The Whole Experience

Whole Foods Market: light on taste, heavy on good karma

"GOOD, BUT NOT EXCITING: Whole Foods’ Ahi Alaea Poke is pretty much salted raw fish."

For the longest time, my wife and I were convinced that we had shopped at a Whole Foods Market somewhere on the Mainland. But as the grand opening of the giant natural and organic food retailer’s new store in Kahala grew closer and the anticipation started to build, we realized that we had read all about Whole Foods, talked incessantly about it, even driven by and admired the storefronts of several different stores, but we had never actually stepped inside of one.

Shortly after our first visit, during the grand opening weekend, I realized why Whole Foods seemed so familiar to me. It’s destination retailing. It’s atmosphere, it’s attitude and it’s all about the experience. It’s like when I visit a Starbucks, I feel a little more hip than I am. At a Barnes & Noble, I’m a tad smarter and at an REI superstore, I’m fitter and a whole lot more coordinated.

As I meandered through Whole Foods’ gleaming food court, marveled at the wondrous poultry case and gazed upon the cornucopia of organic produce, I felt all of those things and virtuous as well, because I was about to buy things that were not only good for me, but good for the planet.

Actually, feeding our son dinner — not saving Earth — was the first thing on our minds that evening. And Whole Foods Market, with its never-ending counter of prepared foods, is perfect for us in that regard, because the three of us have such different food requirements. My wife went right for the pizza bar, where they charge by the pound ($8.99-$11.99). My son visited the Asian corner, where we picked up a Hot Udon ($6.40), and I just wandered, picking out Ahi Alaea Poke ($13.99/lb.), Sweet Chili Ahi Poke ($13.99/lb.) as well as a Volcano Roll ($12) and a Pineapple Rainbow Roll ($11.45).

Back at home, my son wolfed down his udon, making eating sounds the whole time. I sampled a few remaining noodles, which were OK, probably from a package. But the broth was rich and had layers of savory, fishy flavors. My wife enjoyed her turkey sausage pizza but wasn’t overly impressed. I took a bite of that, too, and I agreed. The thin crust was still crispy. The sauce had a good salty edge to it and the Kalamata olives, meaty and not overly brined, were superior.

My poke was good. Of the two, I enjoyed the sweet chili better. The sauce had a smoothness that was a contrast to the bite of the sliced onions. However, it could have used a bit more chili and a little less sugar. Not much heat at all. The alaea poke was fine but unexciting. To me, one of the joys of alaea (red sea salt) is sprinkling the stuff yourself. Since it was already applied and fully incorpo- rated, the poke tasted pretty much like salted raw fish.

I was disappointed with my two specialty sushi rolls. The volcano roll was pretty, featuring crab meat, ground ahi and cucumber inside and slices of bright-red ahi on the outside. But with bland flavors and not much in the way of texture, there was nothing explosive about this volcano. The pineapple rainbow roll was even more of a dud. With thin slices of pineapple wrapped around a roll with a cucumber and chicken katsu center, the roll scores a few points for originality. But the white-meat chicken was just too dry and just stifled the rice around it. Even the tangy tonkatsu/mayonnaise sauce couldn’t save the roll.

All in all, we were underwhelmed by the experience. When it comes to saving the world and ourselves, we’ll shop at Whole Foods. When we have to eat out, we’ll probably go to other destinations. 

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