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Chef’s widow shares
his classic recipes

The Tahitian Lanai Restaurant hasn't really been gone all that long -- it closed on New Year's Eve in 1997 -- but it was 40 years old and people tend to consider it a historic treasure, one of the last relics of Old Waikiki.

For Ruby Washington, the Tahitian Lanai was the place her husband headed for every day at 5:30 a.m. He'd come home -- "God knows when," she says. "We're sleeping already."

Anderson Washington was executive chef at the Tahitian Lanai, responsible for many signature dishes that are as beloved as the grass-shack romance of the restaurant itself.

He died in 2002 at age 92. His wife says he was in his 80s when he retired, not long before the restaurant shut down.

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BETTY SHIMABUKURO / BETTY@STARBULLETIN.COM Ruby Washington's mementos include news clippings and a photograph of her husband with other Spencecliff Corp. chefs.

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Anderson Washington was from Charlottesville, Va., and trained as a chef in New York, Mrs. Washington says. The couple met in her hometown of Hilo in the 1940s, when he was in the Army. She was a waitress at a Filipino restaurant.

"He didn't care for Filipino food, but I was working there, so he had no choice but to come," she recalls.

They married and moved to Kaneohe in 1950. He took a job with Spencecliff Corp., which eventually would open not just the Tahitian Lanai, but also the Tiki Tops, Queen's Surf and Fisherman's Wharf restaurants. She worked as a housekeeper at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for a time, but eventually left to raise their eight children.

Her husband spent most of his time at the Tahitian Lanai, yet it remained their special-occasion restaurant. "Birthdays, our anniversary, whatever -- or in between -- we go over there."

Mrs. Washington, now 79, kept her husband's cookbook from the restaurant, as well as a collection of newspaper clippings, recipe cards and other memorabilia.

When she read in this column that several readers were looking for what was probably her husband's best-loved dish, Moa Ta Haari Chicken, she dug it up.

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BETTY SHIMABUKURO / BETTY@STARBULLETIN.COM Ruby Washington looks over an old Tahitian Lanai newsletter.

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The dish was served in a coconut half that was kept from rolling around the plate with a stabilizing spoonful of mashed potatoes.

It is a relatively easy dish that uses leftover cooked chicken. The tricky part is the hollandaise sauce used to garnish each portion.

I'd serve the dish without the sauce (it is quite rich without it). But for those who want the full effect, the Tahitian Lanai recipe for hollandaise follows. It will make much more than the 1/4 cup needed -- use the leftover in Eggs Benedict or freeze it (reheat over a double boiler).

Combine milk, coconut milk, celery, onion, cloves and chicken base in saucepan. Heat slowly, stirring constantly, until boiling. Add zest, salt and pepper.

Dissolve cornstarch in small amount of cold water to make a paste. Add to saucepan. Cook 10 minutes.

Strain and add chicken. Serve with each portion garnished with hollandaise sauce.

Note: Chicken base is a paste sold in the soup aisle of supermarkets, near the chicken bouillon.

To make sauce: Place all ingredients except butter in top of a double boiler. Water should be hot, but not boiling. Heat gently and whisk slowly for 2 minutes. Whisk in clarified butter, a little at a time. Continue stirring 8 to 9 minutes, until thick. Keep warm.

Note: Clarified butter is melted butter that has been strained to remove all solids.

Here's another of chef Washington's favorites from the restaurant, fried chicken wrapped around pineapple spears and doused with coconut.

It calls for two small chickens, about 1-1/2 pounds each, that must be boned. The giblets are used in a coconut sauce. You can simplify by using 4 boneless chicken breasts, pounded flat to an even thickness. You'll have to forego the giblets (unless you have some saved from another chicken).

Bone chickens and remove wings. Cut in half to make 4 pieces.

Heat oil in frying pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place 1 pineapple spear and 1 tablespoon coconut inside each piece of chicken. Roll up chicken halves.

Roll in milk, then in cracker meal. Fry in hot oil until golden.

Drain and place on baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with remaining coconut and bake 10 minutes longer.

To prepare sauce: Heat giblets and coconut milk. Dissolve cornstarch in a small amount of water. Stir into sauce and stir until thickened. Serve on side with chicken rolls. Serves 4.