Monthly Archive

Several weeks ago we celebrated a birthday lunch, where the birthday girl suggested Mexican, so we decided to try Los Chaparros Mexican Restaurant for the first time.

Well, without further ado, let’s get to the main course!…

Chimichango Combo Plate (single choice, with chicken filling), $8.50

The combo plates include beans and spanish rice, along with a dollop of salsa over shredded lettuce. The gal who ordered this loved it, but it was just too much for her to finish, so she gave me almost half of it to take home. Muchos gracious! As you can see, the whole thing is deep fried. Yum.

Enchilada Combo Plate (1 choice, with Chicken), $8.50

The Quesadilla was birthday girl’s dish, which she devoured every single bite, so it must have been good. You go girl!

Carnitas - Tender, bite-size pieces of slow roasted pork, seasoned to perfection, $13.00

My friend let me sample some of his Carnitas. It had a slightly spicy flavor and was tender, but I would ask to pour some Mole, red or green sauce over it on the next visit. He ate them wrapped up in the tortillas like burrito. Thumbs up from him.

The Carnitas dish above includes a side plate of (3) corn tortillas, Pico Di Gallo, sour cream and Guacamole

You can eat the Carnitas right off the plate, or wrapped up in this tortilla “kit”.

Papas Con Chorizo (my order) - a traditional plate of crispy fried potatoes sauteed with Chorizo sausage, incuding 3 tortillas, sour cream and jalapenos, $11.00

My dish was the Papas Con Chorizo. Interestingly, the Chorizo Sausage looks like they take it apart and fry it with the potatoes, sort of like a “hash”. The potatoes certainly took on that distinct Chorizo flavor. This dish also included the tortilla “kit”, but I preferred eating it on the plate, as wrapped up, the chorizo got lost in the mix. As you notice, the Spanish Rice and Beans were the same ones used on every dish. The beans were standard fare, while the rice had a slightly spiced hint to them, with a medium moist, medium dry texture. They both complimented the main item nicely. Overall, thumbs up!

Super Chaparros Burrito - Flour tortilla filled with rice, beans, shredded beef (this choice), lettuce, guacamole, pico de gallo (on top), sour cream and salsa, $10.00

The Super Chaparros Burrito is basically everything shown on the plate, all wrapped up in one HUGE burrito.. I mean, that thing is as big as your forearm. My other buddy who ordered it could only finish half. He really enjoyed it though.

Those were the entrees our party of five ordered.

Here’s the appetizers we actually started with…

Jalapeno Wontons (7 pieces) - Deep-fried wonton wrappers filled with Jalapenos and Monterey Jack Cheese, $6.00

Oh my, these were AWESOME! The combination of the crispy wonton with the “gooey” jack cheese and the bite from the Jalapeno was magical. It came with Ranch dipping sauce. I’m ordering a PLATEFUL of these things to take home next time! I’m definately making these for pupus at the next potluck.

Complimentary (bottomless!) Tortilla Chips and Salsa

The salsa was the finely chopped variety, slightly “loose” (watery) with a medium heat to it. Enough where I needed a glass of water nearby, though. lol It had a good balance of onions, cilantro and tomato. The salsa chips were light and crispy, with just a hint of salt. Perfect. You can actually stuff yourself on these things, so take it easy if you want to save room for the main course.

Restaurant main dining area (notice the large waterfountain to the left)

This is the main dining area, plus there are more private booths in the front area (not shown). The decor has a rather simple and spartan Spanish theme. You also feel a sense of cleanliness here. Tropical and mexican-themed spanish background music puts on the finish touch.

Main dining area, pan right (notice the wall-mounted spanish waterfountain)

Restaurant “front end” kitchen service area

Mario, Los Chaparros owner and really great guy!

Mario, the owner, really made our visit special. He explained the whole “traditional mexican cuisine” thing, even explaing that he “loosened” his menu just a little to cater to the local crowd, yet adhering to his roots in Mexico City. He assisted our also-very-friendly waitress, making the service factor top-notch. We arrived about 11:30am, just before the lunch rush, where the restaurant was about at 30% throughout our stay. That helped to set an easier, less hurried pace for everyone.

There’s about 8 stalls (max, I’m guessing) fronting Los Chaparros Mexican Restaurant, who is the sole occupant of the building located on S. Beretania street.

We were all very satisfied with our dining experience at Los Chaparros Mexican Restaurant. The food flavors, quality, value and service all exceeded our expectations. Now to ponder whether this is “true, authentic Mexican cuisine”? Just go for yourself and have a chat with Mario. He will enlighten and entertain you. Truly an officer and a gentleman.

Los Chaparros Mexican Restaurant
2140 S. Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96826
(80 951+6399
www.LosChaparros.com

Tasty Island Rating:

Winnahz!

Over the years, we’ve catered casual office luncheons from numerous restaurants and caterers around Honolulu. The dish of choice has often been the “local style” bento, or “box lunch” due to its all-in-one simplicity, value and universal appeal. With that, we continually try new places in search of an excitingly new, budget-busting bento deal.

With much delight, our latest find has become one of the best we’ve tried yet. It’s the Lunch Bento from Kahai Street Kitchen…

Lunch Bento from Kahai Street Kitchen, $5.75 ($6.02 w/tax)

Kahai St. Kitchen’s bento includes (top to bottom): (1 pc.) Panko Shrimp, (2 pcs.) Spicey Fried Chicken Wings, (2 pcs.) Teriyaki Beef BBQ Short Ribs, (1 pc.) Herbed Mahimahi Dore style, (2 pcs.) Takuan, all served on a bed of shredded cabbage and white rice with a light sprinkle of Furikake. Wow!

Just looking at it, the BBQ beef looks nicely seared and moist, but how was the entire bento as a whole? Often when restaurants cater food, they need to prepare these bulk orders far in advanced of the time for actual service. The result being sometimes cold, overcooked and/or dried out food. Such was far from the case on this day’s order of over 50 bento lunches from Kahai Street Kitchen.

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Our spread of bento lunches here stand 2-deep. Pass me the chopsticks please!

EVERY item was perfectly moist, and actually retained some of the heat from their actual time being cook. Indeed the folks on the production line work fast; and more importantly, know how to COOK! Not only were the various entree items moist and still warm, but absolutely ono!

The two chicken wings had a slight hint of what seemed like geniune Buffalo wings sauce mixed into the batter, along with a slightly sweet, slightly tangy (from the sauce?) accent. Tender inside, crispy outside, with a thin, crunchy batter.

The nicely-sized shrimp tail had a thick, katsu-like Panko batter on it Again, moist and flavorful, along with a nice “GBD” finish. It tasted like they also slightly sweetened the batter on this, as it had lots of flavor on its own - no dipping sauce required.

The lightly fried SPAM was the regular sodium variety, which seemed excessively salty on its own, but add a little Furikake rice along with it, and it’s all good.. just a like a Spam Musubi!

The mahimahi’s “Dore style” reminded me of fish jun, except with herbs mixed in. Generous portion as well. Excellent.

Saving the best for last was indeed the BBQ Teriyaki Beef Shortribs. These were actually boneless and surprisingly tender. Each piece was cut about 2″x3″x1/2″ thick, char-grilled with nice “papa’a” (slightly burnt) sear marks and a medium-rare inside. It tasted sort half-Kal Bi, half Teri’ Beef. Broke da’ mout’!

Unlike a plate lunch’s standard Macaroni salad accompaniment, bento lunches come with Japanese style pickled Daikon radish called Takuan (that yellow slivered half-circle thing). This condiment helps buffer the palete for each different entree, nicely rounding out the meal.

Personally, I’d prefer there be less meat items on there, and more Tsukemono items (pickled vegetables), but this works fine to.

Next time you need to cater a casual office or family party, or even if it’s just a few of you looking for some ono local grinds, consider checking out the grinds at Kahai Street Kitchen. Their bento is up there with the best of the bunch!

Kahai Street Kitchen
237A Kalihi Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96819
Phone (80 845-0320
FAx (80 842-4273

Note: Delivery available on bulk orders.

**funny, they’re name is different than what actual street their address is. lol**

Tasty Island Rating:

Supah’ Ono!

Zippy’s has been aggresively advertising their new Chili Moco plate on TV, along with a Las Vegas Trip drawing (us Hawaii folks love LV!). So I finally got to try it. Well sort of. My friend ordered it for lunch last week and gave me a sample section (cut out like a slice of pie) to try. The concept seems like a no-brainer, but in reality, I don’t know any place on Oahu that’s offered this before. I certainly was curious how this would taste.

Here’s the actual take-out plate, revealed in layers…

The layers of the dish from bottom to top:
Plate (for take-out): 8″ diameter x 1-1/2″ depth black plastic (with clear plastic lid)
1st Layer: White Rice
2nd Layer: Mayo’-based “Secret Mac Salad Sauce”
3rd Layer: (1) Hamburger Patty
4th Layer: Zippy’s Chili (classic only)
5th Layer: (2) Eggs

Interestingly, you cannot substitute the type of Chili (bean, no bean, vegetarian), but you CAN order your eggs how you want it (sunny side, over easy, omelette or scrambled).

The most interesting component has to be the “Secret Mac Salad Sauce” (I made that name up), which is basically their Mac Salad without the Macaroni. It’s shown as a close-up in the bottom-right photo. That may sound gross, but you know what? It really adds dimension and punches out the flavor of the nicely-grilled burger patty right above it. A standard Loco Moco doesn’t employ this, so whoever thought of putting that in this dish is a plate lunch genius! lol

My friend opted for an omelette on top, but personally I’d have chosen two sunnyside-up eggs. Let that liquid, golden yolk drip all over. Yum.

I was thoroughly pleased with the combination of flavors. Enough that I just may order one the next time I head to Zippy’s. At $5.45, the portions and value is just right. That’s actually cheaper than most other plate lunches on Zippy’s regular menu.

Supposedly the Chili Moco is only available for a limited time, but I’m guessing this will eventually join the regular menu list.

Tasty Island Rating:

Supah’ Ono!

On a local message board I frequent, we recently had a debate on which type of cephalopod was most commonly used to make Squid Luau: Squid (a.k.a. Calamari) or Octopus (a.k.a. Tako)? In an effort to dispel the mystery, I went ahead and experimented making BOTH variations for a side-by-side comparison. Here’s the method and results!

The ingredients…

Top to bottom: Luau Leaves, Coconut Milk, Octopus (Madako Tako - fully cooked - imported from Japan), Squid (Argentine Calamari - imported from New Zealand)

and here’s the finished sample dishes…

Top to bottom: Octopus “Tako” Luau, Squid Luau, “Surf ‘N’ Turf” Squid/Octopus/Chicken Luau (notice all three? Wow!). Accompanied with a bowl of Poi (a must!).

Let me start by pointing out that Squid Luau isn’t going to rate high for visual presentation, but don’t let that discourage you from trying it. It’s such a unique and (IMO) really ONO, top-priority Hawaiian Luau dish! If you ever attend a luau and squid or chicken luau isn’t offered, then it really would be an incomplete spread; same for poi. These just have to be there!

In the top photo, the tako has a noticeably red color contrast, with distinguishable tentacle suction cups (texture!), while the squid (2nd BLURRY ackk! photo) looks like a simple white, square piece of “meat” (probably a piece from the head part).

The third photo is a combination of Octopus, Squid and Chicken. Wow!

In all three samples, the coconut milk (which I’m generous with because I like the flavor) quickly settled in the bowl. Not to fret, as a quick mix before taking a scoop incorporates it back in with the Luau leaves immediately.

So my sister Keanu and niece Kamaile (fresh off the plane from Missouri) were happy to be judges in da’ “Squid Luau Challenge”.

The verdict? Overall, all three dishes had a thumbs up of approval. But if they had to choose, the octopus was favored over squid. They both (and also myself) favored the “meatier” flavor and texture of the Octopus (Tako), which they came to their own conclusion over. They both said the squid had a slightly more “fishy” flavor, but they still liked it. This could be because the squid - unlike the Tako - wasn’t precooked, so the cooking process added that element from the juices in the pot.

Being MO “landlubbers”, they of course favored the chicken over our cephalopod mates, picking that out as their favorite in the third hybrid squid/octopus/chicken luau dish. The chicken certainly helped mask the mild “fishyness” the squid imparted. I must say, the combination of all three was MY favorite! After letting that one simmer for over an hour, the flavors and textures of the squid, tako and chicken was certainly unique and quite enjoyable. Especially with the poi.

As I expected, the dominant flavor here was the Luau leaves and coconut milk (which I happen to really like). That by itself could probably do quite well. The squid vs. octopus difference was a rather subtle and overall non-defining factor. The chicken, as expected, took it in another direction. The major factor between the squid and octopus is price, which you’ll see below.

Now if we only had Lomi Salmon, Poke, Lau Lau and Kalua Pig to go along with da’ Squid Luau and poi!

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Here’s how my “Squid” Luau was prepared (very easy!):

Removed stems from rinsed luau leaves, then boiled them in salted water for 1-1/2 hours. This breaks down the calcium oxalate crystals on the taro leaves, which can cause irritation. Drained well, rinsed, then squeezed out water.

(In separate pots) sauteed onions in butter, then added squid/octopus/chicken until cooked/infused. Added prepared (cooked-down) luau leaves to pot, coconut milk, Hawaiian salt and a little sugar (which balances flavor). Simmered for 1 hour together, stirring frequently to combine flavors. The 1 hour simmering time helps tenderize the squid and tako, reducing their “rubberiness”.

Price Breakdown (all ingredients bought at Don Quijote (Daiei):
1 lb. Squid - $2.29/lb.
1 lb. Octopus - $12.99/lb.
1 lb. Luau Leaves (fresh, uncooked) - $1.99/lb. (3 lbs. purchased total)
15 oz. can coconut milk - 99 cents (3 cans purchased total)
1 round onion - 79 cents/lb.
Butter & Hawaiian Salt - I stay get already

The results of a poll survey in that message board discussion are currently 12 votes for Octopus and 6 for Squid. Being that Octopus (tako) can be caught right off Hawaii’s shores (usually speared in shallow reef pukas), this is likely what the dish originated from. Squid (calimari) is a modern, imported item that is MUCH cheaper.

Regardless of which one is used, it will always be called SQUID LUAU.

Mango season in Hawaii typically takes place during the early summer months. June and July is usually when ours are at their peak ripeness and size. Yet as early as February, our trees begin growing the flowers that eventually, with nature permitting, become mangoes.

This year we have an exceptionally impressive amount of flowers on our trees. Certainly more than in recent years’ past. Yet the strong winds these past few days has me thinking of how poor our harvest was due to the “40 days of rain” last year from February thru April. The rain, along with the gusting winds not only blow the delicate flowers off the tree, but trees also don’t like excessive rain, prefering more dry, arid climates. They’re seem very sensitive to any type of weather changes.

For those who haven’t seen what a mango looks like before they become actual fruit, here are the flowers…

Look at all those flowers! If nature didn’t have its way with them (they’re very delicate and blow off easily), just imagine how many mangoes we’d have. Wow.

On the Shibata flower, you can actually see little shibata “bulbs” growing out. Interestingly, if you “smoosh” the flowers in your hand, you can smell the fragrance of mango (unlike the leaves and branches).

These are the “first born” off our tree this year…

The small 3-3/4″ long Pirie (shown inset with ruler) actually fell from the top yesterday, so it bruised on one side, but I still ate it. A bit over-ripe, but man, these Pirie are SOO-WEEET! Such a treat to have one in February! Later when get “choke” mangoes, we end up not appreciating them as much and give most of ‘em away.

The Shibata are more fibrous and tangy, best suited for Pickled or Shoyu Mango. They’re good when fully ripe, but I much prefer the Pirie.

So let us pray that the late winter weather will be kind to those precious mango flowers so that we’ll have a productively sweet and tasty 2007 mango season!