This past Sunday, the P&L crew had the privilege to get a tour at Manulele Distillers to check out how Kō Hana Agricole Rum is made. The latest venture of our former bar manager Kyle Reutner, this specialty rum made from heirloom sugar cane was very impressive. It is meticulously crafted from farm to bottle, growing single varietals that are hand harvested, pressed to juice and then distilled to perfection — resulting in one of the world’s finest pure cane rums.
Kyle walked us through the distillery process from cane to bottle, and it was not only an education but it was so cool to see such high standards in production and ingredients held in very high regards, all done in our backyard. Oh, and the tastings were awesome too! And of course, it is not a P&L staff outing without it ending with an epic barbecue!
Thanks to Kyle and the team at Manulele Distillers for being amazing hosts. We are proud to be carrying their product in our bar and if you want to go on your own tasting tour on site, head over to the official website for more info.
In the meantime, we have a big catering gig (perhaps our biggest one) next week with the grand re-opening of Nordstrom in Ala Moana Shopping Center. We plan to serve about 10,000 small plates, so if you’re attending the event, say hi!
As for farmers market, we are on our regular schedule:
Wednesday, March 2
Blaisdell, 4pm - 7pm
Thursday, March 3
Kailua, 5pm - 7:30pm
Saturday, March 5
KCC, 7:30am - 11am
Mama Le specials for this week’s farmers market menu include the following:
#MamaNoodle
MIEN MANG GA — poached chicken, shiitake, bamboo , glass noodle
#MamaBanhMi
PORCHETTA — crispy pork belly, house sambal, shoyu pickled cucumber, smoked onion, hue-style beef au jus
#MamaRice
JAMAICAN “Jerk” CHICKEN — dry rubbed jamaican style chicken, grilled to perfection
As always, the full menu is over at the Farmers Market Menu page.
Finally, meet our new pastry chef Gino Ojano! He’s actually been with us for awhile, working under the tutelage of our former pastry chef Rachel Murai, who moved to the mainland to join her husband. As the smiling face and bubbly personality behind the #PIA dessert bar, everyone loves Gino! He has taken over the reigns and has been promoted to head pastry chef and we're super excited to have him segue into a role that will still provide continuity to the current menu, but also provide him opportunity to take it into new directions as well. Check out this video that gives a snippet of his pastry philosophy!