Hawi—the second-to-last last stop before you hit the end of the world, aka the lookout at Pololu Valley—wasn’t where I expected to find one of my favorite cafés in the islands. But a year ago, while visiting friends, that’s exactly what we found.

In August 2010, friends from New York road tripping on Hawai‘i Island told me they found this place called Zest and were in raptures about it. I had to see for myself. So when I found myself in the village two months later, I told my companions we had to have lunch there. We found it in the last Wild West-style old wooden building, on the left, with a sign in red script proclaiming “Zest.” Then we learn that the chef is Jason Verdon, previously executive chef at Roy’s Waikoloa, and the menu is an eclectic cafe dream of things like beet salad, Cuban sandwich and kabocha ravioli.

That salad was a Christmas-colored composition of stuff just harvested from nearby Waimea, sweetened with pieces of Maui pineapple, and topped with a yuzu vinaigrette. The Cubano was a refined interpretation of the pressed sandwich, gushy with beautifully fatty slow-roasted pork butt and accented with pickled jalapeños and prosciutto in the place of the usual slice of canned ham. Ahi tataki was perfectly seared, if a little overwhelmed by the yuzu-liliko‘i vinaigrette. We inhaled the mushroom dumplings in a garlicky white wine sauce.

I was just in Hawi last weekend, and was relieved to see that is is still open. Verdun has left, and owner Patrick Sullivan has taken over in the kitchen (he said Verdun is now at Daniel’s Organic Cuisine in Waimea). I was pleased to find that the menu is almost intact, and the Cubano still worth the drive. “Jason taught us well,” chuckled Sullivan.

Zest Kitchen, 55-3435 Akoni Pule Hwy, 808-889-1188

Photos by Cyrus Amini.

So he secured the DLNR lease to the little shack at the end of He‘eia Pier (a two-year process), where for 30 years the Choy family sold plate lunches, beer and bait. “This is the perfect flagship,” says Inouye, who fished off the pier as a boy.

The gang gutted the kitchen (often with people from the community pitching in), and installed fancy new equipment and chef Mark Noguchi, a CIA graduate and alum of Town and Chef Mavro.

Opened in April, He‘eia Pier General Store & Deli was in immediate hit, with sleek, sandbar-bound bunnies and Uncle Ernie fishermen types alike. Noguchi mixes plate lunch classics like hamburger steak with innovative creations such as his lemongrass burger (available as a special only—the high price of lemongrass makes it too costly to have on the regular menu. Wah!). And the catch of the day may be the freshest on the island—the boats are coming in all the time. And if the day is a big fail for fishermen, that means no fish from the General Store, cause that’s how serious Noguchi is about the word “fresh.”

Inouye, 37, sees the “deli” as a community hangout. He cites the growing cluster of eateries in Kailua and adds, “We can do our part on this side, and keep things as local as possible.” Which means getting ingredients directly from East Side farmers and fishermen, from the Otsujis in Hawai‘i Kai to the Reppuns in Kahalu‘u.

Eventually he’d like to “branch off and do higher-end places.” He’s thinking small-plates-and-wine. But right now, sitting on the pier, the nightlife-guy-turned-dad doesn’t want to be anywhere else. “I want to dedicate 35 years to this.” (Read my post about the spot’s blessing/opening at Honolulu Magazine.)

Heeia Pier General Store and Deli, 46-499 Kamehameha Hwy., 236-1449, heeiapier.com
facebook.com/heeiapier, twitter.com/heeiapier

[I did a short piece on Eat the Street with a roundup of food trucks for Modern Luxury Hawaii, and they axed the part about Eat the Street. So here's the whole unedited thing, which was written back in April.]

In January, Poni Askew organized Honolulu’s first food truck rally—Eat the Street. “We were hoping for 500 people and we got about 1,200!,” says the mom of three who started the foodtruck-tracking website StreetGrindz.com as a hobby when, after a long career (in the music and coffee worlds), she found being a stay-at-home mom “didn’t go over so well for me.”

Thanks to a partnership with Kamehameha Schools, Eat the Street is now a monthly event, held the last Thursday of the month in a large Kaka‘ako parking lot at 555 South Street. And in April, Askew launched the weekly Friday Night Bites, a lower-key, smaller confab of mobile eats at 1637 Kapiolani Blvd., on the Diamond Head end of the street.

While Hawaii has a long lunchwagon legacy, in the past two years entrepreneurs have broken the meals on wheels out of the loco-moco and garlic shrimp molds. Now chowhounds follow their favorites for everything from lobster rolls to chicken adobo sliders. Askew already sees the new wave of food trucks influencing the old guard.

“Harris Sukita of Simply Ono—he’s been around forever—came to me and said ‘We’re going to start doing empanadas.’ He’s busting out of his own shell. It’s his first experiment and he’s offering something no one else is,” says Askew. “These new food trucks are getting people to think out of the box and make it exciting for everyone.”

Here are just five of the many notables:

Camille’s on Wheels
Roaming, facebook.com/camillesonwheels, twitter.com/camillesonwheel
A few wagons do global “fusion” tacos, but Camille Komine makes the best. A one-time film-world denizen—she’s been everything from make-up artist to food stylist—Komine has found her calling making tacos filled with things like lemongrass-scented pork slowcooked for four hours and mahimahi spiked with chimichurri sauce. She’s also a great baker known for her dulce de leche pecan pie and blue velvet cupcakes.

Gogi Korean Taco Truck [CLOSED]
1637 Kapiolani Blvd, www.eatgogi.com
Former merchant marine cook Jim Wilson has the most pro operation. With a permanent spot and an order-pickup system, food comes out consistently. While the food is the most true to the Los Angeles inspiration, Wilson’s best dishes are his local adaptations of Korean tacos, like braised pork on sweet-bread buns. Did you catch the Gogi cameo on Hawaii Five-0?
Postscript: Jim Wilson is from O‘ahu, but has lived for years in Las Vegas, where he has a business. He opened Gogi Korean as a way to keep a foothold here—and excuse to fly back often. Poni Askew informs me that Wilson’s Vegas business has boomed, not allowing him the time needed to oversee his food truck, and sold it a couple months ago. His buyer was overwhelmed by the work it takes to run a food truck. The business closed, in May and is now for sale. Any aspiring mobile chefs?

Melt
Roaming; twitter.com/meltHNL; melthonolulu.com
Former Nobu Waikiki chefs Lindsey Ozawa and Alejandro Briceño (also V Lounge’s pizzaiolo) and food writer Martha Cheng have O‘ahu craving grilled cheese sandwiches. Hobbs bacon, house-made harissa and pickled onions go really well with Gruyère and gouda.

Zaratez Mexicatessen
3121 Mokihana St., twitter.com/zaratez, 227-1422
Forget Korean tacos, can we get a decent Mexican taco, please? Los Angeles native Paul Zarate answered the call last fall with his chorizo tacos, chicken mulitas, and roasted-tomato salsa. He’s been cooking with his abuela since he was eight—and it shows.

Tacos Vicente
66-632 Kamehameha Hwy., Haleiwa, twitter.com/tacosvicente, 356-9111
This North Shore truck is run by three full-time Brigham Young University students, one of them from a chef-filled family in Cuernavaca, Mexico—the home of al pastor tacos. So no wonder Vicente’s are so good, the red meat pleasantly gritty with ground ancho, guajllo and pasilla chiles, and sliced right off the vertical rotisserie. (Pictured above.)

Just got the 411 on the Cooking Channel show Eat Street shooting on O‘ahu this week. Nathan Kam, McNeil Wilson Communications vice president for travel & tourism, said that on behalf of the Hawai‘i Visitor and Convention Bureau, he and his team got the food series over here.

The show’s production crew will check out the food trucks Camille’s on Wheels, Flipt Out Eats, Opal Thai Food and Pacific Soul. If you’re a fan of any or all of these mobile feederies, go have lunch there and then maybe see yourself on TV four months from now. (I say maybe—I was in the dining room for the “after” scene of the Kitchen Nightmares episode on Mojito and didn’t make it onto the small screen.) Here is the schedule:

• Today (Monday, June 20, 2011), noon-2pm: Camille’s on Wheels, Kihapai Street between Hoolai and Oneawa, Kailua (in front of Hardware Hawaii)

• Tuesday, June 21, noon-2pm: Flipt Out Eats, Cooke Street, makai of Ala Moana Blvd, near UH medical school

• Wednesday, June 22, noon-2pm: Opal Thai Food, across from McDonalds, Hale‘iwa, North Shore

• Thursday, June 23, noon-2pm: Soul Patrol on Alakea Street at Beretania Street

Over the weekend, Salt held preview parties for friends and press. At Friday’s event, Hanney’s wife Denise warmly greeted guests such a “the new Dano” Daniel Dae Kim, Honolulu Magazine restaurant expert John Heckathorn, Tiki’s Grill and Bar chef Ron Nasuti (still can’t get over the fact that he’s no longer at Roy’s Hawai‘i Kai), Whole Foods Kahala marketing supervisor Natalie Aczon and Better Brands events and promotions director Christa Wittmier (and nightlife mover and shaker).

Even on a promo night, it’s clear Salt is an instant winnah. Hanney got everything just right for 12th Avenue Grill, when there was nothing like it on the island (Town was still a few months away), and he’s gotten it all right for Salt, taking over the bad luck space that was once C&C Pasta then two shortlived (because they were terrible) Italian joints, Buon Amici and Belladonna.

“I had the idea long ago—people would say to me, ‘What this neighborhood needs is a bar,’” says Hanney, who acknowledges that’s what’s missing from 12th Avenue Grill. “I saw an opportunity here and said, ‘Here we go.’” Salt isn’t the most original name—there seems to be one in just about every city, from Baltimore to Boulder (and I like the one in New York)—but it’s fine, and reflects a focal point of the kitchen—the art of preservation, in the form of curing and pickling.

I ran into chef Robert at the He‘eia Pier General Store + Deli reopening on May 16, and he divulged that in preparation for Salt’s opening, he had already butchered and cured five Shinsato Pig Farm animals, their meat transformed into things like lomo and guanciale. And on Friday they were thinly sliced and calling to me from a snow white plate. Hanney took me on a tour of the kitchen, which is spotless and orderly, but he divulged that “sometimes we have proscuitto hanging all over the place.” The walk-in fridge is filled with giant containers of house-made pickles (it pains me to admit that McGee’s bread-and-butter variety are better than those of my Grandma Griffith, who would make them from cucumbers she grew herself on my grandparent’s small farm in Washington State).

Salt Kitchen & Tasting Bar, 3605 Wai‘alae Ave., between Koko Head Ave and 12th Ave, 808)-744-7567; daily 5pm-2am

Last summer Honolulu Magazine ran a great food story—Martha Cheng’s “The Boys Are Back in Town,” about island-born chefs returning to Hawai‘i. One of them was Chris Kajioka, who until December was the chef de cuisine at Roy’s Waikiki, and who at one time was chef de partie at Thomas Keller’s fabled Per Se in New York. The article talked about him returning to Hawai‘i from the mainland because he was excited “about what was brewing in the food scene in Honolulu.” Seven months later, Kajioka left on a jet plane—to be sous chef at Aziza in San Francisco. After two years in Honolulu, he realized the city just wasn’t ready for what he what he wants to do.

In November, I had the good luck to sample Kajioka’s talent at an off-the-menu dinner at Roy’s Waikiki, arranged by Hank’s Haute Dogs impresario Henry Adaniya and the savvy food blogger behind Ono Kine Grindz. Then on Dec. 27, Kajioka went to San Francisco where he had a slew of interviews set up, including with Dominique Crenn for her new spot Atelier Crenn. He was offered more than one job. He made his pick and was gone in a couple of weeks. Kajioka’s departure is a loss.

I caught up with him by phone in December and at a going-away pau hana at Izakaya Sushi Shinn shortly before he left.

Eatizen Jane: Why San Francisco?
Chris Kajioka: I always kind of had it in the back of my head. San Francisco is my favorite city, and I lived there for two and a half years. I guess right now I had a few opportunities [there]—why not go back?

EJ: But I thought you came back because Hawai‘i was at this milestone point—ready for new culinary things.
CK: I wouldn’t say there’s a lot happening. There’s a lot of great izakayas…it’s not that it’s not what I thought it would be, but I have a lot of opportunities to learn more in San Francisco. I plan on coming back here for sure.  We have the product, we have the ingredients and resources, but I think for myself I can learn a little bit more before I do something for myself.

EJ: There hasn’t been much new here in a while.
CK: Yeah, on your days off…[you think] “Where do I want to eat?” And you go to the same places. I go to Gaku and I go to Town, and you get to know them so well, it’s almost like you feel bad for going back so much because they take care of you. Even for a special occasion there’s [Chef] Mavro and a few more, but there’s not a place that makes you say “Oh we should try there.”  There are a couple places that I’ve been over and over and over. I’ve talked to Hank [Adaniya] a lot about this. … We’ve been a little stuck for a while.

EJ: No newcomers to our lineup of destination restaurants.
CK: They’ve been open for so long—if they’re busy, it’s because it’s what people want. We need someone to do something different. That’s what I try to do. I don’t think my style is…you can’t really find it in Hawai‘i, because people want miso butterfish. Alan’s and Roy’s will always be successful no matter what. Hopefully when I come back, things will be a little different. But I think I can learn some more and be confident that the food I do, no matter what, they will want to come. I would like to do tasting formats. Cooking in San Francisco and New York, it’s a lot more seasonal. Obviously, [these places have] actual seasons, and at Per Se we changed the menu every night, and we sat after service and talked about the next day’s menu. It never gets boring. That’s something I’d like to do—change every day and have a tasting menu.
Roy and Alan put twists on Hawaiian child-time food, and it works, but it’s hard to be progressive with that. Anybody can use wagyu or toro, but making ulu and taro be the center of a plate really takes skill and balls. You need to be a real technician to make ulu shine. A lot of people think it’s just some starchy, heavy vegetable. But what I did recently was a ulu-banana puree with pork belly. It was one of the first times I worked with ulu. I got some Samoan ulu from Ed [Kenney] and I just talked to him about how to cook it.

EJ: In a place where quantity trumps quality, people might be scared off by the idea of tasting menus, which people equate with “fancy” and “expensive.”
CK: Take L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, even that is not so stuffy. That’s more of a commitment because of the white table cloth. You pay a decent amount of money for a tasting menu, but it doesn’t have to be you dress up so much. Even my mom, [she thinks] Mavro’s so expensive but it’s really not.

EJ: So what is with these tasting-menu dinners you’ve been doing?
CK: I’ve done these dinners for a lot of people. One person has a dinner and they have a friend. The past month I’ve done a lot of those. The last one I did at KCC was a lot of fun. Kevin Toyama, [Halekulani's wine manager], wanted a private dinner and paid me to do whatever I want. They set up a table in the kitchen and I cooked right there. It was a cool night.

EJ: What has been your path to chefdom?
CK: I was born and raised here, right after high school I went to CIA, stayed for four years, then went to San Francisco, then back to New York. I was a chef de partie at Per Se.

EJ: Is it hard to secure a position at Per Se?
CK: Definitely. A couple of guys paid their own way from Spain just to do a stage there. Those kinds of jobs—it’s all on another chef’s recommendation. I didn’t send a resume there. I was working in San Francisco for Ron Siegal—he opened French Laundry—who is at the Ritz Carlton. He called Jonathan Benno [Per Se's then chef de cuisine], and he told me to be there in a  week. That’s how it happened. No one sends a resume anymore. That’s how it works. I haven’t done a resume in a long time. I’ve worked in San Francisco, everybody knows everybody, so you hear about places that are looking for people. I’m going to meet with five chefs, we’ll see what the best position for me there is.

EJ: Tell me more about why San Francisco is so great.
CK: If you’ve been to a farmers market there… When I was at Per Se we would get a lot of our tomatoes and peaches from the Bay Area, from Frog Hollow. There’s no better place to cook than San Francisco. A lot of people say that San Francisco is 10 years behind New York, but I think New York is different in that it is more glitz and glamour. San Francisco is more stripped down, they rely more on the quality of ingredients. And now there are so many young new chefs, I think they’re better to be honest. You have so many young people, not only avant garde, and they use the best ingredients.

EJ: Who do you think is notable?
CK: James [Syhabout] at Commis in Oakland, James used to be be chef de cuisine at Manresa. And David Kinch at Manresa in Los Gatos—I think he’s one of the best chefs in country.

EJ: But don’t you want to do your culinary thing here? And it’s where everybody wants to raise a family.
CK: San Francisco would be a great place to raise a family too. Anybody born and raised here wants to do it in front of their family and friends, of course. We have good ingredients, I don’t see why we couldn’t rival [a city like San Francisco]. There’s plenty of talented people here. It’s been a long time since the spotlight has been on Hawai‘i, and I think we can bring it back. Look at Dave [Caldiero] and Ed [Kenney of Town]. If you keep it somewhat small it could work. Hawai‘i is different than elsewhere. People’s tastes are different. They like a lot of salty and sweet. I think because they haven’t seen anything else.

EJ: Like David Chang’s Momofuku Ko.
CK: Like a Ko—it’s not exactly like you’ll make a lot of money, but you can make a living and be creative doing it. It’s hard. I have had so many people visit me from San Francisco and New York [during my two years back in Hawai‘i] and they know Alan and Roy, and that’s not exactly where they want to eat. They’ve had that before.

EJ: How would you describe your cooking?
CK: Contemporary American. It’s French technique, you have Japanese, Spanish influence—that’s pretty much contemporary American. I don’t do the whole Alinea thing. I respect that stuff, but I’m not creative enough that way. Those guys are really talented, you can’t cook that way unless you have a base in technique. I like to do the whole process. If you’re going to sear a scallop, you baste it til the end. You’re actually cooking, not just putting something in a machine. I’m very classic I think, just because of who I’ve worked for. It’s about each step and taking pride in what you do.

EJ: How did you team up with Henry Adaniya?
CK: Everybody knows Hank. I think he asked me to come into dinner one time. I don’t’ know how he heard about me, but he asked me to do a tasting, and he really enjoyed it. So we’ve been close ever since. He knows talent. He’s that guy who just picks people. I was lucky enough to become close to him. He’s a good guy.

You’re in the land of pa‘i ‘ai and yet if you haven’t tried it, most likely it’s because it is not easy to find. Isn’t that weird? That’s like going to Tunis and learning that all the couscous restaurants have shut down, or going to Italy and someone telling you they stopped making pasta a couple months ago. Due to Department of Health restrictions, hand-pounded kalo cannot be sold in Hawai‘i. You heard right. I appreciate that the DOH is looking out for me, but perhaps foods need to be looked at in a case-by-case basis, and I would really like to be able to buy pa‘i ‘ai, because after the first time I tasted it…the supermarket stuff just didn’t cut it. Imagine having to eat only Spaghetti-Os after having a taste of Town’s handcut pasta. Geddit?

In one hour, Daniel Anthony of Mana ‘Ai, an educational organization that has been struggling to be able to sell pa‘i ‘ai, will testify at a hearing for SB101 SD1, which would “exempt the preparation of hand-pounded poi from certain processing requirements and from Department of Health regulation regarding food safety. Imposes labeling requirements on hand-pounded poi made outside of certified food processing establishments. Authorizes the department of health to conduct inspections of hand-pounded poi producer’s premises under certain conditions.”

Anthony reports that Rep. Robert Herkes, Chair of the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, needs more verbal and written support to push the bill through. You can write to Rep. Herkes at repherkes@capitol.hawaii.gov or call 586-8400. As of right now, the Leg doesn’t feel that pa‘i ‘ai, and the right to make, sell, and eat it, is important to the community. It’s important to me, and I’m going to call right now.

Even if you don’t consider yourself “political” (actually, just by existing in the U.S. you’re political, hon), if you take eating seriously, you’ll call or email. Take a stand as a consumer of all that is fine and tasty to eat.

10:35pm: Update: Daniel Anthony reports that the hearing was a success. Even the DOH was supportive. “The committees on HAW recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 7 Ayes: Representative(s) Hanohano, C. Lee, Jordan, Morikawa, Wooley, Pine, Ward; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 3 Excused: Representative(s) Belatti, Mizuno, Yamane.”

Last June, my brother, James Griffith, had the honor of working with Santi Santamaría. Jim, who is assistant vice president for Emirates Flight Catering, is very sanguine about his accomplishments and brushes with fame. In May 2010, he sent me a one-sentence e-mail: “I am going to be working with this guy during June to do our Madrid flight menus.” Accompanying it was a thumbnail image of Santi Santamaría and a blurb about the famed Catalan chef’s Dubai restaurant Ossiano.

Two months later Jim sent me the above picture. Emirates hired Santamaría to concoct a menu for its Madrid flights. Jim reports that the celebrated chef was a “very friendly, genuine guy. His food was very homey and full flavored.” I got a food-blogger thrill seeing my brother arm-in-arm with Santamaría, whose Can Fabes restaurant has had three Michelin stars since 1994 (and who was a vocal opponent of what’s known as molecular cooking). Seven months later, on Feb. 19, I read in the New York Times that Santamaría was dead.

Here are some of the in-flight dishes from the Emirates menu crafted by Santamaría and Angel Zapata, chef of Ossiano.