This week’s topics include a barbeque epiphany, my new favorite dish, vacation eating according to the Wannabe Foodie, I have a serious foodie moment, and the best sushi I’ve ever had.
Restaurant Review – Koiso Sushi Bar, Kihei, HI. Whenever the WF clan goes on vacation, we search high and low for the local gem restaurants and unique dishes that we’ve never had before. Unless forced to, I refuse to eat at a chain on vacation. Chili’s on vacation? How about you kiss my….. !
On a recent family vacation in Maui, we came across this little sushi bar about 100 yards from where we stayed. I pulled it up on Yelp and the reviews were nothing short of glowing. Reviews that made you think this place was either some sort of foodie mecca, or the reviewers were high.
This place has WF written all over it. Tiny place that seats no more than 15 people with the daily menu handwritten on a white board. It has one master sushi chef, who has a little Japanese attitude. He serves as many people as he wants to each day. I’m fairly sure that if he didn’t like the way you looked, he would be booked solid for as long as you’re on Maui. Like I said – a little Japanese attitude. More importantly, he serves what’s fresh off the boat that morning in Maui and what he wants flown over from Japan that day. So we wander in, naively thinking that we could get seated without reservations on a Sunday night. The owner politely tells me they are booked up until Wednesday evening. Wednesday night it is.
The anticipation of this meal grew and grew. I started to fear that we had hyped this meal up to the point where it couldn’t possibly live up to the hype.
The review? Absolutely fabulous and the best sushi I’ve ever had. Check out the photos. Truly the work of a master sushi chef. Plus, there were a few items I had never had and which I will never forget. The first was sweet shrimp which were live when they came in the restaurant, lightly cooked, and de-headed and deveined for each dish. Served on rice with just a smudge of wasabi and soy sauce. Absolutely divine and one of the best bites of food I have ever had. Slightly sweet and they almost melted in your mouth. Oh my god. I think I need a moment just remembering it.
Another was fatty toro, which I thought I had eaten before, but I wrong. This was so rich and decadent that it was like a piece of sashimi butter. Wow. Never had anything like it before.
Another was big eye tuna. That’s simply not a fish that you can get anywhere, and I’m betting that it’s one of the fish that he gets flown in from Japan each day. As soon as we saw it on the menu, we knew we were ordering some. This was very nice sashimi. Deep red and luscious in the mouth.
Eventually, I stopped ordering food, and not because I was full. I was only partly satiated, but I worried that I would spend a small fortune if I continued to eat. I was like a heroin addict at a methadone clinic. Well, except for the part where I chose to stop eating, which isn’t really like an addict. Whatever. You get the metaphor. I will forever compare all sushi (and many meals) to Koiso. If you go to Maui and like sushi, call and make a reservation. This is one of those places that you simply can’t miss if you’re near it.
PS – check out the funky dessert they served us. Some sort of custard inside of a clear, sweet gel wrapped in a banana leaf. Very nice and subtle way to end a meal.
My New Favorite Dish. As you can tell from my sushi review, I don’t shy away from raw fish of any variety and Hawaiian poke has lots of it. For those of you who never have, poke is raw chunks of ahi in some sort of Asian-themed sauce with onions, tomatoes, etc. I’ve had this many times before and loved it.
Recently, I found this dish at Eskimo Candy in Kihei, HI. It’s called a poke bowl and has 4 kinds of poke sitting on a bed of sushi rice with some sort of creamy sauce between the ahi and the rice. Where in the hell has this dish been all of my life?! I could eat this every day and be a very happy man. Plus, it’s moderately healthy. That’s a foodie win/win!
A Barbeque Epiphany. The readers of this blog know that I grill and barbeque a lot. You name it, and I’ve grilled it and probably smoked it. The only exception I can think of is a whole hog, which I’m working on.
I make great ribs. There. I said it. I make my own rub for them and they spend 4-5 hours in the smoker at 200-225 degrees. I also make my own sauce for those who want sauce.
My rib of choice has always been baby back ribs.
Recently, I’ve had an epiphany. I’ve noted that competition smokers cook spare ribs and not baby backs. Since I’m seriously considering entering competitions, I figure I need to give these ribs a shot.
The first thing that’s different is that you buy Kansas City style ribs and you have to carve them so that they’re spare ribs. Not terribly difficult, but a lot of fun if you’re into such things. And I am. You carve the ribs so that you end up with these fairly uniform and straight spare ribs.
The Review? The best ribs I’ve ever made. Period. Turns out I like spare ribs better and they’re easier to cook uniformly since they’re all about the same width. Plus, there’s more marbling in the meat and most of the meat is between the ribs, unlike baby backs, which have 1-2 inches of meat on the top. Much richer flavor all around.
Most of you will likely continue to cook baby backs. However, if you’re feeling ambitious, you should try spare ribs. Email me and I’ll send you instructions on carving Kansas City-style ribs into spare ribs. If you’re nice, I’ll even send you photos showing each step. That would give me a good excuse to make some ribs!
Happy cooking.
WF
