Posted on: Wednesday, April 5, 2006
QUICK BITES
Fruit returns to Isle kitchens
Advertiser Staff
It's loquat season! The small, yellow pear-shaped fruit, known also as biwa, is making a comeback in the Islands after being unavailable because of the fruit fly. At the Hashimoto Persimmon Farm in Kula, Maui, the Hashimoto family has harvested this year's crop from an orchard planted 70 years ago by father and son Isami and John Hashimoto. Grandson Clark Hashimoto tends the trees now. You can find loquat at Kapi'olani Community College's Farmers' Market on Saturdays, Sun Chong Grocery in Chinatown and Made in Hawaii Foods in Pearl City. The fruit makes delicious jam — but hurry, the fruit season ends in mid-April.
RESTAURANT NEWS
ALAN WONG'S REOPENS WITH PLANTATION-THEMED GALA
Chef Alan Wong reopens his King Street restaurant with a Back to the Roots party from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 30. Cost is $125 per person. The celebration's theme is Hawai'i's plantation history, with dishes from plantation days; proceeds from the dinner go to Hawai'i's Plantation Village. Reservations: 949-1939.
Shanghai Bistro continues its monthly Chinese fusion cooking classes with chef Chih Chieh Chang on April 22. Sign up to learn to prepare mochi rice, Shanghai-style chicken and pork katsu. Class begins at 10 a.m. at the restaurant in Discovery Bay, 1778 Ala Moana. Registration: $25 per person, includes lunch, 955-8668. Validated parking in the Discovery Bay garage (enter from rear of building).
Dixie Grill on Ward Avenue continues its "All You Can Eat Barbecue Chicken" Sundays through April 30. From 10 a.m. until closing, the restaurant serves chicken with corn on the cob, coleslaw, bourbon baked beans and Texas toast for $15 per person. Information: 596-8359.
