Honolulu: Searching for Poke In the Back of a Liquor Store

They were confused when I pulled into the parking lot of Tamura's Fine Wine & Liquor. I told them we were getting poke - I didn't tell them where we were going. Who would've guessed that a liquor store sells poke? But they sure do, enter and turn right to the back and you'll find a deli case filled with about a dozen poke selection.
I wouldn't have known that Tamura's liquor store sells poke - and very good ones at that - either if it wasn't for OishiiEats' blog post. While Food, She Thought preferred Ono Seafood's poke, those two places seemed to be the favorites. My navigation skill was too poor to find Ono Seafood, so I could only try Tamura's this time around.

It was hard to choose among so many varieties, or even to figure out how much I would need to get full, but they do let you sample pretty much everything. I ended up getting the Ahi with Tamura sauce which was a slightly sweet, teriyaki-like sauce.
This seems to be a pretty classic preparation and the ahi was very fresh. Compared to the other two that I got, though, this doesn't stand out.

We also got the Tako Limu (seaweed) which I enjoyed quite a bit.
The octopus was cooked perfectly and had a great texture. It was seasoned just right - no overwhelming saltiness that covered up the freshness of the octopus itself. The best part, however, was the texture combination of the chewy but tender tako and the "slimy-crunch" of the seaweed.

My vote for best poke of the day goes out to the Ahi Sea Asparagus.
The saltiness of the sea asparagus carried a very special flavor that complements the fresh ahi very well. Think lightly salted fresh ahi with extra textural support. Combined with the macadamia bits they make an amazing poke.

Since I haven't tried Ono Seafood's poke, I can't say if this is "the best" in Honolulu or not, but you can't go wrong with Tamura. Grab two or three tubs of poke and you'd be more than satisfied.

Tamura's Fine Wine & Liquors
3496 Waialae Avenue, Honolulu
(808) 735-7100

Honolulu, Hawaii

Restaurants
Alan Wong's Restaurant
Kimukatsu
Ono Hawaiian Foods
Tamura's Fine Wine & Liquor

Hikes
Diamond Head

Hotels
Kahala Resort

Get Cultured, Gnaw on BBQ Ribs

We were sitting in the night breeze of Little Tokyo, listening to an amazingly talented woman recite her poems about kings and fems, a Boston-based spoken-word duo BrownStar prophesying Kal Penn, our fingers sticky with bbq sauce, gnawing on a giant beef rib.

Just another night at Tuesday Night Cafe.

Tuesday Night Project is the longest-running free public arts series in LA. For the past 12 years, every 1st and 3rd Tuesdays the TNProject brings the community together to listen, see, and perform music, poetry, plays, improv comedy, and anything else you can think of.

Johneric Concordia from The Park's Finest BBQ has been a long time supporter and resident host of Tuesday Night Cafe. In fact, he always feeds the staff and performers of TN Cafe with his delish 'cue.

To get more exposure of Tuesday Night Cafe and their annual fundraiser TN Party (more on that later), TN Project invited a few bloggers to the Cafe on July 6th, enticing us with some Park's Finest BBQ. Park's Finest only does catering right now with a minimum order of $300, so I thought it was a good opportunity to try the 'cue that Pleasure Palate claims to be the best in town. Plus, I've been missing the whole art and poetry culture since college.

I tried a plateful or stuff, including a wonderfully tender leg of chicken with a great spice rub, pork ribs, rib eye roast, and beef ribs.
If you ask Johneric what style bbq he serves, he'll say that it's true Echo Park style. "You don't get shot if you can cook," is another thing he'd tell you. Johneric is Filipino so you can see some Filipino influence like in his famous Concordia sauce that's flavored with coconut or the flavors in his spice rub.
It's all about the bbq sauce on them ribs.

The Mt. Mayon hot sausage links were spicy but so good. I had to go to the cafe next door with my mouth burning and my fingers sticky to buy a bottle of water but it was well worth it.

The cornbread they serve is a riff on traditional Filipino dessert called Bibingka, which is usually made with rice flour, sugar, and coconut.

These Tuesday nights are free for you and everyone (PS. there's one going on tonight July 20!), but nothing is ever really free. TN Project has to somehow pay for all the sound equipments, lighting, etc. The donation box that goes around isn't going to cut it.

If you want to support this ongoing community project, you can help by attending the TN Party on July 31st. There will also be a silent auction of various donated items. Both the ticket and silent auction proceeds will go towards keeping TN Project alive and kickin'. Not only that, this is one of the rare opportunities where you can go and buy a plate of The Park's Finest BBQ instead of having to throw a whole party!

Tickets are $15 pre-sale and $20 at the door. There will of course be live performances and plenty of raffle prizes. Park's Finest BBQ and Good Girl Dinette will also be on location serving up some good food.
TN Party. JACCC Plaza (244 S San Pedro St). July 31, 2010, 5-11 PM.