Gyu-Kaku (Waikiki, HI)

Looking for restaurants before the trip, we came across Gyu-Kaku. Gyu-Kaku is a Japanese BBQ restaurant, done Korean-style where you grill your own meats at the table. They also have a lunch and dinner happy hour, where the drinks and certain plates are much cheaper.

We started with a few cocktails, the Asian Pear Mojito and Paradise Punch. Both drinks were tasty, but Asian Pear Mojito was definitely our favorite. One can easily drink a lot of these in a short period of time if not careful.

I ordered ala carte off the happy hour menu, while Kristen ordered the Petit Kaiseki. Her meal started with a salad, seaweed soup, marinated bean sprouts, and edamame. None of these were particularly good, though not offensive either. The edamame, which came out later with the meats, were tasty.

Onto the star attractions: the meats. I ordered filet, NY strip steak, and corn with butter (not pictured).

With Kristen's Kaiseki she received Berkshire Pork Sausage, Shrimp with garlic, Scallop, Beef Tongue, Short Rib with garlic, and marinated skirt steak.

Time to grill! The potatoes and corn come in foil pouches so they steam as you grill. You use the tongs for the raw meat, and your chopsticks to take the cooked meat off the grill.

Each of these meats are eaten over rice, and can be accented with three different sauces: Ponzu, Sesame, and Spicy. My favorite was the ponzu, followed by the spicy. For the meats, our favorites were the filet and marinated skirt. I also enjoyed the pork sausage a lot.

Kristen also got an order of Haupia with her meal. Haupia is a coconut milk based pudding. We weren't very impressed with this dessert, as didn't have any sweetness to it. We weren't sure if it was intended to be like this, or if it was a mistake. Fortunately, it was very small.

We also ordered the macadamia nut ice cream. Although we were full, we managed to polish this off without any problems. Large macadamia nuts were dispersed throughout, and Kona coffee was sprinkled over the top.

We were very happy with out meal at Gyu-Kaku. From browsing their website, it looks like they just opened up a new location in Chicago. I can see myself returning during the happy hour again to try more of the various offerings.

Cork (Chandler, AZ)

On a recommendation, we headed out to the Chandler area to try Cork for a Sunday Brunch.  When we got there, we were a little taken aback by the pricing of some of the dishes....$14 for pancakes, $18 for crepes?  Then we saw it:

"Our a la carte Sunday Brunch features traditional breakfast & lunch items as well as COMPLIMENTARY BOTTOMLESS MIMOSAS & BELLINIS."

Whaaaa?  Sold!  (Thanks again to my pregnant wife/designated driver)

So when we were seated, we put in our drink order and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  It was a good 15-20 minutes before we even were able to make eye contact with one of the servers (not our original).  The great news is that they were on the ball with everything after that.

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts | Warm Honey Dipping Sauce

Crepes Suzette | Sliced Strawberries | Orange Butter Drizzle | Whipped Cream

And in order to appease us, they also provided a complimentary order of their Crepes Suzette, which were served with their Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts.  The doughnuts were fresh and delicious.  The crepes, which I thought were maybe a tad undercooked and chewy, were good as well.  I thought the orange butter drizzle would be completely overpowering but it was a nice complement.

Buttermilk Pancakes | Sliced Bananas | Razz Cherry Syrup

Wild Smoked King Salmon | Salmon Roe | Scrambled Eggs | Potato Latke | Vodka Horseradish | Crème Fraîche

The pancakes were nothing above and beyond special but they were nice and fluffy. The razz cherry syrup was a good sweet addition, but it would have been nicer to add the syrup tableside, as the syrup soaked into the pancakes fairly significantly by the time the dish was served. The salmon, though, was absolutely outstanding. Each bite of the salmon, eggs, latke, and roe were outstanding individually, but when they were all combined with a little of the crème fraîche, capers, tomatoes, and onions...wow. 

We don't often repeat restaurants because we are continually trying out new and different places, but (save for the service at the beginning) we would definitely come back here, if anything, just for the smoked salmon.

Different Pointe of View (Phoenix, AZ)

For our final choice of restaurants during the fall version of Arizona Restaurant Week, we decided to try Different Pointe of View in North Phoenix.  Different POV has been consistently known to have some of the greatest dining views in the valley.

To start the meal, fresh bread was brought out with an olive oil goat cheese emulsion, a spicy softened butter, and an arugula cilantro pesto.  In addition, an amuse was served, consisting of a cold quinoa and vegetable salad.  Nice and refreshing.

Crispy Seared Pork Bellies

 Sweet Soft Corn Polenta | Sherry Scented Chanterelle Mushrooms | Stone Fruit Reduction 

Lobster Bisque

Lump Lobster Meat | Honey Corn Milk Sour Crème

For our first course, we tried the Crispy Seared Pork Bellies and the Lobster Bisque.  The preparation of the pork belly was my absolute favorite.  The pork was both crispy and tender, and completely avoided the dangers of being overly chewy.  The polenta was a surprisingly nice addition to the pork belly.  The lobster bisque was deliciously rich and, for the first time in too long, actually had significant amounts of lobster.

Maine Lobster & Parmesan Ravioli

Chanterelle Mushrooms | Smoked Bacon | Watercress Pesto | Lobster Reduction

Pan Seared Wild Day Boat Halibut

Rock Shrimp & Beech Mushroom Ragout | Asparagus | Peppadew Peppers | Peruvian Purple Potatoes | Lemon Fennel Reduction 

For our main course, Carli continued her lobster theme of the evening and chose the Lobster Ravioli, while I decided to try the Pan Seared Halibut.  The ravioli was nicely stuffed with plenty of lobster and the crisp bacon added a strong smokey flavor to the dish.  However, the combination was just a tad salty, which unfortunately overpowered some of the more delicate flavors of the lobster.  The halibut was fantastic.  It was cooked extremely well and held up nicely to the starchy potatoes.  I could have done without the rock shrimp, but at the same time, they were all gone at the end of the meal, so they couldn't have been too bad.

Midnight Espresso Cup

White Chocolate Mascarpone filled Chocolate Cake | Coffee Ice Cream 

For our final course, we split the Midnight Espresso Cup.  It was as good as it looks; rich chocolate cake and the sharp bold flavor of the coffee and espresso.

I wish we were able to take a great picture of the panoramic views at Different Pointe of View, but the camera would not cooperate.  Regardless, it was a nice way to end restaurant week for us and we look forward to the spring version...

Ken's House of Pancakes (Hilo, HI)

The first time that Kristen and I visited Hawaii, we stayed solely in Honolulu; specifically, Waikiki. For this vacation, we wanted to venture out and see the Black Sand Beaches, Kilauea Volcano, Akaka Falls, and the other spectacles that the big island of Hawaii had in store. We spent the first 2 1/2 days in Hilo before moving onto Oahu for the remainder of the vacation. On the last day in Hilo, after spending the early morning in a rainforest and the Akaka Falls and staring down a flight back to Honolulu, we settled for the 24 hour breakfast joint right down the street.

When we arrived, Ken's was surprisingly busy. Upon receiving the menu, we noticed recognition on the front from Bon Appetit and USA Today. Apparently we stumbled onto a well known restaurant without even knowing it! The menu had a number of intriguing options, both sweet and savory. As with most cases, I decided on a savory breakfast, choosing one of the many variations of the Hawaiian favorite, the loco moco. Typically consisting of rice topped with a hamburger patty, gravy, and fried eggs, my version substituted the (apparently famous) housemade corned beef hash for the hamburger. I knew going in that I would love this, since given my love for both gravy and corned beef hash, but it exceeded my expectations. The gravy melded with the other breakfast items, and the rice added a substantial base, as well as keeping the saltiness in check. I also had a side of Portuguese sausage, but they were a mere distraction to the loco moco. This was the first of many loco mocos in Hawaii, and was by far the best rendition.

Kristen went in the sweet direction, and had the Banana Macadamia Nut Malted Waffles (and a fried egg on the side). This came with five different syrups, including guava, passion fruit, coconut, boysenberry and regular maple (last two not pictured). These, as you can imagine, were sweet and decadent. Our favorite syrups were the guava and boysenberry.

Our biggest disappointment with Ken's is that we found it on the last day that we were in Hilo. There is a vast menu full of items I wish I was able to try. If/When we make it back to Hawaii, Ken's will definitely be on the top of the list for breakfast.

Modernist Macaroni and Cheese

The Modernist Cuisine Cookbook was one of the biggest cookbooks released in recent history. One of the more popular recipes from it is the Modernist Mac and Cheese. Instead of making a cheese sauce from a roux-base, the modern cheese sauce uses an emulsifier and a thickening additive. This allows for two things: more intense cheese flavor without the sauce breaking, and the ability to perfectly melt all types of cheese, even aged, hard cheeses. The cheese sauce begins by warming water and wheat beer (I used Hefeweizen).

I used three different cheeses for this recipe: a pungent, mature white cheddar, a slightly softer, nutty Dutch Robusto, and an extremely nutty, hard 5-year aged Gouda. I also used sodium citrate as the emulsifier to have a perfectly melted and creamy sauce, and iota carrageenan to thicken the sauce.

As you can see, even the hard, non-melting aged gouda melts thoroughly. The carrageenan thickens the sauce nicely as well.

The most delicious block of Velveeta cheese ever.

Boil the noodles until just before al dente. I used cellentani, a corkscrew-shaped, ridged pasta.

Per the recipe, you refrigerate/freeze the cheese so that you can grate it into the final sauce. I forgot to freeze it, so I just cut it into small pieces and it was fine.

With the residual water in the pan, the cheese sauce coats the noodles beautifully. Most of my water evaporated while the noodles cooked, so I found that I needed to add a fair amount of water to achieve the right texture.

We had the pasta with a simple salad. We found this to be more of a side dish, rather than having a full bowl of it. The cheese is very intense, much cheesier than any other mac and cheese that I've had. I think I would use a more typical, sharper cheddar next time, as all three cheese were quite nutty. Others have frozen the cheese for lengths of time without negative effects, so it can make for an incredibly easy dinner. We will definitely be making this in the future.