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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Food & Wine magazine steers tummies to Hawaii
Readers of Food & Wine magazine will easily find foodie felicity while on holiday in Honolulu.
Eight local restaurants are on the magazine's third annual "Go List," designed to give travelers no-brainer dining choices and whet pre-arrival appetites for delectable delights.
This year's editors' picks are all returnees and F&W's online pages say why.
Alan Wong's and Chef Mavro on King Street and Vino at Restaurant Row appear for a third year; 12th Ave. Grill, Downtown, Kaiwa, Matsugen and Uncle's Fishmarket & Grill are on the list for a second year.
Kaiwa, at Waikiki Beach Walk, also was named one of the world's "10 Best Restaurants with a View" this year.
The Food & Wine folks use icons to help describe each eatery.
Uncle's is cited as a value restaurant as is Downtown, while the other Honolulu entries including Downtown got a hot-spots nod. Seasoned restaurants like Alan Wong's and Chef Mavro are "classics," while Downtown, Kaiwa and Matsugen, on Beachwalk, sport a camera icon as "Bites near the Sites," or attractions. Downtown is at the Hawaii State Art Museum.
Vino and Chef Mavro are noted for wines. Vino was described as "Best Wine Experience" its first year on the list and Chef Mavro got a "Don't Miss" mention in 2006.
Such coverage is definitely good for table turns, said Donna Jung, publicist for Chef Mavro and wife of its namesake, George Mavrothalassitis.
"We've been fortunate to get coverage from magazines around the world," she said. This is the emporium's 10th year, "and I can report that consistently, we have gotten business from magazine stories and awards."
Most guests are local, but sometimes visitors' rizz-vips result from reader-ripped reports. Often creased and worn from being carried in a pocket, purse or wallet, "they haul it out and they like to show you that, 'this is why I came in.'"
"Everytime we get a rating," such as the near-perfect rating by Star-Bulletin restaurant critic Nadine Kam, "people come in," she said.
It's not just print that pumps profile, though.
KHNL-TV's ran a feature about Mavrothalassitis' cooking class a week ago, "and practically everybody he ran into said they had seen him on TV," Jung said.
"You have to appreciate everything that happens, it's all good."
Neighbor island restaurateurs also have gotten F&W ink, but not yet in these lists.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com