Mud Hen Water introduces Saturday brunch

Nadine Kam photos
A cava bar is at the heart of new Saturday morning brunch at Mud Hen Water in Kaimuki. It starts with sparkling wine for build-your-own mimosas and sangrias with ingredients like mango and lilikoi purées, champagne grapes, sliced strawberries, and simple syrups.

Many of us use weekends for catching up on all the errands we can't get to over the busy week. But, it should be a time to restore a little balance and relaxation to our lives. For me, there are few things more relaxing than a weekend brunch, and Mud Hen Water separates itself from the pack with the offering of a cava bar and dishes that are strictly local in inspiration.

Start with a $12 carafe of sparkling wine for build-your-own mimosas and sangrias with ingredients like mango and lilikoi purées, champagne grapes, sliced strawberries, and simple syrups.

With drink in hand, you can start perusing a menu that follows through on Ed Kenney's philosophy for the restaurant, of delivering a "Hawaiian sense of plate," setting it apart from just about every restaurant in town. Don't expect your basic bacon and eggs here. Instead, your locally inspired breakfast will more likely feature biscuit and mapo tofu gravy, waffle-fried chicken wings with spicy guava sauce, and corned beef hash with kim chee.

Here's a look:

It's always nice to share, and Mud Hen allows you to do that with its popular Sea Board, on this visit comprising smoked a'u ku, preserved akule, walu brandade fritter, cheese, soda crackers, bread, starfruit mostarda and pickles, for $22. I loved the varied flavor profiles of the fish, and liked the walu fritter so much I ordered seconds.

First course: Mahina & Sun's in the Surfjack Hotel

Nadine Kam photos
Deep-fried whole snapper, and salads of root vegetables and pohole ferns are part of the Family Feast at Mahina & Sun's.

Following a zombie apocalypse and cut off from the rest of the world, what would we eat?

If you envision such a future, sustainability makes perfect sense. I'm not saying Ed Kenney and Dave Caldiero are thinking in those bleak terms, but with their latest restaurant, Mahina & Sun's, I think they have the opposite in mind—a bright sunny future in which people awaken to caring for the planet and nurturing their bodies in a single move, by choosing foods both healthful and sustainable.

The two have been preaching this concept for about a decade, but takes it even further with Mahina & Sun's, making sustainable seem more palatable than ever.

A "snack" of Sweet Land Farms goat cheese beignets with beet ketchup and arugula.

It all starts with teaching us to love such basics as 'ulu and ugly root vegetables, hairy roots, green tops and all. There was a time I would have lopped off these unsightly ends, but here, they're a joy to pop whole into the mouth, and I was surprised to see my meat-loving friends reaching continuously for the bowls of vegetables and 'ulu.

Kenney would be the first to tell you he could do more, noting that it is still difficult to go without imported oils, beans, grains, Japanese products, pastas and spices, as well as most bar content.

Satisfying kahala (amberjack) crudo with preserved lemon, toasted inamona, purslane and brown butter vinaigrette.

But moreso than most outlets, I see a commitment, not only to the locally grown, but foods basic to the earliest Hawaii settlers. Most chefs, and diners, would find that limiting, but Mahina & Sun's is doing its best to win over a 21st century audience accustomed to getting any foodstuff they want, sourced from all parts of the planet.

It won't be an easy feat bringing diners back to the homestead, but they're committed to trying.

The setting, poolside at the equally new Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club.

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Mahina & Sun's is in the new Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club at 412 Lewers St. Call 924-5810.

Mild, clean-tasting Kualoa Ranch oysters are simply graced with chili pepper water, succulents and slices of kalamansi.

 It doesn't get much more local than pa'i 'ai topped with akule. Not for those who don't like fishy fish.

2's company, 3's@ brilliant collaboration

Nadine Kam photos
Root fall vegetables (carrots, turnips, radish and winter squash) from Otsuji and MA'O Farms, prepared and plated by Prima, on earthenware by artist Steve Martin, was among the dishes served at the 3@the Table event at Fishcake.

How much more beautiful would your table and meal be if you were able to eat off works of art? That was the question proposed by architect Wendy Tsuji, the woman behind "3@the Table," which aims to bring together artist, farmer and chef. It's her hope that more restaurants, especially those in Waikiki, will pick up on the idea to enhance the visitor dining experience and promote more of Hawaii's talent.

We already know what can happen when farmers and chefs collaborate, and at an introductory event that took place Oct. 18 at Fishcake, an art and furnishings gallery, chef Peter Merriman said 3@the Table reminds him of the start of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement that began more than two decades ago, in which he was also involved.

Those who came of dining age after that time probably don't remember a time when chefs were held hostage to the handful of ingredients farmers knew how to grow. It took a group of about a dozen chefs to take their requests to farmers, suggesting produce they would like to introduce to their tables, which led to the explosion of flavors we have today.

He said that chefs believed people would pay more for locally sourced products, not just because they want to help support farmers, but also because the ingredients taste better, and people just may want to see art at the table because a beautiful visual aesthetic can also enhance a meal.

Artist Mary Mitsuda, left, with Wendy Tsuji, architect of 3@the Table.

This is something already seen at the Japanese table, most strongly at Nanzan Giro Giro on Piikoi Street, a collaboration between a restaurant company and the artist Nanzan, who creates all the earthenware that provides the backdrop for the restaurant's seasonal and nature-inspired kaiseki. The artist  is rooted in the way of tea, rituals encompassing all of tea's history, philosophy and implements. The restaurant also houses a mini ceramic museum.

If diners are to become more mindful of what they are eating, this is one path. It is easy to get caught up in the flavors, intensity and beauty of a meal in a place like Nanzan Giro Giro, which encourages focus.

Honestly, at Fishcake, where the mood was celebratory, such focus was in short supply. It was hard to get people to stop socializing for a while and listen to what Tsuji was saying.

Toward that end,  3@the Table brought together three teams, each with a potter, a chef and a farmer, for a collaboration that mixes food with art. Daven Hee was paired with MA‘O Organic Farms and chef Ed Kenney of town, while ceramist Steve Martin teamed with Otsuji Farms and Prima. Big Island artist Clayton Amemiya teamed with Hirabara Farms and chef Peter Merriman. Also featured was work by artists Jered Nelson, Trent Burkett and Scott Parady.

Then the beauty of dishes prepared that night, and the scent of pork cooked up by Ed Kenney, encased in clay by Hee, was too irresistible to focus on the plates and platters beneath them. It's only when I got home and looked at the pictures I'd taken that I experienced that aha! moment.

Funds raised from ticket sales and ceramic sales will benefit Hawaii Potters' Guild's youth ceramics program at Palama Settlement, to help bring the concept to a new generation and the community.
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Fishcake is at 307c Kamani St. Call 808.593.1231.

Ed Kenney's kiln-fired Shinsato Farms pork, prepared with the help of ceramist Daven Hee, below, with the pork encased in clayware. The process wasn't easy, and also included a scary, stinky moment as you can read in a story by Joleen Oshiro that appeared in the paper.

More of Daven Hee's work for the table.

Grilled local octopus with lima beans and citrus, in ceramic-plated version above, and self-serve portion on aqua platter, below.

The same octopus dish served for mass consuption on an aqua platter evoking the ocean.

Sustainability delicious at Halekulani

Nadine Kam photos
Patricia Tam, vice president of brand development for Halekulani with the hotel's executive chef Vikram Garg, welcomed guests to "An Evening of Sustainable Cuisine."

Thinking about food sustainability is a luxury when many struggle to simply put a nutritious meal on the table, but it is a topic that should have been discussed long ago, when it might have been possible for a farm industry to thrive and grow with the population.

Living on islands, we're always just one disaster away from being cut off from the rest of the world. If planes couldn't land, if ships couldn't dock, it wouldn't take long for food supplies to disappear.

There are environmental benefits to sustainable cuisine—using products that are grown, harvested and processed with the least amount of impact on the environment—as well, and Halekulani is doing its part to raise awareness through events like "An Evening of Sustainable Cuisne," which took place March 11.

The event, a benefit for the Culinary Insitute of the Pacific at Diamond Head, featured cuisine by Halekulani executive chef Vikram Garg, Roy Yamaguchi of Roy's Restaurants, and Ed Kenney of Town.

The menus were made possible with the support of Big Island Abalone Corp, Kahuku Farms, United Fishing Agency, Nalo Farms, Hamakua Mushrooms, Shinsato Hog Farm and Ma'o Organic Farms.

There was also wine from Hall Winery, California's first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold-Certified Winery, as well as cocktails by Julie Reiner, beverage artist in residence, and herbal and kaffir and acai cocktails from Southern Wine & Spirits. Guests interested in the superfruit could also walk away with a bracelet made with acai seeds distributed to promote VeeV Acai Spirit.

Dishes put on the table proved that working for environmental and social good can be delicious.

Of course one part of sustainability is learning to use and appreciate all the food that comes from one animal, and not just savoring the "good parts." Ed Kenney put diners to the test with his coppa di testa or head cheese. Most people opted for sausage, instead. I passed as well, having come from a nine-course Chinese feast earlier that day.

Sorry, Ed! Maybe next time!

"Hawaii Five-0's" Alex O'Loughlin was there and I asked for a picture, which was OK until someone told him I was from the newspaper. He declined because he said he wasn't dressed for press, baseball cap and all. He looked good anyway and was the nicest guy nevertheless.

Chef Roy Yamaguchi with his team, from left, Jason Peel, Clayton Lau and Jacqueline Lau.

Red veal tartare, Vietnamese style, with cold phó noodles, basil lime aioli and quail egg, from Roy's.

Hawaiian ono sashimi with Hawaiian vanilla vinaigrette, Big Island heart of palm and Kahuku sea asparagus, from Roy's.

Among the dishes served by Halekulani was chilled Kona lobster with a sauce of Sumida Farm watercress and fenugreek butter. It was delicious and the first to run out, so I'm glad I got a taste while I could.

Town's Ed Kenney put his family to work, including daughter Celia and mom Beverly Noa.

Ed served a trio of dishes from one pig, from Shinsato Hog Farm. Shinsato chipolatas was an amazing light sausage, served with Ma'o Organic Farms radicchio and saba lima beans.

Master mixologist and Halekulani beverage artist in residence Julie Reiner created two drinks for the occasion, La Rosa of tequila, amaro, lemon juice, organic strawberry syrup finished with rose champagne, and here, she gives New Orleans Buck a shake. It's a refreshing blend of rum, ginger beer, lime juice, simple syrup and fresh pineapple juice.

Bob and Janice Stanga of Hamakua Mushrooms show a beautiful mix of frilly pepeiao, giant Ali'i and white shimeji mushrooms, plus their newest offering, the Italian pioppini, the smaller brown ones in the midst of the Ali'is and shimejis.

Dean Okimoto's Nalo Farms provided most of the greens served by Roy's and Halekulani for the event. He's with Mandy Nguyen, left, and Vikram Garg's wife Abhilasha Kumar.