Sailing into their eighth year at Hukilau Lanai, Chef Ron Miller and manager Krissy Miller are back from a six-month “radical sabbatical” traveling across the world. Perusing farmers’ markets and attending pasta-making courses in Europe confirmed their commitment to “handcrafted cuisine” at the Kapa‘a restaurant. One reason behind Hukilau’s success over the years is their fresh, local menu.
“Our first menu in 2002 had Hawaiian chocolate and vanilla beans, beef from the (Wailua) Country Store, and we still have local tomatoes, greens and goat cheese,” Ron Miller said, adding they also belong to a CSA (community-supported agriculture, which delivers produce from a farm each week.)
“We only buy local fish, so we will never have salmon here,” Ron Miller said. “That’s something that should be savored in the Pacific Northwest.”
The hallmark of Hukilau’s commitment to fresh and local is their Tasting Menu, a sampling of five signature dishes available every evening from 5 to 6. The Tasting Menu options are either food only ($28) or paired with a wine ($40).
“I know it’s becoming cliché, this farm-to-fork idea, but it’s very real,” Ron Miller said. “It’s not a new concept but a very old one…that’s where the Tasting Menu came from; we take a local product and it is featured in each dish.”
Currently featured on
the tasting menu:
— Sweet potato ravioli with Okinawan potatoes from Moloka’i
— Arugula salad from Dante’s farms on Kaua’i
— Fresh catch of local fish with Hamakua mushrooms and warabi from ‘Oma‘o
— Local braised veal from A’akukui Ranch
— Local Artisan Cheese with honeycomb or Crème Brulee with Kaua’i vanilla bean.
“The Tasting Menu is updated frequently, so local clientele can have a variety,” Ron Miller said. “We just changed it a week ago.”
The Tasting Menu is a way to taste a variety of entrees arranged in a strategic way to please your palate, and the plates are actually quite generous in size. As each new dish arrives, patrons at tables surrounding you start to peer over, interested in what’s coming next. Instead of one big meal, it’s a mini Taste of Hawai‘i, except you get to sit down, and it’s on a china plate.
It’s not just the food that is handcrafted here with local ingredients. Bartender John Scott creates signature cocktails like the Kapa‘a Kamikaze: a sweet, tangy martini made with Scott’s house-made vodka infused with Kaua‘i ginger and basil. He also makes a mint and lime syrup which slides into spiced rum in the Mo‘o Mojito.
Scott is one of a handful of employees at Hukilau that have been there since they opened in 2002. Five of the cooks have also been working since day one. Ron Miller said in the kitchen “we all get together and collaborate” so when compliments come from the customers into the kitchen, not just one chef can take the credit.
While the Millers were on vacation, Chef Aaron Leikam took over the kitchen at Hukilau. Ron Miller said he did an outstanding job and made some excellent changes to the menu, such as the ceviche on the appetizer menu.
“Aaron is at Gaylord’s now, so he’s still in the family,” Ron Miller said. Gaylord’s at Kilohana is Hukilau’s sister restaurant.
“The staff here is amazing,” said Krissy Miller. “It’s something we already knew, but appreciated after our travels.” Although the traveling was technically a vacation, the Millers spent much of their time around food. The pasta-making course they took in Europe has inspired Ron Miller, and said it’s something he plans on incorporating into the restaurant in the future.
Next month Hukilau Lanai is hosting an Earth Day Dinner, Monday, April 21. In celebration of the 40th annual national Earth Day, Chef Ron Miller will create a special dinner menu comprised of locally made ingredients. The concept is based on the Chef’s Collaborative, an organization that promotes eating local, fresh and organic.
Hukilau Lanai is open nightly from 5 to 9, closed on Mondays. For more information, call 822-0600.
