Benjamin Henion

I have the luxury here on Maui, to buy my fish from the fisherman rather than from a large company. We have many licensed  fisherman come to the kitchen, often at odd hours, with fish they caught only hours before. Most of the time they come straight from the water to the restaurant, eliminating the middle man and the time it may sit in the fish companies refrigeration. In the islands we get some of the freshest fish in the world, that on the mainland has to be shipped overnight, then distributed to the fish companies, before being fileted then sold. My point is, the fish I'm getting is as fresh as you're going to find.

The restaurant has been known for comfort food for awhile, and chicken and waffles was one item almost always on the menu. I will admit, the previous version was rather boring, so I removed it completely to rethink the dish. I decided to do a BLT version of chicken and waffles for a special and it was a hit. Chances are likely it will make it on the new menu, coming soon. This BLT consists of a southern spiced battered and breaded chicken thigh, maple lacquered and peppercorn crusted applewood smoked bacon (my favorite part), fava-maple aioli, kamuela tomato and baby iceberg lettuce in between 2 Belgian style, crispy waffles. I served it up with sweet potatoe French fries. It was a hit.

This was the special the other night, and it went over well. I blackened the Ahi with Cajun spices then sauteed andouille sausage, onions, fingerling potatoes and mushrooms. The honey-lime butter is garnished with Chili oil and the fish is topped with fresh roasted bell pepper and grilled Maui onion guacamole.

This giant pork shank is one of the newest additions to the Joe's menu. I serve it with fresh fava beans, both cheddar and purple cauliflower, baby romanesco, hericot verts, roasted tomatoes, and corn shoots. A smoked pork jus give the dish a serious burst of flavor and really rounds out the flavors of this summer time dish.

Here is a shot of my house grown baby lettuces. I have a nice variety of red and green romaine, tango, mizuna, baby arugula, and green oak leaf lettuces. There is nothing like a salad made from lettuces picked just minutes before!

Tonight's special turned out really nice. We brought in some good looking fresh monchong caught locally off these Maui shores. I served it with fennel and watermelon radish slaw, seasoned with fresh squeezed lime juice, white coral Hawaiian sea salt and keiffer lime leaf. The citrus red quinoa turned out really nice and compliments the mango butter nicely. The Chile oil adds a touch if heat to round off the flavors in the dish. It was well received by our diners tonight.