A pu pu platter is a tray of American Chinese or Hawaiian food[1] consisting of an assortment of small meat and seafood appetizers. The Thrillist called the pu-pu platter "an amalgam of Americanized Chinese food, Hawaiian tradition and bar food."[2]
The pupu platter was probably first introduced to restaurants on the United States mainland by Donn Beach in 1934.[1] It has since become a standard at most Polynesian-themed restaurants such as Don's and Trader Vic's.[3][4] The earliest known print reference to a pupu platter served at a Chinese restaurant is from 1969.[5] Later, other types of restaurants used "pu pu platter" to describe an appetizer combination platter.[n 1]
In the Hawaiian language, pū-pū denotes a relish, appetizer, canapé, or hors d'oeuvre; it originally meant "shell fish', but also referred to small bits of fish, chicken, or banana relish served with kava[8]
and beans.
Since the introduction of commercial dining and drinking establishments in Hawaii, pūpū were, and remain, standard fare in island establishments.[n 2] An establishment that serves "heavy pupus" will often have a buffet table with warming trays or warming tables full of chicken, tempura vegetables, shrimp, poke (cubed and seasoned raw fish), small skewers of teriyaki meat or chicken, sushi, and other similar finger foods. An establishment that serves "light pupus" usually will offer only the cold foods such as poke, sushi, and vegetables. Some establishments will serve pūpū to the table.
At Hawaiian bars, restaurants, catered events such as political rallies, and private parties, establishments and hosts are known in "local" circles by the quality of their pupus. Event invitations often will state that "light pupus" or "heavy pupus" will be served so that attendees will know whether they should plan to have a full meal before the event or not.
At the height of the tiki bar craze during the late 1950s and early 1960s, the New York Herald Tribune published several articles concerning the opening and the ambiance of one of the first Hawaiian-themed restaurants in New York City, Luau 400, on East 57th Street. At the time of the restaurant's opening in 1957, pu pu platters were considered a part of the luau feast.[9] A typical platter at this establishment would have included baked clams, rumaki, Shrimp Vela (battered fried shrimp with coconut), chicken wings, egg rolls, spare ribs, or Javanese sate (satay) on skewers.[10] The appetizers were served on "a Lazy Susan made of monkey pod wood and equipped with a little stove fired with charcoal briquettes."[9] Recipes for some of the pu pu items were later published in the Herald Tribune in 1960.[11]
Always the showman, Trader Vic included a hibachi grill when presenting a pu pu platter at the table.[9] Others say that the idea could have come from Donn Beach.[12] No one can agree, but everyone else appeared to have copied the idea.
By the twenty-first century, the tiki bars and the flaming pu pu platter had become a dying art. Some tiki bar aficionados have created lists of tiki bars in the United States in which a flaming pu pu can still be found.[13][14]
At one 21st-century tiki bar, the pu pu platter includes "Samoan deviled eggs, Chinese sausage and stick[y] rice arancini, coconut shrimp and chilies stuffed with pork sausage."[15] As bar food, a pu pu platter at a 21st-century New York City brasserie could include French escargot, grilled cubed tropical fruits (such as pineapple), fried pierogies or American-style barbecued ribs and wings.[2]
In Italian restaurants
Italian restaurants in New England may offer "Italian pu pu platters". Depending on the establishment, the platters may contain only appetizers, such as mozzarella sticks, meatballs, sausages, lasagna sticks, and calamari;[16] or they may contain small portions of different pasta dishes, such as spaghetti, lasagna, manicotti, and ravioli.[17][18][19]
^Unlike in American Chinese cuisine or mainland Polynesian-themed restaurants (like Trader Vic), the Hawaiian dish is referred to simply as pūpū or pūpūs, without the word platter.
^Krummert, Bob (November 2002). "Tiki not so tacky". Restaurant Hospitality. Vol. 86, no. 11. p. 15. ISSN0147-9989. ProQuest236842977.
^"Ad for a Chinese restaurant on Long Island and their 'flaming pu pu platter'". The New York Times. July 18, 1969. p. 14. ProQuest118613566. 35, Sun Ming, Huntington. Cantonese Cuisine. Flaming Pu Pu Platter. Our House Banquet Dinner. Op. 7 days for lunch, din. & cocktails. Private room parties. Free park. Amer. Exp., Din. Club. 2 miles W. of Rte. 110 Jericho Tpke. & Round Swamp Rd.
