Thursday, January 29, 1998
Chinese New Year goes Hawaiian at Maui Beach Cafe
RESTAURANT: Innovative theme series highlights multicultural cuisine
By Nerissa Pacio
Daily Bruin Contributor
Normally, the clang of silverware, rise and fall of voices and the manager's music of choice create the rhythms inside Maui Beach Cafe. There is no dancing at this smaller, Hawaiian themed cafe, the latest addition to Westwood's array of eateries, which opened in November. That is, until this week.
"I like to shake my ass," whispered Michelle Peach with a grin as she scooped rice from her bowl to her mouth with chopsticks. She was explaining how it felt to dance as the "dragon's tail end." Peach was one of the three native Hawaiian performers who performed the brief dragon dance at the cafe Monday through Wednesday in celebration of Chinese New Year.
Yup - drum beats momentarily blared amidst the faint (if not imagined) ocean waves and a dancing dragon shimmied between the flower leis. Chinese New Year has come and gone with a (small) bang in this neon splashed, lava-lamp littered cafe and bar - of all places.
As the second celebration in their monthly themed-holiday agenda, the recent Westwood addition celebrated with a special menu and a short dragon dance performance, after having celebrated the traditional Jan. 1st New Year with a cafe party last month. Though the changes in the cafe were minimal for the holiday party, a modified menu and performance added a noticeable change to the regular ambiance.
"In Hawaii, they celebrate Chinese New Year almost as much as they do regular New Year," said Peach, who minutes earlier shook beneath a black, white and red costume throughout the aisles. "There was a big influx of Chinese people to Hawaii."
Keiki Whaley, the dancer who swayed and bopped beneath the dragon body in celebration of his cultural roots, is both a quarter Chinese and a quarter Hawaiian. Whaley recognizes the reasons for the special dance he always observed as a child.
"(The purpose is) to bring in the new year for the Chinese people, to celebrate good fortune and health and the firecrackers ward away evil spirits for the year," Whaley says. "To start the new year off with a bang!"
In addition to the brief bout of entertainment, the cafe was decorated with red balloons (a color signifying good luck) and gave eaters a "Prix Fixe menu" consisting of modified Chinese dishes along, with the regular a la carte menu.
The special menu included: dim sum, crab, roasted corn shui mai dumplings and fish-topped rice cakes. Sides included chilled "long life" noodle seafood salad and Wok-seared scallops with Chinese black beans on cake noodles. Main entrees heralded whole steamed fish with sizzling sesame sauce and crispy fiery shrimp.
A choice of three items from each category rang up at a hearty $37.50, not exactly student-budget friendly (throw in some Japanese sake for about $8 more) - but since servings were fair to generous, this combo can easily suit two people.
Cafe manager Laurie Pesce looks forward to the upcoming theme holiday nights this year. Already the agenda includes a romantic ambiance for Valentine's Day during which menu items will consist of special drinks and pink hibiscus flower dishes and decor.
While some celebrations will center around mainland American holidays such as St. Patrick's Day in March and Father's Day in June, she also wants to maintain the theme of ethnic intermingling.
"We're sort of mixing traditional Hawaiian holidays with traditional American holidays with our Maui Calender of events," Pesce said.
The cafe will celebrate May's Lei Day, during which they will invite community members to make leis, and July's Japanese Obon festival celebrating ancestral roots through traditional food and dance.
Still, while students might be attracted to such themed nights with special menus, mini-performances and a full bar, other Westwood natives come regardless of what is going on, just for the fun of the cafe's Spielsberg Dive-esque aura.
"It's my 10th birthday," said a smiling Allie Gross, who just finished eating with her family after having chosen a dish from the regular a la carte menu.
Bob Gross, Allie's father, added that unknowing of the special New Year night, they came for a simple reason:
"We go here because we feel like we're on vacation."