2011 Hawaii Food & Wine Festival

We went the last night of the three day event.  It was coined "from Mauka to Makai" (from mountain to the ocean).  The food for the most part was really good.   Here’s a rundown in no particular order of what we had and by whom (apologies - the pictures are not good, they're from my phone)

Hawaiian Wild Boar Sausage Garganelle with Pepeiau Mushrooms by Celestino Drago.    This was  one of our favorite dishes of the night (even with the mushrooms).  Very tasty, well balanced.  I would order this on a menu.

Chopped salad with Ribs by Michel Nichan.  The rib was pretty good, the salad was fine as salads go, there was definitely a lot going on, but it was a little on the bland side.    Plus the girl serving  us was a Packers fan.

 Big Island Moi with Pork Belly with Pineapple poi, sea asparagus, hon shimeji and micro shiso by Marcel  Vigneron.  Yes this was the same Marcel from Top Chef fame.  This is actually the second time we have had his food at a festival.  The moi was quite crispy and the the pork belly was pretty good.  Surprisingly there was no foam.  Maybe Marcel is growing up?

Slow cooked Molokai Shrimp and Andouille over baked jalapeno cheese grits by John Besh.  This dish was great – well at least the grits and sauce were.  Sue didn’t like the shrimp (Surprise!)  The shrimp wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the star.  This is definitely something we would order again.

Sue had the opportunity to tell John that her best meal of all time was at Restaurant August.  John looked genuinely happy to hear it and a little humbled.  It’s great when famous people are normal.

Striped Marlin Poke with Tropical Vinaigrette, hearts of palm, Maui onion and lemon balm by Rick Moonen.  Mark and I were really hoping to like this dish, but neither of us did.  It needed more acid and a little salt wouldn’t have hurt either.   There was only one texture to the dish so that made it a little lacking for us as well. 

However, Rick was one of the more personable chefs there and was out “working” the crowd, which made it fun.  Sue told him that he taught her to filet a fish.  He said I did?  Sue said, well, your book did.  He said, Whew, I thought maybe I just didn’t remember.  While his food wasn’t inspiring that night, his personality did make me want to go home and make something else from his cookbook.

Kiawe Wood Smoked Kalua Ranch Beef with Hawaiian Brown Sugar  Rum BBQ Sauce and Wok Fried Kauai Shrimp Tempura by Jeffrey Vigilla.  The beef was pretty good, although not extremely tender.   The shrimp was ok, but nothing great. 

Kona Kampachi with Pearl Tapioca, Vine Ripe Tomato, Shiso and smoked sesame by Michael Cimarusti.  This was a great dish.  We both liked it a lot.  There was a great contrast of textures and great balance. 

 Crispy Shinsato Pigs’ Feet with Hashimoto Farm Persimmon Mostarda and Fred Lum’s watercress.  This was also another great dish.  But it was fried pig – what’s not to like?  The meat was so tender, juicy and flavorful inside of a crispy coating.  This is something we would order again.

Keawe Nui Farms Molokai Shrimp with Sumida Farms watercress, Big Island Baby Abalone and Hamakua mushrooms by Alan Wong.  Sue didn’t partake in this dish.  Mark said it was the best shrimp he ever had.  ‘nuff said.

Braised Beef Cheeks (there’s more to it, but we can’t read the sign in the picture) by Peter Merriman.  These were really good (except for the mushrooms for Sue).   The beef was extremely tender and flavorful.  It was so good, we're going to go back to Merriman's for Sue's birthday

 Hebi Poisson Cru – George Mavrothalassitis.  This was a basically a type of ceviche.  It was okay, but not our favorite.  Sue liked the taro chip.

 Roy’s – forgot to take a picture of exactly what this was but it was very good.  A little spicy with chile noodles with some foam.  This was one of Mark’s favorites.  Sue liked it too.

While we certainly enjoyed the wines, we didn’t really pay too close attention to them.  We were there for the food; to us that was the star.  Some of the ones we enjoyed there included: Justin, Neyers, Au Bon Climat, Tenuta Carparzo, Maison Louis Latour, Gunderloch and Patz & Hall Wine company. 

 There were quite a few things we weren't crazy about regarding the festival - there were no seats anywhere for the "masses" (the VIPs got tables).  There were way too many people in the small space.  It was quite often hard to determine if people we're milling about or in line for food / wine.  We stopped to get wine from a vendor and he didn't have glasses and also didn't know where to get them. 

Considering it was the inaugural year, Sue believes that it would be worth trying again in a few years to give them time to work out the kinks. 

All in all, we're glad we went.  It was a lot of fun to meet some of the celebrity chefs that were there.  The food was fantastic and fresh.  And of course, the weather could not be beat!