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Every now and then you’ve got to get off the old rock. Mark and July Ellman, owners of two popular Lahaina restaurants, Honu Seafood & Pizza and Frida’s Beach House, avoided island fever when they traveled to Greece a while back for an epic yoga sojourn.
Coming up, the Ellmans will sponsor the adult Halloween Costume Contest at 6 p.m. Oct. 31 as part of the world-famous Halloween in Lahaina festivities, aka “The Mardi Gras of the Pacific.” Campbell Park opens at noon selling official T-shirts. The 40th annual Keiki Halloween Costume Parade, led by the Lahainaluna High School Marching Band and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Lahaina, struts its stuff at 4 p.m., and there will be food galore. Check out the $1 oysters during happy hour at Fleetwood’s on Front St. For more details, call Sne Patel at LahainaTown Action Committee, 667-9175.
Even yours truly leaves “the rock” once in a while. My husband invited me on a recent business trip to Seattle, where we savored Pacific Northwest cuisine and enjoyed the mild, cool climate.
Noodles pulled us into the new Momosan Seattle in the international district. The fine-dining ramen, duck tacos and yakitori are all masterminded by Masaharu “Iron Chef’ Morimoto, who also has an eponymous restaurant at Andaz Maui at Wailea.
The San Juan Seltzery Taproom, Kitchen & Bar just opened at SoDo Urbanworks with TVs for catching the games, a play area for kids and a patio with a fire pit and Adirondack chairs, and all-day pub fare like oysters and burgers with fries.
We also checked out the brand-new Bar Taglio on First Avenue, chef Brendan McGill’s highly anticipated Roman-style bar and pizzeria, just steps from his Cafe Hitchcock.
A modernist art deco tower, Hotel Theodore was the tallest in Seattle when it opened as the Roosevelt Hotel in 1929. Today its restaurant, Riders, pays homage to President Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. Executive Chef Daniel Mallahan nails the “dining fine” menu of local peaches, fresh burrata, spiced pecans and marigold blossoms, and Coho salmon with kale gnocchi, chanterelle mushrooms and Kitsap County bee pollen vinaigrette.
Mina Group manages more than 40 restaurants on the mainland and in Hawaii. I first met Michael Mina at the old Maui Prince Hotel back in the 1980s. We dropped by his RN74 on Fourth and Pike. The Columbia River king salmon amandine with charred Romano beams, tomato “raisins” and watercress was off the charts in taste and texture.
“I was raised in Washington state, and therefore RN74 Seattle has a huge place in my heart,” Mina emailed me. “I love being able to take advantage of the incredible Pacific Northwest ingredients and produce that RN74 has access to in its own backyard.”
Those heading to Oahu may want to check out his “Whiskey & Wagyu” event Tuesday at Stripsteak Waikiki benefiting the Hawaii Children’s Cancer Foundation. For tickets, go to sevenrooms.com/events/stripsteak.
Salish Lodge & Spa at Snoqualmie Falls, 30 minutes southeast of Seattle, delights with stunning views from The Dining Room restaurant. At breakfast, servers pour honey from the lodge’s own hives with great flourish, with hand held high overhead, onto buttery, house-made biscuits that are complimentary. At dinner we enjoyed hen of the woods mushroom tempura, local cherries, smoked hazelnuts and garden flowers; and Washington Manila clams with Spanish chorizo, Calabrian chili and oregano. A multicourse honey-tasting menu is available for $99 per person.
“Honey is a quintessential part of the Salish experience,” said beekeeper Daniel Sullivan. “It all started with a four-hive apiary on the hillside overlooking the lodge in spring 2011, and our efforts have since tripled. We now produce 2,400 pounds of honey per year.”
FILIPINO FOOD ON THE MENU
Back on Maui, Filipino culture and cuisine were well represented at last weekend’s Maui Fil-Am Heritage Festival at Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center. Winning the Master Pinoy Chef Cook Off was Abby Ferrer of Star Noodle and her team of chefs, who prepared a kamayan entry, a Filipino finger-food feast presented on a bed of banana leaves. She will do a similar Kamayan Dinner at Star Noodle on Nov. 12. For prices and reservations, call 667-5400.
Sponsoring the cook-off was Mama Sita’s mix and sauce company in Manila. “We started small 30 years ago,” said Mama Sita President Clara R. Lapus, whose products are now in 45 countries. “We targeted the export market right away so Filipinos can eat foods of their homeland anytime. Our Labuyo bird’s-eye pepper hot sauce is in 32 countries.”
Lovers of Filipino food can also look forward to Jollibee, a Philippine fast-food franchise that is opening an outlet at Maui Marketplace in Kahului. Signage is up and employees are being hired.
EAST MAUI EATS
Maui offers its own travel and food adventures for those who like to stay closer to home. Trek to Hana for 2019 Festivals of Aloha events all week. From 5 to 9 p.m. Friday at Hana Bay, check out the Ulu Cook Off sponsored by Kahanu Garden, which grows hundreds of varieties of breadfruit. (It was also recently featured on “Gordon Ramsey: Uncharted” on the National Geographic channel.)
“We will also have a lei and floral contest here at the garden at our brand-new visitors center,” said Kahanu Garden Director Mike Opgenorth. “It’s a big thing for our community and our garden, as it will be freshly open.”
Don’t miss the ulu demo by Mama’s Fish House executive chef Perry Bateman and watch the poke and pohole contests. A $5 donation gets you three sample plates. For more details, call 248-8912 or email kahanu@ntbg.org.
It just goes to show that while many of us do get “rock fever,” there’s always a world of flavor at home.
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