Szechuan Restaurants

[glossyp]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

Tony (Anthony Chang) is a good friend of mine (former neighbor in Kaimuki) and really knows his Chinese foods.

But when it comes to food (especially Northern and Southern Chinese cuisine) Tony can write the book on it

He is writing a book about Chinese food in Hawaii which promises to be very comprehensive. My favorite tidbit about Tony is the catering club he is part of called the 'Pake Porkchops'!

[i-hungry]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

Today's Honolulu Advertiserfeatured a Knight Ridder article on "Sichuan" cuisine, and its mouth-searing reputation:

if there was a sichuan restaurant in hawaii, it would have a different customer base. hardcore spicy food eaters.

[kaneohegirl]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

awwww consider yourselves lucky!!! the only thing that I do not like about the Midwest is that aside from PF changs and a Masterwok (talk about diner chinese) is that all the chinese resturants are BUFFETS and have been midwestified.... meaning they SUCK.... no flavor.... spagetti noodles used and just many other things that make you go EWWWWWWW.....** sigh** still looking after 6 months... gonna keep looking....

[i-hungry]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

you're probably better off cooking your own chinese food.

[Da Rolling Eye]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

Kgirl, I know what you mean. The really funny thing about is they don't know what you're talking about if you use the "Chinese" name for some of our favorites. I ordered "kau yuk" in a AZ Chinese restaurant. The lady looked at me and said, "Hah? Wot dat?"

[HawaiiFoodTours]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

Thought I'd chime in and let you all know about the absolute best Kung Pao on Oahu... Pineland on upper Keeaumoku. They do a great Garlic Shrimp too. The place is dingy, dirty, divey and delicious!

[kaneohegirl]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

The really funny thing about is they don't know what you're talking about if you use the "Chinese" name for some of our favorites. I ordered "kau yuk" in a AZ Chinese restaurant. The lady looked at me and said, "Hah? Wot dat?"

da thing I have discovered is many of the owners of the places here are Vietnamese or Thai.... and the are using the assumption that none of the "white" ppl can tell the difference.... Well this is one Haole that knows the difference between Chinese food and Thai food. I dont particularly like Thai or Vietnamese food some is pretty darn good but other dishes are an aquired taste... I really hate it when you go looking for a familiar dish and you get it and the flavors are all off

[Erika Engle]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

Any on the Leeward side? Gotta be 100%, gotta be good. Not Cantonese/Szechuan. Most of those places are more Cantonese and do lousy Szechuan. Parents aren't getting any younger and Maple Garden is becoming a long drive for them (Mililani).

Hey Eye and PZ!!!
The irony of timing is kind of bizarre -- as is this tease -- but you're going to want to read my story in the Saturday paper ... all the way through, k?

There will be a test.

FYI, no "Buzz" on Sunday ... I was on assignment today.

[Erika Engle]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

Okay, here 'tis.

http://starbulletin.com/2006/03/25/b...s/story01.html

Tony Roma's Kahala closing; new Chinese restaurant going in to the space.

Funny, I'm told the Advertiser newsroom also got a tip about this, but I didn't find anything about it in today's online edition ... and their biz section has WAY more reporters than the SB biz section. Hmm...

[glossyp]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

but you're going to want to read my story in the Saturday paper ... all the way through, k?

There will be a test.

Geez - you weren't kidding - I'm still trying to sort it all out and will have to study up before I can pass that test! Cool news regardless and thanks for the heads up.

[Erika Engle]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

Geez - you weren't kidding - I'm still trying to sort it all out and will have to study up before I can pass that test! Cool news regardless and thanks for the heads up.

Funny!

I guess the most important test, along these lines, is finding one's way to the best restaurant to sate your onos at that moment (and then finding parking).

... and you're welcome for the heads-up. GOSH I love my job.

[tutusue]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

[...]Tony Roma's Kahala closing; new Chinese restaurant going in to the space.[...]

Phooey! I liked Tony Roma's and ate there semi-frequently during my east Honolulu house sitting gigs. I'll definitely miss that location.

[kdramafan]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

I used to go to Fat Fat for their crispy whole fried chicken and lup cheong fried rice.

Ok I am in for some Lup Cheong Fried Rice. Where can I get some on the Leeward Side?

Or I guess I could just make my one fried rice and throw in a ton of
Lup Cheong.

[Da Rolling Eye]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

Ok I am in for some Lup Cheong Fried Rice. Where can I get some on the Leeward Side?

Or I guess I could just make my one fried rice and throw in a ton of
Lup Cheong.

Where on the leeward side? My house. <LOL> I wish more often. To my wife, lup cheong is just another high fat/cholesterol sausage. Of course she's right, but I keep insisting it doesn't have the taste of "regular sausages" and won't spoil as fast. Darned thangs last forever....of course I'm right.

I don't know of or haven't heard of any place on this side that serves a lup cheong fried rice. Definitely not from Chinese take out places. You'd have to check on sit down type restaurants. Fat Fat was kind of a sports bar. Had darts and karaoke so most of the food the owner prepared was more as heavy pupus, but he also had a brisk take out business going. Used to go there a lot when I was living on Piikoi.

Of course, you could also "special" order some at a restaurant. Most places offer fried rice in one form or another and have no problems with whipping up another variation.

[PakePorkChop]

Re: Szechuan Restaurants

There are a number of questions posted and I will do my best to address them.

I think that the fundamental underlying question is "What kind of Chinese do we have in Hawaii?" My response, below, is a generalized summary that escapes discrepancies that should be footnoted but it attempts to portray the larger picture.

By far the overwhelming majority of early Chinese in Hawaii came from Southern China, and by the time the Chinese population in Hawaii was substantial, from one COUNTY on the Pearl River, the county of Zhongshan.

The reason is basic, when you think about it. One fellow immigrated, found work, sent word home to recommend that nephew so and so come over because there was work available and Uncle could take care of him. Before you know it, you have a bunch of people from the same families in that particular village in all arriving and working in Hawaii and they generally help one another as problems arise.

The Southern Chinese are VERY clannish. They have a phrase "ga kee nang" which translates as "our own people" and if you are not "ga kee nang" you are going to be very uncomfortable.

This whole situation gets frozen in time when Hawaii becomes US territory in 1898, subject to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Basically, no more Chinese allowed to enter Hawaii. So this Zhongshan County Chinese population in Hawaii keeps growing and growing, with few other different Chinese coming to Hawaii or wanting to come to Hawaii because they are not "ga kee nang."

Thus, the Chinese cooking in Hawaii remained the cooking of Zhongshan County, a part of it evolving into local chop suey with lots of corn starch gravy, so that the pineapple shrimp, beef broccoli, and sweet sour pork taste oh so ono with the two scoops rice and the mac/potato salad.

In 1965, the US Congress passes the Immigration Reform Act that greatly increases the number of Chinese permitted into the country. People from Hong Kong look at Hawaii and see a large population of Chinese from villages right across the Pearl River, only 45 miles distant. Our kind of people!

So now we have Chinese from two sides of the river coming to Hawaii and somebody decides to open a HongKong-style restaurant, Moon Palace. Local Zhongshan Chinese go there and decide "...tastes different. Not our kind of food!" Other locals go there and ask "where's the gravy for the rice?"

The owner quickly reverts to Zhongshan cooking and chop suey and that is the end of that. It takes another decade to get Hong Kong-style established.

In the meantime, the Vietnam War is winding down and there are large numbers of Chinese leaving Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The substantial majority of them come from Southern China, including the Pearl River. They look to America, focus on Hawaii, and what they see? Our Kind of People!

So these Chinese enter Hawaii and what do they eat? Southern Chinese with Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotion inflections.

Now add the Japanese, who favor ... Southern Chinese food. Add the Filipino who favor ... Southern Chinese food. Add the Okinawans (the largest Okinawan population in the US) who favor ... Southern Chinese food.

With this market, you can pretty much guess that most Chinese entrepreneurs will establish restaurants serving Southern Chinese food.

Now reverse the analysis. You are a new immigrant from Sichuan, you know a few things about cooking, and you are looking at Hawaii, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and all you see are Southern Chinese, known to be clannish. Your relatives before you made the same analysis and went to Houston, Pittsburg, Atlanta, places where they would not be "outsiders" within a Chinese community and they will be there for you when you need housing, social services, etc.

If you were that immigrant, I don't think that you would stop in Honolulu.

Bob Hsu took a big chance in 1973 when he opened Maple Garden but his market analysis was good. He went to an area accessible to tourists, monied locals who had traveled and were culinary curious, and of course the University intellectuals who imagine that they have sophisticated palates. Most successful "Northern" Chinese (which pretty much means any cuisine north of the Pearl River delta) restaurants in Honolulu more or less follow that formula.

The rest of us have to accept Southern cooks cooking what have become Northern standards, such a Kung Pao anything and Mapo Tofu.

I've gone on for too long. Soft opening tomorrow, Sunday, June 18, Chin's Cantonese and Szechuan Restaurant, at the old Kahala Tony Roma's.

See you there!