USA

Jun 27, 2011 | Post by: Phil Lees 1 Comments

Teddy’s Bigger Burger, Hawaii

My favourite trait in Americans is the lack of fear. It spawns an infectious entrepreneurialism. It tempts them to cook a patty of ground chuck to medium-rare over fire rather than safely char it to a risk-free tasteless puck. The above was hands down my favourite hamburger of 2010, from

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Dec 18, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 1 Comments

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

Sierra Nevada is the brewery that probably gets most craft brewers hooked on the idea of American Pale Ale; there is no end to the pale imitators and delightful, almost flawless copies. Their India Pale Ale, the Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, will with any luck spawn another round of

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Nov 10, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 2 Comments

Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale

Kona Brewing Company calls this a “Hawaiian-style” pale ale rather than an American pale ale, the only differentiator being that Hawaiian style pale ales must display an active volcano on the label. This lava-filled terroir holds no influence over the beer itself. I don’t imagine that any of the ingredients

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Oct 13, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 2 Comments

Spam Musubi: Hawaiian sushi innovation

I’m starting to think that I may have gone a bit soft over the past few weeks. I called this non-beer surprisingly refreshing. I enjoyed this slice of spam strapped to brick of rice and served at roughly the temperature generated by salmonella having hot and dirty sex. Frankly, I’m

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Oct 10, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees No Comments

A fine selection of local grindz

The Hawaiian “plate lunch” is an excuse to anchor any protein to an icecream scoop or two of sticky rice. They seem to be both cheap filler and endlessly variable. I’d imagine that you could quite easily write about nothing but the numerous variations on the polystyrene clamshell filled with

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Oct 10, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees No Comments

Taro fields near Hanalei, Hawaii

Until now, the only thing that I knew about Hanalei was that it was the birthplace of Puff the Magic Dragon, which is apparently, a lie.

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Oct 08, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 1 Comments

The Shrimp Station, Kauai

Some of the best food in America comes in shacks, lean-tos, vans, makeshift structures cobbled together from plywood and tarpaulin and fryer grease. The American food that Americans aspire to eat and inspires the most column inches in this decade seems to sit either at the bottom or at the

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Dec 12, 2008 | Post by: Phil Lees No Comments

Future of Fish in the NYT

It’s taking me a while to catch up on my reading at the moment, but Mark Bittman’s overview of the decline of fish is worth a look. From Bittman: Industrial aquaculture — sometimes called the blue revolution — is following the same pattern as land-based agriculture. Edible food is being

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