Wine spectator names best wine lists
Wine Spectator magazine has named 34 Hawaii restaurants to its list of best dining spots for wine.
The 2019 Restaurant Awards recognize 3,800 restaurants from 50 states and 79 countries.
No Hawaii restaurants scored in the top category of Grand Award, but seven are in the second tier of Best of Award of Excellence: Il Lupino Trattoria & Wine Bar, La Mer, Noe and Stripsteak, all on Oahu; and Lahaina Grill, Merriman’s Kapalua and Nick’s Fishmarket, on Maui. It is the first year that Stripsteak, in the International Market Place in Waikiki, has made the list.
In the category of Award of Excellence are 27 restaurants, among them first-timers Hy’s Steak House and Ruth’s Chris Steak House’s Kakaako location.
The full list of winners is available in Wine Spectator’s August issue, released July 16. Find it online at Restaurants.WineSpectator.com, or download the free Restaurant Awards app, which includes a guide to all of the award-winning restaurants, with maps and information about cuisine, wine and pricing.
New at the royal
Nagasaki Champon is the signature dish of Ringer Hut, new to the Royal Hawaiian Center’s Pa‘ina Lanai Food Court.
Champon is a regional specialty of pork, seafood and vegetables in a soup made with chicken and pork.
The Japanese restaurant has 700 locations worldwide, specializing in noodle dishes, donburi and gyoza. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Well provisioned in Waikoloa
Chef Dayne Tanabe has renewed the menu at Kamuela Provision Co. at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island.
New dishes include a seafood tower, a Kona kampachi tostada and double lamb chops with roasted Kula onion puree. The short ribs ($48), come with with cucumber kim chee, pickled daikon, garlic potato salad and kochujang vinaigrette.
Call 808-886-1234, extension 54. To see the full menu go to hiltonwaikoloavillage.com/dining.
Maui sodas extend reach
Maui Brewing Co.’s craft beers are available from retailers in 23 states, but not so for its no-alcohol line of sodas.
“Over the years, many of our customers who come from around the world have emailed in, asking where they can purchase our Island Root Beer, only to learn that we had only made it available across the islands,” said Marsha Hansen, marketing manager.
Now the sodas may be shipped directly to homes on the mainland. The company posted an online announcement July 11, and within days, 25 orders had come in from across the country, Hansen said.
The company’s sodas — brewed with cane sugar, local honey, Hawaiian vanilla or ginger — also include ginger beer, cola and tonic water. They’re made with no artificial colors or flavors, and no high-fructose corn syrup.
Sodas can only be shipped by 12-pack ($24) or 24-can case ($48), in variety packs of all four flavors. Shipping on average adds another $20 to $35.
Hawaii residents may purchase the sodas at Foodland and Safeway supermarkets, Whole Foods Market, Tamura’s outlets and ABC Stores, among many locations.
Visit 808ne.ws/mauisoda.
Let’s talk fruits
Kokua Market hosts a fruit chat and sampling focused on local fruits and how to use them, 10 a.m. to noon Sunday.
Local botanist and Honolulu Star-Advertiser columnist Heidi Bornhorst will lead the discussion. Subject fruits will depend on market availability, but could include eggfruit, breadfruit, soursop and dragon fruit.
The talk is free but participants are encouraged to sign up at 808ne.ws/fruitchat. Call 330-5049. The market is at 2643 S. King St.
New chef at Bali
Ricky Kusuda, a veteran chef at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, has been named chef de cuisine at the resort’s Bali Steak & Seafood. Kusuda already has updated the menu with new dishes, among them roasted jidori chicken breast and pappardelle pasta with Maui venison ragu.
Kusuda previously served as the resort’s banquet chef.
Quickbites is a weekly listing of dining events. Email items to crave@staradvertiser.com.
