IS it hot enough for you? Here it is, only June, and you just know that the worst summer heat is ahead. How hot is it? At
this place, plenty hotWhat to do, what to do. Some may try to go for the obvious summer coolers -- ades, shave ice (sno-cones for the newbies out there), gelato and chilled fruit salads.
Then there's the contrarian route -- stay cool by turning up the heat. Chile aficionados have known for years about the cooling powers of their favorite food. While all that capsaicin -- the chemical irritant in chile peppers -- is making you perspire, it's also triggering the brain to produce natural pain killers. So there we are, hunkered down over bowls of chili or plates of kim chee, sweating, our noses dripping, our tongues in mid-pant, thinking, "Groovy, man."
Maybe that's just me in a Korean restaurant. The rest of the customers at Hae Un Dae Wang Kalbi looked pretty cool and calm, desensitized to some of the cuisine's burning effects. In my most optimistic mode, I stared at a plate of raw seasoned oysters ($12.95) and pot of Crab Stew ($12.95) as red as our roads on New Year's Day, thinking, "It won't be as hot as it looks."
Of course I was wrong.
Those with tender palates are safer sticking to the house specialty of kalbi, marinated in soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and green onions. They will cook for you for $13.95, or you can cook yourself for $16.95. Imagine that, paying more to do the work and having fun in the process!
In the long run, it proved easier to do the cooking than to wait for the staff for help. They are not quite versed on service American-style, and were content to sit around, talking story.
Other do-it-yourself options for table-top grilling are the popular beef brisket ($14.95); bul go gi ($10 they cook/$14.95 you cook), which tastes like teriyaki beef; chicken ($9.50/$14.95); pork ($15.95); beef tongue ($15.95) and mountain tripe ($16.95).
One cook-it-yourself order easily equals a pound and a half of meat and is enough for two people. These are served with a platter of lettuce for wrap-style eating, a dish of sliced garlic, bean sauce, more peppers and a broad, soapy-tasting leaf which we were told was a sesame leaf.
With two barbecue orders, you get a free stew from a list of 10. These include the basic kim chee stew ($9.95), classic yellow corvina fish stew ($12.95) and aforementioned crab stew. The crab in this case is represented by various leg parts filled with mushy meat, put there more for flavor than to savor. Tofu and green onions are stirred into the mixture, so spicy that stalks of normally pungent cilantro didn't even register on the flavor meter.
There was no dessert, only a sweetened ginger-rice juice to cool one's bruised tongue.
Hae Un Dae Wang Kalbi Korean Restaurant: 1473 S. King St.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily
Prices: About $18 to $28 for two
Call: 957-0303
The Koko Marina eatery formerly known as Pacific Bagel has changed its name to Whole in One Bagels and will celebrate its first birthday bash from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. This means bargains for you. Cheap eats!
Customers will be able to buy soft, kettle-boiled bagels for 25 cents each (regular price 75 cents), with a limit of four per customer. And the adjoining Juice Rush will be offering specialty fruit drinks and smoothies at 50 percent off their $3 to $4.50 prices. Call 394-2929.
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Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews run on Thursdays. Reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:
-- excellent;
To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com
