Restaurant Epic, the lastest downtown bistro, shutters only a few weeks after opening to retool poorly-received menu. Honolulu Weekly gets fat at the Yard House, a new edition to the Waikiki Beach Walk with 130-odd beers on tap. Maui Time Weekly bellies up to the Maui Ocean Grill in Kahului. Maui Time Weekly does a massive desserts issue with copious lists of top Valley Isle sweetness.Gayot's brings the grim news of restaurant closings -- Bistro at Century Center, Fire Dragon Cafe, and upscale Lahaina Chinese eatery Zuihao all shut their doors. Also brings tidings of a new chef at the Diamond Head Grill, who aimes to take the restaurant in an Alice Waters direction. Um, kinda losing track of the chefs at this spot in the W Hotel that started out as David Paul's Diamond Head Grill lo those many years ago.

Bad weather has wiped out the high end tomato crop on Oahu (at least the outdoor grown one( which explains the conspicuous recent absence of the glorious red critters from Big Wave Tomatoes at the KCC Saturday Farmers Market on Oahu. Proprietress Jeanne Vana's BBQ-grilled pizza with her tomatoes, fresh basil and Mozarella is a show-stopper -- perhaps the best slice on Oahu. You gotta be there to get it. How passionate is Jeanne about her tomatoes? One local restaurateur I spoke to told me how, upon delivering a batch to his kitchen, she pointed to a single tomatoe in the bach and said "Thats the best one." Whoa! In Manoa, I've been impressed with the pastrami at Yudi's, a pocket-sized NY-style Kosher (!!!) deli next door to Boston's Pizza (where the great waffle place used to be). And for a shameless plug -- Kokua Market recently completed a big expansion project and is now serving up excellent food at a deli / hot bar. It's mostly organic and as local as possible. They use local meats and veggies whenever they are available. The chicken cacciatore on a recent day was fabulous over some whole wheat organic pasta. Why shameless? I'm on Kokua's Board of Directors.

—Alex, 03/30/07