We had the pleasure of introducing our East-meets-West cuisine to a new community, and to use the incredible produce, meat and dairy (especially the dairy!) from local farms in Wisconsin. Huge thanks to the UFC, Glass House & Bradbury’s for making this happen, and for contributing far more to this menu than it may seem. Here’s what we cooked:

Menu

Lamb, Mint & Cilantro Soup Dumplings

Kidney & Organ Confit Steamed Buns with Pickled Carrots & Hot Mustard Mayo

Smoked Chicken Wings with Korean “Buffalo” Sauce & Fermented Tofu “Blue Cheese” Dressing

Snug Haven Frost-Sweetened Spinach Salad with Soy-Bacon Vinaigrette, Candied Kumquats, Lardo and Tea Leaf Eggs

Homestyle Udon Noodles with Duck Sausages, Pickled Shiitakes & Black Pepper Meat Sauce

Sassy Cow Sweet Cream Ice Cream with Apple & Candied Ginger Tempura

homemade udon, duck sausages and pickled shiitakes piled high

steamed buns with kidney & organ confit

Korean hot chili “Buffalo” wings

spinach salad with kumquats and tea leaf eggs

The dinner received a lovely write-up from a local reporter from the Daily Page, whom we did not even know was in attendance. So rather than sum up our thoughts on the courses, we’ll let her review do the talking, as it so thoroughly describes them as well as captures the friendly, social atmosphere that we’ve always enjoyed ourselves at dinners hosted by the Underground Food Collective. Cheer

Our collaborative dinner will be hosted by the Glass House Supper Club at Bradbury’s on February 28th. It will be a cozy, intimate six-course dinner and tickets are now available for it here. Once in Wisconsin, we’ll be sourcing our food from local farms that UFC and Glass House has established great relationships with, as well as the Saturday Farmers’ Market in Madison. We can’t tell you how excited we are to bring hapa flavors to a new region, and new, local foods, just like UFC has been doing each time they cook in Brooklyn. (Above photo: from Underground Food Collective’s winter dinner held at the Meat Hook, January 17th.)

Next stop in Madison, we’ll be serving a big group dinner for about 100 members of the Slow Food University of Wisconsin chapter. Slow Food UW has been holding Monday Family Dinner nights each week for a while (along with a host of really great sounding events – see their blog), with guest chefs often coming to create the menu and serve.

Speaking of which, those menus are still in the works and we’ll be posting more info here soon. In the meantime, you can also catch the Hapa Kitchen at the book launch party for co-founder Cathy Erway on February 18th. We’ll be making some of our favorite “hapa tapa”-style snacks, revamped for just the occasion — some ideas tweaked from recipes in Cathy’s book, The Art of Eating In, and others just off-the-wall nods to all flavors half-Chinese/half-New Jersey, like the author herself. At least, I think that’s what Akiko is up to on this… Get your tickets for that foodfest here!

Hapa Harvest
A collaboration of the Hapa Kitchen at Whisk & Ladle Supper Club
Friday, October 16, 2009
8pm

Canapes
Wonton Skin-Wrapped Mini Quiches with Napa Cabbage and Chevre
Oyster Havemeyers with Absinthe

“Boulliabasse” with Dashi, Baby Carrots, Tofu and “Seafood”

Lobster Gratin with Fingerling Potatoes, Gruyere
(vegetarian option available)

Hapa Nicoise with Baby Tatsoi, Peppercress, Arugula and Tea Leaf-Stewed Eggs

“Scallop” Sponge Cake with Carrot Syrup and Raw Chocolate “Caviar”

If some of these menu items sound mysterious, it’s true, there’s a lot more to them that we’re keeping a surprise. (You can imagine the difficulty we’re having putting this menu in words!)

Wines will be paired with each course by the dear funnyman, Jonny Cigar of the Noble Rot wine club. Specialty cocktails will be shaken up at the bar by Nick. Our vegetables will be sourced heavily from The Lone Acre farm, a sustainable, organic, one-acre farm operated by one man, Dan Machin, on the North Fork of Long Island. We will probably serve some “Hapa Jacks” (popcorn and peanuts with a sweet soy glaze) at the bar.

Dinner contributions are $60, which includes five courses, wines and unlimited cocktails. The Whisk & Ladle is located in Brooklyn, and exact location and address will be announced with your reservation confirmation email. We regret that seats are very limited for this dinner, so if you do not receive a notification we are unable to seat you at this event. Please note that the dinner begins at 8pm and dessert is served around 10:30pm. To reserve a seat, please write to rsvp@thewhiskandladle.

(What’s on the plate, above: roast pork with coconut adobo sauce, black sesame, purple basil and seaweed-studded rice, heirloom pepper and cherry tomato macaroni salad, apple, kohlrabi and carrot slaw, and some cabbage and red pepper kimchee. Not shown: grilled eggplant loco moco vegetarian option. All vegetables from Garden of Eve organic farm. Pasture-raised pork from Tamarack Hollow Farm. Sixpoint provided beer for dinner.)

photo: Josh Wand

photo: Jesse Chan-Norris

photo: Jesse Chan-Norris

photo: Jesse Chan-Norris

photo: Joe DiStefano

photo: Joe DiStefano

Now that we can cross “hosting whole pig roast” off of our list of life goals, we’ll be taking a short break before announcing the next seasonal dinner event. Aloha!

It’s almost here, the Hapa Kitchen Luau, with the fabulous Finger on the Pulse DJs. With Brooklyn’s own Sixpoint Craft Ales, local organic vegetables from Garden of Eve Farm, and pasture-raised pork from Tamarack Hollow Farm.

Menu

Roast Suckling Pig Adobo

Eggplant Loco Moco
vegetarian/vegan option (no egg)

sides:
Pepper Mac Salad
sungold and cherry tomatoes, sweet hungarian peppers, italian frying peppers

Kahuna Kohlrabi, Apple & Carrot Slaw
purple basil, sesame

Frankie & Annette’s Kimchee
(all courses subject to change)

$10 gets you your choice of one main course and all three sides, plus a pint of Sixpoint. Specialty cocktails (the Hapa Tai) for extra $ at the bar. Leis not guaranteed — come with your own!

Oh, where did the summer go? Hapa Kitchen has been busy making “hapa tapas” for a couple private rooftop and beachside parties. But we’re back in Brooklyn, and teaming up with our friends Finger on the Pulse and Mean Red Productions again for a Hawaiian-inspired menu and pig roast at The Yard!
We can think of nothing more hapa-licious than this; the term “hapa” after all originates from Hawaii, and though we’re not all Hawaiian, we’d certainly like to be beach bums sipping from coconuts on the colorful islands about now. Thank goodness there’s always the Gowanus!

Menu is still shaping up, but we’ll be bringing it back to the homeland with Hawaiian favorites like macaroni salad but with a local and seasonal twist. There will be succulent pastured swine from Tamarack Hollow Farm that we’ll roast in a traditional Chinese-Cuban (“La Caja China“) box, sides with organic vegetables provided by Long Island’s Garden of Eve Farm, and Brooklyn’s own Sixpoint Craft Ales will be pouring their latest brews. Specialty cocktails with umbrellas, you bet.

A more detailed menu will be coming up in the next week, but in the meantime here’s the info:

Isn’t it hot out? We’re excited to mesh the foods of two cultures who are very good at handling that: Indian (with other South Asian inspiration), and the Caribbean. Set in a yoga studio with a live music performance before and after dinner, here’s a glimpse at the dinner in the works (date TBA).

Local Fluke Ceviche
with Kaffir Lime Juice, Red Onion and Chilies in Crisp Wonton Cups

Fresh Zucchini and Bean Masala Salad

Indian “Cubano”
with Spicy Carrots and Cucumber Chutney

Jerk Chicken
with Kaffir Lime and Rainbow Swiss Chard

Roasted Jersey Peaches
with Ghee, Gur and Freshly Cracked Seeds of Paradise

Canapes: Sweet and Savory Chickpea Flour Pancakes

with vegetarian options available

Last Tuesday we hosted a late-June dinner for thirty in a quaint Brooklyn apartment. French and Chinese fusion was the theme of the meal, with duck from D’Artagnan, local organic veggies from Sang Lee Farms and wines from Wolffer Estate Winery. A recipe for one of the canapes is at Not Eating Out in New York, and a recap of the night at The Feedbag.

Our hapa community of cooks, eaters, helpers and friends is growing. We had an incredible crew to thank for making the event a wonderful time for all, especially our hostess who gave up her home for a day. Many thanks to Kate Lauber from Wolffer Estate and Jennifer Lee from Sang Lee who offered a talk about their family’s work before the dinner. Special guest appearance/dishwashing help by Ken Tanabe, founder of the mixed-race celebration Loving Day. Here’s photo stroll by Jesse Chan-Norris:

duck liver mousse on rice cracker canapes

Jennifer Lee of Sang Lee Farms (also a hapa!)

torching the red bean creme brulee desserts

five-spice duck confit puff pastry turnovers (served with Sang Lee Farms’ Fred’s Red Pepper Jelly)

Shanghai beauties postcards with menus written on backs

some of the real beauties
(more photos at our Flickr photostream)

Au revoir, and zai jian to Paris of the East for now, and we look forward to serving more dinners soon. A teaser of upcoming events in the works:

-A South-Asian dinner at a yoga studio with a class before dinner
-A Hawaiian luau outdoors
-Hapa Tapas (and cocktails) on a roof
-A Japanese-American dinner with karaoke afterwards

Please be sure to sign up for our mailing list to receive notices to RSVP for future events, as they are first-come, first-serve.

Menu
(subject to slight changes)

Five-spice duck confit turnovers with Fred’s Hot Pepper Jelly
Duck consomme “exploding” ravioli/dumplings with chilled cucumber soup
Seared duck breast with “drunken” butter sauce and baby bok choy
“Sang Lee” spring salad with crisped duck skin and plum vinaigrette
Red bean creme brulee

The meal will feature naturally raised duck from D’Artagnan, local organic produce from Sang Lee Farms, and will be paired with wines from Wolffer Estate Vineyard. We are most delighted that Jen Lee from Sang Lee Farms and Long Island neighbor Peggy Lauber of Wolffer Estate will be joining us at the table for this event.

Drinks and canapes will begin at 7pm. Please inquire at contact@hapakitchen.com with “RSVP” in the subject line if you would like to reserve a seat.

We’re still recovering from all the cooking, but thank everyone for coming to the Hapa Kitchen BBQ at BKLYNYard! Village Voice has the scoop on what was served, and check out the photos by Nicky Digital.

Some 600 people came through the gates that sunny Saturday evening, and our 250 dinner tickets sold out within the first hour. Our hosts for the event, Finger on the Pulse, the Yard and Nicky Digital, could not have predicted the turnout, and neither could we! We’re just happy everyone who paid got to eat.

a plate in the process: curried potato salad with rosemary and chickpeas with Vietnamese pork meatballs on a bun

“Buffalo” tofu skewers in Korean chile sauce (to be served with a silken and fermented tofu “blue cheese sauce”)

all photos by Lia Bulaong; see more at our Flickr photo pool

Everyone on the Hapa Kitchen team outdid themselves feeding the masses. We had some new hapas on board and friends pitch in however possible, and essentially, an amazing time. Feedback tells us that the Vietnamese-style meatballs were something special (served with nuoc cham-soaked carrots, Chinese hot mustard and five-spice ketchup at the condiments table), and folks seemed to enjoy the Asian twists on barbecue classics like the hoisin chipotle baked beans, honey miso coleslaw and curry rosemary potato salad. Our next event will definitely be on a smaller scale, but we’re excited to get cracking on another hapa-esque menu. Details coming soon!

the event poster