long last, his own book of food and drink. His longtime friendly-rival and occasional plagiarist Trader Vic (Bergeron) happily pumped out a number of food and drink guides during his lifetime, while Donn Beach notoriously guarded his recipes.
   
   Unfortunately, while nice to look at and of legitimate pedigree (Donn's widow is a co-author), this book could have done with a stronger editing job and concept. The book tries to claim a a legit Hawaiian cultural affiliation even though the Beachcomber was originally a mainland Californian phenomenon later exported to Hawaii. Even the infamous Zombie recipe, the holy grail of all tiki formulas is confusing, as it calls for Pernod twice - is it a misprint? This Zombie is totally different from another recipe in Jeff Berry's excellent "Intoxica" that also came directly from the Beachcomber himself. No one is ever going to know what was REALLY in that sucker. There are also confusing rum substitution suggestions in the book. Sometimes when 3 obscure rums are called for in a drink, only 2 are given as alternates - and they may or may not be in the correct order for substitution as given in the recipe. The "original" Mai-Tai recipe is also bizarre, atypically calling for grapefruit juice and no orgeat syrup. I'm going to have to put the classic recipe for that one in Vic's column.
   
   If this sounds like a lot of kvetching, it really isn't. Still a better book than any number of lousy nouveau cocktail guides that just blasphemously add "-tini" onto a fruit and call that an exotic cocktail. It's affordable, attractive, and is well within the ballpark of the classic tiki world. Just not the masterpiece it could have been.



3. I like to know the history behind a cocktail. This is a fun little book with pictures and stories about Don The Beachcomber. It is concise with recipes for a perfectionist. If you like Rum based cocktails then this is the ultimate guide.



4. This is a great book to have for your bar, but also a bit of nostalgia for those of us who went to Hawaii in the 50's when it truly was a paradise. I remember drinking those Vicious Virgins at the Moana in Waikiki. And who could forget Don the Beachcomer! This is a beautifully done collector's book.



5. It is the best book about Don the Beachcomer and his wonderful style. Great to have recipes of both the food and the drinks. What a treat! Sadly, they missed "Don's Speial Daiquiri" but, luckly, I have it. What great places they were. I visited all of them. You were transported to a different era and a different world. The book also transports one back in time - We were happier then. We who remember, remember well and thank you.

5 comments about Alan Wong's New Wave Luau: Recipes from Honolulu's Award-Winning Chef.

1. ALL RECIPES VERY HARD TO MAKE. TOO MANY STEPS & EXOTIC INGRIDIENTS.



2. Beautiful pictures, but the dishes were nearly impossible to replicate and some were overly arranged. Food as art. Some of the ingredients are unavailable or overly expensive. But the pictures in the book are fabulous!



3. I actually purchased this book. The recipes are not practical if you do not live in Hawaii. Unless you are a chef, the directions are difficult to execute. He lists no alternative ingredients for mainlanders like myself.

   If you want a picture book to stick on your coffee table, this might work. Otherwise I would rather pass. I will be selling this book on Amazon shortly.




4. I received this book as a gift. I found that it was not very practical. Ingredients I could not get. Instructions were too difficult. I'd recommend getting a different Hawaiian cook book.



5. Sometimes there are cookbooks that you can taste and then there are the ones that prefer a more clinical approach to cooking . Alan Wong's New Wave Luau is a very good exposition of Pacific Rim Cuisine. This book along with Sam Choy and Roy Yamaguchi give the cook/reader a flavorful and expansive overview of what is the cuisine of the islands and the Pacific Rim. The recipes explore Hawaii's culinary influences and then creates a few influences of his own.
   The book is not for beginners. For those who are interested in learning more about contemporary cuisine this is a great read. The ingredients can now be found in most international markets, and if not then with a little research you can find just about everything through an online retailer.
   The recipes do work if you follow the directions. There is much to learn from New Wave Luau and all you have to do is read, study the photos, learn about how the flavors interact and then cook your way through them. It's a lot of fun.
   I have had the book for several years now and still return to it every now and then for a few inspirations and guides when researching new foods that I am interested in. This is a book for the serious cook. And then, once you get past the hard stuff it is all fun and adventure, really. Hawaiian cuisine is a marvel of color, flavor and aroma. Of course seafood is king in any book of island recipes, and it should be. Alan Wong's New Wave Luau just jumps off of the page inviting the reader into the grocery store and the kitchen, and sometimes into the fishing boat.
   What is New Wave Luau? Well, go to page 86 and cook the Steamed Opakapaka and Gingered Vegetables in Truffle Broth, and there you have it. Bringing Japan, Thailand, Hawaii and France together in one recipe without disturbing the wonderful quality and design of the food itself.

   The cookbooks of the three great Hawaiian writer/chefs are excellent examples that we must live to eat, not eat to live.
   I recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding what makes the foods of the 21st century so in love with life and flavor. What is more important to food than advancing ideas of unity to the table so that others may learn to do the same? Alan Wong's New Wave Luau along with the writings of Sam Choy and Roy Yamaguichi do just that.

4 comments about Best of the Best from Hawaii: Selected Recipes from Hawaii's Favorite Cookbooks (Best of the Best State Cookbook).

1. I was complete taken back by the yummy recipes from the islands



2. The receipe directions are vague. It's a good book, but just not a party book.



3. I have very mixed feelings about this cookbook.
   
   I gather from the introduction that this is one of a series based on visiting different states and putting together a cookbook to "preserve their food heritage". How the authors plan on summarizing the entire culinary experience of a state with such an interesting history, mix of races, and emphasis on FOOD is answered by what you get: a compilation of other cookbooks. So on the plus side, many of their sources are really good. (The entire Honpa Hongwanji series are great and are in my mother's, grandmother's, aunt's, etc collection. They're sort of dated, but have a lot of classic everyday food.) On the negative side taking a few recipes from other recipe collections gives you very little coherence, understanding of where that recipe came from (time period or heritage), or understanding of the ingredients. Plus, the selection of these recipes are just sort of strange. Spicy Garlic Eggplant and Pork (pg 128) and Spicy Szechuan Eggplant (pg 100) are basically the same recipe with minor changes from 2 different cook books. Several recipes are for poke, but the authors don't seem to realize they're related, or, at least, don't explain what it is. I have to wonder if they actually cooked these recipes at all or just leafed through the other books.
   
   Pictures are chosen to be more atmospheric with tourist photos of the authors, scenic places, and some line drawings (not of the food). The photos of people in "native garb" (at tourist sites) also contrast with the recipes, which are largely modern pot luck sort of food. (In particular, there's a cringe-worthy vintage photo near the front that must be just for nostalgia's sake because no one I know in Hawaii would be caught dead looking like that.)
   
   Besides the food, there are also little tidbits of information peppered through the book that are supposed to give you an idea of island life. My question: Who exactly told the authors that curry is often served at parties? What a strange generalization. They also commit the faux-pas in the preface of calling their friend a second generation Hawaiian. Hawaiians are like American Indians; you can't call yourself one just because you've moved somewhere.
   
   So, there are definitely some good recipes in here. It's just that you stumble upon things that are just plain wierd if you're from Hawaii.



4. This is a great book. It's not original/new recipes but compilations of the best of the best local Hawaii cookbooks up to the date of population. I own a cramp load of local Hawaiian cookbooks, and this is the one of the two (the other one is 50th Anneiversary Best of Our Favorite Recipes 1946 -1996 by Maui Association for Family and Community Education )I grab for when I want to make a local dish. I have also bought and mailed copies to my friends on the mainland, who have left Hawaii.
   Anther local cook book I just picked up you want to try once Amazon starts carrying it, is Jean Hee's Best of the Best Hawaii Recipes by Jean Watanabe Hee. Hee is one of the top local Hawaii recipe book writers. You might want to check out her other books that Amazon dose carry.

2 comments about Aloha Cuisine.

1. I loved the layout of this cookbook. The pictures were beautiful and the recipes easy to follow.



2. This book contains many recipes, with a new approach to Hawiaiin cooking. Many dishes that I didn't expect. We particularly liked the Hale'iwa Barbecued Pork ribs. Also, some interesting and exotic desserts and drinks. It is well illustrated; also the categories are reasonable.

5 comments about Sam Choy's Island Flavors.

1. Sam Choy has always made cooking hawaiian style simple for me. I like his sense of humor and food combinations. My only problem is finding fresh ingredients here in eastern Washington. I use this book primarily for summer luau parties and impress all my friends. It has lots of variety.



2. All of Sam Choy's books are good, but this one has a special place in my kitchen, because it covers the gamut of dishes. Unlike his seafood and Poke books, Sam provides some of the finest "home cooking" recipes of the islands.

   Well done!




3. With an UKU here and an OPAKA PAKA there, a touch of mango and crushed lemon grass, coconut hull fires and roasted HAPU UPU U, new ways to whisk a mother hollandaise,and flavors that jump right up off the page.That is Sam Choy's Island Flavors.
   When exploring new techniques and language in cooking it really is irrelevant if the recipes are complicated, compound, simple or sublime, what matters is if they work. The recipes in Island Flavors work. Too often the reader/cook is duped into buying a cookbook by the way it looks and the food displayed, or by the hype and narrative of paid critics and TV shows. Thankfully there is no illusion to this cookbook. I have found the recipes to be both true to the pan, and true to the palate.
   This is a highly recommended cookbook for the novice as well as the more experienced cook. It is full of great information, and you can feel Sam Choy's love of food throughout the book. Food is love so why not read and cook with those who love the craft, and leave the dilletantes of cuisine to gather dust on the backshelves, or in the late night hours of Emeril hell. Sam Choy cooks great food, is a great chef, and is a great food writer. Cook along with him as you read and you will understand why so many of the great chefs are smiling all the time. Food this lively can only make you happy.



4. I haven't tried to make anything yet and it's mainly because I don't know what each dish is simply by it's title. There are only a few photos of his dishes (and they're not next to the recipe, the few given are all in the center of the book). I like to know what a recipe should look like when it's done so I know I've done it right - this book seriously lacks in that department, something I find very important in a cookbook. However, if that doesn't bother you and you just want the recipes, I'm sure it's great because Sam's a great chef.



5. Wonderful book of the Island's favorites along with Sam's favorites. The food in Hawaii is delicious and this is a welcome addition to my shelf for bringing those flavors to home when we can't be there. This is one of my favorites of Sam's book because anyone can cook from it.