Cactus Bistro will offer churrasco-style barbecue. --Courtesy photo
COMPILED BY NINA WU / nwu@staradvertiser.com
Ballet benefit at Chef Chai: Chef Chai, Chai Chaowasaree’s new restaurant near the Neal Blaisdell Center, is hosting a benefit fundraiser for Ballet Hawaii on Wednesday.
The Ballet Hawaii Angel Program event includes Chaowasaree’s flavorful dishes and a performance by singer and actress Cathy Foy Mahi.
Dinner is at 6:30 p.m. at Chef Chai in the Pacifica Honolulu building, 1009 Kapiolani Blvd. Tickets are $115; call Judy Muncaster at 521-8600, ext. 3, or visit ballethawaii.org.
Celebrate Carnival: Cactus Bistro in Kailua is celebrating the Brazilian flavors of Rio de Janeiro’s Brazilian Carnival season with special items on its lunch and dinner menus until March 3.
Look for some of Carnival’s typical street foods, including a classic mortadella torta and coxinha (potato and yucca croquettes with sweet or savory fillings) along with churrasco-style barbecue with locally raised beef, pork seafood and house-made sausages.
Cactus will also offer feijoada (stew) and vatapa, which is shrimp and seafood simmered in a spicy cashew and coconut sauce. Wash it all down with a Brazilian sangria featuring local fruits, or a lilikoi caipirinha.
Cactus Bistro is at 767 Kailua Road; visit cactusbistro.com. For more information call 271-1000.
Truffles galore: If you love truffles, here’s your chance to indulge. The “truffles galore” dinner at 3660 on the Rise is on again at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Chef Lydell Leong has created a menu highlighting truffles from Oregon. Dinner begins with porcini seared ahi tataki on truffled dry-land pea shoots, followed by baked oysters and a slow-roasted, truffle-studded New Zealand salmon with truffle “explosion” ravioli.
The main courses are a soy sake-glazed fillet of black cod on haricots verts (green beans) with white truffle nage followed by pan-seared filet of beef tenderloin on truffle buttered linguine.
Dessert is a trio of truffles with Grand Marnier.
Cost is $90 per person at 3660 on the Rise, 3660 Waialae Ave. in Kaimuki. There is no corkage fee for BYOB, and the restaurant is offering 40 percent off its wine list. Reservations: 737-1177.
Afternoon tea: Orchids at the Halekulani hotel is now offering an afternoon tea.
The menu is the same as the Halekulani’s tea service on the veranda. Orchids’ afternoon tea service is also available for large groups celebrating birthdays or graduations.
The Classic Afternoon Tea menu includes an array of tea sandwiches (ham and watercress, cucumber with cream cheese and chives, chicken with horseradish and smoked salmon with lemon cream) along with freshly baked scones, assorted afternoon tea pastries, cakes and a pot of fine tea. It is available for $32.
The Champagne Afternoon Tea includes the classic menu as well as fresh strawberries with cream and a glass of Halekulani’s designer champagne for $49. Add a celebration cake with all of the above for $54.
Fine tropical teas, coffees and wines are also available.
Tea service hours are 2 to 4:30 p.m. at the Halekulani, 2199 Kalia Road. Reservations: 932-2311.
– Email “Quick Bites” news to nwu@staradvertiser.com.