Mari Taketa

Honolulu

Managing Editor at Frolic Hawaii

Digital Dining Managing Editor at Honolulu Magazine

Foodie, writer, traveler, editor. And yes, that intense. http://t.co/HvmieUZvwA

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Articles

Sooper Secret’s à la Carte Izakaya Pop-Up With Bar Maze Sold Out in Minutes. More May Follow

2 weeks ago | honolulumagazine.com | Mari Taketa

Ricky Goings isn’t promising, but à la carte fast food from two James Beard Award semifinalists would be hard to resist. Maze Mondays have been a thing since last fall. The one-night collaboration dinners pair Bar Maze chef Ki Chung and his crew with local guest chefs, with tickets often selling out in minutes. The first, with The Pig & the Lady’s Kristene Moon, sold out in 20 minutes. Last month’s, with Hyun Kim of O’Kim’s Korean Kitchen, filled up in an hour.
Hide Sushi Offers a Notable New $120 Omakase (and Yes, It’s Hidden)

2 weeks ago | honolulumagazine.com | Mari Taketa

Hide Sakurai’s latest eatery combines traditional sushi with AYCE dessert. Honolulu’s newest omakase is aptly named Hide Sushi—first, because it’s hidden, and second because it’s the latest opening by restaurateur Hide Sakurai.
4 New Korean Restaurants Opened in Honolulu in 12 Days

1 month ago | honolulumagazine.com | Mari Taketa

If you think that pretty much every other new restaurant you’ve been hearing about is Korean, you may be right. We stumbled on this four-Korean-restaurants-in-12-days phenomenon while researching for the next roundup of New & Coming Restaurants (coming soon, promise), a newsworthy enough nugget to merit its own coverage.
Foodflash: Pint + Jigger’s Dave Newman Moves on to Finals of 2025 James Beard Awards

2 months ago | honolulumagazine.com | Mari Taketa

Newman is up for a new national James Beard award for outstanding cocktail professional. The James Beard Foundation released its shortlist of candidates vying for the country’s top food and beverage awards today, naming Dave Newman of Pint + Jigger as the sole Hawai‘i candidate still in the running. Newman was one of nine Island restaurants and food and beverage professionals selected as semifinalists in January.
New Latin Foodscape: Guaiqueri’s Venezuelan Empanadas

2 months ago | honolulumagazine.com | Mari Taketa

tktktk Editor’s note: This is part two of a five-part story from HONOLULU’s April issue exploring Honolulu’s new wave of Latin restaurants. Peruvian Corner | Guaiqueri | La Casita | San Paolo Pizza & Wine | Mercado de la Raza Launched from Spain centuries ago, empanadas crossed oceans—to Italy and North Africa, the Philippines and Indonesia. In Central and South America, where they permeate virtually every country, countless variations evolved.
New Latin Foodscape: All In, Brazilian-Style, at San Paolo Pizza & Wine

2 months ago | honolulumagazine.com | Mari Taketa

Editor’s note: This is part four of a five-part story from HONOLULU’s April issue exploring Honolulu’s new wave of Latin restaurants. Peruvian Corner | Guaiqueri | La Casita | San Paolo Pizza & Wine | Mercado de la Raza “I’m all in,”Andre Alves de Moraes says. “If I’m not gonna do it the right way, it’s not worth doing at all.” He’s at San Paolo Pizza & Wine, the 170-seat restaurant he and two partners opened last year where Ala Moana Boulevard curves toward Waikīkī.
New Latin Foodscape: A Central American Gateway at La Casita

2 months ago | honolulumagazine.com | Mari Taketa

Editor’s note: This is part three of a five-part story from HONOLULU’s April issue exploring Honolulu’s new wave of Latin restaurants. Peruvian Corner | Guaiqueri | La Casita | San Paolo Pizza & Wine | Mercado de la Raza Tucked between Arby’s and Elena’s Home of Finest Filipino Foods, La Casita is O‘ahu’s best gateway to Central America. The menu is an abbreviated tour of a region whose seven countries cram an isthmus of 1,140 miles, about the distance from Seattle to Los Angeles.
New Latin Foodscape: The New Generation at Mercado de la Raza

2 months ago | honolulumagazine.com | Mari Taketa

Editor’s note: This is part five of a five-part story from HONOLULU’s April issue exploring Honolulu’s new wave of Latin restaurants. Peruvian Corner | Guaiqueri | La Casita | San Paolo Pizza & Wine | Mercado de la Raza Things you’ll find at Mercado de la Raza:$1 bottles of TajínPaçoquitas Brazilian peanut candyColombiana La Nuestra sodasPiñatasPrayer candlesVitacilina ointmentMercado de la Raza is where you go when a recipe calls for fresh nopales, gandules or Colombian sour cream.
Niu Soft Serve’s Hot Kūlolo Sundae Is Its Top Seller

2 months ago | honolulumagazine.com | Mari Taketa

Textured like smooth lava, thick and caramelly, the star of Niu Soft Serve’s hot kūlolo sundae pools around a creamy swirl like a warm, luxuriant lagoon. It’s a boon and a bane. ‘Aiku‘e and Kekahu Napoleon-Ahn, brothers who co-founded the tiny vegan dessert shop in Mō‘ili‘ili, wanted a signature item that would speak to their Hawaiian heritage and draw locals to their coconut-based swirls.
New Latin Foodscape: At Peruvian Corner, a Backyard Oasis of Sabor

2 months ago | honolulumagazine.com | Mari Taketa

Honolulu’s Latin foodscape has long belonged to its Mexican restaurants, reliable go-tos for burritos, fajitas and free-flowing margaritas. Change here was inevitable—craft taquerias started proliferating more than a decade ago, followed lately by regional Mexican food specialists. Throughout, an even bigger sea change has gone largely unnoticed: Roughly two dozen South and Central American eateries have set up around O‘ahu, the vast majority without fixed storefronts.