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TheBuzz

BY ERIKA ENGLE

Friday, November 2, 2001

Upscale Spago at
Four Seasons Maui
eatery forges ahead

The Wolfgang Puck restaurant
replaces "Seasons" and will
open next month

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Plans for the "soft-opening" of Spago at Four Seasons Maui at Wailea are on track for Dec. 10, with the grand opening event Dec. 14 to be a benefit for the Maui Arts Council.

Interior work is still under way, according to Jannis Swerman, director of communications for Wolfgang Puck Worldwide Inc. and Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group.

"I'm so hoping," to be there for the event, she said.

COURTESTY WOLFGANG PUCK WORLDWIDE INC.
An artist's rendering shows the new Spago at
Four Seasons Resort Maui, which was
designed by Engstrom Design Group.

Placement of the world-famous restaurant at the Four Seasons, first reported in the Buzz in late August, took some 18 months to negotiate.

The signature restaurant of the Wolfgang Puck empire replaces "Seasons," which closed last month, but employees were offered jobs with the resort and were to receive preference in hiring at Spago.

Seasons had been the first Triple-A "Five Diamond" restaurant on Maui; and the second in Hawaii.

A salute to "The General"

One version of the years-old story has it that veteran sportscaster Les Keiter was within earshot when somebody greeted a very high-ranking general, and that without looking up Keiter declaimed in his unmistakable gravely voice, "How ya doin', kid!" The nickname stuck.

That same voice and style informed and entertained Hawaii TV viewers for decades until he retired from KHON.

Radio listeners in the 1980s remember his "re-creates" of Islanders Baseball games on K59 (now KSSK AM 590). His shtick was played out with a few details on the weather at the mainland ballpark du jour, sheets of paper bearing numbers that only he and his producer could read -- and a wooden block and drumstick to mimic the crack of the bat.

For those really big at-bats, the listener was treated to a trademark Keiter "Boom off the wall!" because a number on a page signaled an extra-base hit off the fence.

Now the spokesman for Aloha Stadium, Keiter's voice is again on radio and TV alerting stadium-goers to the new world's new rules of fair play in event attendance.

"The General" will be receive a special "Iolani Award" for lifetime achievement in broadcasting by the March of Dimes Chapter of the Pacific this Sunday evening at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Tapa Ballroom.

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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com