Uncle's Hawaiian Grindz

I've always had a fascination with Hawaii, probably because as a child I spent many hours watching Hawaii 5-0 with my grandmother. And while traveling to Hawaii still remains one of those bucket list items, I was excited to find out that a new Hawaiian restaurant called Uncle's Hawaiian Grindz had opened in Fallston. Oahu native Kaiman Chee, grand prize winner on Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen, is the chef/owner of this casual dining restaurant. Along with his partner, Fallston native Kosmas “Tommie” Koukoulis, Chef Chee is bringing the flavors of Hawaii to Maryland while sourcing his ingredients locally.

Recently, The Minx and I decked ourselves out in Hawaiian shirts and visited the restaurant to see what Hawaiian cuisine was all about.

Since poke (pronounced poe-kay) is becoming a trend in this part of the country, we started off with the poke boat, featuring four different styles of poke. Both the Queen Street Tuna and Walu Poke had bright, fresh flavors thanks to elements like lime, ginger, and avocado. The Minx does not like raw salmon, but she enjoyed the salt-cured Lomi Salmon, which was enhanced by the addition of tomato, scallion, onion, and "firecracker" aioli. The biggest surprise, however, was the deep fried tofu poke which uses tofu sourced from the Eastern Shore. The tofu is tossed in red pepper flakes and citrus shoyu before being battered and deep fried. Anyone who says they don't like tofu will be converted by this dish.

Since WWII, Spam has been beloved in Hawaii, and a sushi-like dish called musubi is a staple on the Islands. Uncle's Spam Musubi is teriyaki-marinated Spam wrapped in rice and nori, served atop a combination of kabayaki glaze and Uncle's secret sauce. Although I ate Spam regularly as a kid, I could not stand the saltiness as an adult. However, this Spam was surprisingly mild and the overall texture of the musubi was quite pleasant.

One of that evening's specials was a pineapple corn fritter, which was both unusual and delicious. The pineapple flavor was subtle, and somehow lent a bit of lightness to the fried dough ball.

Kalua pig is a Hawaiian preparation in which a whole pig is wrapped in ti or banana leaves and buried in the ground where it is slow cooked. To simulate this preparation, the restaurant invested in a special $17,000 oven that somewhat approximates the conditions of a traditional underground oven, or imu, producing moist, succulent pork. The Kalua Pig Lumpia appetizer mixes the smoke-braised pork with carrot and cabbage and stuffs it inside a spring roll wrapper before frying. The delicate, crunchy wrapper is the perfect vehicle for the sweet pork and veggie mix. There's additional sweet sauce on the side if you like it extra sweet, but we didn't find it necessary.

For our entrees, we thought we should try one of the mixed plates so that we could experience several menu items at once, and also select one of the sandwich offerings. We went with the Uncle's Mixed Plate which had Huli Huli Chicken, Shrimp Shack Skewer, and Beef Teriyaki, along with an Asian stir fry of mixed vegetables. We also added the Kalua Pork to the plate so we could try the meat on its own. Unlike the full entree version of the Huli Huli Chicken, which is a full half chicken, the sample on our plate was a shredded pile of flavorfully brined meat. The pork and beef were also boldly seasoned, and the grilled shrimp had that wonderful briny flavor that we love so much. It was a delight to sample each type of protein in a rotation and get a different bite with every forkful.

Macaroni salad is a big thing in Hawaii, so it is served family style, along with white rice, for the entrees. The macaroni salad was creamy and mild, and surprisingly not as sweet as typical picnic-style mac salad.

Sandwiched within a large King's Hawaiian sweet bread bun, the Chicken Katsu-wich features a crispy fried chicken breast topped with bacon lardons, baby swiss, and shredded cabbage. Firecracker aioli oozes from this spicy, unctuous sandwich that is at once exotic and familiar. The sweet potato fries were a great accompaniment, but you can get regular fries if you prefer.

Uncle's Hawaiian Grindz has a varied list of tempting Hawaiian-inspired desserts, but after all the food we had already eaten, we didn't think we could indulge any more. Tommie Koukoulis insisted that we at least partake of one of their lighter desserts, the Whipped Otai. Fresh mango, pineapple, and shaved coconut are mixed into a whipped coconut cream, then topped with crushed macadamia nuts and fresh mint. Light and refreshing, and very fragrant, it's a perfect dessert for a hot summer evening (or any time really).

Before we went to Uncle's Hawaiian Grindz, I wanted to find out what the word "grindz" meant. As I discovered, it simply means "good food." In that case, the restaurant certainly lives up to its name.

Uncle's Hawaiian Grindz
2315 Belair Rd Suite 2B
Fallston, MD 21047
(443) 966-3999



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Sofi's Crepes

Back: BBQ pork and shredded cheese. Front: crepe Florentine.

We're bad bloggers. There's always some restaurant that opens fairly nearby that we swear up and down to "try this weekend," but then we never get to it. Months go by before we finally get our asses in gear and try said new place.

Sofi's Crepes at Belvedere Square is one of those places. Despite being so close, we seldom find ourselves anywhere near the market, except in passing. But now that the Senator Theatre is open once again, we have a good excuse to not only drop by, but also to stay for a while.

One recent evening, we decided on a crepe dinner before seeing a movie on the big screen. (Has anyone else noticed that not only are there fewer seats in the original auditorium, but they're also smaller? Or has my ass gotten that much bigger since the last time we went to the movies?)

Mr Minx ordered the bbq pork crepe, which was messily stuffed with smoky pulled pork. He enjoyed it. Personally, I thought the sauce was too smoky, but liked that there was a generous amount of filling. I had the crepe Florentine, with spinach, Gruyere, mushrooms, sunflower seeds, and a pepper parmesan sauce. You all know how picky I am by now, so it won't surprise you when I say I think the spinach and mushrooms would have been better had they been sauteed, not raw. With every bite, my teeth yanked out a whole spinach leaf as a flavorless white mushroom slice popped out onto the table. Would have been nice if the sunflower seeds hadn't been just this side of rancid, too. According to the chef/cook/dude who made the crepes, the Florentine is one of their best sellers, along with the Kevin Bacon (turkey, bacon, 1000 Island dressing). Trust me - cooked spinach and mushrooms would taste much better.

Couldn't find fault with the crepe itself though. It was properly eggy, tender and crisp-edged. Next time I'll just get one plain, maybe with some lemon and sugar, the way my Dad used to make them when I was a kid. That BATS crepe sounds good too though (bacon, avocado, tomato, sour cream)....

We also had a dessert crepe, which Crepe Dude thoughtfully split into two smaller, individually-wrapped portions: the turtle, with caramel, melted chocolate, and sliced almonds. I couldn't really taste the caramel, but the combination of melted chocolate and crepe took me straight to Paris. My family had taken a trip there in the 70s and we ate our fair share of chocolate-filled crepes from a street cart near our hotel. (A completely unrelated aside: we stayed at the Hotel du Danube, at 48 Rue Jacob. It was a semi-fleabag then; the first room we were shown didn't have heat, and it was an unseasonably cold November. Our second room wasn't much better, but it was warm. Now it seems to be a luxury hotel.)

While I had issues (don't I always?), I thought Sofi's was a perfect place to grab a quick bite before a film. The food was filling, but didn't weigh me down or make me sleepy, an important consideration before heading into a dark theater.

Sofi's Crepes
5911 York Road
Baltimore, MD 21212
(410) 727-5737





Posted on Minxeats.com.