Eating Local with Alan Wong
By Melissa
Last week, I had the opportunity to dine at Alan Wong's King Street restaurant to experience their special Farmer Series Dinner, "You Like Beef?"--featuring meat from Kuahiwi Ranch on the Big Island. What a treat!
In this time of social consciousness, when we are trying to do more to buy local and achieve greater sustainability, it's important to get to know the people behind the business. Kuahiwi's Al Galimba and daughter Michelle are also trying to get to know their customers, as well. Their cattle are grass-fed up until the last three months, at which point they are given the option to eat natural grain, which helps the meat's flavor & texture (pure grass-fed beef tends to be a little tough or dry due to lower fat content).
With this in mind, we tried the beef.
When we tasted regular beef and Kuahiwi beef side by side in patty form, the Kuahiwi definitely had more character. I don't want to say "flavor," because the regular beef did have flavor; it just wasn't very exciting.
We then had a tasting of 5 small samplers. Oh, did you want to see a close up? 
Joe Wilson's Kona Lobster with Old Fashioned Creamed Corn. Tender, sweet, and luxurious.
Kuahiwi Ranch Beef Carpaccio on Parmesan Cheese Crisp. This married a surprising blend of sensations, from sweet and mellow to crunchy with a rich flavor. I think it was the beef that evoked the sweetness!
Fresh soy milk panna cotta with Ma'o Farms Swiss chard ohitashi. This was an awesome contrast of salty (the two roes and Swiss chard) with the gentle milkiness of the soy panna cotta. This is my kind of food! I was bummed that there wasn't a whole saimin bowl full of it.
Ahi lumpia, seared ahi, soy mustard. I have to be honest, it's hard to describe this because it was gone in a flash. I remember that it was yummy, but the moment passed so quickly. Perhaps I need another one.
Ron Weidenbach's North Shore farm raised tilapia, smoked, with an edamame horseradish sour cream. That's right, tilapia. And you know what? This was the winnah of the five items. It was tender & moist, unfishy, with a subtle smokiness. In fact, I'm salivating as I write about this dish. You don't ever think of tilapia as a delicacy, but it's farm raised, so it's clean and fed right.
Hilo farm raised sturgeon.
The Pacific Aquaculture & Coastal Resources (PARC) is UH-Hilo's new research & development center in Keaukaha. Sturgeon is one of the many seafoods raised there in hopes of creating new industries for Hawaii and increasing our sustainability. This sturgeon--not an attractive fish--was beautiful to eat. It's another moist fish that melted with Alan Wong's umami butter (soy, parmesan cheese, thyme, tarragon, and lemon zest) and was a good contrast to the sweet Ho Farms baby tomatoes and salty Marine Agrifuture sea asparagus.
Kuahiwi Ranch Rib Eye "Two Ways"
You can't see the meat on the left under the chiso leaf, but it was soy braised. It fell apart on the fork and was incredibly soft. The other slice was more traditional, but still very tender and beefy. Both were accompanied by an ume natto red wine sauce, which was really interesting! I like natto, but I'm not sure what people who don't eat it will think. Nevertheless, they were both great with the Hamakua mushrooms.
Wong Way "Banana Split" with Kahuku Farms Bananas
The banana ice cream is wrapped in freshly-made strips of mochi, then topped with three ice creams to depict a deconstructed banana split. This was the perfect ending to the meal--light, refreshing, and a taste of Hawaii.
Freshly baked mudslide cookies from the chefs. Warm, chewy, chocolatey goodness.
Matcha and Kona coffee truffles.
Alan Wong's has a Farmer's Series dinner every quarter, each featuring different local farms and their offerings. You get to meet the farmers and talk to them about everything you want. It's an eye-opening experience--if nothing else, it gives you a better awareness of buying local and helping the movement toward sustainability. And yes, it's worth it.
Alan Wong's
1857 S. King Street
Honolulu, HI 96826
808.949.2526
www.alanwongs.com
Urban Mix Plate
February 7th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Oh yum! I love local food, so fresh so clean (green that is!) and always better when organic-whenever-possible. Funny, I was just tagging journals on Kanu in relation to eating local; http://www.kanuhawaii.org/topic/eat_local/. Great work on the photos, Meilissa!
February 7th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
OMG, I want the chocolate cookies and Kona coffee truffles! Please!!!
February 7th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
What great pictures and a great experience! I was surprised and excited about the tilapia dish. Who would think that could be so good! The dessert looked fabulous!
February 8th, 2010 at 6:10 am
This makes my left over pizza looks lame. In fact, left over pizza is lame
So cool they highlighted a lot of BI farmers. Looks so ono. Now I like know how they raising those sturgeons and how big are they? Good to know they making good use of that old plant (I won't say what that place used to be
) I do have "fond" memories of that place in Keaukaha. 
February 8th, 2010 at 6:44 am
Good morning Melissa!
Everything looks sooooo oooonoooo! I'm drooling.
February 8th, 2010 at 7:21 am
I heart everything about Alan Wong's!
February 8th, 2010 at 7:29 am
Kaimana, glad I could post this in time for the Kanu Hawaii tags! Now I need to sign up for the Ma'o Organic Farms' box.
Shay, nanigurl, greggoh, thanks for stopping by! The cookies & truffles were way too easy to eat. yum!
Ynaku, hmmmmm now I'm curious about what the old plant used to be! ha ha
M, it was all ono! Can't go wrong with Alan Wong's.
February 8th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Melissa
Can you say "SEWER" plant? Bwahahahahaha
February 8th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Maybe that's why they so BIG.
hee hee
No gross out. They cleaned it pretty good.
February 9th, 2010 at 8:03 am
i remember Alan Wong when he was the chef at the Canoe House, Mauna Lani Resort when we dined there in 1990 on my honeymoon. i enjoyed eating local back then and enjoy it now. Great pictures. Great food. Mahalo 4 sharing.
February 9th, 2010 at 11:20 am
Beauty in the presentation. Too good to eat or just to admire. I hate fancy food. I don't know whether to eat it or take a picture of it. I plan to do both and have the Chef autograph his cuisine.
Nothing Wong with the way Alan cooks.
February 10th, 2010 at 8:46 am
OMG----I am SO jealous! All the food looks soo delicious and I love how Alan Wong wants to support local farms and local businesses!
You camera is amazing the photos are soo beautiful!! I am hungry now! 
February 10th, 2010 at 10:12 am
The food is so mouth watering, Melissa, I can almost taste'em just by looking at them. The rib eye would be great with red wine like a pinot noir or a Merlot. First, you take a sip and swirl the wine in your mouth to get rid of the oil particles and to sensitize your taste buds. Then, you take a bite and chew the meat savoring the taste. The first bite going be the best, but it is just the beginning. Repeat, take a sip of wine, swirl it in your mouth and take a bite and savor it chewing it well. Keep on doing and you will have enjoyed a fine dining experience at Alan Wong's.
Without any doubt, the Alan Wong's experience will become one of your best dining experience. They know how to do everything right from setting up the tables, to putting food on quality serving dishes and using quality flatware and drinking glasses, to the professional waiting service, to the artful food presentation done elegantly in simplicity, and finally, to the food served piping hot and cooked just right!
My best dining experience was at the Alan Wong's at the King Street restaurant several years ago. I chose a mongchong fish dish from the menu. It was so ono. I can still savor the taste! For dessert, I had a macadamia cream pie. That too was so tasty. On top of all this, there was this guy in white chef outfit who came to talk to us like we were old friends. Afterwards, I asked my lady friend who was also a Wong if she knew the guy. She said, "No". Then she said, "Do you know who we were talking to?". I replied, "No". She said, "Alan Wong".
February 11th, 2010 at 5:10 am
Ynaku...eeeewwwwwww
kanakakuuna, I totally forgot about Chef Wong's previous gigs! That's a good memory!
Michael, the food was as good as it looks!
Jlieu, thanks! I love my new camera.
James, I can see you love Alan Wong's! That's a funny story...shows how down to earth he is. I guess most--if not all--our local chefs have that quality. Lucky we live Hawaii!
February 11th, 2010 at 9:00 am
WHAT??!! u didn't tell me??!! and here i was getting excited abt the punahou carnival malasadas. i wd have killed for this!
February 11th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
You know I'm a stickler...MA'O should be capitalized, because it's an acronym.
We were a part of their CSA pilot. The boxes are huge, with lots of interesting contents -- great way to expand culinary and gustatory horizons. 
February 11th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Now THIS is what I'd consider a winning experience.
February 18th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Melissa: Yes, the MA'O CSA is a great deal indeed, if you want to sign up (I believe a wait list as of 2.18.10), visit http://shop.maoorganicfarms.org/products/ma'o-organic-farms-csa-subscription. Oh, pickup is at V-Lounge, how convenient!