Dim Sum Day!

Last week I got an invitation in my Facebook mailbox inviting me to an event called "Dim Sum Day". Now if you know me, you know that I absolutely love Chinese food and of all the Chinese food there is Dim Sum is probably at the very top of the list. So after accepting the invitation as fast as I could, all that remained was the countdown to the big day.

Well, today was that day and here are some pictures.

Chinese New Year is less than a month away so the Chinese Cultural Plaza was gearing up for the big holiday

Our restaurant of choice, Won Kee

Matt Kudo was the event organizer. We know each other from church and he's a great guy. Whenever he invites me to anything I always try to accept because he normally does really fun and exciting things. I've never eaten at Won Kee, but have passed it many times on the way to Legends (right next door). Was it as good as Legends? Take a look at some of the pictures.

Richard and Leah sample some of the wares

There were fourteen of us split over two tables

This was a first for me, chicken feet

More food including my favorite, deep fried taro puffs. We also had a sesame roll (the black thing on the bottom) and some sort of look fun wrapped pastry (top left)

Table 1: Irene, Matt, Kacie, Bryon, Grant, Caelly and Mel

Table 2: Matt, Art, Richard, Leah, Steve and Rachel

Overall, it was a great meal. I definitely tried things I never tried before thanks to Art who took over the ordering duties (he did a great job). I didn't realize how many varieties of dessert dim sum were. Congratulations to Steve too. For someone living on this island for 33 years, it was his very first time trying dim sum in a Chinese restaurant. Of course a special thanks to Matt who said he organized this get together because he "wanted to eat dim sum and [he] wanted to eat it with friends". I'm stoked he considers me a friend. Lastly, we all ate until our hearts content and the meal came out to $8 a person. Not bad, not bad at all.

...And Adios Means Good-Bye

The sign that welcomes patrons on Kapahulu Ave.

Well, it's official. The La Bamba era of Mexican food in Honolulu is over. For the past few years La Bambas has been a favorite spot for Keao and I. It's a place where we can get authentic Mexican food prepared by authentic Mexican cooks. A place where the service is friendly, the portions are generous and of course where take out is their specialty (mmm, that's sounds good, I'll have a take out please).

Of course since we heard the place was closing we had to have one final meal there. It was kind of sad knowing that we wouldn't be able to get the best guacamole on the island anymore along with such favorites as the nachos or lamb butaquitos. But I guess at some point all good things must come to an end.

This was truly a sad sight to see...

Apparently we weren't the only ones who heard about La Bamba closing, the line outside was huge!

Some of the other lucky patrons who already had a seat

The restaurant itself is quite small, it probably seats less than fifty, but when you only have one waitress named Dina, I'm sure fifty is quite enough. That night we brought a group of eleven and we took up two tables. We felt a little bad bypassing the line but hey, we had reservations so and we were about to eat some crazy good food so I guess in hindsight we didn't feel that bad at all (plus I had the super-VIP parking too!)

That's Dina in the brown shirt yelling something into the kitchen

Either everyone is really pleased (notice the thumbs up) or they're fighting to see who prays

Some of the authentic Mexican cuisine

Maybe it was the fact that they were closing or maybe it was just hunger, it seemed that everyone didn't hold back when it came to ordering. The popular orders for the night were the chimichanga plate (dos) with beans and rice and La Bamba's oversized burritos.

That's a burrito on the left covered with melted cheese

Ocha-san (Ted) seemed really excited about his burrito (but then again he's always excited about oversized burritos)

Notice how clean Ocha-san's plate is! No need even wash

Uncle David in the kitchen working his magic

By the time we left we were stuffed and a little sad. We're really going to miss this place. Keao and I loved it so much we even had our appreciation dinner here for everyone who volunteered at our wedding. We'll definitely miss the food, the charm and of course the excellent service. Good luck in the future La Bamba ohana and God bless