SPORK…the best invention ever!

Pig sourced from Pat’s Piggery in Waianae. LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL!

Odds and Ends: Headcheese, paté, chicharrones, and giblets.

Chili pepper vinegar, lime salt, whole grain mustard, and pickled champagne grapes, YUMMM!

Lindsey and I in PORK heaven!

1st Course: Trotter fritters, pickled pork ears, and bitter greens.

2nd Course: Pork Shoulder Ragu, gnocchi, broccoli rabe, sage.

Most tasty palate cleansers EVER! PERFECT alongside the pork preps.

3rd Course: Crispy Pork Belly, watermelon, yuzu, rakkyo.

4th Course: Pork and Beans, roast loin/leg, green/white beans, jus.

5th Course: Mango Sorbet Shortcake, leaf lard, ginger creme fraiche.

Have you ever SEEN one of these in a flatware set?! So RAD!

When I was forwarded the email invitation to “Spork” I had to pinch myself.  I’ve had a few exciting conversations with local chefs and foodies about underground food projects focused around local, seasonal, and sustainable ingredients.  I did think that it would be a while before something like this actually happened.  The dinner of about 40 was a mix of foodies, industry folk, journalists, chefs, and pioneers in the local and sustainable food movement.  A kind couple opened their home to us and the view of Manoa Valley was breathtaking.  Everyone was encouraged to bring beverages to set at a shared drink station and the vibe was accordingly familial.  Everyone there knew that they had something in common, what exactly that was became less important than the opportunity to share a unique experience.  Our table consisted of an Executive Chef, a radio show host/foodie, a mixologist/foodie, a former Alan Wong’s Pastry Chef, a Sustainable Fish Buyer, and a Taro Cultivator.  What a happy family we were chatting about food ties restaurant gossip…until the food began to come…..and it was AAAAHHHMAZING.  Seriously.  While dishes were washed in between courses, food was put out quickly and  incredibly fresh just like a professional kitchen.  These guys were the business and that became clear immediately.  The volunteer servers were more than great and every dish seemed to serve the highlighted section of the pig that it represented on the menu, thorough justice.  They had thought of everything, the fried skin was given chili vinegar and lime salt to season it and the pickled champagne grapes were no accident.  They went beautifully with almost every dish helping to cleanse our porked palates.  Some of the dishes introduced me to textures I was less familiar with.  Infact, I think on the only plate that I didn’t lick clean, there remained pickled pig ear.  My favorite dish was the crispy pork belly with watermelon.  The skin was thick and incredibly crispy while the meat beneath was tender and juicy.  Cooked to literal PERFECTION!  The raw cilantro on top I actually averted in preference of the cilantro puree underneath the dish.  It tasted as though the cilantro had been blanched to take the woodiness out of it, the toned down cilantro flavor was really harmonious with the dish.  The rakkyo and watermelon added a refreshing contrast to the oily belly as well as lent a complimentary texture to the dish that made the whole plate out of this world.  This dinner is one of the coolest, most delicious, and most inspirational gastronomical experiences I have ever had the honor of attending here in Hawaii.  I hope its only the very beginning.