Edible Hawaiian Island Illegible Online -- Major Bummer
Where: Statewide || Grouped in: Statewide Food || Tagged:
I was really looking forward to the first edition of Hawaii's new food magazine, Edible Hawaiian Islands. The line-up looked intriguing. I love food and Hawaii (as you know) so I was really amped to get some mega-coverage of a topic that is both deep and tasty. Alas, the first edition has emerged and you'll have to buy it in the dead-tree version because most of the magazine is not posted online. I was also kind bummed that a lot of the selections seemed to be on the tired side. Alan Wong forages for local produce. Um, that's so 1998, folks. And the Restaurant Roundup (available in downloadable PDF) hit the obvious big names but missed a lot of more interesting stuff that true foodies would care about. The opening of Nobu, for example, is not terribly interesting to most serious cognoscenti because it's like the 20th in the chain. Great food, sure. Notable, yes. More important that local flavored restaurants? Nah. Most of us had misoyaki butterfish ( the black cod thing that Nobu is famous for) in the 1990s when Nobu was a mere babe. I figure my friend Sue Kiyabu, who wrote the roundup, was either seriously space constrained or muzzled. I may pony up for an issue but I probably won't. So much paper, such a waste.
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Comments
Kimo said:
This is one of the stupidest comments I’ve ever read. I only read this blog one other time, and couldn’t have disagreed wit the posting more; So Im not sure why I came back. But Nobu is probably the most imprtant restaurant in Hawaii this year for so many reasons, I can’t even believe someone who claims to be a foodie would write such a rediculous thing. While I agree this edibles magazine looks like crap, you are way off base on the Nobu thing. Also, Wasabi had a great following of locals pre-renovations. so if you went there once and saw a bunch of japanese in business suits, it doesn’t mean a thing.
—11/04/07
Hana Hi Kango said:
Hey, I’m with you on Nobu: Great place, but I tend towards the ‘undiscovered gems’ category. And EVERYONE knows about Nobu … in Hawaii, New York, even Dallas. Whether it’s restaurants or hotels on the islands, show me off-the-beaten-path, lesser-known destinations. For example, my top hotel pick: The Hotel Hana on Maui. It’s not nearly as touristy as some of the ‘major’ hotels on the island, not least because of its secluded location. Fabulously remote!
So keep plugging away with your picks … they can keep those cookie-cutter places if you ask me!
—11/05/07
eli said:
Having Nobu in Waikiki is a good thing — it puts Honolulu on the map of cities who have Nobu and will stand out for travelers for whom things like that are a validation of high class (basically non-foodies with lots of money).
But I agree, as a member of the foodie cognoscenti, it’s not as important: it doesn’t add anything to uniquely Hawaii’an cuisine and doesn’t do much to change popular notions of what great food is. Compare this with a place like Alan Wong’s, Downtown or Hiroshi’s (among many others)— whose blend of ingredients and style of preparation can’t be replicated elsewhere.
—11/06/07
fornetti said:
I do not believe this
—09/01/08
aowehiga said:
Very interesting. Hope it will always be alive!
—09/04/08