Placourakis is
still pluckyLOOKS like longtime Honolulu restaurateurs Nick Nicholas and Jeff Harman are out of business in Hawaii and concentrating on mainland enterprises. Due to some restructuring, Aaron Placourakis has emerged as president and CEO of a new company called Tri-Star Restaurant Group, and with Chairman Jiro Noguchi and V.P. Al Souza will be running Nicholas Nickolas, Sarento's at the Top of the I and the new Nick's Fishmarket Maui, opening soon in Wailea. Placourakis will keep his hand in other restaurants that sister group Harman/Nicholas opened on the mainland. They include Nick's Fishmarket Chicago (now 20 years old), new restaurants in Vegas and Philadelphia, and two in Boca Raton, Fla. The Nick's Miami eatery, seating 1,000, has been sold. Placourakis is one of the great champions of doing business in Hawaii when others are grousing. His theory is, "Good places in life are worth fighting for," and he's quite a battler. Placourakis says he feels Hawaii on its worst day is better than most places on their best ...
Celebrations
SINCE Sunday was the 50th anniversary of Israel, Rabbi Avi Magid of Temple Emanu-El decided it was an appropriate reason to invite Hagit Raz to join the festivities. To those unfamiliar with the young lady's name, she's Miss Israel in the Miss Universe Pageant. She delighted both children in the School of Jewish Studies and their parents by shaking hands, posing for photos and singing Hebrew songs. Hagit is only 18 years old herself ... All the Miss Universe contestants were paraded before the audience at the Stan Sheriff Center last night, and preliminary judges selected 10 women to be finalists. Who are they? Wouldn't you like to know? In fact, wouldn't they like to know? The 10 finalists won't be announced until the night of the pageant itself next Tuesday, when a new group of judges selects from among the 10 ...WHILE photog Russell Tanoue enjoys beautiful subjects for his camera as well as anyone, and indeed did fly in from an L.A. shoot for the big pageant, he claims his real feel is for "inner beauty." Never mind that he finds such beauty in some pretty outwardly good-looking women. His just concluded calendar shoot included Playboy Playmate Patricia Ford and ESPN2's Lee Ann Tweeden, who'll be gracing a new "Pro Import" calendar to be released in August. Tanoue also did work with Malia Jones, recently featured as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People magazine, but his recollection of her was her "great inner beauty." He also helped Kelly Hu (now on "Nash Bridges") win the Miss Photogenic Award in the Miss USA Pageant when she was running. Nice to have a shapely, photogenic outer shell in which to carry that inner beauty ...
Foraging for grass
WE'RE not talking Maui Wowee or Kona Gold here. But folks up Waimea way are preparing for the third annual "Taste of the Hawaiian Range" dinner June 12. That's when the people of Kamuela feature what they call "forage-raised" beef, lamb, mutton, goat, veal, elk, venison, pig, bison and chicken. Those of us not connected with "Forage Field Days" might call them "grass-fed" -- even the newest addition to the menu: When 32 of the top chefs begin to prepare their menu, they're including something new -- crayfish! Forage-raised crayfish? Yep, Caspary Farms crayfish are fed exclusively on rice grass and guinea grass. Now if they'd give a demonstration of a paniolo roping a crayfish, it'd be perfect ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.