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NEW MOON RISING . . . The Year of the Ram will charge in today at Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants and hotels all over the island and continue intermittently through Tuesday.
Look for a special section produced by Chelsea Duncan and Jere Shimomura in today’s main news for more details about Chinese New Year festivities at Maui Mall and other places.
Here are a few other items that trickled in and may be of foodie interest. The Seascape Ma’alaea will ring in the new year with Chinese lunch specials from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. today.
Chef Henry Tariga will fill char-siu bao with chicken, steam and serve it with hoisin sweet-chili sauce, cilantro and scallions. His entrees are shrimp Szechuan with snow peas, peppers and onions over soba noodles; and sesame chicken. Cool off with lychee sorbet and fresh fruits.
Today at Panda Express locations on Maui, all diners will receive red envelopes or “lai see,” with gifts of “good luck” inside. Do order the egg rolls, which resemble gold bars, a symbol of wealth and prosperity; and noodles – for longevity.
Join the Na Hoaloha Ekolu restaurants on Friday for traditional lion dancing with mouths snapping, cymbals crashing and lots of martial arts, too.
Come to Na Hoaloha’s Leoda’s Kitchen & Pie Shop in Olowalu for Chinese food and fun at 11:30 a.m. Friday, followed by Aloha Mixed Plate at 2:30 p.m. and Star Noodle at 8 p.m. The latter two Na Hoaloha eateries are in Lahaina.
Want all you can eat of Chinese cuisine? Makena Beach & Golf Resort will present a buffet on Saturday featuring suckling pig with Szechuan peppercorns, roast duck, dim sum and more. . . Ka’anapali Beach Hotel will kick off what it calls “The Year of the Goat” on Sunday with salmon in black-bean sauce, star-anise braised short ribs and pot stickers at its tempting buffet. Lion dancers will bite at 9 and 11 a.m.
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CELEB SIGHTINGS . . . Who loves old, syndicated sitcoms? Barry Williams (aka Greg from the “Brady Bunch”) arrived on Maui the other day and called the real life brother of Marcia Brady. His name is Mike McCormick, and he runs the Best Buddies Hawaii program and is a longtime resident of Wailea.
“Barry called me and wanted to visit his favorite place in Kihei,” says McCormick. He invited me and my wife, Hella, to Kihei Surfside Deli, where he sang songs with the ukulele-playing, Friday-night crowd. Barry said his fresh ahi dinner was the best he ever had.”
After closing, Barry helped to mix things up in the kitchen with owners Johnson and Victoria Young and their guest fish chef, Henry Pascher.
It’s already been reported that Anthony Bourdain and his crew of “Parts Unknown” on CNN filmed on Molokai. Now word is starting to get out that Maui will be part of the program, when it airs in about six more months.
Word on the street is that Bourdain was treated to a luau at the Wailea home of Shep Gordon (movie star and agent) and about 60 people attended. Gordon also is partner in MiGRANT and Mala Wailea and its chef, Sheldon Simeon, cooked with farm-fresh foods provided by James Simpliciano of Simpli Fresh farm.
It was a big imu celebration with roasted pig, pounded taro and an awa ceremony, and Willie K sang some songs. Spotted were Kris Kristofferson and chefs Mark Tarbell and Peter Merriman.
Bourdain also went pig hunting, watched whales, toured a kalo patch with Hokuao Pellegrino and practiced jiu jitsu Upcountry, while visiting here.
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BITS AND PIECES . . . Check out the Dine and Shop special in February at the Outlets of Maui mall in Lahaina. Basically, you get four hours of free parking in the lot with validations at restaurants there, which include Hard Rock Cafe, Pi Artisan Pizza, Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Warren & Annabelle’s.
The newly rebranded ULU Market in the former Rodeo General Store in Kihei will have a grand-opening party from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday with breadfruit samples, music by Marty Dread, and drawings for gift cards and more.