The Weekly Eater
The Weekly Eater
Ferraro and Spago make a
Maui visit oh, so delectableWAILEA, MAUI -- What happened to the January lull -- those few weeks after the holidays when important projects are put on hold while everyone takes an unofficial mental holiday?
There was no such respite this year. It seems as though everyone, eager to leave 2002 behind, pressed the ejector button to launch themselves full blast into 2003. There are places to go, people to meet, new projects to tackle, celebration after celebration. Stressful!
Although writers are notorious for not taking the advice they dish out, I embraced the message of our weekly Travel section: Get out of here, take a break, slow down, discover, reawaken your spirit.
Off to Maui I headed, arriving in a sorry state at The Four Seasons -- I didn't even have the sense to pack a pair of shorts or rubber slippers and had to buy them at resort prices! Nevertheless, simply walking onto the property causes one's heartbeat and breathing to slow to a human rate.
My primary reason for heading to Maui was to make a long-overdue rendezvous with Spago, but by day, there was the newly expanded Ferraro to check into, with meals served in the open air overlooking the beach at Wailea.
As the opening act to Spago, I wasn't expecting much, but Ferraro deserves applause for bringing fresh, simple flavors to the table in spare, elegant, presentations. A Maine lobster sandwich didn't need a heavy hand. Nor did a special of sashimi pizza -- straight out of a kiawe wood-burning oven -- with its crackerlike crust; a light dusting of Parmesan cheese, wheels of thin-sliced tomatoes, and finally, a layer of carpaccio-style ahi. Simple. Delicious.
I felt like Cinderella as a clever cardinal flew in to eat out of my hand.
NADINE KAM / NKAM@STAR-BULLETIN.COM
The golden glow of Spago is inviting day and night, but alas the restaurant is only open for dinner. On the opposite end of the room is a lanai that overlooks the beach at Wailea on Maui.
At night, chef Matteo Mistura switches to a rustic Italian menu, delivering such treats as seared opakapaka on cannelloni beans, topped with a light tomato sauce, and beef carpaccio, topped with roasted porcini and arugula.
AS ENJOYABLE as Ferraro was, I pressed on. At Spago I found a room that every designer and restaurateur should see. Elements of Asian design are combined with 1960s-style pop-art influences for a room simultaneously retro and modern. Boxy lanterns throw off a warm golden glow, enhancing the warm colors of flowery anemone photographs that grace the walls. The feeling is that of being in a warm, comforting cocoon. Very few restaurants do lighting well. Pay attention to this one.
It's not often that I get to Maui so it was difficult to narrow the choices available. A meal of appetizers would have been satisfying, but I didn't want to miss any entree finds. We started with an amusing trio of spicy ahi poke ($12) in fragile cones shaped from a mixture of miso paste, sesame oil and corn syrup. The result was like candy, to the point where I'm sure those who say they dislike eating fish would gladly claim seconds. The cone was so delicate that I'm not sure how they stuffed the diced ahi into it without breaking the shell. This was topped with an ice cream-shaped mound of pickled ginger, tobiko and bonito flakes.
Then we got serious, with a salad ($11) of teardrop tomatoes and Hana hearts of palm -- sliced, shaved and diced for a mix of textures -- with the bitter counterpoint of radicchio, all sprinkled with a garlic-balsamic vinaigrette.
We might have also ordered a tomato risotto or sashimi, but settled on the Hudson Valley Foie Gras ($19), served Hawaiian style with pineapple, which I thought too harsh and acidic, and best reserved for luaus.
Upon trying the duck ($30), I could imagine Spago's owner hanging out in California's Chinatowns to learn the secrets of Cantonese chefs. He has to be proclaimed honorary Chinese for his effort, with the fat under the skin removed and the skin itself as thin and crisp as a wafer sitting atop the tender roast meat.
His love affair with the Far East continues with Chinois-style lamb chops ($39) that are marinated in soy sauce, mirin, garlic and sesame oil, grilled, then topped with cilantro-mint vinaigrette.
Other entrees on the menu include miso-marinated salmon ($27), caramelized pork chops ($27) and roasted onaga with a ginger-macadamia nut crust ($35).
Dessert was a "truffle purse" ($10) of flourless chocolate cake wrapped in an egg-white crepe quickly zapped in the oven so one turns out richly gooey and the other brittle crisp. Executive pastry chef Ian Flores updates his menu monthly.
If you need a souvenir of your visit, Puck's cookbook "Live, Love, Eat!" is available for $35. Although many of his secrets are revealed, it's best to enjoy the recipes in the restaurant to see and taste them as they are meant to be presented. I need to visit Maui more often.
Four Seasons Resort Maui, 3900 Wailea Alanui / 808-874-8000 on Maui SPAGO
Hours: 5:30 to 9 p.m. daily
Food 
Service Ambience Value Cost: Dinner for two about $100 without drinks
See some past restaurant reviews in the
Columnists section.
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.
