Honu Seafood and Pizza is open!

It must be my birthday because restaurateurs Mark and Judy Ellman and their lovely daughters Arianna Guarnier and Michelle Ellman have given me a gift in the form of another fun and fabulous Westside restaurant: Honu Seafood and Pizza, where the views take your breath away, the menu is trendsetting and the cocktail list put us in awe. Executive chef Keoki McKee and pastry chef Elizabeth McDonald put on quite a spread at the soft opening sneak peeks on Friday and Saturday night. I don’t know what the Greeks were doing when they discovered that lamb and yogurt were a perfect pairing, but I think the Ellmans must have been there because every time they put it on the menu it’s a little different but just as delicious. McKee’s lamb riblets are a superior meat lover’s appetizer, the plump meat clinging to the bone. The juicy lamb drips down my grip as I dip them in yogurt sauce and devour. But seafood is in the name of this restaurant and it’s not for show. Clams, mussels, shrimp, oyster, crab and fish all play a prominent part in the menu.

Testing the cocktail menu on Friday was tough work. Many were intriguing, bringing fresh juices, liquors and garnishes together in harmony. One of the standouts was the smoked julep with Jim Beam “Devils Cut” Bourbon, Lagavulin Scotch, a touch of agave nectar and water in a highball with a generous branch of mint. I just met “Devil’s Cut” recently, served neat down south by Beam Brand Ambassador Armando Zapata. It gets its clever name from being the opposite of the “Angels Share,” what distillers call the 20 percent or so that evaporates from a sealed wooden cask. To make “Devil’s Cut,” they put a small amount of water back into the empty cask and shake hard to extract the Bourbon that’s been trapped in the wood. The Honu Refresh was also fantastic: Kai Ginger Lemongrass Shochu, coconut water and Thai basil that is so refreshing it could be an alcoholic sport drink. Honu officially opened this past Monday and you’re invited for lunch dinner and cocktail hour located at 1295 Front St. in Lahaina, 667-9390.

Chef Isaac Bancaco is at it again, with a new farm to table menu for Aug. 7 to 13. For just $59 you can be swooned by local opulence from Anuhea, Evonok, Otani, Waipoli Hydroponics Farm and much more. There’s Sylvester X sweet corn and miso bisque starts you off or ahi sashimi salad with blue basil from Evonok. Escobedo tomatoes are featured in the sage and ginger-honey-rubbed chicke, and Kahakuloa-farmed Filipino perch and watanabe won bok combine in another entree. Bancaco’s knack for incorporating locally farmed goods is really showing off their summer’s bounty. Reservations at 875-1234.

Sam Treadway is the "most inspired bartender" photo courtesy of Ryan Matsumoto

Most Inspired Gin Man

Congratulations are in order. Sam Treadway from Waikiki’s Edition, who did not win the USBG Pina Colada Championships, has now won the USBG Nation’s Most Inspired Bartender in Hawaii — a Bombay Sapphire and and GQ magazine competition — with his 11th Reviver. I was rooting for last years champ, Maui’s Delia Asada who made a Sapphire’s Hawaiian Elixer with Maui homemade noni juice and chili pepper water. Treadway will now head to Las Vegas to compete in the “Most Inspired Bartender” summit. Richard McLeod, senior brand manager of Bombay Sapphire gin, says, “It’s a very important milestone for Bombay Sapphire to support the USBG cultivation of undiscovered bartending talent. Many locally recognized mixologists would not normally have this invaluable opportunity to showcase their techniques on a national stage.”

Jason Genegabus, Star Advertisers Grind for more details 

Cash Opportunities:

Do you love rum more than Jack Sparrow? Is it your life’s mission to dress in Tommy Bahama duds and visit tropical locations to debate the finer points of mojito versus daiquiri? Does the idea of adding Rum Ambassador to your resume get you all giddy? Then this could be your ideal job, with a $50,000 purse to boot: Tommy Bahama’s is looking for a Rumologist to design a rum program for their 14 worldwide locations. Wardrobe included. Apply now! (more including an educational video at this MauiDish post)

Its just another week or so until the streets of Kona become overrun with the 3rd Annual Don the Beachcomber Mai Tai Festival at the Royal Kona Resort, where our local bartenders will be competing for $10,000 from Bacardi for the best Mai Tai in all the land. (Check out last year’s festival coverage via MauiDish here)

Movers and Shakers:

Charlie Siebert formally of Capische in the Hotel Wailea is now a mixologist at David Paul’s Island Grill in Lahaina. Jason “Cass” Castle, formerly of Merriman’s Kapalua, can be found behind the bar at Spago in the Four Seasons Resort. At the Fairmont Kea Lani, their signature restaurant Ko will undergo major renovations for the next six months, reinventing itself as Wailea’s newest world class destination restaurant. Look forward to sweeping curved walls, a floating shaded roof, a dynamic action bar and porcelain tile flooring. The renovations will be revealed in February 2012. In the meantime, enjoy Ko’s menu from 5:30 to 9pm nightly at the Kea Lani restaurant.

Fangbangers Delight:

Since I did not get enough vampiric action in New Orleans, Ambrosia is picking up the slack by naming August Vampire month. On Thursday Aug. 25 the Martini Lounge will magically transform into Shreveport Louisiana’s Fangtasia, replete with music by DJ Del Sol. Shape shifters will be allowed. Dress appropriately y’all and leave your Fellowship of the Sun friends at home. In other vampire news, all Wednesday night movies (7:30pm) will be Vampire League Sanctioned, from Van Helsing to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. (More at this Maui Vents Post)

Hot Chicks slinging booze, A common sight at Tales of the Cocktails

By an incredible turn of events that involved the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, three airports and 12 hours, I landed myself at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans on a mere 48 hours notice. Tales is an internationally acclaimed event for bartenders, spirit brands, booze media and enthusiasts. This year it celebrated its ninth year at a five-day bacchanalian conference in the Big Easy.

We should acknowledge that there is a cocktail renaissance at the moment, with handlebar mustachioed bartenders and handcrafted drinks at the forefront, turning us all into bon viveur wannabees. At Tales this renaissance exploded into a revolution, with brand-sponsored cocktails in 54 tasting rooms, 45 seminars (for bartenders!), 15 (VIP) special events and 31 complementary events involving alcohol. On Maui, this renaissance may have been slowed by Liquor Commissioners playing their game of thrones with our access to distilled spirits by placing archaic restrictions of time and space on our consumption.

coctails + seminars = @totc

Anyway, I called in some favors and finagled a few passes, then hobnobbed with brand ambassadors, mixologists, magazine editors, book writers, product developers and PR folks. My first line of work was meeting Corzo Brand Ambassador Manny Hinojosa and Duggan McDonnell from Campo de Encanto Pisco.

Corzo Brand Ambassador Manny Hinojosa and Duggan McDonnell from Campo de Encanto Pisco

After slurping down oysters at Bourbon House, we slipped into the upstairs bar kitchen at House of Blues. McDonnel’s special “Gentleman’s Delight” cocktail featured Bombay Sapphire East (not yet released yet), Blanco Vermouth, lemon juice, tonic and was then topped with bitters and a slice of cucumber. McDonnel hails from the Cantina in San Francisco.

“This is a place where shit goes down,” he told me of Tales. “It’s a lot of fun, but I do a lot of networking here. We handshake deals over lunch and dinner.”

The Bombay Sapphire VIP party spanned three stories at the House of Blues concert hall, with each area dedicated to its own theme. At the 18th Century Bloody Revolution I downed Filthy Bloody Mary’s among the 18th Century spice market reenactment that had the whole room heady with cinnamon and nutmeg. Daniel Singer of Filthy Pickle put together a savory display of olives, peppers and onions to embellish drinks. (filthy food on facebook)

Up on the second floor, where 80′s pop was my witness, I got my teeth kicked in by Camille Austin’s (Hakkasan, Fontainebleau, Miami) Sapphire Italian Iced Tea, an amalgamation of Earl Grey infused Bombay, Taverna Amaro, lemon juice, clover honey and Prosecco. Next door were Sapphire martinis in the Rat Pack jazz room; upstairs offered Asian delights with lounge music, a gold-painted girl sans garments and more Bombay delights. As a Sapphire devotee, I was lucky to escape with my notes intact.

But there was a far more serious side to bartenders that I didn’t know about. As a bartender’s darling on Maui it’s always peachy from the stool side of the bar. But here in the trenches at Tales, bartenders were toting notepads and pens, scribbling away side by side with me at “From Grain to Bottle,” a seminar on the history of distilling booze and the nuances of starting your own booze brand (extra points to Maui distillers who have way more hoops to jump through than their Mainland competitors). Put simply, there is nobody happier about the surge in craft distillers than the Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau.

Roadie Caiprinhas

In the lobby in the Hotel Monteleone, the hub of Tales, I found Robert Cooper passing out St. Germain cocktails to a huge line of Spin the Wheel contestants. I was on my way to the Leblon Caipi-Mobile that roams the NOLA French Quarter streets during Tales. I freshened up for the United States Bartender’s Guild’s Pina Colada competition at the Foundry, but not before hot chick in a bikini and grass skirt slipped me a card alerting me to Botran Tiki Lounge tasting upstairs.

USBG Pina Colada Championship sponsored by Bacardi, Photo Credit: Jennifer Mitchell

The competition was fierce. Bartenders from across the nation suited up and competed for the chance to win a trip to Warsaw Poland for the World Cocktail Competion. Each entrant had a station where they featured their drinks. We got to crowd vote on our favorite (Matt Myers of Las Vegas), but the bigwigs voted on the winner (Debbi Peek of Chicago).

Photo Credit: Jennifer Mitchell

I found a familiar face in Sam Treadway, competing from Honolulu’s Edition with his “Killer Fizz.” MC Dan Dunn (Living Loaded)  indulged me in a hand-shaken Daiquiri and chat at the hosted bar where I quizzed him about the upcoming pilot on his book. Then his gravely voice dismissed me with an incoming text “from a new lady friend.”

For More photos on the USBG Championship got to https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150266315238675.345712.73699328674&type=1

Just when I thought I had had enough of booze writers, I headed to my final seminar, “Drinking on Deadline.” It was presented by Paul Clarke, Wayne Curtis and David Wondrich. Their symposium of drunk literature started off with Pisco cocktails by Johnny Raglan of Comstock Saloon and Erik Adkins of Heaven’s Dog.

After Clarke read a bit of Kingsley Amis verse, and discussions of great boozy writers like Devoto, Embury and Holland went around, it was Q and A time. “So what about the deadline? How do we stay productive in the face of these drinks?” asked the anonymous author of the blog Congenial Hour (http://thecongenialhour.tumblr.com/).

“I have never made a deadline in my life,” one presenter said. “I am not the right person to ask about that,” said another. The last was most helpful: “A deadline is about when you get started on your article, right?”

Fellow Blogger Blog Posts:

http://www.wildriverreview.com/wildtable/?p=4641

http://talesblog.com/

- Posted using MobyPicture.com

- Posted using MobyPicture.com

- Posted using MobyPicture.com

- Posted using MobyPicture.com

Pretty fascinating process to distill. Just got the skinny on Oxley Gins vacuum still. And how to bottle your own spirit. Basically u need a lot of cash.

Mai Tai’s are synonymous with Hawaii bars, so it makes sense that we host the biggest Mai Tai competition in the nation. People don’t realize what a craft beverage the Mai Tai can be, but 10 of Maui’s liquor slingers got on stage July 6 to battle for the challenge to compete at the Bacardi Mai Tai Festival at the Royal Kona Resort. Each bartender had to qualify their recipe to compete, and these bar chefs were serious about their products. The complicated origins of the Mai Tai are laid aside here, all you need to know is that the components of the drink are fourfold: 1. rum based in spirits, 2. juice used as a binder, 3. there is a flavoring component such as orgeat or falernum, 4. finally there is a float, a layer of liquid usually spirit based, most commonly seen in the Mai Tai as a dark rum.

The contestants were Wendy Agustine, Haliimaile General Store; Joseph Getgen, Christopher Nevins, and Bryan Aloy, Four Seasons Resort; Blair Anderson and Eric Zimmerman, Mala Ocean Tavern, Alex Dreher, Westin Maui Tropica; Mark Reck, Lulu’s Lahaina; James Shoemaker, Mala Wailea; and Ricky Supnet, Royal Lahaina Resort.

Judge James Jacobson

Like chef competitions, bartender competitions can get heated fast. The bartenders each had 7 minutes to prepare 5 drinks, 4 for the judges and 1 for their photos. When you are squeezing, shaking and smacking several drinks together in this kind of time frame, and prizes like airfare and hotel are on the line, the pressure is on. In the first round Wendy Agustin battled it out with Bryan Aloy, her mai tai inspired by the pineapple fields around the Haliimaile General Store is served in a pineapple, but surprisingly did not contain pineapple juice.

The judges, Chuck Bergson of Pacific Radio Group, Dave Fried of the Hula Grill, and Molly and James Jacobson authors of Top Maui Restaurants and whatscookingmaui.com had the hard job of evaluating each Mai Tai specimen and tabulating scores. Judging was determined by presentation, nose, palate, finish, balance, creativity, and true to form, with a total high score of 70 points available. In round 2 returning competitor Blair Anderson made his “Quintessential Maitai” that used Bacard Gold, Orange, Coconut and Anejo rums, while Tropica’s Alex Dreher made the Kelekona Mai Tai, with Dragonberry rum and Fireball whiskey float.

Joseph Getgen

Joseph Getgen’s round three Mai Molokini Tini was a layered cocktail in a brown sugar rimmed martini glass with frothy egg whites and a Chambord upside down float and Bacardi Limon. Christopher Nevin’s asian inspired Mai Thai appeared in a stemless bordeaux glass lined with lemons wheels, and a light concoction of Bacardi silver, hint of thai inspired lemongrass syrup and coconut water .

In round four Mark Reck performed his cocktail as a samurai warrior creating the Lulu’s Samurai Tai, where he dramatically topped and cored a pineapple in which to serve the drink. Reck had a grip of fans with him and was a crowd favorite. James Shoemaker focused on his cocktail ‘the Spirit of Don Beach Mai Tai’ amid the hubub, that incorporated locally made Maui Preserves Syrup, Barcardi gold and 8 into its mix.

The Aloha aina Mai Tai celebrated land lubbers with lilikoi and Bacardi select, coconut and superior, the recipe of Eric Zimmerman of Mala Ocean Tavern in Round 5, and Ricky Supnet from the home property of Royal Lahaina slipped mango puree in with Disaronno, serranno peppers and bacardi orange and 8.

James Shoemaker

In the end no flamboyant presentations, elaborate garnishes or fancy barware could beat a well balanced true to form Mai Tai. There was no beating the math of the high scores of the winners. James Shoemaker took first place with his ‘the Spirit of Don Beach Mai Tai’ and a high score of 60.25, Joseph Getgens Mai Molokai Tini took second and Wendy Agustin, the only female contestant took third with her pineapple inspired Haliimaile General Store Mai Tai. Royal Lahaina’s own Ricky Supnet won the Peoples Choice award.