Dear Hawaii Diner Reader,

It seems a lifetime has passed since our last newsletter and that is certainly true for the residents of Louisiana and Mississippi who bore the brunt of Hurricane Katrina almost two weeks ago. The good news is that the recovery is underway but, having experienced the devastation of several Category Five typhoons, I know that there are many hard days ahead for everyone involved from survivors to relief workers. Our support is most assuredly needed to whatever degree we can individually offer.

We have details of a local food-related fund raiser for Katrina relief in the Around the Island section below and encourage those who can't afford the $150 tickets to make a donation that is within your budget to the charitable organization of your choice. A couple we like are America's Second Harvest (our own Hawaii Food Bank is a member) and, of course, the American Red Cross, the first-responders to disaster. In my personal experience, after every bad typhoon the Red Cross was first on the scene supporting and assisting people.

For the rest of us life goes on as it should. This week we welcome our newest restaurant writer, Cheryl King, who hails from Kailua-Kona. She will be writing about restaurants on the Big Island and we are delighted to have her on board with us. Many people have asked for current reviews of restaurants there that cater to the local crowd and that is what Cheryl will be providing.

May our next couple of weeks be less eventful!

Mahalo,
Gail

Around the Island - Todd Wells Quits, Green Door Cafe, Fund Raisers Galore

We were saddened to hear that Todd Wells has retired from cooking. Todd raised the bar for all chefs locally with his cooking at Diamond Head Grill during his stint as executive chef. A world-renowned local chef told me that DHG with Todd cooking was the only fine-dining restaurant where he personally liked to dine. Todd was most recently at Mariposa working with Doug Lum. Sources report that he is going into an import/export business and has no intentions of cooking again anytime soon. That's too bad as he is a gifted culinary talent. We wish him well in his new endeavors.

Betty Pang, the chef/owner of Green Door Cafe in Chinatown, broke her wrist recently and was expected to reopen the cafe earlier this week. Unfortunately, she will remain closed for a bit longer. Betty's nonya-style Malaysian cuisine is well liked by her customers who enjoy never knowing for sure what she might be cooking on any given day. We wish her a speedy recovery. Check Diner Dish for the latest information on when she will reopen.

There is certainly no shortage of places to spend your hard earned dollars on charitable causes. We provide an overview of some of the food-related ones below.

We like the concept of "Chefs for Hope" which is modeled after the very successful "Wave of Aloha" that raised funds for the tsunami victims in January. The only downside is that tickets are $150 which puts it out of the affordable range for many.

The other two events listed will benefit causes here at home - the Hawaii Food Bank and the Hawaii Dog Foundation. We can't forget about our local charities even in this time of disaster, especially when your contribution brings something tasty in return! A 20# bag of rice brought to your favorite Jamba Juice location will get you a coupon for a free smoothie and your purchase of a loaf or loaves of bread from the Great Harvest Bread Co. will help Hawaii's homeless and forgotten dogs.

WHAT: Chefs for Hope
WHEN: Monday September 19 6-9pm
WHERE: Aloha Tower Marketplace
CHEFS: Guillaume Burlion, Chai Chaowasaree, Hiroshi Fukui, D.K. Kodama, Doug Lum, George Mavrothalassitis, Colin Nishida, Russell Siu, Alan Wong and Roy Yamaguchi
TICKETS: $150, available at Chai's Island Bistro 585-0110
BENEFITS: The Salvation Army Katrina Relief Fund

WHAT: 3rd Annual Race for Rice
WHEN: Entire month of September
WHERE: All Hawaii Jamba Juice locations
DONATION: #20 bag of rice gets you a coupon for a free smoothie
BENEFITS: Hawaii Food Bank

WHAT: Baker of the Day
WHEN: Sunday September 18
WHERE: Great Harvest Bread Co. (Kahala location only)
DONATION: The cost of a loaf of excellent handmade bread
BENEFITS: Hawaii Dog Foundation
See the details and the types of bread that will be sold

Featured Recipes - Mango, Avocado and More Local Produce

Here are some tasty ways to use mangos, avocados and other delicious fruits and veggies in recipes everyone will enjoy. Our first suggestion is for a Mango & Avocado Chicken Salad which features mango chutney for kick and orange juice for a nice flavor accent. This salad is very popular with everyone who tries it. The recipe calls for poaching the chicken but if you want to grill it, that adds another great flavor dimension to the dish.

Our second recipe is for Avocado and Goat Cheese Sandwiches which are super simple to make, but rely on excellent quality ingredients. These can be prepared and cut smaller to serve as pupu or you can leave them larger for a more hearty serving. Make a point to look for Big Island Goat Cheese at the KCC Farmer's Market and, according to R. Field's, they will have the extraordinary goat cheese from Surfing Goat Dairy on Maui in a few weeks.

Featured Reviews

This week we are pleased to offer two "Dine & Dash" reviews. The first is of Orchid Thai Cuisine in Kailua-Kona. It is the first review from Cheryl King, our newest restaurant writer, who resides on the Big Island. The second is a quick look at Bonacasa's New York Style Sandwiches in the Manoa Marketplace.

Orchid Thai Cuisine - Our "Go-Back-To" Restaurant

For my first Big Island restaurant review for HawaiiDiner.com, it seems only fitting to write about our favorite "go-back to" restaurant. Without local knowledge or a trip to the adjacent Kailua Candy Company, the visitor or newcomer simply won't stumble across it, as it is tucked away in the old industrial area adjacent to downtown Kailua-Kona in a small shopping square at the bottom of Kaiwi Street.

My husband Lonnie and I discovered it when a craving for Thai food overtook us and we invited our neighbors to accompany us to a Thai restaurant about which we had heard good things. They readily agreed to go but suggested we try the Orchid Thai instead. After our initial visit we were hooked, and subsequent visits continue to confirm our good opinion.

The menu offers most of the traditional Thai dishes beautifully presented, with a fresh orchid and other garnishes often decorating the plate. Spicy dishes can be toned down by requesting "mild" or "medium" heat. We found that we are quite comfortable with either one.

An order of fresh summer rolls ($5.50), cut into 12 small pieces and served with the owner's "special" spicy sweet sauce, is enough to share with a group and so good that Lonnie insists on ordering it every time we go. The Thai papaya salad ($4.50) is excellent and, with the inclusion of a few pounded green beans, very reminiscent of one I learned to make at a Chang Mai cooking school. The Chicken Sate ($6.50), Pad Thai ($7.50) and curry dishes ($7.95 meat, $9.95 Seafood) all met our expectations and were generally as good as any we have had before. The Penang Beef Curry was a surprise; not only was the beef especially tender, but the addition of shredded cabbage to the traditional curry mixture made it especially filling and good for sharing. A small bowl of Thai Sticky Rice or Jasmine Rice can be ordered separately for $1.50.

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Dine & Dash at Bonacasa's - Simple & Tasty Sandwiches in Manoa

We stopped in at this self-proclaimed New York-style sandwich shop in the Manoa Marketplace for a quick lunch. This is a cash only place. The service is speedy and some of the food choices were decent.

We ordered the Cuban ($5.75) and Rueben ($5.95) sandwiches along with sides of Potato Salad and Cole Slaw, both $1.25. The sandwiches were both successful though not particularly large. I always think of New York sandwiches as being huge and these are not. Nonetheless, they are certainly filling enough and tasty. The Cuban was particularly good with the roast pork having a lot of flavor. If you haven't tried a Cuban sandwich before, try this one. A long hard roll is spread with mustard, then pickles are added as well as cheese, ham and roast pork. The entire sandwich is pressed and flattened on the grill to give a nice crunchy crust and gently heat the ingredients. The Rueben featured pastrami, swiss cheese and sauerkraut and was satisfying as well.