Blog

Archive: Sep 2015

Street Burger Kauai

Street Burger, a gourmet burger bar, opens on Kauai. Daniel Lane photo
Street Burger, a gourmet burger bar, opens on Kauai. Daniel Lane photo

Street Burger, a gourmet burger bar, opens on Kauai. Daniel Lane photo

One day after Street Burger opened on Kauai, there was a line out the door and people had to wait for tables. I got to try a taste when owners Kristen and Aaron Leikam (a husband and wife team who formally owned Cakes by Kristen) held a preview two days before the opening. They were passing out samples to hundreds of people, so Dan and I went back the following week for an accurate taste.

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Sam Choy in Kauai for Cooking Demo

Sam Choy at the 2015 Breadfruit festival in Poipu. Photo courtesy of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens.

Sam Choy at the 2015 Breadfruit festival in Poipu. Photo courtesy of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens.

Sam Choy at the 2015 Breadfruit festival in Poipu. Photo courtesy of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens.


Sam Choy, Hawaii’s celebrity chef and ulu ambassador, will present a cooking demonstration on Saturday, September 19, at Times Supermarket in Kukui Grove Shopping Center. The event runs from

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Cooking with Breadfruit

Sandy’s Breadfruit Crudité. Daniel Lane photo.

 

Mature breadfruit is hard and bright green. Photo by Daniel Lane.

Mature breadfruit is hard and bright green. Daniel Lane photo.


Breadfruit is considered a canoe crop, which was brought to the islands by original Polynesian voyagers who settled in Hawaii. The tree and its fruit were so valuable,

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Haku Lei, a Hawaiian Crown of Flowers

A handmade haku is a celebration of life. Daniel Lane photo

A handmade haku is a celebration of life. Daniel Lane photo

A handmade haku is a celebration of life. Daniel Lane photo


When I think of aloha, I think of Elvrine Chow, owner of Heavenly Hakus. She glows with joy and her smile is always bright. It must be from working around beautiful flowers. Elvrine spends her days picking flowers in full bloom and weaving them into a haku lei, or head lei, called lei poʻo. People wear them as a crown to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries and promotions. In fact, when we released the first edition of our Kauai restaurant guidebook, Elvrine gifted me a haku for the book signing.

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