We simply planned on staying home over the weekend simply watching TV and sweating. I mean, this lack of tradewinds over the weekend made weather conditions as bad as I can recall... EVER! Air conditioned surroundings sound good but dining out first means a shower and the only thing worse than watching TV and sweating is having a nice cool shower only to exit said shower and immediately start sweating. At least simply watching TV means you're baseline stinky and sweaty. Showering means getting clean just to get stinky and swaety all over again. But the Mrs "had" to get out of the house so we made plans for dinner at MW Restaurant - her actual first choice was to take dinner to the Vino gang furiously working in getting Vino ready for its opening later this month but the GM stated that Sunday was their day off so here we were at MW...
We did start with a round of cocktails including my Cucumber Yuzu Fizz ($12) with cucumber, Calpico, yuzu and Tyku sake... as refreshing as a cocktail gets...
The To Peat Or Not To Peat ($12) with 10 year old Laphroaig, citrus and bitters...
And the Ho Farms Vegetable Punch ($6) with fresh cucumber juice, beet syrup, yuzu, lime and soda... though it was probably closer to $12 since both imbibers requested a shot of gin be added to this original non-alcoholic but now alcoholic beverage...
And we "did" have to start with a bottle of J. Lassalle Rose...
We then moved on to the appetizers including the "Fried Chicken" ($12) with pressed jidori chicken and hearts of palm... I've always enjoyed Chef Ueoka's version of garlic chicken...
The Soy Braised Pork Belly in Bao Buns ($10)... another twist on classic bao...
The Local Mango Salad with chili lime vinaigrette and Ho Farms tomatoes ($10)
And my Hudson Valley Foie Gras Dip with toast points and Hawaiian cacao and raisin chutney ($12)... so rich and satisfying...
Chef Ueoka also comped us the Ahi Nachos (usual $14) with fresh cubed ahi on avocado salsa with both rice and won ton chips... GREAT with Champagne!
I then uncorked a 2011 Kosta Browne Rosella's Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir... still a big boy with classic red fruit concentration and loads of Asian spices...
For the mains including the Miso-Honey Glazed Butterfish ($35) with cucumber kim chi, taegu and watercress salad... I've been meaning to order this dish but always get "distracted" by the specials of the night...
The Mochi Crusted Opakapaka ($35) with somen and yuzu kosho vinaigrette... A co-worker always tries to order the specials of the night but gets "distracted" by this dish and so far has only order this entree after several visits...
The special Pan Roasted Mahimahi ($30) with bacon-uni sauce and Ho Farms green beans... that sauce with a hint of curry was killer on the side of rice...
And my Hawaiian Plate ($27) with porchetta lau-lau and lomi tomato and onion on poi sauce... This dish was THE BOMB! Crispy pork skin with luau leaf and shredded pork balanced by the "salad" of raw tomatoes and onions... If I ever see this on the specials menu again, never mind "distraction" I'm immediately ordering it again!
We then ended the meal with several desserts including the "Floating Island" ($) with a frozen lilikoi souffle and lilikoi sorbet and poached meringue...
This special... (obviously I'm not a big dessert eater)...
Doughnut Holes with chooclate sauce...
This other dessert special... again, I'm not a big dessert eater...
And this Graham Cracker something Meringue which actually was the Mrs' 2nd choice since they ran out of Coconut Cake... wait a minute... it was actually a 6th choice since we did have five desserts...
So basically, five desserts for 3 diners because you know me, I simply end my meal with a Negroni. And at the meal's conclusion, Chef Karr-Ueoka's house made chocolate chip cookies...
Then the staff walks out this humungous Croque en Bouche for a diner's birthday... I'm not even guessin' what this cost...
But again, another spectacular dinner at MW Restaurant. It's nice to know that we still have a back-up to Vino... actually, not a back-up... it's probably earned a spot in the regular rotation alongside Vino... which is slated to re-open later this month...
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