Though the local food movement known as Hawaii Regional
Cuisine started almost 30 years ago, some of its principal’s are still just as
well known as they were back in the day. For example, if you told a colleague
you planned on sampling the cuisine from a chef named Roy, nearly every
islander would know Roy to be Chef Roy Yamaguchi. Same for that chef named Alan
or Mavro. Over those ensuing years, some of the original “Gang of 12” changed
courses a little with Chef Philippe Padovani mainly known now for his
chocolates or Chef Sam Choy known mainly for his television appearances
creating meals from your refrigerator. Then these are those still active in the
kitchen but perhaps with less notoriety due to their residence on the neighbor
islands like Chef Beverly Gannon of Maui and Chef Jean-Marie Josselin of Kauai
along with Chef Peter. Chef Peter?
Chef Peter
Merriman
Perhaps it’s because he was born and raised in
Pennsylvania or maybe because his initial restaurant was tucked away in Waimea
that Chef Merriman wasn’t a household name like the Roy’s, Alan’s and Mavro’s
of Pacific Rim Cuisine, but over the course of the past decade, we’ve dined at
multiple restaurants associated with Chef Merriman and have always enjoyed the
food, service and ambience.
Okay, I’ll fess up right now. We’ve never sampled the
cuisine at Chef Merriman’s original Waimea restaurant which he opened in 1988.
It’s not that I didn’t know about it or didn’t know where it was located or
even that I wasn’t interested. I actually was very interested in securing a
table for years. It had to do with the location. When we visit the Big Island,
we usually stay on the Kona coast usually at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows
(coincidentally where Chef Merriman got his start in the 50th) and
while an early evening drive up to Waimea – while still nerve racking due to
the narrow lanes and redundant S-curves – can be outright scary at night when
there’s no streetlights and you know those 18-wheelers descend like proverbial
bats out of hell. Yes, I’m sure there aren’t any 18-wheelers making deliveries
at night but add several glasses of wine with dinner and a cocktail or two. You
get the picture.
Years ago, when I attended my first Kapalua Food and Wine
Festival, we decided to dine at Merriman’s in Kapalua. Perhaps it was the table
that overlooked that oceanside deck complete with a firepit, or perhaps it was
the service we received from not just our assigned server but also from General
Manager Brandi or maybe it was simply the food using local produce, proteins
and fruit and the ability to create your own “mix plate”. It was such a great
experience that we returned the next night after the Grand Tasting at Kapalua
for a second round.
Monkeypod and Moku
Kitchen
About 20 years after starting his eponymous restaurant,
Chef Merriman partnered with Handcrafted Restaurants to open several Monkeypod
Kitchen (Wailea, Ko’olina and Ka’anapali) along with the Moku Kitchen in
Kaka’ako which specialize in specialty beer and pizza though they still focus
on highlighting locally sourced proteins and produce. Since Kaka’ako is as
close as “downtown’ gets to Kaneohe, we have visited Moku Kitchen on several
occasions for their great pizzas with 3-day aged crust, Szechuan stir fry green
beans and garlic truffle oil fries. It also doesn’t hurt that you can dine at
Moku Kitchen with your OpenTable cash rewards and if you get there at happy
hour between 3pm and 5:30pm, the cocktails, beer, pizza and several appetizers
are discounted from $2 to $7. Dine on great food and beverages using OpenTable
rewards at reduced prices, Win, Win, Win!
The Original…
Almost
Since we never sampled Chef Merriman’s cuisine in its
original location in Waimea, we decided to pay homage to his newly opened location
in Kaka’ako. We did enjoy our back-to-back meals at Merriman’s Kapalua but an
encore does require a flight for two to Maui. Add a rent-a-car for that long
drive from OGG to Kapalua and staying at any resort in Kapalua will set you
back $$$$. But if we can experience the same in Kaka’ako, well that only
requires a 9 mile drive over the Koolaus.
Merriman’s Honolulu is located at the corner of Auahi and
Kamakee Streets where Pier 1 used to be located. The restaurant is part of the
Anaha condominium complex but DON’T drive up to the valet as it’s only for
Anaha residents. The free parking is located behind the building off of Queen
Street. You can either park on the first floor in the non-descript Anaha
parking lot or simply use the Pier 1/Nordstrom Rack parking which is a short 1
block walk from the restaurant.
The Food
We planned on starting with a round of cocktails but as
you’re seated, the server pours a glass of complimentary Prosecco (Italian
sparkling wine). Once that was finished I selected the Kinako Sour cocktail with Suntory Toki whisky, sweet vermouth,
orange bitters, kinako-maple and
lemon juice shaken with an egg white while the Mrs. selected the No Ka Oi with
local Ocean vodka, Thai basil, lime, honey-lilikoi and it was also shaken with
an egg white. Both cocktails were very refreshing and paired nicely with “Smokin
Oysters” on the half shell, local Kualoa oysters in a shallot-black pepper
mignonette and served under a glass cloche bathing in smoke which added
smokiness to the mignonette but still allowing the rich flavor of the raw
oysters to shine.
We also sampled House Made Bread Taster with sprouted
rye, country bread and buttermilk jalapeno-cheddar drop biscuits with local
Waimea churned butter. I had to keep reminding the Mrs. to save space for
dinner even if all three breads were a great course on their own. We ended our
appetizers with the Tako &
Country Bread – it’s basically Chef Merriman’s interpretation of the classic
French escargot with morsels of tender tako
broiled with the classic garlic and parsley butter – it’s a good thing I saved
some of my bread to dip in the wells of rich garlic butter!
For our entrees, we both opted to do the mixed plate as Merriman’s
offers 10 different selections and you’re allowed to choose the full serving or
half serving of two different selections from 7 of the 10 main courses. I
selected the half portion of the rack of lamb along with the Kona kampachi while the Mrs. selected the
USDA Prime filet mignon and the house made cavatelli pasta with truffle oil. My
lamb was perfectly cooked medium rare while the kampachi was the perfect surf-n-turf partner with a buttery
richness to the earthy, meatiness of the lamb. The Mrs. felt that her rich
pasta course was the perfect portion – any larger and she wouldn’t be able to
finish it – and it was a better starch pairing than potatoes or rice would have
provided. We also shared a side of Fried Yukon Gold Potatoes… don’t tell my
internist but these were fried in beef tallow (rendered beef fat) and tossed
with rosemary, garlic, Parmesan and truffle oil. Just as good as those Johnny
Aloha potatoes served at The Whole Ox Deli back in the day.
I simply finished my meal in usual fashion with a shaken
Negroni while the Mrs. summoned her stomach to stretch just a little more with
the Molten Chocolate Purse. OMG!!! Leagues above your basic molten chocolate
cake with a rich, bittersweet chocolate interior wrapped in what appeared to be
cocoa infused filo dough on a rich caramel sauce served with a side of vanilla
ice cream. No matter how full I am at the next visit, I’m ordering one of these
just for myself. I can always shake a Negroni at home…
Merriman’s Honolulu
Ward Village
1108 Auahi St
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 215-0022
Lunch daily: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Happy Hour daily: 3:00pm – 6:00pm
Dinner Sunday-Thursday: 5:00pm – 9:00pm
Dinner Friday-Saturday: 5:00pm - 9:30pm
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