Benjamin Henion

We began offering our Ocean Side Dining recently, and found Valentines Day to be the first of many. We had two couples decide to enjoy their evening eating our 7 course wine paired dinner just feet away from the ocean. Tiki torches are the romantic lighting as the sun sinks into the water, and the food keeps coming. Nestled into a cozy ocean side grass roofed huts, our couples or small groups enjoy an intimate culinary experience. With both couples wishing for the night to never end, and one of the couples buzzing from the excitement of becoming engaged during their special evening, I see the popularity of this dinner choice growing quickly. I have attached the menu below, giving a glimpse of what the ocean side dining offers.

Here is our Mongolian ribs happy hour dish. Hawaii is expensive. $6 pupus are a steal out here, and we have a decent selection to choose from. These ribs are braised with the ginger, citrus, chile flavors absorbing into the meat as it begins to fall off the bone. Once we are ready to serve the dish, we add the Mongolian BBQ which has hoisin , sweet Thai chili, teriyaki and cilantro to please your palette . The dish is lightened up with pineapple coleslaw and garnished with some green onion.

These 13/15 prawns come from the island of Molokai. I stuffed them with a mixture of snow crab, bacon, bell pepper and fresh chives. I then poached the prawns in white wine, butter, garlic and shallots, finishing them in the salamander to give the stuffing some color. A small salad of a blend of micro greens grown in Kula , Kamuela tomatoes grown in Haiku, and a nice shallot vinaigrette accompany the four prawns. The dish is finished with lemongrass buerre blanc , made with lemongrass we have in our (currently small) hotel garden. This appetizer will be our special for the next couple nights, giving the Valentine weekend goers a nice local start to their dinners.

We are looking to bring in some new dishes to the resort menus, and here is one we are currently working on. It is our house smoked salmon app. This one is a flavorful, colorful, and light appetizer. It has well rounded flavors, and great eye apeal. Our salmon is cured over night in a pretty standard sugar, salt and spice blend. After it has been rinsed thoroughly the following day, we cold smoke it with nice kiawe (light mesquite). It is served with a fresh mango pico de gallo, kaffir lime cilantro puree, chile Hawaiian rock salt, and Molokai Purple Sweet potato chips. Although it may change some before hitting the menu, this is not a bad starting point.

Check out the video on Maui Aquaponics above, or follow the Maui Aquaponics link for a larger version.

Here are the local, organically grown lettuces that were grown here on Maui ( Kapalua ) specifically for our hotel. These photos were taken Thursday and were being served in our restaurants Friday morning. These are the same lettuces from the previous post, now being harvested. I believe its about every 4-6 weeks that the lettuces are ready to harvest, and with virtually no travel time to get here, its as fresh as you are going to find.

As our resort transitions into a whole new operation, our Culinary team is in for a great ride. With many food trends, you see things happening in the food world that are cool, unique, and yes, of course trendy. The molecular gastronomy, the meals that require dozens of tiny portions, the fads that practically wipe out entire species like Chilean Sea Bass. One of the more recent ones, I don't think is going to fade out or disappear like many of its previous trends. Local ingredients, grown organically, and where the chef has a more intimate knowledge of where his ingredients come from. With many vendors I have dealt with over the years, this is the first time I have ever had them send me photos of the products I intend to buy, as they are growing so delicately on the hillside overlooking the Pacific. This photo was taken 4 weeks ago, and I was delighted to see the beautiful lettuces arrive today. This is the first step in a direction for our resort that I believe is just a brush s...