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Hawaii:
The Epicenter of Fusion-Cooking Shirley Introduces 'Bear' Facts of Travel with "Wro" (Pictured above, Shirley's traveling pal, "Wro") By Shirley Fong-Torres Not too many years ago, the culinary highlight of a Hawaiian vacation was a boring version of the ubiquitous "surf and turf." Hotels and restaurants in the Hawaiian Islands were convinced that mainland travelers wanted to try something totally un-threatening from the ocean, but only as long as they could back it up with some heavy beef. Those days are, thankfully, gone with the Pacific trade winds. Because of its fresh and sundry seafood, Hawaii is now the epicenter of the fusion-cooking world. Its fish have a celebrity status with many of the best chefs in Asia and America. They also have the endorsement of environmentalists and hopeless romantics like my honeybear and traveling companion, Wroburlto, aka "Wro," seen above. Falling in Love with the Moana Surfrider Hotel On our recent trip to Honolulu, Wro fell unbearably in love with the Sheraton Moana Surfrider Hotel on Waikiki. This truly grand hotel is built around a magical, 118-year-old banyan tree, in which adventurous bears love to play, or at least pose for pictures. It also happens to be right on the prime center of Waikiki Beach, where gregarious bears love to hang. If the tree makes Wro a giddy bear, it simply awes me. It was already wise before there were any other hotels in Honolulu, back when anything taller than the tree was on top of Diamond Head. Robert Louis Stevenson composed some of his literary treasures under this tree, which has shaded celebrated travelers for so long that it is incarnated with a century's worth of spirits. Wro and I can feel their presence each day at tea time. Such otherworldliness might explain why the TV show "ER" came here to film the scenes of Doctor Mark Green's death, with the ghostly music of one of Hawaii's greatest singer, Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole, crooning from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Along with its sister hotel, the Sheraton's Royal Hawaiian , which I affectionately nickname "the Pink Palace," the Moana Surfrider represents the glorious romance of old Hawaii. Their kitchens, however, are based in the splendor of the new Hawaii, the one that celebrates the great bounty of its waters, just as the native islanders did centuries ago. Royal Hawaiian Chef Warren Uchida courteously invited Wro and me to tag along with him to the legendary Honolulu Fish auction, at the dawn's early light. Very few things can get Wro up that early, but he woke me in plenty of time for this opportunity. Even at sunrise, we were latecomers. Fish boats and trucks were already unloaded and taken into the refrigerated auction house. There, buyers from the best restaurants and the biggest supermarkets and wholesale houses from Japan to California bid up the short-term status of different fish. Experts wearing sheer, plastic gloves stuck their thumbs under the tails of giant tuna, assessing by feel the prized fattiness before bidding. Many wore headset cell phones to relay bidding information around the world. Tuna, the Superstars Tuna are the super stars of this auction because Hawaiians eat over a third of their seafood raw; and the Japanese eat an even higher percentage. Among tunas, the aku, or skipjack, is the kingfish of island romance. It was forbidden to eat them in old Hawaii, except on celebratory occasions because a school of aku calmed the waters and led the first Polynesian settlers to the islands. Both Wro and I consider fatty tuna one of the prime things that makes life delicious, but we were on a different mission. The Hawaiian seafood industry leads the world in its deep resolve to conserve ocean resources. This endears them to Wro, whose little bear heart breaks when he hears how the Chilean sea bass (Patagonia tooth fish) went from an unknown to nearly extinct in just one trendy decade. He often reminds me that each pound of shrimp caught in the Gulf of Mexico also nets 8 pounds of rays, eels, butterfish, flounder and other species that the industry likes to call "by-catch," which would make them cousins to "innocent bystanders" of drive-by shootings. Since bears and salmon have long lived in natural harmony, Wro has done his research and tells me that it takes three pounds of fresh ocean fish to feed one pound of the farmed salmon that dominates American and European markets. Those Scottish fish farms pour twice as much waste in the water as all the humans in Scotland. Hawaii is trying to reduce the market of over-fished and unsustainably-farmed species. It has been working to popularize less expensive fish, including the so called by-catch that others often just grind up for fertilizer or pet food. Hawaii shutome, or broadbill swordfish, now has a significant following, while just a decade ago it was only caught by accident. The monchong (sickle pomfret), the uku (grey snapper) and the hebi (short-billed spearfish) are all gaining popularity in the islands and beyond. Opah, or moonfish, is also rising high in the industry. These giants are so beautiful that Wro talked me into taking his picture with them. They are also so juicy, rich and creamy in flavor, it's impossible to believe it took a marketing effort to popularize them. Beyond the fish auction, another Hawaiian fish story brings romance to the tables of vacationers. Moi were so rare and revered in old Hawaii that only the royal family were allowed to eat them. They are extremely unusual to find in the wild these days, but a sustainable farming effort has brought them back in such numbers that they can again be found in some restaurants and markets in Hawaii. Introducing great Honolulu restaurants So after lazy afternoons under the banyan tree, Wro and I were ready to taste the fruits of the sea of Hawaii's romance with the underdogs of the sea. In downtown Honolulu, renowned Indigo restaurant owner-chef Glenn Chu always has moi on his changing menu. He gets his from Cates International, which ocean farms it near Ewa Beach. These moi are housed in large net pens and fed a hormone and antibiotics-free meal. The pens are large enough to allow plenty of room to grow. As a result, the moi are incredibly fresh when served in Hawaii, and their delicate flavor explains why the royalty of the old Hawaii were so possessive. Glenn rubs the filets with a cocoa bean curry and stacks them on tomato and eggplant slices. Then he wraps that into a banana leaf and roasts it in the oven. His sauce is made with the cocoa bean curry and ladled over the fish, making for a stunning culinary experience. Glenn also has another moi preparation, in which he pans sears it and serves it over somen noodles with a macadamia nut pesto. He did that this year in Washington D.C. for a mere 1200 guests at the U.S. Department of Commerce. The ghosts of Hawaiian kings were probably rolling over in their graves. Wro persuaded me to join his friends at the hot Euro-Japanese restaurant L'Uraku, where Chef Hiroshi Fukui turned butterfish into a delicious fusion with miso, wilted Nalo pea sprouts, pickled red ginger and reduced balsamic vinegar. Plus there are two versions of moi, one steamed with choi sum (hearts of 'bock choy,') and tomato coulis, and another macadamia nut ginger basil pesto; the other version is pan seared with pickled cabbage, kabayaki butter sauce and mashed potatoes. Wro was also enchanted that our handsome young server's name is Roberto, so they had an instant bonding that left Wro wishing we could stay at L'Uraku all afternoon, but he had a date with the lifeguard back at the hotel. Back on Waikiki, at the Royal Hawaiian, Warren Uchida gave the spotlight to shutome on the Art of Food & Wine menu in the hotel's famous Surf Room. He marinated these swordfish in olive oil, garlic, dill, orange juice & rind, with a touch of red wine & dice fennel. Then he sautéed and served them with chive risotto, braised baby fennel, caper berries & green olives. For the sauce he sautéed garlic, fresh vine ripen tomatoes and basil in olive oil with seasoning. It's a perfect, simple preparation for a fish that tastes so tender and sweet that you could mistake it for shellfish with your eyes closed. Chef Uchida likes this fish so much that he is proposing a lunch menu shutome that is pan roasted and served with Kalamata smashed potatos, sautéed Kula Swiss chard with Hamakua mushrooms and broiled Kahuku corn. Herb shallot vinaigrette completes that dish. As I was packing for our return trip, Wro told me that this trip was an environmentally-conscious reason to return soon to Honolulu. I agree! Note: Guests at one Honolulu Sheraton property receive guest privileges at the others in the hotel's Stay at One, Play at All program. This includes a Keiki Aloha Program for children 5-12 at the Sheraton Waikiki. Wro, my traveling honey bear, loves that they have bamboo pole fishing, ukulele lessons, hula shows, boogie boarding, catamaran sailing, hiking, sand sculpture, and more. Moana
Surfrider, 2365 Kalakaua Avenue, Honolulu, Hawaii 96815; Telephone: (808) 922-3111;
www.moana-surfrider.com (Click below for more travel stories!)
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