Post #539765 by Ekomomai on Tue, Jun 29, 2010 4:22 PM

I'm making an attempt to get a DYI thing going here in the northwest.

My one big complaint about Polynesian-themed restaurants has always been their food. I like Chinese food, to be sure - but what about Polynesian food? What about the traditional cooking of Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa, New Zealand, and the other islands? When I go to a restaurant for a Mai Tai and hear Hawaiian music, I don't want Cantonese or Szechuan food.

The point was made earlier that most Americans don't have a taste for taro root, breadfruit or lime-marinated fish. I'd agree with that. I'll add that there's not a lot out there (that I'm finding, anyway) in terms of traditional Polynesian recipes.

I won't go into the whole notion of "what constitutes traditional Polynesian" since it's well known that over the centuries many different culinary influences have made their way into Polynesian culture.

However, my thought is that even with a lack of American-palate-pleasing Polynesian recipes to work from, it is possible to craft a menu of Polynesian dishes that are based upon the foods and spices and cooking methods that would have been available to the islands (up until, say, the 19th century) AND have them taste really good. Different, exotic, but still appealing to the western tongue.

I'm hoping that coming up with Polynesian-inspired dishes in this way will help to revitalize the tiki restaurant biz - and allow me to launch my own. Being a pretty much broke engineer by trade without a lick of restaurant experience to speak of, I know I'm hoping for a lot... but I gotta try.