Local flavors dot menu of new Turtle Bay site

With the opening of North Shore Kula Grille at the Turtle Bay Resort, the sustainable, Hawaiian regional movement veers even more specific with an attempt to focus on produce procured from the North Shore, though generously augmented with ingredients from Maui to Hawaii island.

It’s the "kula" part of the name that gives pause because it’s so closely associated with Upcountry Maui, but the name refers to the midland between mauka and makai, and it is the kula lands, primarily used for agriculture, that have inspired the restaurant’s menu.

The farm-to-table restaurant uses 75 to 85 percent local ingredients, including seasonal produce picked from farms a few minutes away, seafood sourced from local waters, and meat and poultry raised on small-scale Hawaii farms and ranches.

The new restaurant takes the place of the former Palm Terrace/Leonardo’s restaurant as part of the resort’s multimillion-dollar renovation to be completed by fall. The space is casual, opening to a view of the resort pool and beautiful bay. Snag a window seat if you can. A door from the restaurant to the outdoors allows diners to step outside and snap a few photos while waiting for dishes to arrive.

Tables are set with a huge bottle of Hawaiian chili pepper water in addition to the usual salt and pepper. At dinnertime guests are greeted with complimentary cornbread served with a side dish of heavenly honey butter. The light-crumb bread had little to bind it together, crumbling like a sand castle with a single touch, but I liked the airiness that made it feel as if you could indulge in this treat and still have room for the rest of the meal.

For diners demanding more transparency and control over what they’re eating, the menu meticulously credits its sources, so you know that its harvest salad ($8) includes North Shore and Kula baby greens, Kahuku cucumbers and Twin Bridge Farms asparagus, and its Kula beet salad ($12) is filled with red and golden beets from Kula Country Farms, with Kahuku watermelon, Maui Surfing Goat cheese and a Meyer lemon vinaigrette.

The baby greens and lettuce are so soft and tender, appearing to have come straight from a garden, in a lobster salad ($18) accented with four pieces of Kona lobster, Kau orange slices, Sumida Farm watercress, Kolea Farm avocado and a perfect light shallot-thyme dressing that doesn’t detract from the fresh flavors of the greens.

As an option to a classic ahi poke ($13), the restaurant offers the vegetarian option of taro poke ($12), which works with the same blend of soy sauce, green onions, Kahuku limu and Maui onions.

There’s a light touch as well with a short rib hot pot ($26), a fancier name for a basic braised short rib stew that includes Maui onions, carrots and fingerling potatoes.

But the highlight of the menu is pork belly ($25) that is braised until tender, then grilled for a divine blend of melty fat and charred crispness. It’s served over kabocha, Sumida watercress and confit of Maui onions.

From the sea there’s sauteed Hawaiian kampachi ($29), which is plain on its own, but dressed up with a disparate medley of Hauula tomato butter, sea asparagus pesto, Waialua asparagus and Ali’i mushrooms in a chance-’em approach to what might work.

What did not work was a dry and plain alaea-roasted half chicken ($25). The only thing the dish had going for it were sides of couscous and salad of kale, carrots and teardrop tomatoes tossed with Maui onion and bacon. As with the fish, it’s an example of how, while it’s commendable to promote local food, piling the plate with disparate ingredients comes across as gimmicky and is not a substitute for infusing a dish with balanced flavors.

Stir-fried Kolea Farms kale, apple wood bacon and Maui onions are also available as a $5 side dish, along with other sides such as baby spinach sauteed with garlic and truffle cream, and button mushrooms sauteed with herb butter and Parmesan.

Grilled Kauai shrimp ($27), Hawaii Ranchers steaks ($32 to $36) and vegan charcuterie ($24) of mushrooms, tomato, corn, spinach, hearts of palm, kabocha and more round out the entree list.

If you’re hungry for dessert, there is a lilikoi tart ($7) or wild Kula strawberries ($8) with macadamia nut ice cream, making the locally sourced journey complete.

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Nadine Kam‘s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.