After last Saturday’s ride, I went by Hale on Makaloa next to the Ghostbusters building for dinner. I had downed some Endurox R4 after the ride, so I wasn’t ravenously hungry, but my body told me that I needed protein and the associated amino acids above and beyond what soy-based products could provide. They had a fish entrée and burger, the fish of the day being ’Ono (Wahoo). I went for the burger because the entrée version was startlingly expensive, and I wasn’t sure what some of the side dishes would turn out to be.
My sisters ordered some sushi block appetizers – hijiki (seaweed) and carrot, Hamakua mushroom with kale miso, and black bean nattou. The hijiki was very ordinary. I’ve had good hijiki in Japan and this was so-so, maybe a C. The Hamakua mushroom was outstanding, easily an A. This one was sautéed, sliced mushrooms with a paste of cooked, puréed kale and coarse inaka miso on top. Get this one! The nattou was interesting but unimpressive, getting a B-. It was not a combination of black beans and nattou, but nattou made from black beans. The flavor was not as strong as regular nattou, partially due to the skin-on condition of the beans limiting the fermentation process. It was good, but not great: It’s worth a try. These were all made atop 5cm cubes of brown rice. The rice was reasonably sticky, so the cubes were surprisingly cohesive considering they were made from bran-on rice.
My burger arrived accompanied by some sweet potato chips, a section of grilled corn, and a halved micro pickle. In addition to the thick slab of grilled fish, the burger came with lettuce, slices of mini red onions, mizuna, avocado, and pesto. There was some kind of non-egg mayonnaise also. There may have been tomato, but I don’t really remember. It was an “impossible stack” burger, but I tried eating it as a sandwich nonetheless. There was a sheet of paper on the plate to fold and wrap around the sandwich, but with mayo, pesto, and avocado as lubricants, the fish progressively worked it’s way out the back of the bun away from the enduser. I put the mangled mess back down and took the fork and knife to it. Derek would have busted a vein in anger. The burger was very good – I give it an A-. The fish was a little overcooked, but the ingredient quality was all quite good.
Macrobiotic cuisine is supposed to be healthy, but my chips were dripping in oil. Some of the tempeh dishes are deep fried before the final cooking preparation. That delicious kale miso paste (which is available as a side to smear on your entrée rice) is super salty. Apparently, excessive salt and oil are not considered detrimental to the health within this culinary philosophy.
Give them a try. Prices are a little high, even considering the natural, organic nature of the ingredients.
Recommended with reservations
Three out of four dining monkeys
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