AlwaysPartying: Hapa Kitchen Luau at Brooklyn Yard

Arthur Bovino & The Hungry Goat — August 31, 2009

Top, $10 Roast Suckling Pig Plate with Kahuna Kohlrabi, Apple & Carrot Slaw and Basil-infused Rice. Bottom left, rain-defying Brooklyn Yarders. Spit-roasted suckling pig from Tamarack Hollow Farm.

It may have rained on Friday evening but it was still a great night for outdoor eating at Brooklyn Yard (view site) on the Gowanus Canal. The event was a luau hosted by Hapa Kitchen (view site), the supper club co-founded by Akiko Moorman and Cathy Erway (author of the food blog, Not Eating Out in New York). The club is named for the Hawaiian word for “mixed-race,” which is generally used to describe anyone of part-Asian descent. “We’re trying to give our what ups to Hawaii,” noted Moorman.

 

Pete Freeman and Akiko Moorman preparing suckling pig. Right, a “Hapa Tai.”

They were also trying to use only local, sustainable produce. Drinks included beer from Brooklyn’s Sixpoint Craft Ales, and “Hapa Tai’s,” Hapa Kitchen’s Mai Tai rendition, complete with pink umbrellas. Organic vegetables, like the heirloom cherry tomatoes included in a Pepper Macaroni Salad, were from Garden of Eve Farm. But the luau’s highlights were the two 40lb pasture-raised, suckling pigs and pork butts from Tamarack Hollow Farm, which were cooked on a spit and in La Caja China boxes.

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