Chef Michael Mina to partner in Ko Olina resort restaurant

Pipipi will be on the menu in November when chef and restaurateur Michael Mina introduces Mina’s Fish House at the Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina.

The tiny black snails that cluster and cling mightily to shoreline rocks amid crashing waves will be served as part of Mina’s re-imagining of the resort’s seafood restaurant on the beach. Now called simply Fish House, the restaurant will close Nov. 1 and reopen Nov. 10 under Mina’s name, the resort announced Tuesday.

Pipipi are common at luau, especially those thrown in rural areas, but are rarely found on restaurant menus, especially as part of a seafood tower that also will feature Kualoa Ranch oysters, Kona Cold Lobsters, Kauai shrimp, opihi from Hawaii island and abalone.

Four Seasons Resorts has entered a partnership with the San Francisco-based Mina Group restaurant management company to re-brand Fish House and develop a new menu. The full Mina menu will roll out in December.

While it will be seafood-focused — with dishes such as butter-basted broadbill swordfish and crisp-skinned moi — the menu will include local beef, such as Paniolo Cattle Co. filet mignon, according to Jamie Law, Mina Group director of public relations, who offered a preview of the new venture.

A signature dessert of strawberry shave ice with fior di latte — a soft, fresh cheese — and 50-year-old balsamic vinegar will be presented tableside.

Some changes will be made to the restaurant’s architecture and decor, an outdoor bread oven will be added and beachside dining expanded.

The Four Seasons property at Ko Olina “is very beautiful and special, the perfect home for a project that I am especially excited about,” Mina said in a statement.

Mina is regularly in Hawaii tending to his Waikiki venues, Stripsteak and The Street, a food hall, both in the International Market Place.

Mina honeymooned in Hawaii and tried four times to open a restaurant here before his Waikiki operations came to fruition. He now owns a home here and can often be seen at his restaurants.

“We are incredibly excited as we take on the next step in positioning our resort as an epicenter for culinary experience in Hawaii,” said Four Seasons General Manager Sanjiv Hulugalle.

The executive chef for Mina’s Fish House is yet to be named. The chef will work alongside General Manager Rebecca Lane and Martin Knaubert, recently promoted to director of food and beverage from executive chef.

The current Fish House staff will transition to the Mina restaurant, according to Yvonne Hunter, the hotel’s director of public relations.