TGIFR!DAY | APRIL 11, 2014 | 5
Top left: Owners of MCS Grill (from left) Macklin Valenciano, Chimes Lauama and Shaylin Parker-Valenciano. Top middle: David Pacanas with a bowl of Oxtail Soup. Top right: Isaac Favro prepares Kauai Shrimp Scampi. Bottom right: The Vegetarian Trio is an appetizer that is as filling as a meal. Below: Hawaiian Chili Peppa Fried Chicken with Fried Saimin and rice.
The Vegetarian Trio ($9), an appetizer that’s large enough for a meal, includes crispy tofu sushi rolls, Asian bulgur meatballs and curried brown rice and diced red bell peppers loaded into lettuce cups. The letters MCS represent the name of the owners, but because everything is made from scratch, it could stand for Major Cooking Skills. On Mondays, Macklin serves Oxtail Soup ($11.95). A knobby bone loaded with succulent chunks of meat floats in a star anise flavored house-made broth; tendon and connective tissue are rendered tender and creamy. Tips of canned bamboo shoots were boiled twice and thinly sliced before they were added along with shittake mushrooms, cabbage and rice noodles. Local ingredients are used whenever possible, even in homemade, non-alcoholic drink specials ($5 with free refills), which include a fizzy P.O.G Spritzer with ginger syrup and fresh rosemary. Other specials include Malaysian lime, ginger, longan, lychee or passion fruit. Grass-fed beef, from the
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS IN THE HEART OF HANALEI BAY
Westside’s Makaweli Meat Company, is used in the cheeseburger ($9), mushroom and swiss burger ($11) teri burger ($11) and loco moco ($10), which is served with homemade gravy. Plate lunch comes with a choice of white or brown rice and a tossed green or mac and potato salad. Heads and tails are left on Kauai shrimp scampi ($15). Six Kekaha-raised shrimp are seared and fanned across a pile of fettuccine pasta that’s flecked with mushrooms and drenched in cream. Thai salad ($14) piles strips of grilled sirloin or pan-
seared tofu on a bed of greens that are dressed with a tangy, homemade peanut sauce. “We’re trying to offer vegetarian and healthy options without taking away from the locals,” says Shaylin. “You can still get your pulehu steak and your cheeseburger and your healthy wife can have a grilled mahi salad with our homemade passion fruit vinaigrette!” MCS Grill, 1-3529 Kaumualii Highway in Hanapepe is open from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. Info: 431-4645.
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