Star-Advertiser Today @staradvfeatures - Tumblr Blog

Posts

Ready for the weekend? Learn more about the inaugural Aloha 'Aina Music Fest in this week's TGIF. Pick up a copy of Friday's paper or visit honolulupulse.com now to see more!

Others have tried to make the “pocha” happen in Honolulu, but Thank Q Pocha may be the first to succeed in the mainstream with its highly visible location and lively combination of Korean pop playing on TV screens, fun drinks and over-the-top food specialties meant to be shared by many.

For those who don’t know, pocha is the Korean equivalent of the Japanese izakaya, so bring the party and leave any seriousness at the door, as food and drinks flow from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily.

The restaurant is in the space that was once home to Territorial Savings and, later, Sushi San, on Kapiolani Boulevard near Bank of Hawaii’s Ala Moana Center branch. All traces of Sushi San are gone, replaced by booths with wood partitions, with most tables geared toward parties of four to six. This is ideal for sharing many of the larger dishes.

If you’re after purely Korean flavors, this is not the place. The menu is a fusion of casual Asian and American fast food — french fries ($5) and onion rings ($6) meet edamame ($5) and toppoki, the tubular, chewy rice cake ($8 to $15), with cheese apparently the newly anointed food crush overseas.

You’ll find mozzarella bubbling over a thin bed of rice, butter and corn in a cast-iron skillet ($7); as a pool filled with toppoki ($10); served over mashed potatoes, tomato sauce and olives in a cast-iron skillet to spoon over garlic toast to make an ersatz pizza ($17); and forming a liquid pool under the picturesque Crown Squid Meets Fried Chicken ($29), a whole roast chicken crowned with deep-fried calamari, the spindly squid legs rising into the air to form crown points. There’s definitely a sense of humor at work here.

THANK Q POCHA

1411 Kapiolani Boulevard (808) 954-5384

Open 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily

For fans of “American Ninja Warrior,” you know what it takes to complete the show’s daunting obstacle courses: big biceps, balance, a strong grip and a winning smile. Competitors make flinging themselves across pools of water, hanging by their fingertips and scaling walls look easy.

But ask DeJuan Hathaway and he’ll tell you that skirting disaster is an adrenalin rush. The former Hawaii resident, who will compete on the NBC show’s June 29 episode, says nothing tests an athlete like the “Warrior’s” challenges such as the Salmon Ladder and Warped Wall.

“It is not like your typical everyday gym or playground you can go to,” Hathaway said in a call from Fayetteville, N.C. “It challenges pretty much every aspect of your athletic skills. Your speed. Your agility. Your strength. Your cardio. Your stamina. These obstacle courses attack every skill you have.”

The show is modeled after the uber-popular Japanese version “Sasuke,” which has aired in 157 countries. According to NBC, more than 700 contestants will compete in the American show to earn a chance at the $1 million grand prize, with the national finals to be held in Las Vegas. Hathaway’s episode was filmed at a qualifier in Pittsburgh, but he is prohibited from revealing the results before the show airs.

“I really wanted to compete on ‘American Ninja Warrior’ because I knew it would challenge me physically in a way that I’ve never been pushed before,” Hathaway said. “On TV, it looks really easy, but it’s totally different when you compete in person.”

University of Hawaii sports fans may remember the 33-year-old Hathaway from when he worked as a strength and conditioning coach in the Manoa athletic department after enrolling in a master’s program for kinesiology in 2006. Hathaway also has a degree in physical education with a minor in business from Maryville (Tenn.) College, where he also played football.

Hathaway helped train the 2007 Colt Brennan-led Hawaii football team that went 12-0 in the regular season and earned a trip to New Orleans to play in the Sugar Bowl. That same year he also supervised fitness routines for the women’s soccer team, which won the Western Athletic Conference title.

“I was fortunate to be a part of so many good memories with the university that I will cherish forever,” Hathaway said. “The people in Hawaii welcomed me and made me feel at home.”

‘AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR’

7 p.m. Mondays KHNL

ON THE SCENE: MAKANA OPENS SUMMER SERIES

Lopaka Colon, left, and Makana relaxed backstage Thursday moments before they played at the first Ke Kani O Ke Kai concert of 2015 at the Waikiki Aquarium. Makana emphasized Hawaiian, slack-key and Portuguese songs in his 66-minute set. Colon and bassist Lono Kaumeheiwa were on stage with him for most of it. Visual highlights included Makana playing guitar with his leg, and his solo rendition of “Maui Chimes” played with his guitar laid flat across his lap.

While he can’t be here for the Hawaii premiere of his “It’s Only a Play” comedy, four-time Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally said he is elated about making his latest Broadway hit available to KHON news anchorman and actor Joe Moore and his cast.

“Hawaii was the first to ask,” said McNally, 76, of requests to produce the play after its June 7 finale on Broadway. “It’s that simple.”

“It’s Only a Play” opens an 11-performance run Thursday at the Hawaii Theatre. It’s the latest hit by McNally, who previously earned Tonys for his dramas “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and “Master Class,” plus trophies for best book for a musical for “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “Ragtime.”

McNally hoped to be in the audience here but is in the midst of prepping an unnamed new musical while overseeing the fate of his Tony-nominated “The Visit,” a musical starring Chita Rivera that was nominated but did not win at the June 7 awards show.

“I am very proud and excited Hawaii is doing ‘It’s Only a Play,’” McNally said in an email. “I’m only sorry I won’t be there in person. But Peter Austen, the playwright, will be there at every performance.”

Austen is the playwright character who mirrors McNally’s life as a Broadway icon.

“There’s more than enough of me in him,” he said.

The play is a riotous glimpse of a Broadway ritual of anticipation and aggravation. A producer, a playwright, a director and a star of a production titled “The Golden Egg” assemble in the producer’s apartment to await the overnight reviews while downstairs a party is in full swing — with no shortage of rants, angst, name-dropping and laughs.

‘IT’S ONLY A PLAY’

» When: Thursday through June 28; visithawaiitheatre.com for show times » Where: Hawaii Theatre, 1130 Bethel St. » Cost: $22-$72 » Info: (808) 528-0506

Electa Sam of Kahala was having a drink with Turkish friends on the rooftop bar of the Four Seasons in Istanbul when they noticed something flapping in the air a few floors down. To her embarrassment, Sam realized it was her clothes, which she had hung out to dry on her balcony.

Hand-washable, quick-drying clothes are one of Sam's travel essentials, allowing her to pack light and live out of two carry-on bags for five weeks.

The good news about flying in summer: You don't need to take a lot of clothes.

The bad news: Planes will be more packed than ever, with a record 222 million passengers flying on U.S. airlines — a 4.5 percent increase over last summer, according to the industry trade group Airlines for America.

Any long flight poses health threats, said Dr. Clayton Chong, an internist and oncologist at the Queen's Medical Center. Sitting for long periods promotes the development of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), blood clots that can travel to the lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism, a potentially fatal blockage in an artery that feeds the lungs.

Chong offered five basic tips for a safe and healthy flight:.

» Check with your doctor about what medications you should and shouldn't take before and during your flight.

» Exercise on the plane. Get up and walk up and down the aisle at least once an hour. While seated, keep legs uncrossed and move feet and ankles.

» Drink 8 ounces of water every hour. Dehydration raises risk of DVT. Do not drink alcohol; it's dehydrating.

» Wear loose-fitting, nonbinding clothes and shoes.

» Wear compression stockings, which are knit in bands that stimulate circulation. "All adults should start wearing compression stockings on long flights," advised Chong, who wears them himself.

It seems many chefs have succumbed to the notion that they can be the next culinary superstar, to the detriment of the dining experience. They see the path to nirvana through invention and tinker away at deconstruction of the classics, adding a pinch of the new here and there.

Trouble is, most diners don't want the experimental. They just want something simple and edible.

This might come as a blow to the fragile chef ego, but genius is rare, and putting together disparate ingredients does not typically elevate cuisine. More important than a mash-up masquerading as creativity is taste. Do these ingredients play well together on the playground of our palate? Most of the time the answer is no.

Don't let Central Bakery’s name fool you. Yes, it's a world-class bakery. It's also a restaurant serving a mix of Italian- and French-style cuisine, with a few hints of its Japanese roots. Its classic combinations add up to a delicious whole.

Company president Koichiro Yanagimoto started the restaurant in Kobe, Japan, in 1999 and aimed toward expanding in the United States, but after studying the major cities of New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, he saw an abundance of bakeries, "more than Paris," he said. In Hawaii he sees open territory, with nothing comparable.

The new bakery/restaurant is in the former Wahoo's spot behind Kahala Mall and near Olive Tree Cafe. The mood is bistro casual, and the space divides in half so you can opt for a spot away from those lined up for bread and pastries.

CENTRAL BAKERY

4614 Kilauea Ave. (808) 777-6700 Open 5 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays (lunch and brunch service to start in late June)

ON THE SCENE: STARS OPEN RAINBOW FILM FEST

Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival Director Brent Anbe, left, welcomed Greg Louganis, April Carrión and festival founder Jack Law to the opening night reception for the 26th annual film fest Thursday at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Louganis was the subject of the centerpiece film, “Back on Board: Greg Louganis.” Carrión performed at the red carpet reception.

On any given day, padlocks appear on the rusted, mesh-link fence at the highest lookout on the Makapuu Lighthouse Trail in east Oahu.

Sometimes, a dozen or more of these “love locks,” which are meant to express sentiments of love or commitment, pop up during the week, despite a sign informing the public that they will be removed. There are locks of all shapes, colors and sizes, some inscribed or marked with couple’s names and a date, others left blank.

While the custom seems to have originated in Europe — some believe it exploded in popularity after a film adaptation of an Italian book entitled “I Want You” in 2007 — the trend is now worldwide.

In Hawaii, state officials aren’t happy about that.

“It’s a cute trend, but it contributes to the deterioration of whatever feature they’re attached to,” said Curt Cottrell, a parks assistant administrator at the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. “It’s not really thinking about the next visitor.

“Those features are intended to protect people and provide safety, not serve as their own personal memorial, recreational trend.”

Gerry Aluli smiled broadly as her two daughters helped her harvest the vegetables on the 10-by-40-foot lanai of her Kailua apartment, where kale, chard, turnips, chilies, celery, mint, green onion, aloe, taro and pikake grow in various pots and containers.

“The kale grows like crazy,” Aluli said. “I’ve used it to make a kale-and-white-bean soup, and I use it in smoothies and add some banana.”

The 89-year-old missed her lush, nearly half-acre yard when she relocated to the apartment from the Lanikai home she had lived in from the 1960s until it was sold in 2012. Aluli recalled the lilikoi vine growing along the fence, an oversize ulu tree, Hawaiian hibiscus, sea grape trees, Queen Emma lilies and pohinahina.

“I knew my mother would miss her yard when we sold the Lanikai house. The edible garden on my mother’s lanai was an attempt on my part to replace what she was going to miss,” said her daughter Yuklin Aluli, a 66-year-old probate and trust attorney.

Summer is a time to get away, but not everyone can afford an adventure off this rock.

For the townbound, a drive to the North Shore offers suitable escape. There's something about the leisurely pace and expanse of beach along the drive that allows our bodies to surrender to deep breaths and relaxed smiles.

Sunday marks the start of a new Backyard Hale‘iwa farmers market, sponsored by the Hawaii Farm Bureau, taking place 8 a.m. to noon behind the North Shore Market Place.

And since Kamehameha Schools Hale‘iwa Store Lots at 66-111 Kamehameha Highway opened last month, there is one more destination for day-trippers. The plantation-style retail and dining spot was designed to blend in with the surroundings, with plenty of parking in back.

ON THE SCENE: FLORES NEW CCCH PRESIDENT

Eddie Flores Jr., incoming president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, left, was congratulated by 2015 Narcissus Queen Erica Wai Yee Wong, banquet chair Michele Choy, Leilani Keough and Douglas Ho at the chamber's 2015 installation banquet Thursday at the Empress Restaurant in Chinatown. Flores commemorated his appointment by giving guests copies of his new book, "108 Tips on Business, Travel, and Culture in China."

There's a lot of punching and kicking going on during the women's kickboxing class at Oahu Taekwondo Center, but there are plenty of smiles and laughter to soften the blows.

Instructor Brassie Anderson, 31, started taking taekwondo, a Korean martial art with emphasis on kicks, about 19 years ago and earned her black belt in 1998, competing on a national and international level. She started teaching women's kickboxing classes five years ago.

Proper form and technique are emphasized, Anderson explained. "We teach the proper way of punching and kicking but it's in a friendly, supportive, noncontact environment. Music is played during the class to keep the atmosphere fun."

She said participants seem to become more confident after attending several classes.

"The way that they carry themselves when they walk in the gym can change," she said. "It's comforting to know that if they need to, they can punch and kick to help defend themselves."

Anderson said it takes roughly five to seven sessions before class members are adept at performing the punch-kick sequences and holding the sparring mitts and paddles.

WOMEN'S KICKBOXING

» Where: Oahu Taekwondo Center, 98-810 Moanalua Road » When: 8 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; 10 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays » Cost: $65 a month for twice-weekly classes; $100 for 10-class punch card; first class is free » Info: (808) 486-2500, www.oahutaekwondo.com

5 Things We Love: Nijiya Market beauty products

Most people head to Nijiya Market in Puck’s Alley for groceries or to pick up a quick bento meal, but beauty junkies can save a trip to makeup counters by shopping Nijiya’s beauty aisle. There, you can find soaps, moisturizers and makeup from Japan, from pore minimizers to Magic Dream Tape for creating double eyelids. Fiberwig mascara, pictured, costs about $20. It’s always a risk if you can’t read kanji, but for $20 it’s worth a try.

There’s been a recent spate of new Mexican restaurants opening all around Oahu. Taqueria El Rancho is promising because of its proximity to Wahiawa’s Mexican demographic.

If you’re planning a summer day trip, be aware there’s no guarantee you’ll get a table. The casual restaurant seats only about 36, and during prime dining hours, you’ll probably encounter a line. While there for dinner at 6 p.m., the line never let up until 8:30. Service is accordingly slow as dishes are cooked to order.

Standing in line, you have a long time to study the chalkboard menus before reaching the order-taking cashier. Street-style, open-face tacos start at $2 for one choice of meat with cilantro and onions. A $4 grande version is enhanced with beans, cheese and sour cream. The meat options are carnitas (fried pork), grilled chicken, carne asada (grilled steak), al pastor (marinated grilled pork), housemade chorizo and lengua (beef tongue), the latter with the stink of tongue but a texture that suggested it was part of a mixture including regular minced roast beef.

Pork also ruled the day in a plate of chile verde ($10), one of seven “combo” plates that would be better described as full meals involving rice, beans and two soft tortillas. Here, “combo” doesn’t mean combining entree meats as it would at a Korean or local plate-lunch restaurant.

TAQUERIA EL RANCHERO

Wahiawa Shopping Center, 823 California Ave. Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily (808) 621-9000

Water features can be a source of tranquility in a garden, but not everyone has the room or budget to install a koi pond or water fountain. That makes a water lily pot a simple and inexpensive option to achieve outdoor serenity.

All that's needed is an oversized pot, some aquatic plants and water.

Water lilies are dependable, low-maintenance plants that love sunlight, according to Lynn Bowden, a sales associate at the Geobunga garden shop in Waimanalo. "They need at least four to six hours of sunlight a day," she said. Full sunlight throughout the day is fine.

Algae growth is the biggest problem. Bowden said algae can be removed by hand, and as the water plants grow to cover more of the water surface, they will block more of the sunlight that feeds the algae.

"The leaves are the solar panels that absorb the sunlight, which helps the plant get bigger and controls algae," she said.

Mosquitoes are another problem. Populating your lily garden with fish that eat larvae can help control the pests. Guppies are preferred because they are small and produce less waste. Goldfish and other bigger fish can result in a waste overload that provides nutrients to fuel algae growth.

No filtration or aeration system is required.

GROW YOUR OWN CHEF’S GARDEN Learn how to transform a yard, lanai or windowsill into a garden filled with homegrown food

» When: 9-10 a.m. May 30 » Where: 4404 Malaai St., Salt Lake » Cost: Free » Info: (808) 422-4567, http://atgeobunga.com/workshops.

Good Fit: Athletic endeavors complement musical pursuits

Pianists Jonathan Korth and Tommy Yee are known for tickling the ivories, but they're equally at home pounding Oahu's pavement and trekking its trails.

Both men are professors in the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Music Department. Korth, 35, came to Hawaii in 2008 on a one-year position and has since become the head of piano studies. Yee, 41, is the associate head of the department. Together they teach about 35 UH students and are in heavy demand as private instructors and international performers.

JONATHAN KORTH Head of piano studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa Music Department » Age: 35 » Residence: Kailua » Top athletic achievement: Two-time Iowa state high school champion in high hurdles. He still holds four sprint and hurdle records for his high school. “My mom takes a picture of the board there every once in a while and sends it to me,” he said.

TOMMY YEE Associate chair of the University of Hawaii Music Department » Age: 41 » Residence: Kailua » Top athletic achievement: Knocking 62 minutes off his Honolulu Marathon time from 2007 to 2009

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Star-Advertiser Today