 |
 |
The Food Company, a closer look
Don't just take my word for it! Check out these other views on The Food Company!
 Check out the official site! |
Lyle Galdeira and Russel Yamanoha on their popular show, video included! |
 What are the Yelper's saying! |
Aloha!
2/19/10 - Shifting back some twenty years ago, I recall my days at Foodland, where two young ladies with a knack for cooking worked alongside. Part-time, they began a small catering operation that slowly grew, until, one day, they were finally able to replace their long-time day job's in place of a venture of their own. Before you knew it, not only were they catering, but also moving-in to a genuine brick-and-mortar eatery at the Hawaii Kai Town Center, way back in the days when both Fun Factory and Diner's plate lunch were still around (both once very popular, I might add!) and current stalwart The Shack existing only in someone's head as a future concept project. Back then, being so easily accessible since I lived only five minutes away, it was their chicken katsu blowing everyone out of the water, especially with that novel new tonkatsu sauce, which carried a little more sweetness and a touch of horseradish-like zing. It was very different from the normal ketchup/tonkatsu mix everyone else employed, which was still quite a novelty in itself around that time, as well! Yeah, we're going waaay back!
Well, it's been a while since those days, and presently, the operation has since moved-on to a small but deeply-entrenched nook at the Enchanted Lakes Shopping Center in Kailua. From major thoroughfare Kalanianaole Hwy., all's you do is drop down on Keolu St., follow the road, then turn left into the parking lot upon hitting McDonald's:
View Larger Map
In another major change, the two-woman crew has since been sliced in half, leaving owner Brenda Tanaka solely in charge. Cheery and sweet, Brenda has always been super-cool and just an all-around nice gal, so it was great seeing her after all these years, leaving me a bit relieved that she'd even remembered my name! I was even happier for the fact that her little store, with very little advertising and fanfare, was absolutely booming with business, with no shortage of diners both eating in and taking out, the to-go line almost pouring out the door on several occasions, despite being what I thought would be a quiet weekday!
The old Food Co., in Hawaii Kai, was formatted as a typical plate lunch eatery, where you ordered at the counter and picked-up paper plates encased in boxes (no one used styrofoam back then!) yourself, but the current Food Co. employs a system where you order and pay at the counter, seat yourself, then get served meals, not on paper or styrofoam, but heavy, shiny-white porcelain!
There are a wide variety of dishes available here, listed both on hand-held menus and also all over the walls, taking-up a huge portion of the front-end:
Yep, half the choices posted here (there are more!) are morning meals, as they open at 8am till 8pm Tuesday-Friday, 8am-2pm Saturday, and, sadly, are closed on Sunday and Monday. Hey, I guess if you're doing as well as they are, you can take a couple of days off, ey? Knowing Brenda, her mac banana cinnamon french toast, fried rice egg rolls, banana flambe w/Belgian waffles, teri locomoco, omelets, and other such dishes are probably killer, but sorry, you'll have to try them yourselves to find out, as we weren't doing breakfast on our two outings here recently. Same goes for the little snacks on the front counter, including Spam musubi and baked goods, which I already know are great from the days when she'd bring all kinds of little knick-knack's to work!
I once listed The Food Company under the normal plate lunch section, but after our last couple of visits, I've decided to list them under the kicked-up plate lunch section instead, for reasons we'll soon elaborate upon. But first, we'll mention some of the more typical plate lunch items found, such as a house-made hamburger steak, house-roast turkey, katsu, teri chicken or beef, grilled or sauteed ahi, mahi, salmon, curry, shoyu chicken, Korean chicken... and the list goes on... For $9.75, you can even splurge and get a gigantor plate, complete with three scoops rice, macaroni potato salad, teri beef, teri chicken, and mochiko chicken. Oops, and chicken katsu. And mahimahi. And shrimp! Whew!!! Kanak attack, for sure!
We settled for one of their more normal bento variations, a Japanese bento ($8.75) that included teri beef, teri chicken, shrimp tempura, corned beef hash, mac salad, and furikake rice:
Gotta say, I think the teri department is not the strongest suit here at the Food Company. I mean, they're allright and all, but to me, not nearly as spectacular as some of the other items we'll soon get into. Their teri chicken came very lightly flavored, while the teri beef was heavy on shoyu but not nearly as sweet as I'd expect from a place whose business is almost entirely local. Shrimp tempura is local-style all the way, with a thicker, more home-style batter than the delicate, thin, crunchy shells of authentic versions. That little button on the top-right may look like a Portuguese sausage, but is actually a house-made corned beef hash, carrying with it a simple old-school taste and goodness - perfect!
Our next bento platter was much, much better for me, containing a combination of mochiko chicken and chicken katsu ($8):
First-up, here's a better look at the katsu they were known for during their Hawaii Kai days, complete with that delicious sauce:
Aaah, just like the old days! The chicken was a bit on the thin side, but I like it better that way, as it also means more crispy panko flavor! The sauce also brought back the same memories - slightly sweet, slightly zesty, and more light-red than the dark-brown most tonkatsu sauces tend to inherit.
On the flip-side, check out their mochiko:
Come to think of it, I can't recall if this was on the menu back then, but guess what? I've found my new favorite! This mochiko chicken was better than any plate lunch mochiko I've had yet! The batter was firm and crunchy, with a bold sweetness and that unmistakeable mochiko flour taste that sets this particular dish apart from others. And remember, the Food Company still does a large amount of catering, with a wide variety of choices and platters to choose from, so if you're looking at a party soon, be sure to check out their site (link above) for prices and options. A large tray-pan of mochiko chicken sounds real good next Superbowl Sunday!
But movin' on, here's an 8oz. cut of pulehu steak, seasoned with garlic, pepper, and Hawaiian salt:
Sauteed onions were placed on-top, while instead of mac or mash, I went with a side of steamed vegetables, which, mind you, were all completely fresh-cut, and not from pre-sliced, overly-soft portions out of a freezer bag! Just another home-style example of the way Brenda does it here, is all!
Besides plate lunch fare and catering, there are several choices when it comes to salads and sandwiches. These can include half-sandwiches ($4.50-$5.50) or full sandwiches ($5.50-$8.25) of marinated chicken breast, steak/cheese, tuna/caper, vegetarian, house-made turkey w/fixin's, and garlic ahi w/garlic mayo, as well as salads of Ceasar (w/chicken breast, bay shrimp, or blackened ahi), Chinese chicken, chop-chop (romaine, cucumber, red onion, tomato, garbanzo beans, fresh turkey, salami, and olives tossed in a creamy dressing), and this bay shrimp and avocado shown next, a light, healthy treat that filled Kumi well, but would probably serve as just a starter for me!
But here's where things get really interesting. Posted on this surfboard are a list of items you may wanna peruse ve-e-e-ry closely:
Sesame crusted salmon? Seared furikake ahi? Crab cakes? Three-bean chili's? Ahi tempura? Like I said, not your typical style of plate lunch fare, ey? Daily specials are also available, with Friday's being Hawaiian Plate day, although they often carry various Hawaiian food items like kalua pig or lau lau on any given day besides, all unnanounced, so you'll have to call or walk-in to find out exactly what's cookin'!
My first re-visit here a few days ago saw me ordering a sesame crusted ahi:
Brenda - Awesome stuff!!! And for $8.95? I mean, the ahi may not have been the best sashimi grade, but that's simply not gonna happen anywhere for this price, and it was still plenty good and generously portioned. Crusted in earthy-tasting, flavorful, and highly aromatic sesame seeds, they formed a beautiful, crunchy crust that worked extremely well with the soft, half-cooked ahi inside, while a delicious sauce of ginger aioli rounded-out the dish and sealed the deal for this particular plate!
They also carry a sesame crusted salmon that also sounds enticing, as well. But here's a better look at the back-side of the roll, where its sesame seeds were browned a bit further, stopping right at perfection:
And finally for today, another seared-type dish - Brenda's nori-wrapped ahi should be up for some kind of award, as far as I'm concerned:
I don't know about you, but that doesn't look like plate lunch fare to me! And at $8.95, it was priced the same as the sesame ahi above, even though it was much more filling with that crispy panko crust. The fancy red and white sauce comes from a wasabi ranch (never heard of that before!) and Sciracha chili combination that worked just as well as the ginger aioli previously. But here's the kicker for this particular dish - inside, there's not only a layer of nori and ahi, but also a generous stuffing of crab! It was a type of crab salad, actually, and we're talking genuine, real crab here, too! Killer dish, killer portions, killer price. Killer, period!
Before leaving, allow me a few moments to give you an idea of the type of person owner Brenda Tanaka is. When asked about her lack of advertising, she actually responded by saying "well... when it gets too crowded, my loyal customers have a harder time finding a place to sit, and we may not be able to serve them quite as well!"
Wow. Forget about market share. Forget about acquisition. Forget about the competitor. It's not always about money, right? All I can say is - that's the sign of a happy and content person, a real class act, and someone who does what she does simply because she loves doing it, both for her love of cooking and for the many friends and genuine bonds she's made throughout the years. Her sincere and humble attitude was like a breathe of fresh air, making her store almost more of a community service than a business! Don't get me wrong, however - I'm sure Brenda will welcome more visitors - after all, I'm not exactly the Advertiser or Star Bulletin, where one good story will momentarily swamp a restaurant and create an immediate gold rush! Maybe just a small bump, at most!
Here's one last shot of just a portion of the dining area, during the only 20 seconds where every nook and cranny of the restaurant wasn't taken by diners! As you can see, it's nothing special, just real laid-back, homey, and simple. Just... comfortable, you know?
Please do stop by, do say hello to Brenda, and, most importantly, do try their nori-wrapped, sesame fried, or otherwise seared ahi or salmon dishes! You won't be dissapointed! And after returning, make sure to try the mochiko chicken, and also lemme know how breakfast is!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
Post a Comment or just say hello! Don't worry about leaving REAL names if you don't want to! No e-mails will be posted without consent, last names will be abbreviated, and if you don't want me to post all or any part of your correspondence, please state so! Hope to hear from you all!
