In the heart of Obamaland, Oahu, the T-shirt you see most often shows our 44th president’s face with the proud phrase “Homegrown.” Barack Obama was raised on the island by his Kansas grandparents. Mainlanders and Hawaiians alike line up for “shave ice” (no “d” at the end). Obama raised questions worldwide when he announced he was looking forward to having it on his vacation in Hawaii last August. No, it isn’t the syrup-covered snow cone we’re familiar with: ice ground to the consistency of small hail. Shave ice is made of ice shaved by the knife blade of a machine until it is fine snow, then packed into a cup mold, with exotic syrups poured over it.
Doug Gibson, a pal with encyclopedic knowledge gleaned as a 41-year Oahu resident, saw to it we sampled shave ice at Island Snow in Kailua, one of the stops Obama made with his family (photo by Alex Brandon, AP). The photo appeared in a USA Today article posted at the shop.
The shave ice was great, with a duo of mango and passion fruit syrups over it, the way Obama likes it, the “shavers” at Island Snow told us. As a schoolkid, Obama dished up ice cream part-time at a Baskin-Robbins not far away.
My cousin Will Brown showed us the Punahou School, Honolulu’s expensive, top-rated college prep that Obama attended on a scholarship. Punahou’s annual carnival was in full swing, a mammoth affair where funds are raised for outstanding but needy students, such as Barry Obama, as he was then known.
The school served one food you won’t find at a school fair in D.C., malasadas, sugared, fried dough rounds originally brought to the islands by Portuguese workmen homesick for their native dishes. The Punahou School carnival has served as many as 300,000 of these treats during its two-day celebration.
Another Obama fave is spam musubi. Don’t shudder; it isn’t bad. Spam is highly regarded in Hawaii, but since the 1970s, this sandwich invention has helped raise the canned pork meat’s image so high that well over 6 million cans a year are consumed in the Hawaiian islands alone.
Spam musubi is made of a fried slice of the meat pressed between two slabs of vinegared rice, wrapped in nori seaweed. Sounds weird, but it’s a rather interesting, portable snack.
Japan’s influence on the local cuisine is also evident in the popularity of mochi ice cream. The Japanese dessert is a favorite in Hawaii, which has many visitors from Japan and a large population of Japanese-Americans.
Washington hostess Isabel Ernst has put a delicious version of it on the map locally. Encased in a delicate but crisp wafer of rice flour, the mochi ice cream she serves at her mansion enchants her guests, and her children call it their favorite dessert. She gets it at Trader Joe’s. I expected the mochi ice cream in Honolulu to be equally good. But the one time I bought it, at the food court in the huge Ala Moana shopping center, I waited in line for half an hour for a version that, to me, seemed vastly inferior. The ice cream had a pasty covering that tasted like an uncooked egg-roll wrapper.
Nevertheless, this style has its fans. The Japanese couple ahead of me spent 20 minutes discussing which flavors to choose, and ended with a dozen of the little frozen cakes ensconced in a gift box that could have been used for jewelry.
Biggest culinary surprise in Oahu: to discover an America’s Classics Award-winning restaurant in a nondescript storefront in an industrial district of Honolulu. The honor―the Oscar of the American food world―was bestowed in 2000 by the James Beard Foundation, an organization inspired by the legendary TV personality and gourmet author. (Jim Beard was a longtime friend I had the nerve to cook dinners for on a Pibigas grill, when he spent a summer in a pied-à-terre my former husband and I had located for him near us in Provence.)
The award-winning spot is Helena’s Hawaiian Food, on North School Street. The 63-year-old restaurant was made famous by Helen Chock, a remarkable Chinese woman. It is now run by her grandson Craig, aided by her daughter, Elaine, a fourth-generation Hawaiian who lived for several years in Silver Spring.
On the wall, you can see a photo of Helen, lei draped and flower crowned, as she accepted the award at the foundation’s headquarters, housed in the home in Greenwich Village where Jim lived.
My order from the brief but classic Hawaiian menu included luau-style, smoky kalua pork and excellent ribs, but where was my order of squid? And what was this marvelous, dark green vegetable dish with morsels embedded in it?
Mirabile dictu, it was pureed taro leaves with bits of squid, the tenderest squid I’ve ever tasted.
The food at Helena’s is authentic, the prices are minuscule, and the walls are covered by the works of noted painter and printmaker Jean Charlot. A good friend, he was a devotee of Helen’s cooking. He earned her a mention in the Congressional Record, when he was quoted speaking of the meals she catered at his home.
Doug Gibson, a pal with encyclopedic knowledge gleaned as a 41-year Oahu resident, saw to it we sampled shave ice at Island Snow in Kailua, one of the stops Obama made with his family (photo by Alex Brandon, AP). The photo appeared in a USA Today article posted at the shop.
The shave ice was great, with a duo of mango and passion fruit syrups over it, the way Obama likes it, the “shavers” at Island Snow told us. As a schoolkid, Obama dished up ice cream part-time at a Baskin-Robbins not far away.
My cousin Will Brown showed us the Punahou School, Honolulu’s expensive, top-rated college prep that Obama attended on a scholarship. Punahou’s annual carnival was in full swing, a mammoth affair where funds are raised for outstanding but needy students, such as Barry Obama, as he was then known.
The school served one food you won’t find at a school fair in D.C., malasadas, sugared, fried dough rounds originally brought to the islands by Portuguese workmen homesick for their native dishes. The Punahou School carnival has served as many as 300,000 of these treats during its two-day celebration.
Another Obama fave is spam musubi. Don’t shudder; it isn’t bad. Spam is highly regarded in Hawaii, but since the 1970s, this sandwich invention has helped raise the canned pork meat’s image so high that well over 6 million cans a year are consumed in the Hawaiian islands alone.
Spam musubi is made of a fried slice of the meat pressed between two slabs of vinegared rice, wrapped in nori seaweed. Sounds weird, but it’s a rather interesting, portable snack.
Japan’s influence on the local cuisine is also evident in the popularity of mochi ice cream. The Japanese dessert is a favorite in Hawaii, which has many visitors from Japan and a large population of Japanese-Americans.
Washington hostess Isabel Ernst has put a delicious version of it on the map locally. Encased in a delicate but crisp wafer of rice flour, the mochi ice cream she serves at her mansion enchants her guests, and her children call it their favorite dessert. She gets it at Trader Joe’s. I expected the mochi ice cream in Honolulu to be equally good. But the one time I bought it, at the food court in the huge Ala Moana shopping center, I waited in line for half an hour for a version that, to me, seemed vastly inferior. The ice cream had a pasty covering that tasted like an uncooked egg-roll wrapper.
Nevertheless, this style has its fans. The Japanese couple ahead of me spent 20 minutes discussing which flavors to choose, and ended with a dozen of the little frozen cakes ensconced in a gift box that could have been used for jewelry.
Biggest culinary surprise in Oahu: to discover an America’s Classics Award-winning restaurant in a nondescript storefront in an industrial district of Honolulu. The honor―the Oscar of the American food world―was bestowed in 2000 by the James Beard Foundation, an organization inspired by the legendary TV personality and gourmet author. (Jim Beard was a longtime friend I had the nerve to cook dinners for on a Pibigas grill, when he spent a summer in a pied-à-terre my former husband and I had located for him near us in Provence.)
The award-winning spot is Helena’s Hawaiian Food, on North School Street. The 63-year-old restaurant was made famous by Helen Chock, a remarkable Chinese woman. It is now run by her grandson Craig, aided by her daughter, Elaine, a fourth-generation Hawaiian who lived for several years in Silver Spring.
On the wall, you can see a photo of Helen, lei draped and flower crowned, as she accepted the award at the foundation’s headquarters, housed in the home in Greenwich Village where Jim lived.
My order from the brief but classic Hawaiian menu included luau-style, smoky kalua pork and excellent ribs, but where was my order of squid? And what was this marvelous, dark green vegetable dish with morsels embedded in it?
Mirabile dictu, it was pureed taro leaves with bits of squid, the tenderest squid I’ve ever tasted.
The food at Helena’s is authentic, the prices are minuscule, and the walls are covered by the works of noted painter and printmaker Jean Charlot. A good friend, he was a devotee of Helen’s cooking. He earned her a mention in the Congressional Record, when he was quoted speaking of the meals she catered at his home.
