a sybarite in paradise

reviewing the food & entertainment pleasures of Honolulu

 
 
 

Whole Foods

 

O.K. I know, that was the shortest retirement ever. But with Brett Favre & Lance Armstrong doing it, why not me? I couldn’t resist, especially after being yelled at for taking pictures for this post.


Whole Foods opened their first store in Hawaii yesterday at the Kahala Mall. New stores here always attract large crowds and yesterday was no exception. When I went back today with my camera in tow, it was a bit more normal, but still a good sized crowd.


One of the biggest challenges I had to adapting to Hawaii when I moved here 6 years ago was finding the ingredients for recipes I found in Gourmet, Food & Wine and my favorite cookbooks. Over time I found R. Field inside a couple of Foodlands, Kokua Market & Down to Earth. I’ve even gone to Y. Hata the big wholesale food supplier, who also will sell to you retail. In the long run I’ve eventually found most everything I need. Sometimes it takes a trip to three different stores for everything. So, the opening of Whole Foods is wonderful.


 
  











I was thrilled to see so much local produce! The bright orange “local” was everywhere throughout the produce section. In some places they even tell you the farm they come from and a little about that farm. I saw local bananas, baby bok choy, papaya, limes, oh the list goes on and on.


Next to the produce section are all the health and beauty items, including vitamins and dietary suppliments. It was the least crowded area.

There’s an Olive Bar and Charcuterie & Cheese(i.e. Deli) section next.
The fish and meat counters are next on the back wall. Ever wonder what a monchong or opah looked like?
Wines and dairy are around separate the meat from the seafood. There’s also a seafood salad self serve station.
Interesting the way they stock the yogurt.
Smoked meat is next.
Then the meat counter, which includes humanely raised veal.
All around the outer wall continues with food stations with people to cook for you. There was a Noodle & Rice bowl station, a sandwich station, a plate lunch station, a pizza station, a prepared food deli station(where I was told “no pictures”) and the bakery station.

The salad bar is large and there is also a hot bar. All at $8.99/lb.

There's also a chocolate and coffee station, near the registers.


The isles are filled with all the normal Whole Foods goodness and at Whole Foods plus the Hawaii premium prices. It’s not Costco. In fact, a spy from Costco was writing down the price of meat while I was perusing that area. So, get out your big bucks and checkout this smallish Whole Foods Store. If you’re looking for quick and easy meals there are lot of prepared things to chose from all over the store, from chopped veggies to whole meals in a box. 


I’m excited to have Whole Foods to shop at for my last weeks on Oahu. With Target coming, the last couple of stores Oahu needs are Bed, Bath & Beyond and Trader Joe’s.

 

Thursday, September 11, 2008

 
 

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