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Quick Bites: Salt, Five Star, Du Vin, Vino

The first course of Salt Kitchen & Tasting Bar's new dinner menu is a charcuterie board. --Salt Kitchen & Tasting Bar
Wine & Swine: Salt Kitchen & Tasting Bar has a new dinner series, Wine & Swine, with a first event, “Hog Heaven,” scheduled for Tuesday in its private dining room.
The first course is a charcuterie board with house-made pickles and beet-lavender mustard, followed by Lyonnaise salad; a “Fancy Ham & Cheese” including confit pork belly, milk bread and gruyere cheese; and Shinsato Farms “Roasted Leg of Swine” with root vegetables.
Dessert is a “Chocolate Bacon Terrine” with candied pig ears and lardo ice cream.
Each course is paired with European wines by Danny Kaaialii from various regions of France, Spain and Italy.
Chef Quinten Frye will host a five-course, nose-to-tail eating experience in the “Wine Room” on the last Tuesday of each month.
The special dinner is $65 at Salt, 3605 Waialae Ave. in Kaimuki. Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, and only 14 seats are available for this dinner; reservations are required at 744-7567.
Five Star offerings: Five Star International Buffet at the Royal Hawaiian Center has added prime rib and snow crab legs to its nightly offerings from 5 to 10 p.m.
The buffet is also introducing a line of new drinks to its specialty cocktail menu using fresh fruits — including the 1953 Mai Tai, the Original Blue Hawaii and new Raspberry Sunset, which is a mix of Grey Goose vodka with fresh muddled raspberries, island-grown pineapple and lime juice.
Dinner buffet is $48 for adults and $24 for children ages 5 to 12 (free for children 4 and under); lunch buffet is $19 for adults and $12 children ages 5 to 12. Discounts available for kamaaina, military and senior citizens.
Happy hour is also available daily from 2 to 5 p.m. as well as from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. During both happy hours, specialty cocktails, draft beers and wines are half-price.
Five Star is on level 3 of Building C at the Royal Hawaiian Center; 380-9300 or www.fivestarwaikiki.com.
Summer Barbecue: Brasserie Du Vin’s next beer dinner pays homage to summer barbecues with a four-course meal paired with beer.
Start with grilled oysters and a pickled shallot relish paired with Samuel Adams Verloren Gose, followed by guava-glazed pork belly, Kahuku corn pancake and wilted kale salad with Lost Coast Alleycat Amber.
The third course is Korean barbecued flank steak, sauteed broccolini and green tea sticky rice with Mehana Tsunami IPA.
Dessert is a red-white-and-blueberry terrine paired with Rogue Double Chocolate Stout.
Cost is $50 at Brasserie Du Vin, 1115 Bethel St. Reservations recommended: 545-1115.
BYOB Dinner: Vino’s next Ultimate BYOB Dinner is Saturday, with a Mediterranean-inspired menu from chef Keith Endo, to be paired with lighter, fresher summer wines.
The menu includes grilled, marinated tako (octopus) served with red wine risotto and haricot verts (green beans), intended to go with a lighter, rustic Mediterranean red.
Next, there’s roasted “crackling” island pork tossed with local tomato, onion and arugula salad that would go well with a dry rose or lighter red wine.
Enjoy homemade linguine next, tossed with Sumida watercress puree and topped with fresh island fish jun (really out of the box for Vino), which is well suited for Rieslings.
Dessert is a chocolate-pistachio cannoli.
The meal is $46 at Vino inside The Waterfront Plaza (formerly known as Restaurant Row), 500 Ala Moana Blvd. Reservations: 533-4476 or email villiers@dkrestaurants.com.
– Compiled by Nina Wu. Email “quickbites” news to nwu@staradvertiser.com.







