Mari Taketa

Dining Editor

Dining Editor Mari Taketa spearheads coverage of the city’s dining scene for HONOLULU Magazine and its digital food blog, Frolic Hawai‘i. A 10-year veteran of traditional journalism, she traded in a career at The Associated Press in Tokyo and Hawai‘i Business Magazine for nonprofit adoption work in Ho Chi Minh City. Food brought her back to journalism, starting with Metromix Honolulu, The Honolulu Advertiser, Hana Hou and now HONOLULU. She is also excited by travel and periodically attempts to learn new languages.

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Articles

Oh yum! Discovering Chinese food

I know nothing about Chinese food. I grew up deadened to it by years of Chinese takeout, the knee-jerk resort of a busy mom who ordered beef broccoli and cake noodles every time she was too tired to cook. Given…

Local foodie: What you have to eat

I know locals who don’t eat raw fish. Another friend won’t eat fish if their heads are still attached. Another won’t eat pork because she thinks pigs are cute. And don’t get me started on people who won’t eat papaya,…

New eats: Morimoto Waikiki

Morimoto Waikiki ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 27 By Mari TaketaNonstopOpening night for Morimoto Waikiki, and it's Masaharu Morimoto's latest moment to shine. A Michelin star for his Tokyo restaurant, another restaurant newly opened in Napa in July,…

Fave okazuya finds

Fave okazuya finds ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 25 By Mari TaketaNonstopA childhood memory: It's early morning, air is cool and cars fill the streets. Field trip today, so there's a frozen can of juice in my backpack…

I’m sorry

I’m sorry.If you’re in line at a taste-and-sip event and a short Japanese woman with wild hair flapping over her eyes cuts to the front and photographs your dish while you stand there giving her stink eye, I’m sorry.If she…

Did this: Taste at Kapolei

Taste at Kapolei ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 33 By Mari TaketaNonstopEleven years already, Taste at Kapolei? Where have we been? Your grassy knolls overlooking dreamy lagoons, white tents beckoning as far as the eye can see, and…

Blow by blow: The real story behind fun

When you see the pics from the epic Nonstop Honolulu launch party, I want you to know that it was fun. Total, no-holds-barred, unabashed fun. For me, at least — I wasn’t covering it.This weekend I will be covering a…

Pizza revisited: This time, the ranking

A week ago, after arduous and weighty research, I came out with my Top 5 picks for best pizzas in town. Listed in alphabetical order according to where I found each pizza. Which, apparently, was confusing.I get that. It’s a…

No sympathy

Twenty-seven pizzas in two weeks: That’s what I ate to research one food gallery.Ask me about the others. Laulau? Fifteen plates from Waipahu to Waiahole. Decadent sandwiches? Twenty-two, and I would’ve killed for an apple. Best eats at Maunakea Marketplace?…

Did this: Salute to Balut contest

1balut ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 9 By Mari TaketaNonstopChee hoo! Awesome turnout at this growing street festival last Saturday. This year's Taste of Kalihi has expanded out of the Savers parking lot to take over the entire…

Best pizzas in town

Pizza: a quest ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 16 By Mari TaketaNonstopAll pizza, all the time. Twenty-seven pizzas in two weeks I tried, and that doesn't count the ones already committed to memory. In all, the total was…

Did this: Mango Throwdown at the Moana

Tree to Table — A Mango Throwdown ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 34 Balmy night, end of summer, heart of Waikiki: 17 of the island's best chefs converge on the Moana Surfrider with their best mango dishes.For what?…

New eats: Honolulu Burger Co.

Here's the beef! ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 17 By Mari TaketaNonstop HonoluluHello? Right across from Times on Beretania, in the old Mekong restaurant space, new signage announces the Honolulu Burger Co., established 2010. July 29, to be…

Did this: Joy of Sake

August 19: the muse strikes ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 21 By Mari TaketaNonstop HonoluluThis soft summer's eveWe'll sip in rising raptureO joy of sake! — Photo by Ed Morita jQuery(function($) { new NggPaginatedGallery('dfca1765c7c9b0a4049383def8621351', '.ngg-imagebrowser'); });

Did this: Pacific Palisades bon dance

A bon dance where? ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 13 By Mari TaketaNonstop HonoluluWhoever heard of Rissho Kosei Kai? Seriously, who?Well, it's a Buddhist temple way up in the hills above Pearl City, and we hear they have…