Category: Blog

During the course of my "travels" I’m always trying to "sniff out" or find new places to eat, I sometimes see or hear of new places that are set to open. Over the last few weeks I’ve been hearing about K’s Sandwiches, a Banh Mi place opening on the corner of Mesa College and Linda Vista:

*** Update 08/25 K’s sandwiches is now open ***

Looks like they’re about ready for the grand opening. I originally heard of this place from my Buddies at Sandwich Emporium. So it seems that this place is creating a bit of a buzz. Knowing that I’m always looking for a good Banh Mi – I’m sure to be one of their first customers.

I was driving up Clairemont Mesa Blvd when I saw this sign:

*** Update 09/26 – Golden City has now opened ***

I was really depressed when Golden City closed last year. They really filled a niche – Well priced, decent, Cantonese Food. Priced right so that you could possibly eat there everyday if you wanted to. Golden City had great lunch and late night specials – like Peking Duck (two dishes) for less than 20 bucks. I still miss the Kwai Fei Chicken and Salt & Pepper Pork Chops. You could get three roasted meats over rice for $3.88. I’ve been looking fruitlessly for another restaurant to take it’s place. So I’m somewhat excited to see what this incarnation of Golden City will be. The location is the corner of Kearney Villa and Clairemont Mesa Blvd.

Here’s part 2 of our Ten Questions with Reid from ‘Ono Kine Grindz; enjoy! Thanks again Reid!

6 – In your opinion what are the benefits of blogging, and are there any negative aspects that you’ve encountered?

The benefits are many and the negatives, or downsides, are few and far between.  For me, it’s really great to get to know people through the blog. It’s a way for me to share my experiences with food (something I love) with a large number of people and it’s a way to bring “home” to those of you that are far from it.  Believe it or not, many of those who leave Hawaii don’t come back as often as we’d like to think. Besides, for me this is a way to relax and unwind after a long day at work.
So far the only negatives have been the responses to some not so good reviews that I give to some places. Case in point, Baba Neo.

7 – Do you have any specific approach when selecting a particular subject? Basically, I’m asking, what is your style?

There really is no specific approach or style, but for a while I was just going everywhere and trying to be nice about it. I’m sure you can tell that by reading my earliest posts. Now, I’m more apt to be as honest as I can be without being too brutal. When I write on my blog, I’m basically listing my thoughts, so you might hear the same things over and over again.
I’m not like the food writer who has to come up with stuff that sounds good.

8 – Ever think that’ll you’ll run dry? With “tongue firmly in cheek” (because you seem to everywhere at once) – Do you ever go back to a restaurant? And what happens if you go back and the restaurant has changed dramatically from the original post, would you repost, or edit your former post?

Well, to tell you the truth, I read somewhere that there are 2000+ food establishments in the State of Hawaii and even if I did three reviews a week for the entire year, it would take me more than 12 years to get to them all. That said, I don’t feel that I’ll run out of ideas, but I might get sick of eating out before that happens.
To answer the second part of the question – yes, I do go back to restaurants, in fact many times. A lot of them are my favorites and the new places only make up a small minority of my dining out. In fact, I can eat through my three reviews on the weekends then visit my favorite places during the week. I don’t think I’ve ever been back to a place that I’ve negatively reviewed. Case in point, Green Door Cafe.  A lot of the local food critics have given that place the thumbs up, but in my opinion, it’s not authentic and not worth the price I paid.   

9 – What would be the earliest recollection(s) that you have of eating in a restaurant and do you think that had any impact on the way that you view food?

The first vivid memory that I have of dining out was at the Black Angus in Vancouver when I was 7 years old. I had taken a trip there with my grandmother, my grandmother’s sister, and my grandmother’s sister’s daughter. The entire restaurant was configured with walls made out of smoked glass. Add dim lighting to the mix and the whole place turned into a very dark maze. 
But to answer the rest of the question, no, it didn’t have any impact on the way that I view food in general.

10 – Does your “dream job” have anything to do with food in any way?

It’s funny that you would ask this question because for the last several years I have honestly thought of quitting my job to take up the culinary arts program at KCC.  It’s not going to happen anytime soon of course, but that is something that I’m actively considering. Other than that, a friend and I have tossed around the idea of opening up a small shop selling of all things nasi lemak, Malaysian coffee, kaya toast(picture courtesy ‘Ono Kine Grindz), and Nyonya kuehs. It would really be funny if it actually happens.

Thanks for your time Reid, and thanks for the great pictures and reviews on ‘Ono Kine Grindz. Keep up the great work!

Before I started doing this “blogging thing”, I had been reading several Food Blogs, but the one that really caught my attention was ‘Ono Kine Grindz. Being an Ex-Pat Kama’aina, so many of the places the Reid reviewed were old favorites, or newer places that I would need to try on my next trip “home”. I thought the photography was outstanding, and admired the fact that Reid took the time to answer all the comments visitors posted on his site. Before I started, I sent Reid an Email asking a few questions, and to my amazement he was gracious enough to answer them! After getting my Blog started I had a few more questions, both technical, and philosophical, that I wanted to ask Reid. I started thinking that perhaps Reid would be kind enough to share some of his thoughts, ideas, and knowledge, in a 10 questions format. And “being Reid” he generously accepted. Because of the length I’ll be doing this in a 2 part format (mostly to make you come back again – more hits….hehehe). Here’s part 1:

1 – Reid I’ve gone back and read almost all of your posts – all the way back to April 11, 2004 BTW! What made you start blogging, and how did you decide on the design and name of OnoKineGrindz?

I’m not sure if you read my blog’s birthday post, but here’s the link.
My main motivation for blogging was to bring a piece of Hawaii and the diverse nature of our state to everyone world wide. I found that there was a lack of food blogs focusing on Hawaii and figured that it could just add to what was already out there.

I picked the name ‘Ono Kine Grindz because I thought it sounded catchy and because I knew that displaced locals might look up the words ‘ono or grindz using a search engine such as Google. I thought it would also make people who didn’t know about the name curious enough to send me an e-mail to find out what it meant (that’s happened quite a few times already).

2 – One of the things that I find really outstanding on your site is the photography. Your photos are always bright and clear, especially the indoor shots. I know you say its just “point and click”, but based on the fact that a lot of my indoor shots don’t come out well, and those that do come out are often a bit hazy, I’m sure it’s more than just that. So how do you set-up your shots?

Actually Kirk, the camera that I use most often to take the photos that you see on the blog is a Sony Cybershot U40. It’s a really small camera that can easily fit in your shirt pocket, so really there are no manual controls on it at all! The best advice I can give you on taking pictures is this — make sure there is a lot of light. Natural sunlight is the best, so try to sit near windows if possible. If the lighting in the restaurant is dim, I’ll normally try to push the plate as close to the light source as possible. I will almost never use the flash as it gives the food an unnatural glow (examples, see the desserts with the whipped cream on the bottom of the Taste of Honolulu post). You may also want to do some photo editing using Photoshop, etc. I’ll normally try to do that (when I’m not too tired) to improve the color saturation.

3 – While on this subject, what do Your eating companions think about this avocation, and have you ever gotten a strange or funny reaction when attempting to take photo’s in a restaurant?

There are usually only two people that I go out to dinner with, and they both know about this blog. They are very supportive and they will always offer me their plate of food for picture taking. Because of the number of Japanese tourists that we have here, I haven’t gotten any stares when taking pictures of food in restaurants…not yet at least. BTW…the Japanese take pictures of everything.

4 – I’ve noticed that over the last year the amount of persons reading and commenting on Your Blog has increased. Has this in any way changed the Blog content or had any impact on your life in general?

The traffic sure has increased. In the early days, I think I may have had 10 or so regular readers and very few comments were left on the blog. It hasn’t really changed the content too much, except when people ask (like the newspaper links). For me, it’s such a rush when people send me comments or emails.  I’m like wow! People have been very kind and supportive, they’ve offered advice or suggestions, just stuff like that. The e-mails are a little more personal and I have gotten to meet some of the other food bloggers personally which was definitely nice.

5 – I’ve been doing this blogging thing for just over a month and am noticing that it can become quite an obsession if you let it. Have you noticed this, and if so how do you deal with it?

Yes, it’s very easy to become obsessed because it’s addicting. My only advice is to take things slow and when things start getting too hectic, take a break. For me, I decided on a schedule and tried to stick to it. For a while, I was posting six days a week, and have recently cut it down to five days.  You won’t believe the difference that the one day can make.

Part 2 coming soon…..

Looks like it’s going to be a busy week. Whew, I’m tired already. So I decided to root around the frig. If you’re like me there’s always "stuff" in your frig.

So what did I find? Well, I’ve been a "Smokin’ Fool" recently using my Stove Top Smoker, if I find it, I’ve been smokin it. Better keep those shoes in the cabinet! So I had some Hickory Smoked Chicken leg and Apple smoked Shishito Pepper, I made some of those Japanese Cold Noodles with Kamabuko, julienned cucumber, and green onion. So crisped up the chicken leg skin side down in a non-stick, and found some Karakuchi Kyuri and ended up with something pretty good in 15 minutes! So what do you have in your frig?

I always have eggs, tofu, green onions, and ramen…….