The Weekly Eater
KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
North Shore residents Yayoi and Doug Sutherland topped
off their wedding day with a romantic sunset meal at Michel's.
Given the overall Halloween theme of this issue, I might have gone in pursuit of spooky food. In fact, I had started the week that way, though not on purpose. There is some frighteningly bad food lurking in our midst, but I find it best not to acknowledge purveyors of such evil in hope that the spirits eventually vanish. Michel’s gracious setting
both contemporary, classicGoing with the flow of the season, I align myself with the French Festival instead, dropping back into Michel's at the Colony Surf for a rendezvous. It's been a long time, five years to be exact. Last time I didn't feel the experience worth the price, saying restaurants of equal caliber were offering entrees at half the price, so I never returned. The restaurant had undergone a $1.3 million makeover, but had neglected the menu.
Then, a few months back, a credible food source asked if I had tried Michel's recently, assuring me that it was safe to go back now.
I made note of it, but still, I was doubtful. People can get nostalgic and sappy over the past. Any mistake here would be an expensive one, but with the return of the French Festival, Michel's could be the perfect mood enhancer. I had to check it out.
I'd forgotten what it can be like to be in a room like this. There are so few rooms that have Michel's grace and grandeur. I'd gotten so accustomed to boxy, contemporary storefront restaurants. Right away, in this open-air beachfront dining room, I felt spoiled and pampered. The tuxedoed waiters had not even approached yet. When they did, service was truly professional, warm and courteous, though never in that irritatingly cloying over-friendly amateur way. The able staff is led by general manager Philip Shaw, executive chef Eberhard Kintscher and maitre 'd Bob Clark.
2895 Kalakaua Ave. / 923-6552 Michel's at the Colony Surf
Hours: 5:30 to closing daily
Food Service 
Ambience Value Cost: About $70 to $110 for two without drinks
Michel's is one of the few survivors of the '70s, having held on even as nouvelle cuisine came along and revolutionized the restaurant business, sweeping out the heaviness of old-style cuisine and ambience in favor of what is light, fresh and modern.
Evoking the past is dangerous, conjuring imagery of a business clinging to faded glory. But Michel's is neither musty nor precious nor dated. Maybe it's the timelessness of the beach setting, but the restaurant strikes a rare and superb balance between contemporary and classic.
The best part of all is that I felt totally relaxed here, as if being massaged for two and a half hours. I recommend it highly for anyone who feels stress. Lulled by the food, surroundings and chanteuse Willow Chang, who with guitarist Jeff Peterson mixes up torchy ballads and light pop Thursday and Saturday nights, I actually forgot that I had a pile of work on my desk, my car was broken into and my precious Incubus CD was stolen.
As for the food, we went traditional in the spirit of the festival, starting with the half-dozen plump imported Burgundy escargots ($11), baked in herb-garlic butter. A reader asked me recently where to get frog legs Provencal ($12), and this is the place. I've had them scrawny and thin, but these frogs must have been working out. They had plenty of bulk, with the texture of some chicken-crustacean hybrid but of course much blander than both. They get all their flavor from the garlic, white wine and butter cream sauce, dotted with diced tomatoes.
From there it was on to a classic onion soup ($9) and oh-so-bad-for-you lobster bisque ($9), flamed in cognac at the table. As distracted as I was by the surroundings, I missed the show completely, and asked our waiter to repeat himself. He happily obliged.
Leaf eaters beware, this is very rich food. If you are not accustomed to fat and protein, go easy lest you upset your delicate opu.
Even the salmon steak St. Jacques ($36) seemed exceptionally fatty, topped with thinly sliced scallops, browned so that they looked like roasted potatoes. The salmon rested on a salad of wild rice pilaf and was accompanied by both a dill vin blanc and red wine sauce.
Less flavorful was the Wellington of veal, topped by foie gras mousse and baked in a puff pastry crust. It was greatly assisted by a Madeira sauce which hinted of truffles.
And of course I saved room for a perfect finale of Grand Marnier soufflé.
With eateries aiming to take care of families' day-to-day needs, there are few that can be characterized as special occasion restaurants anymore. Michel's is one of them. I tried to figure out when the next occasion might be. What do you know? My birthday's next month!
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Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews run on Thursdays. Reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:
To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to nkam@starbulletin.com
excellent; very good, exceeds expectations; average; below average.
