The timing of the following is skewed, but I dropped by the Social Security Office in the Prince Jonah Kuhio Building at 2:30 PM last week to get a social security card, which, I heard, makes it easier to renew your driver's license. Alas, the office closes at 2:30. So today, a Wednesday, I showed up at 11AM. Failed again, as the office shuts down at 11AM on Wednesdays. So I decided to walk home, but stop by somewhere in Downtown Honolulu to rate the higher end restaurants. Sad to say, but this is a Death Valley for epicurean cuisine, especially for lunch.
There is HASR Bistro, a French-Italian-Asian Fusion establishment where my Chain des Rotisseurs had a Spanish (even though they don't specialize in this type of food) night there last month. The whole affair was fine. My table to the right. Then, of course, Duc's Bistro just up the road on Maunakea St, which is French-Vietnamese. You can bring your own bottle, even though the corkage charge is steep, and I always enjoy myself there. Brasserie du Vin is dependable, but hardly gourmet, although there sometimes is music: jazz and blues. Indigo is adjacent to the Hawaii Theater, and is asian fusion. Average.
Today, it was Restaurant Epic, which was not epic but okay. The food is Asian Fusion, the tables were mostly taken and just about every male had a tucked in understated aloha shirt, except me. The decor is challenged and view nonexistent, which is also the case with all the above. Stephanie was excellent. I started with a terrific garlic tomato bisque, which came with a tasty garlic toast:
I ordered their truffled spaghetti bolognese with a basil lime gimlet:
Maybe a bit oversauced and undertruffled, but not bad. Never had a basil lime gimlet before, and probably won't again anytime soon. The total bill with tax and tip was $33. The value was there.
For dinner, Ed Jurkens and I had our twice a year steak feast, this time at the Waikiki Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It all started with a double martini enhanced with a blue cheese filled olive:
I had a Caesar salad, great steak and glass of Cabernet Sauvignon:
We mostly joked that this could well have been our last supper, for we both have health issues. Further, Ed is 95. However, we are scheduled to have dinner at the new Chai's, then on to the Glenn Miller Orchestra concert on Memorial Day.
Also tonight, PBS had on that historic 1981 conjunction of stars in Chicago's Checkerboard Lounge, when the Rolling Stones, at the peak of their popularity, dropped into Muddy Waters' show and jammed: Mick Jagger, with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood on guitars. Waters passed away two years later at the age of 70. How important was Muddy Waters to the Stones? During their very early years when they had no name but landed their first gig, they just happened to be looking at The Best of Muddy Waters, and the first track was Rollin' Stone. In those days you could drank whiskey from the bottle and have cigarettes on your lips.
A third of a century later, they don't look all that much different:
A third of a century later, they don't look all that much different:
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