A SUMPTUOUS THAI MENU AT CHAI’S

Just home from a splendid Thai dinner at Chef Chai’s on Kapiolani Blvd.

Chai Chaowasaree outdid himself with a sumptuous seven-course meal. He said the fare was stuff from his childhood — authentic dishes with incredible flavors. A happy memory, now a reimagined feast for Hawaii diners.

The lineup included:

* Kai Satay — chicken tenderloin on sticks, with peanut sauce, with a cucumber salad accompaniment, plus Asian flat bread.

* Po pia tod — crispy Thai spring rolls of shrimp, ground pork, onions and mushrooms,  with lettuce, cucumbers and flavored sauce.

* Som tum — green papaya salad, seasoned with garlic, tamarind dressing, dried shrimp, long beans and tomato, with gigantic shrimp chip for crunch.

* Tom kah kai — a creamy lemongrass soup with chicken and mushrooms and coconut milk.


* Pra lad pik — crispy whole fish with chili ginger sauce and scallions.

* Pad Thai koong — noodles with shrimp, chicken, tofu, bean sprouts, chives and chopped peanuts.

* Khao neou mamoung — Thai sticky rice with coconut milk and sweet mango slices.

This special menu is served family style; cost is $67 per person, with seatings at 4 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m.. through Sunday (July 30).

Wayne and Vi, at Chef Chai’s Thai menu night.

Reservations required at www.chefchai.com or (808) 585-0011; credit card required to assure seating.

KOKO MARINA THEATRES CLOSING

Consolidated Theatre’s abrupt announcement that it was shutting down the multi-plex at the Koko Marina Shopping Center is disheartening but not surprising.

The facility opened on July 6, 1984, as a twin theater but evolved into an eight-screen suburban film house on Oct. 1, 1999.

I saw “Oppenheimer” last Sunday and “Barbie” last night.

Business was scanty, but let’s face it: Koko Marina merchants have been making a quick exit.

There were clear hints that a shutdown was coming:

  • The concession stand has not been restocking candy; last night, when I got that free combo pack of a small soda, small popcorn, and a choice of a box of sweets, there was no choice but Raisenets. I liked Goobers best, but that’s not been an option for months. And the Butterfingers also was out.
  • Last Sunday, three or four of the smaller screen theaters had broken air-conditions, with a warning posted at the ticket desk.
  • Last night, there were four or five urinals in the men’s restroom that were covered with plastic and signage that said they were broken.
  • The theater has not utilized its usual box office for ticketing; when the indoor door was open, I could see piles of boxes and debris galore. It’s simpler, I guess, to do biz from that concession space.

Koko Marina Theatres’ closure not surprising.

Clearly, Consolidated has let the theaters deteriorate over time. Koko Marina was not part of the re-imaging of the cinema experience, with lounge seating. Costly, for sure, but an indicator that East Oahu has not been a priority. Even the nameplate outside was not functioning for quite a while (the lights were out for the numeral 8) but repaired recently.

So, the closure on Sunday is sad but part of the reality at Koko Marina.

Assaggio also closes its doors Sunday. Zippy’s beat ‘em to the punch, eliminating the dining room and only doing take-out. Ben Franklin pulled out several doors down from the theater, and a game room biz tried to make a go there but couldn’t.

A string of tenants, from Al Phillips and around the corner to the UPS store (it’s still open), had leak and mold issues, so are history.

I’ve been doing my community best to patronize merchants at the center – dined at the Kona Brewing Company last night and Harbor Village, the Chinese-food restaurant tucked away on the unseen side of Koko Marina last Tuesday – since it’s important to support your area merchants.
The still-in-construction restaurant next to Assaggio faces a dismal future, with many dark spots, like Fatboys across the way. Moena Café seems to be holding out, with its niche audience.

Roy’s following is steady, and its 35-year run down the street at the Hawaii Kai Towne Center is admirable. Scratch, at the former Outback Steakhouse site, is struggling with a menu that is not appealing and pricey.

But the big blow is the shuttering of the movie theater. Consolidated is offering $7 tickets and free popcorn Friday through Sunday’s closing, but it’s too little too late.

Will the Sunday church services be pau after the shutdown?  Could Consolidated do what Zippy’s did, and operate only certain screening rooms? What do you do with a space with lots of seats but broken toilets?  Will other businesses open and tap the space for other purposes?

Perhaps theater groups – stage attractions – can find a way to build stages and dressing rooms to do live musicals and plays, with rentals based on use?

Just wondering and hoping the space doesn’t just sit and wait for the destruction…

HJQ performing at Beerworks

John Kolivas (pictured right) and his HonoluluJazz Quartet will perform from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Aug. 7 at the Honolulu Beerworks, at 328 Cooke Street in Kakaako

The group will be celebrating its recent Na Hoku Hanohano Award for Jazz Album of the Year.

There is no cover charge or minimum but seating is limited. …

Broadway + four-part harmonies

The Sounds of Aloha, the barbershop quart group, will stage
“Broadway Over the Years,” at 7:33 p.m. Aug.12 at the Hawaii Theatre.

Guest star Shari Lynn (pictured left) will be a featured attraction, opening the second act of the program.

After Hours, an international award-winning barbershop quartet, also will be on the roster.

Tickets: $12 to $49, at www.hawaiitheatre.com or (808) 528-0506. …

Broadway grosses, week ending July 23

Broadway’s long-running musicals, led by “The Lion King,” still rule at the box office.

For the week ending July 23, the Lucky 7 were:

1 –“The Lion King,” $2.469 million

2– “Wicked,”$1.916 million.

3 — “Hamilton,” $1.892 million.

4 — “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” $1.830 million.

5 — “MJ, the Michael Jackson Musical,” $1.622 million.

6 — “Aladdin,” $1.617 million.

7 — “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” $1.435 million.

The full list, courtesy The Broadway League:

And that’s Show Biz …

RIVETING ‘CHINESE LADY,’ A CULTURAL ODDITY

“The Chinese Lady,” now at the Manoa Valley Theatre, is a revealing and riveting drama about a 14-year-old Chinese native girl exhibited to New Yorkers in 1834…as if she were a sideshow oddity.

For the next five decades, this girl becoming a woman is exhibited as a curiosity from the Orient whose manners and lifestyle can be observed by Americans, who paid admission to gawk and inspect.

From one viewpoint, you may think this is racism of the worse kind: exhibiting a foreigner simply because she is different. On the other hand, this is somewhat of a history lesson – in a staged theatrical setting –that requires the viewers to focus and concentrate and learn from Afong Moy (alternately portrayed by Jennifer Yee Stierli and Diana Wan) about the idiosyncrasies of humankind.

Diana Wan is Afong May, Alvin Chan is Atung, in MVT’s “The Chinese Lady.”

Which of the actress enacting the part was not identified nor announced at a performance I attended, but she was steadfast and compelling as a non-American telling an immigrant’s story of acceptance despite widely different roots.

The play, by Lloyd Suh, is based on real-life experiences, and is directed by Reiko Ho, with requisite respect and affection, polishing an imaginative mirror that reflects generational strife and challenges of being different in America. The play was to close July 30, but has been extended for three additional performances, at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 4 and 5, and at 3 p.m. Aug. 6.

Chinese playgoers might be particularly interested to see and hear the experiences of a person from the past and the challenges of being Asian in an American realm. Could their ancestors be part of this element?

The character supposedly is a goodwill ambassador from Guangdong Province, sold by her father to promoters for promotional purposes to build potential trade with China. But the positioning of her uniqueness, in this case an apt pagoda-style single set adorned with the feel and accoutrements of a Chinese home (shelving, tea pot and cup), makes her somewhat of circus act to gaze at, like a sideshow bearded lady, rather than a human as part of the puzzle that is  mankind.  

It’s not the kind of Ellis or Angel Island welcome, where immigrants can plant American roots for a possible future in the land of hope and opportunity.

That said, Afong Moy is delighted in staging her recurring and episodic duties, drinking tea, having dinner, talking about and showing her bound feet (a Chinese tradition among women), and dancing around her seat for exercise. She intermittently chats with Atung (Alvin Chan), a collaborator who is translator and kind shoulder to lean on, who attends to her needs and opens and closes a curtain on the set.

“My entire life is a performance,” Afong says at one point. That’s because she doesn’t know another life outside the globe of scrutiny.

There’s delicate chemistry between the two roles, two souls caught in the web of loneliness, together but yet far apart.  There are a few comedic moments, necessary in the otherwise static journey though time.

For MVT, the show is a modest milestone, with an all-Chinese acting and directing team.

The artisans do good work here; sets by Michelle A. Bisbee, lighting by Janine Myers, sound design by Mattea Mazzella, costumes by Maile Speetjens, hair and makeup by Ho and Speetjens, props by La Tanya Fasmausili-Siliato, and scenic artistry by Willie Sabel are superb, visually stunning and properly easy on the ears.

And that’s Show Biz. …

The Chinese Lady’

A drama by Lloyd Suh, directed by Reiko Ho

Where: Manoa Valley Theatre

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, held over Aug. 3 to 8.

Tickets: $25 to $42 at  www.manoavalleytheatre.com  or (808) 988-6131

MY LATEST SUMMER NOTE CARD…

Felt a creative urge yesterday, so decided to work on a summerish note card. Had this snack-laden paper, which lacked a local punch, so decided to do several variations of this aloha shirt card, capped with a strawberry shave ice, that’s now part of my Wild Cards catalogue. Happy summer!