Hawaii Kai Cookbook 1970

Hawaii Kai Cookbook by Roana and Gene Schindler 1970

I bought this a while back and have just now been delving into this awesome find. It is chock full of recipes of the famous now defunct Hawai Kai in Manhattan. It's got everything from their restaurant and bar menu as well as diagrams showing how to fold egg rolls and bone a duck. The color plates are also quite amazing. I see this book all the time for cheap on Ebay and thought I'd share just in case it was flying under the radar (this is the first post about it). I think a few paragraphs from the acknowledgements sum up what a treasure trove it is..

" Our Deepest gratitude to Joe Kipness and Irving Karter, owners of the Hawaii Kai Restaurant for giving us carte blance to use the extensive facilities, incomparable menu, festive drinks,and the famous name of the restaurant.
Master Chef K.K. Pang or, as he is affectionately call by the staff, Haku Billy Pang-the "gentleman" in the kitchen; the organization genius who supervises 14 chefs and produces over 10,000 meals per week.
Manny "Blackie" Andal, chief mixologist who, like all Island bartenders, jealously guards the secrets of his native concoctions, but nevertheless contributed them to our book.
Kaz Yamashita of Orchids of Hawaii International, whose first hand knowledge of everything Hawaiian was invaluable."

Thanks for the info . . . I just reduced Ebay's current inventory down to only one copy because I bougth the other!

I bet you feel more like you do now now than you did when you came in.

GH

[ Edited by: GentleHangman 2007-08-19 13:45 ]

There's several copies available at Amazon.

Reprint available?
Here
Not sure if it's the same book but I would think so because Gene was the Ex. Chef at the Hawaii Kai or something like that.

On 2007-08-20 13:03, TikiJosh wrote:
Reprint available?
Here
Not sure if it's the same book but I would think so because Gene was the Ex. Chef at the Hawaii Kai or something like that.

I took a peek inside and yes it's the same.

I just ordered a copy of the 1970 edition on Amazon for $1.00 plus shipping.

this is a great tiki cookbook. i have a reprint copy which I read constantly, just for the tiki kitsch. the authors are pretty chatty and there is a lot of background info thrown in with the recipes. i must admit i haven't had the urge to actually make anything from the book, the recipes are mainly old time cantonese-american. man what a sight the hawaii kai must have been, ukulelebaby's pictures on the other threads are really something. too bad i wasn't in nyc in '89.

if anyone is interested in real hawaiian native recipes, i recommend either volumes (I/II) from tamar panee's E Ho'olako Mau. they are out of print and scarce, and hard to come by, so can get pretty expensive if you can even find one. my friend rachel laudan's food of paradise is also a great one.

Cool, I love cookbooks, I'm gonna have to check it out.
Incidentally, I was leafing through my old 1963 Good Housekeeping cookbook and had a couple of interesting recipes:

Cake: Baba Au Rhum
Dessert: Bali Hai
Side Dish: Polynesian Rice Mingle
Veggie: Jamacian Yams

things are kinda crazy right now with the site launch and the bambina (not to mention the day job). when i get a chance i'll do reviews and some photos of tamar panee's books and rachel's book. in the meantime, if any needs recipes for a 20 person luau complete with how to dig the pit and sew up the stones inside the pig, pm me, the panee books has diagrammatic instructions!

[ Edited by: tikiauction 2008-09-15 14:41 ]