Once again we’re starting the Obon season where we greet
and dance with family and friends who have passed on. Of course it’s also a
time of reflection remembering not just those who have passed on but also
significant events in our past. Since this column is primarily about food, wine
and nutrition, it got me thinking about meals I’ve had with my family in the
past. Mind you, my parents were working class folks from the burbs who decently
provided for the family so while we weren’t rich by any stretch of the
imagination, we did take regular trips to the neighbor islands and even
traveled Stateside one summer. But dining out was a rarity as Mom cooked most
of our meals but there are several establishments that the Tatsumoto family frequented.
Kailua Drive-In
Located between Kaneohe and Kailua just outside of
Maunawili, Kailua Drive-In was a regular stop for our family. Mind you, this
wasn’t the type of Drive Inn that’s featured on Diners, Drive Inns & Dives.
It was an outdoor movie theater where the movie was viewed from the confines of
your car. What has a movie theater have to do with dining out? Well, you could
either purchase your food from the concession stand or you could pack your own
food brought from home. And since Mom was suspicious of most restaurant food,
she always packed a complete meal for the family. Of course back in the day,
lightweight coolers and freezable gel packs weren’t readily available. Most
coolers came in two varieties – metal and very heavy – so ours usually just sat
in the patio. Therefore Mom usually made foods that didn’t need a lot of
chilling and traveled well. Dinner was simply packed in empty metal tins like
empty Kjeldsens Butter Cookie tins lined with either wax paper for the musubi or aluminum foil for the okazu.
We always had musubi
as our main starch. And not just any musubi
but the Tatsumoto musubi. About the
size of a baseball. If you could consume more than two, you knew you were a
real man! Both my brother and I had friends comment about how large my Mom’s musubi were. And with these man-sized musubi you need okazu. Lots of okazu! And
Mom’s favorite was sato-joyu hotdogs
or hotdogs cooked in shoyu, sugar and
a touch of Tabasco. And not just any hotdogs. They had to be those red hotdogs
with the casing that snapped – I don’t think Mom realized that the casings that
snapped were likely natural from animal intestines. As a child, I never had
Oscar Meyer hotdogs because Mom felt that the pale anemic color of the Oscar
Meyer variety looked too “raw” even if they were fully cooked.
We also usually had Mom’s tuna and egg which was like a
firm scrambled egg. It was a simple dish consisting of eggs, canned tuna, shoyu, sugar and green onion cooked the
way you would make an omelet. Sometimes there was Mom’s mini teriyaki tofu
hamburgers, on other occasions there would be Mom’s “famous” marinated pan
fried meat. I say “famous” because when I discussed it years later, Mom didn’t
even remember making this item. Then when she did remember it, she said she
used ribeye. I remember her using flank steak and slicing cutlet sized pieces
on the bias then soaking in various marinades. After the overnight soak, they
were simply dredged in flour or bread crumbs then pan fried. As good as pan
fried beef gets!
Of course we also needed something to drink so Mom
usually allowed us to purchase soda from the concession stand and I’d
invariably spill my soda in the car. And
during intermission, we were allowed to visit the concession stand again for a
restroom break though this is when Mom purchased her frozen malted milk. I
think these frozen goodies are the main reason why we visited Kailua Drive-In
so much. Of course the drive-in did have its drawbacks. I’m not sure who
originally decided on the location of Kailua Drive-In but it’s adjacent to
Kawainui Marsh. Marsh as in swamp. Also known as stagnant water… where
mosquitoes breed. And once darkness fell, those mosquito visited the Drive-In
en masse. You couldn’t roll the car windows up unless you wanted to suffer from
slow asphyxiation especially with five respiring people in said vehicle. So we
used what others did. We lit a coil of mosquito punk. I’m not sure what was
worse; the sound of a pesky mosquito hovering around your ear or continually
inhaling the smoke from the mosquito punk. Of course like those transient
whiffs of incinerated pyrethrins in the mosquito punk, so too has Kailua
Drive-In long vanished. Since 1999, the property has housed the Le Jardin
Academy.
Chun Hoon Drive
Inn
Way back in the day, our family made occasional treks
from Kaneohe across the Koolaus to Honolulu to pick up necessities at various
variety stores like Longs Drug Store, Gem and Woolworth that weren’t available
to residents on the Windward side of the island. Since it was a major
production to get the family packed along with that treacherous 30 minute
drive, it usually was a whole day affair for the family. Therefore more often
than not, we had an early dinner or late lunch at a drive inn. And mind you,
Mom T was very particular where she let the family dine. She never let me
sample those premade hoagies at Woolworth less I risk dysentery with cold cuts
sitting who-knows-how-long. She also denied my brother and me the delights of
Puppy Palace just outside of Times Supermarket Kailua since it just didn’t look
clean enough. We also were forbidden to eat at Windy’s Drive Inn in our own
neighborhood since she saw the cook smoking a cigarette in the kitchen while
flippin’ burgers (it also didn’t help that the cook had greasy stains all over
his clothes). But she did allow Chun Hoon Drive Inn. My guess is that she
personally interviewed the cook and had the Department of Health perform a
thorough inspection before giving it the thumbs up. And the family always had
the same meal. Mom and Dad always ordered the hamburger deluxe then Mom would
remove the full slice of raw onion from her burger and place it on Dad’s
burger. I always wanted to try a bite of Dad’s hamburger since that onion slice
looked so good but Mom always nixed that idea. Something about raw onions being
indigestible for children. My sister was still a little pup so she simply had
part of Mom’s burger or part of the fish burger that they would order for my
brother and me. And invariably, I’d usually spill my soda in the car.
I always hoped that Mom had a little more shopping to do
at Chun Hoon Supermarket because if she did, we were allowed to visit the Chun
Hoon Drugstore to purchase a pack or two of baseball cards. Ten cents for a
pack of ten cards plus a stick of chalky bubble gum to boot! But like those
baseball cards, Chun Hoon market, drive-inn and drugstore is no more as
Walgreens purchased the property years ago.
Haiku Gardens
As long as they were in business, the Tatsumoto’s always
celebrated Mother’s Day at Haiku Gardens in Kaneohe. I vividly remember that
every mother was given an orchid corsage on Mother’s Day. The meal was always a
buffet and I remember that I really enjoyed their fried chicken. However I
couldn't totally enjoy the meal because we were only allowed to take a small
portion of rice to enjoy with the chicken. Dad’s philosophy was that you could
indulge in rice at home for free but since we’re paying for this meal – and it
is all you can eat – just load your plate with items you don’t normally eat at
home. But Dad, I like rice with my fried chicken!
And because this was an actual restaurant, we were
expected to be on our best behavior. No spilling soda! Except at one particular
Mother’s Day, I made comment about our server to my mother. This was back in
the day when workers usually stayed at one job so that you would recognize the
same servers at every Mother’s Day. On this one day we had a large male server
who was open about his sexuality complete with a flower behind his ear. After
he seated us to return to the kitchen, I asked my mother “Why is the man
talking like a lady”? I immediately got the big eyed stare of horror and embarrassment
followed by the “SHHHHH…” I never asked a question like that again. Ever.
Of course Haiku Gardens restaurant is long gone replaced
by Haleiwa Joe’s restaurant.
Looking Forward
Though these establishments are long gone, there are a
lot more dining options that have replaced them. And I continue to find them to
create additional food memories. I actually carry a lot of these memories with
me. On my waist. When someone asks if I’m putting on weight during my vacation
food binges, I say that it’s not fat. It’s food memories. Pointing to the belt
line I say, “This is the French Laundry, this part is Incanto, this section is
Poggio”…
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