Premium Pick | Arancino at the Kahala

Since the restaurant’s opening four years ago, chef Daisuke Hamamoto has been able to differentiate this location from its Waikiki siblings by wowing diners with an upscale experience. He’s been able to merge Italian tradition with 21st-century invention, technique and ingredients, resulting in a luxurious, progressive Italian menu.

Technical precision can be off-putting when approaching a cuisine associated with a people who bring as much love and passion to a table as they do to life. Even with all the right ingredients, textures crunchy, velvety or pillowy in all the right places, I felt a sense of restraint. Maybe it would measure a minor .01 or .001 percent, but I felt there was more magic that I had yet to see.

Over time, that magic has been revealed as the chef has hit his stride. Recent menu additions have been looser, warmer and more soulful, though no less sensational. There is always the joy of trying something new here, such as scallop chips, or “fish nets” fashioned from squid ink that accompany Acqua Panza (Crazy Water), a dish of poached branzino and clams simmered in a broth of olive oil, anchovy and capers.

For heavy appetites, the bistecca alla Fiorentina is a 32-ounce tomahawk steak, prepared sous vide, then grilled, with arugula, truffle mashed potatoes and triple-crunch mustard.

Crowd pleasers from the original menu also remain, such as bagna cauda (crudite with warm anchovy dip) and sous vide A5 Miyazaki wagyu sirloin.

General Manager Alessandro Bolla, who hails from Piedmont, helps bring the soul of Italy to the restaurant in his interactions with guests. Tales of his mother’s cooking inspired the addition of a Piedmont classic bonet, an intoxicating chocolate and amaretti custard, to the dessert menu.

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Kahala Hotel & Resort, 5000 Kahala Ave.; 380-4400. Lunch, dinner. $$$$

Maru Sushi

Some people love their work too much to retire. Takeshi Kawasaki is one of them. The Hokkaido-raised Michelin chef retired to enjoy golfing in Hawaii, but found that only so much time can be spent in one pursuit. Not content to stay idle, he’s started a second branch of his Maru Sushi bar, while his son runs his original restaurant back home.

Inside the Honolulu restaurant you’ll have an intimate audience with the chef in a 647-square-foot space with an L-shaped counter that seats nine. There are two seatings per night for omakase dinners priced at $180-plus. For the money, you can expect about six appetizers and about 14 pieces of nigiri sushi.

You can also expect to see delicacies from the waters of Hokkaido, including sweet sea urchin, amaebi and some of the earliest types of sushi seafood eaten in Japan, such as nakazumi (small kohada) and hamaguri (cherrystone) clam.

You might catch Kawasaki staring at you. In traditional style, he matches the morsels to mouth size, so that each piece can be devoured in one bite. Woe to those with opu out of proportion to tiny lips.

Don’t be surprised to see the room flooded with emotion, with moments of moaning and gasps in between minutes of quiet reverie, such as when contemplating the elegance of chawanmushi with gingko, mushroom, chicken and shrimp, topped with mitsuba and bafun uni. Even seasoned sushi eaters may find themselves introduced to something they may never have tried before, such as salt-cured uni with the texture of a velvety cheese and concentrated uni flavor.

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1731 Kalakaua Ave., Waikiki; 951-4445. Dinner. $$$$

Katsumidori Sushi Tokyo

In Tokyo, Katsumidori is known for its menu of 100-yen (roughly $1) nigiri sushi options. Here, the cost of real estate and running a business makes $1 sushi impossible, but Katsumidori still delivers on value, which makes it a hot spot day and night. Diners arrive early just to put their names on a wait list.

The lure is nigiri sushi with slices — no, slabs — of fish three times the length of typical nigiri around town. Whether you’re ordering sets or a la carte, you’d come pretty close to $2 or $3 per piece, which by local standards is a steal when also factoring in the quality of ahi, hamachi and other sushi bar favorites. The prices offer a layer of defense if you’re the type who gets carried away when ordering a la carte.

Hedonists will take pleasure in buttery engawa, broiled extra fatty tuna or broiled salmon with miso. Most decadent is Golden Sushi of ahi topped with uni and gold leaf ($8 per piece at time of writing).

For the sake of Instagram feeds, the most picturesque of offerings is the dragon roll of eel and Sriracha aioli, with the dragon chasing a ball of tuna and salmon poke layered with avocado.

The well-rounded menu includes sides from chilled tofu and delicate seafood chawanmushi to such hot and fried fare as shrimp and vegetable tempura, grilled fish, french fries and fried chicken. Hot pots are also available in the evening.

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Hawaii Prince Hotel, 100 Holomoana St.; 946-7603. Lunch, dinner. $$$