We decided to check out the Made in Hawaii Festival at the Blaisdell Center yesterday afternoon. I used to attend these things early Saturday morning to find parking in the Blaisdell structure... NO MORE! If I go again, I'm getting there in the late afternoon when everyone is done for the day. Aisles you can actually walk through and aside from bread that sells out, "laytah is mo bettah"!
Anyway, the Mrs knew she was hungry when she started looking at cookies being sold and actually sampling some... so off to dinner. But where? The Mrs chose Vino (no arguments here). Vino was as busy as I've ever seen the place with several large parties and loads of Lychee Martinis being ordered so we took a seat at the bar. The Mrs ordered her usual Prosecco and I started with a taste trio of 2009 Chateau Lascaux Syrah blend, 2001 Girasole Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah and 2008 Domaine Gallety Cotes du Vivarais Grenache/Syrah blend. All good though the Girasole stood a little taller. We then sampled the Cheese and Salumi Platter with white cheddar, Port Salut and Gouda with hard salami, sopressata and coppa.
There were several specials so we sampled the Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms stuffed with porcini and fresh ricotta. Nice crunch from the blossom followed by creamy ricotta and earthy porcini.
Since the Mary's Organic Chicken was on the menu, the Mrs HAD to order it. Roasted with crisp skin over white beans, tomatoes and broccolini. I know it may sound bogus, but this Mary's organic chicken does taste better than your basic supermarket variety. I had a glass of 2010 Neyers "304" Chardonnay with the chicken and even spoke with winemaker Bruce Neyers (who was dining at the opposite end of the bar) complimenting him on his superb chardonnays.
We also had the Big Island Smoked Pork with Fresh Fettuccine mixed nicely with the easy-over fried egg. I noticed that the pork wasn't as salty as usual (which was a good thing).
After the rush died down, Chef Endo brought us a sampling of his homemade Mortadella. Complete flecked with pistaccios and served with cracked pepper and olive oil.
He's experimenting with creating salumi - in fact he has several salumi curing as we speak (making each batch in 3 day intervals) though it won't be fully cured until late Fall... Oh well, something to look foward to...
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